Ryonosuke Akutagawa
1892 – 1927
http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/akuta.htm
Early Life
• Born in Tokyo, attended Tokyo Imperial University
• His mother went insane
• Founded Shin Shicho magazine
Career
• Taught at a naval school in Yokosuka and turned down teaching at
the Tokyo and Kyoto Universities to continue to write freely, not
under a curriculum
• As a skilled linguist, he translated the works of Strindberg, Mérimée,
Nietzsche, Dostoevsky, Baudelaire, and Tolstoy into Japanese
• His early works took place in ancient Japan, but most of his works
were set in the 1700’s and 1800’s. Only a few of his writings were
set in his present day, and even then they were not representative of
his experiences at that time.
• About 150 of his writings were made into films, most of them by
Akira Kurosawa. His writings were not very successful as films.
• Most of his writings featured characters with exciting lives, unlike his
own, but were made to represent the outcomes of his own life.
“The Nose” (Hana)
• In “The Nose” (Hana), a character mutilates himself due because he
thinks he is being judged for having a gargantuan nose. At the end
of the story, he ends up shortening his nose to look normal and he
becomes more of an outcast. As goofy as this author looks, his
appearance was never a problem for him, which made it so easy for
him to write and teach a lesson about a character that is uncertain
about his morals and appearance.
“Hell Screen” (Jigoku-hen)
• In “Hell Screen” (Jigoku-hen), an artist is asked by an Imperial Lord
to paint a portrait of hell. In doing so, the character paints of picture
of his only daughter being burned alive, symbolizing that
perversions such as painting hell itself could turn a man to become
insane. This parallels what could have been Akutagawa’s own life if
he had given up writing for his enjoyment and had accepted to teach
at a higher university where he would have to stick to a regimented
curriculum instead of his own work.
“In A Grove” (Yabunonaka)
• In “In a Grove” (Yabunonaka), a woman is raped and murdered. The
main character is an innocent bystander that witnesses this crime
and represents Akutagawa’s life. Nothing eventful ever happened to
him. All he did was write his entire life and watch the events around
him.
The End
• Akutagawa committed suicide at the age of 35 after becoming
delusional with hallucinations. His mother went insane, so it was
probably hereditary.
Works Cited
• Liukonnen, Preti. Akutagawa Ryunosuke (1892-1927). Ed. Petri
Liukonnen. 2008. 22 May 2009
<http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/akuta.htm>.
• Holt, Rinehart, and Winston. Modern World Literature. Austin:
Harcourt Brace & Company, 2008. 259-66.