Ryūnosuke Akutagawa

Ryūnosuke Akutagawa (芥川 龍之介, Akutagawa Ryūnosuke^?, Kyōbashi, Tokyo, Japan, March 1, 1892 - ibid, July 24, 1927) was a Japanese writer, belonging to the neorealist generation that emerged at the end of World War I. His works, mostly short stories, reflect his interest in life in feudal Japan. The madness of his mother psychologically conditioned him for life; being a sickly and nervous child who read books incessantly in public libraries.

Considered the "father of Japanese short stories," the Akutagawa Prize, one of the most prestigious in Japan, was named in his honour. Akutagawa committed suicide at the age of 35 by an overdose of barbital.

Early Years

Ryūnosuke Akutagawa was born on March 1, 1892 in the Kyōbashi district of Tokyo, the third and only son of Toshizo Nīhara and Fuku Akutagawa. He was named & # 34; Ryūnosuke & # 34; ( son of the dragon ) because his birth coincided with the Year of the Dragon. Due to the illness that his mother suffered shortly after his birth—apparently she suffered from psychosis—who died in 1902, he was adopted at an early age by her older brother, Dōshō Akutagawa, from whom he took the surname Akutagawa and who took charge of his upbringing. His aunt by marriage, Fuki, tormented him throughout his childhood by telling him that he suffered from the same disease as his mother; this traumatized him and marked him as a tormented writer. Akutagawa was interested in classical Chinese literature from a very young age, as well as the works of writers such as Mori Ōgai and Natsume Sōseki.

In 1910, he entered Tokyo High School No. 1, where he would befriend several classmates including Kan Kikuchi, Masao Kume, Yūzō Yamamoto, Bunmei Tsuchiya, as well as other later writers. famous In 1913, he began his studies at the Department of English Literature in the Faculty of Letters of the University of Tokyo. With the group formed by Kikuchi, Yamamoto, Toyoshima, Tsuchiya and others, the following year he edited the magazine Shinshicho, in which he published translations of works by William Butler Yeats and Anatole France, and his first short stories: Old Age and The Death of a Young Man. After graduation, he briefly taught at the Naval Engineering School in Yokosuka as an English instructor, before deciding to pursue writing.

While still a student, Akutagawa proposed to his childhood friend, Yayoi Yoshida, but his adoptive family did not approve of the match. In 1916, he became engaged to Fumi Tsukamoto, whom he married two years later, in 1918. The couple had three children: Hiroshi (1920-1981), an actor, Takashi (1922-1945), who was assassinated in Burma, and Yasushi (1925-1989), a composer.

Literary career

Akutagawa (second left) surrounded by his friends, 1919. His lifelong friend, Kan Kikuchi, appears on his left.

In 1915, Akutagawa published Rashōmon (depicting the decline of Japanese traditions accompanied by the existential angst of the protagonists) and another short story in the Teikoku Bungaku magazine. the University of Tokyo. He frequented the house of the writer Natsume Sōseki, who would exert a notable influence on him. In 1916, with Kume, Kikuchi, Matsuoka and others, he edited Shinshicho (fourth epoch), in which he published "The Nose", earning praise from Natsume. He also publishes & # 34; The Handkerchief & # 34; in Chuo Koron magazine, which is well received by critics; it becomes one of the strongest values of the new generation. He graduates from the University; He presents the thesis & # 34; Studies on William Morris & # 34;. He is appointed professor at the Naval Mechanics School for Officers. That same year, his teacher Natsume died.

In 1917, he published his first two books of short stories. A year later, he joined the Osaka newspaper Mainichi, where he published The Screen of Hell, Martyr's Death, Murder of the Meiji era, The Death of the Poet Basho and other tales. In 1919, he traveled to Nagasaki with Kan Kikuchi to study Japanese Christianity and published stories on that subject (Nagasaki was a city in which the majority of its population was a faithful practitioner of Catholicism from the missions of Francis Xavier).

In 1920, he published some short stories, among them The Christ of Nanking, The Dance and Autumn; the latter signals a change in his style. A year later he traveled to China as a correspondent for the newspaper & # 39; Mainichi & # 39; and he writes several short stories related to that country. In 1922, he published some essays and short stories: In the Forest, The General, Princess Rokunomiya and Otom's Chastity i> that mark the end of his first literary period. The following year he published the series of stories about Yasukich. At that time the great Tokyo earthquake would occur. In 1924, he is responsible for the publication of The modern series of English Literature . The following year he was compiling an anthology of modern Japanese literature; he also publishes a travel chronicle to China.

Influences

Akutagawa in 1926.

Akutagawa's stories were influenced by his belief that the practice of literature should be universal and bring together Western and Japanese cultures. This is apparent in the way Akutagawa uses a wide variety of cultures and time periods in his works, either rewriting history with modern sensibilities, or creating new stories using ideas from multiple sources. Culture and the formation of a cultural identity is also a major theme in several of Akutagawa's works. In these stories, he explores the formation of cultural identity during periods in history when Japan was most open to outside influences. An example of this is the story of he Hōkyōnin no Shi (& # 34; The Martyr & # 34;, 1918) which is set in the missionary period.

The image of women in Akutagawa's stories was shaped under the influence of the three women who took the role of mother in his life. The biggest influence on her was her biological mother, Fuku, whom she worried had inherited her insanity. Despite not having spent much time with her mother, Akutagawa strongly identified with her mother, as well as believing that if she ever went crazy, her life would have no meaning. However, it would be his aunt Fuki who played the biggest role in her upbringing and anguish. Fuki was controlling much of her life and demanding her attention, especially as she aged and projectively telling her that she was insane like her late mother. The women featured in Akutagawa's stories, like the women he identified as mothers, were mostly written as domineering, aggressive, deceitful, and selfish. On the contrary, men were often depicted as the victims of such women, as in Kesa a Morito ("Kesa y Morito", 1918), in which the female protagonist she tries to control the actions of both her lover and her husband.

Later Life

In 1926, he became seriously ill and would suffer from nervous breakdowns: visual hallucinations and anguish that is reflected in all his works. He declined the literary output of it. In 1927, she had a literary controversy with the novelist Junichiro Tanizaki. He wrote numerous works of great value in which the main merits are originality and successful expressions of the emotional: & # 34; Illusion & # 34;, & # 34; Kappa & # 34; (a sarcastic social satire partly fabled based on the animals in Japanese folk mythology called kappa), "Man of the West", "Life of an Idiot", "Words of a dwarf", "The gears" (brief but intense autobiographical story in which he describes his nightmarish sensations and expresses the idea of suicide). That same year he committed suicide by ingesting veronal; before he died he said: ぼんやりとした不安 (Bonyaritoshita fuan, meaning & #34; gloomy restlessness & #34;). After his death, his last book of stories was published, as well as other essays, poems and children's stories.

In 1935, his lifelong friend Kan Kikuchi established the most prestigious literary prize in Japan, the Akutagawa Prize, in his honor. Akutagawa used the pen names Chōkōdō Shujin 澄江堂主人 and Gaki 我鬼.

Akutagawa and cinema

His story Rashōmon (1915) was combined with a later story, In the Woods (1921-22), to form the basis of the award-winning film Rashōmon (1950), directed by Akira Kurosawa.

Works

• "Vejez" (1914)
• "The Nose" (1915)
• "Gachas de ñame" [:: Imogayu] (1916)
• "The Bimbo of Hell" [Spoll地: Jigokuhen] (1916)
• "Rashōmon" (1917)
• "The Tobacco and the Devil" (1917)
• "The thread of the spider" [ de: Kumo no ito] (1917)
• Jashūmon.
• "In the woods" or "In the woods" [)中文: Yabu no Naka] (1922)
• "Titiritero" ["γ: Kairaishi] (1919)
• "The Christ of Nanking" (1920)
• "Pharaol Shadows" (1920)
• "Flores of the night" (1921)
• "Spring of spring" (1923)
• "Ojakufu" (1924)
• "The Konan Fan" (1927)
• "Genkakusanbō" (1927)
• "Life of an idiot" (1927)
• "The Man of the West" [Industrializing: Seihō no hito] (1927)
• "The Gears" (1927)
• "Kappa" (1927)

Novels

• The Life of Nobusuke Daidoiji (1925)

Spanish translations

• Akutagawa, Ryūnosuke (1959). The Bimbo of Hell and Other Tales. Translation and introduction of Kazuya Sakai. Buenos Aires: La Mandragora. p. 64.
• Akutagawa, Ryūnosuke (1959). Kappa. Gears. Translation and notes by Kazuya Sakai. Prologue by Jorge Luis Borges. Buenos Aires: New World. p. 121.
• Akutagawa, Rynosuke (1961). Infernal biombo. Translation of Vicente Gaos. Illustrations of Jardiel Paredes. Madrid, Arion.
• Akutagawa, Ryūnosuke (1995). The dragon and other accounts. Translation of Montse Watkins. Tokyo: Gendaikikakushitsu. p. 135. ISBN 4773895063.
• Akutagawa, Ryūnosuke (2009). Sennin. Nostra Editions. p. 40. ISBN 9786077603191.
• Akutagawa, Ryūnosuke (2011). Life of an idiot and other confessions. Translation by Yumika Matsumoto and Jordi Tordera. Gijón: Satori. p. 200. ISBN 9788493820497.
• Akutagawa, Ryūnosuke (2012). The magician: 13 Japanese stories. Translation of Ryukichi Terao. Barcelona: Candaya. p. 188. ISBN 4773895063.
• Akutagawa, Ryūnosuke (2015). Rashomon and other historical accounts. Translation and introduction of Iván Díaz Sancho. Satori. p. 352.
• Akutagawa, Ryūnosuke (2015), In the ash I write. Selection, translation, introduction and notes by Fernando Rodríguez-Izquierdo and Gavala. Satori. 155 p.
• Akutagawa, Ryuunosuke (2019). Shine a lightning (Haikus chosen). Selection, translation and notes by Teresa Herrero and Jesús Munárriz. Madrid: Hyperion. p. 116.
• Akutagawa, Ryuunosuke (2021). Tobacco and the devil and other Christian stories. Introduction, translation and notes by Hidehito Higashitani and Javier Rubiera. Gijón: Satori. p. 268.