Akutagawa Ryūnosuke

Akutagawa Ryunosuke was among the first prewar Japanese writers to achieve wide foreign readership, renowned for his technical virtuosity and his ability to fuse traditional material with a modern sensibility. His work stood apart from the mundane accounts of contemporary novelists, often exploring the ugliness of human egoism and the value of art. Akutagawa's brilliant, tightly organized short stories reinterpret classical works and historical incidents from a distinctly modern standpoint, making them compelling for readers.