Classic tales of madness and obsession Ryūnosuke Akutagawa (1892-1927) was a Japanese writer, considered a master of the short story, writing over 150 of them. He suffered mental health issues throughout his life, was haunted by hallucinations and experienced a deep seated fear that he had inherited his mother's madness. At the age of 35 he committed suicide, taking an overdose of barbital. In this short collection translator Bryan Karetnyk picks out some of Akutagawa's best. As one may expect with a writer so tortured, Akutagawa's stories feature suicide, madness, obsession, murder and violence. They are seductive, mesmerisingly beautiful and sophisticated, but with a unsettling atmosphere running throughout. In the opening story, “The Spider's Thread”, a man trapped in hell at the bottom of a lotus-filled pond tries to drag his way out; “In a Grove” gives multiple perspectives on a murder; the sumptuous and frightening “Hell Screen” describes an artist so obsessed that he is willing to sacrifice that which he most loves; the title story “Murder in the Age of Enlightenment” chronicles a doomed love triangle that ends in murder and suicide; and finally “Cogwheels” is an autobiographical, stream-of-consciousness riff on the disturbing visions and anxieties that harass the author. Some readers may find Akutagawa's portrayal of women outdated, but that aside these are original and disturbing works of literature, concentrating on the darker recesses of the psyche. Stories of murder, mayhem and madness, all beautifully written, sticking in the mind like horrible nightmares. Murder in the Age of Enlightenment: Essential Stories, by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa. Published by Pushkin Press. $24.99 Review by Chris Saliba Comments are closed.
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