Reviews

I always enjoy comparing alternative translations of previously read works. This is a collection of selected short stories by Akutagawa, a Japanese author who has been extensively translated in the past. Since all his works are in a public domain, I frequently encounter his short stories incorporated in anthologies or new editions.

For those who are not familiar with Akutagawa: he is one of the most popular and admired short-story writers from Japan, who has produced an impressive body of work despite his short life (he committed suicide at the age of 35). The most prestigious Japanese literary award is named after him. He has also inspired some other works such as [b:Patient X: The Case-Book of Ryunosuke Akutagawa|36998790|Patient X The Case-Book of Ryunosuke Akutagawa|David Peace|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1525443065l/36998790._SY75_.jpg|57108727] by David Peace.

This collection comprises of some of the Akutagawa's better known stories translated by Bryan Karetnyk such as In a grove, which became an inspiration for Akira Kurosawa's movie Rashōmon). I found this version a bit confusing, to be honest.

I did enjoy some of the other translations, however, especially the title story and the Cogwheels. In case of the latter, I was quite impressed at how well the mood of the original was conveyed in English: the depression, the darkness and the slow and inevitable descent into madness. The Spider's Thread was also pretty well done.

In few of the stories, unfortunately, despite the translations working on the sentence level, they somehow didn't “flow” as nicely as I would like them to and I sometimes had to backtrack to make sure I knew the person speaking at any given time. I've reread some of the Jay Rubin's translations for comparison, and it is Rubin's version of the Hell Screen that will remain my favorite.

What I did appreciate in the Pushkin's edition is the fact that the reader is spared unnecessary footnotes that often disturb the reading process in the older translations of works translated from Japanese.

Overall, I would encourage those who have not read Akutagawa before to check this collection out.

I have received a copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

floorigami's review against another edition

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3.0

Hellgate was 5 stars
Cogwheels was insane

catia_fer's review

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dark mysterious sad medium-paced

3.5

bdelcastle's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

thegrumpiestofshoobs's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.75

briancrandall's review against another edition

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4.0

It should therefore go without saying that there was no limit to Yoshihide's esteem for his own artistry. True, his colours and brushwork were utterly unlike those of other painters of the day, and so among his detractors (that is, those fellow painters) he had the reputation of a charlatan. They waxed lyrical over the work of old masters like Kawanari and Kanaka—saying that on moonlit nights you could actually smell the plum blossoms on a painted door, or that you could really hear the courtier playing his flute on a painted screen—but when their talk turned to Yoshihide's paintings, all they invariably had to say was that they were odd and uncanny. Take, for instance, his depiction of the Five Stages of Rebirth on the Ryugaiji Temple gate. One person claimed that as you passed through the gate late at night, you could hear the sighs and sobbing of the celestial beings. Another even claimed that he could smell the flesh of the dead rotting. And of the portraits of the ladies-in-waiting commissioned by His Lordship? It was said that every one of them had fallen ill and died within three years, as though, in capturing their like-ness, Yoshihide had also taken their soul. [45]

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