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A review by christinecc
Murder in the Age of Enlightenment: Essential Stories by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
A surprisingly (and uncannily) effective translation of Akutagawa's short stories (mostly published between 1918 and 1927), brought to us in English by Prof. Bryan Karetnyk (who has branched out from his usual fare of Russian Émigré literature).
Akutagawa is often compared to Edgar Allan Poe for a couple of reasons, including but not limited to their eerie horror-adjacent short stories and the fact that they both died quite young (Akutaga was about 5 years younger than Poe when he died). I don't think their stories really have much in common besides their creepy atmosphere. Akutagawa's stories capitalize on silence and things that remain unsaid, creating an atmosphere of calm slowly overcome by dread. Poe's characters seem much more alarmed by their surroundings than do Akutagawa's , so the reader makes up the difference.
For anyone new to Akutagawa: don't worry, you've probably come across some of his work before. The most famous short story from this story (at least in the West) is likely "In a Grove," which many cinephiles will recognize as the basis for Akira Kurosawa's movie "Rashomon." (The confusing part is that "Rashomon" is also a short story by Akutagawa, just not the one that inspired the movie, don't ask me why, I'm sure someone knows the answer to this strange switcheroo). The basic idea is that a crime happens in a grove, and each person involved in the story gives a different account of the events that contradicts at least one element of another person's statement. We're left to wonder what, exactly, took place in this lonely grove...
Other stories in the anthology may be familiar to anime enthusiasts or anyone who likes the work of Tomihiko Morimi.
"The Spider's Thread" is a short fable about a Buddha who takes pity on a man condemned to Hell by sending him a single spider thread by which to escape. You may know this story from its shudder-inducing appearance in Kei Sanbe's time-travel thriller "Erased" (Or "Boku dake ga Inai Machi").
Similarly, I was delighted to read the story "Hell Screen," which recounts the life of a painter forced to work for a feudal lord with questionable motives. The narrator assures us at every turn that the lord is good and unjustly maligned by unfounded rumors, but what he describes suggests that the lord is more than cruel, and he has set his sights on the painter's daughter. The painter, pushing his art to the extreme, tortures those around him to capture the perfect expression of pain, all while he loses control of his most beloved child's fate. It's a horrific story that an unreliable narrator gives us drip by drip, until we finally realize we might have been right to suspect something was amiss. (And for anyone who loves Tomihiko Morimi's sequel to "The Eccentric Family" and its anime adaptation, this is a fantastic treat.)
The remaining four stories were completely new to me but still captivating.
"The General" gives us a harrowing portrayal of war, violence, and the thoughts that keep a soldier semi-sane while facing certain death. Until of course the thoughts don't suffice.
"Madonna in Black" was a little hard for me to grasp, but it's an interesting mix of Japanese and Christina beliefs, all with nice coating of unease and morbid curiosity.
"Murder in the Age of Enlightenment"--the story for which the anthology is named--was a great surprise. The narrator takes us through his life of second-guessing and regret, all while he thinks of the woman he failed to marry and the men he hates (or loves) for their roles in her life. And yes, it includes a death or two, or three. I found it to be a very moving story despite its relegation of the love interest to the role of an object with little to no agency. But at least the narrator never takes out his disappointment or ethical conflict on her. (Low bar, but it is a good story.)
The collection closes with one of Akutagawa's final stories, named "Cogwheels." It's a rather disturbing account of a man haunted by hallucinations of moving gears, whose family falls apart around him and cannot comfort him in his sense of isolation and despair. Akutagawa reportedly suffered from similar hallucinations, and it's discomfiting to imagine just how much of his own thoughts he might have written into the narrator.
Overall, if you have any interest in late 19th and early 20th century literature with a creepy atmosphere and a neorealistic style, or if you'd like to read seminal short stories that have inspired many Japanese works of cinema and literature, this a great collection to pick up.
Thank you to Pushkin Press and Netgalley for granting me a digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Akutagawa is often compared to Edgar Allan Poe for a couple of reasons, including but not limited to their eerie horror-adjacent short stories and the fact that they both died quite young (Akutaga was about 5 years younger than Poe when he died). I don't think their stories really have much in common besides their creepy atmosphere. Akutagawa's stories capitalize on silence and things that remain unsaid, creating an atmosphere of calm slowly overcome by dread. Poe's characters seem much more alarmed by their surroundings than do Akutagawa's , so the reader makes up the difference.
For anyone new to Akutagawa: don't worry, you've probably come across some of his work before. The most famous short story from this story (at least in the West) is likely "In a Grove," which many cinephiles will recognize as the basis for Akira Kurosawa's movie "Rashomon." (The confusing part is that "Rashomon" is also a short story by Akutagawa, just not the one that inspired the movie, don't ask me why, I'm sure someone knows the answer to this strange switcheroo). The basic idea is that a crime happens in a grove, and each person involved in the story gives a different account of the events that contradicts at least one element of another person's statement. We're left to wonder what, exactly, took place in this lonely grove...
Other stories in the anthology may be familiar to anime enthusiasts or anyone who likes the work of Tomihiko Morimi.
"The Spider's Thread" is a short fable about a Buddha who takes pity on a man condemned to Hell by sending him a single spider thread by which to escape. You may know this story from its shudder-inducing appearance in Kei Sanbe's time-travel thriller "Erased" (Or "Boku dake ga Inai Machi").
Similarly, I was delighted to read the story "Hell Screen," which recounts the life of a painter forced to work for a feudal lord with questionable motives. The narrator assures us at every turn that the lord is good and unjustly maligned by unfounded rumors, but what he describes suggests that the lord is more than cruel, and he has set his sights on the painter's daughter. The painter, pushing his art to the extreme, tortures those around him to capture the perfect expression of pain, all while he loses control of his most beloved child's fate. It's a horrific story that an unreliable narrator gives us drip by drip, until we finally realize we might have been right to suspect something was amiss. (And for anyone who loves Tomihiko Morimi's sequel to "The Eccentric Family" and its anime adaptation, this is a fantastic treat.)
The remaining four stories were completely new to me but still captivating.
"The General" gives us a harrowing portrayal of war, violence, and the thoughts that keep a soldier semi-sane while facing certain death. Until of course the thoughts don't suffice.
"Madonna in Black" was a little hard for me to grasp, but it's an interesting mix of Japanese and Christina beliefs, all with nice coating of unease and morbid curiosity.
"Murder in the Age of Enlightenment"--the story for which the anthology is named--was a great surprise. The narrator takes us through his life of second-guessing and regret, all while he thinks of the woman he failed to marry and the men he hates (or loves) for their roles in her life. And yes, it includes a death or two, or three. I found it to be a very moving story despite its relegation of the love interest to the role of an object with little to no agency. But at least the narrator never takes out his disappointment or ethical conflict on her. (Low bar, but it is a good story.)
The collection closes with one of Akutagawa's final stories, named "Cogwheels." It's a rather disturbing account of a man haunted by hallucinations of moving gears, whose family falls apart around him and cannot comfort him in his sense of isolation and despair. Akutagawa reportedly suffered from similar hallucinations, and it's discomfiting to imagine just how much of his own thoughts he might have written into the narrator.
Overall, if you have any interest in late 19th and early 20th century literature with a creepy atmosphere and a neorealistic style, or if you'd like to read seminal short stories that have inspired many Japanese works of cinema and literature, this a great collection to pick up.
Thank you to Pushkin Press and Netgalley for granting me a digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Mental illness and Suicide