Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories

I read “Hell Screen” in college and have a generally favorable opinion of Japanese lit. But... I wasn't that impressed with this collection. Some of these stories were very overhanded, but that was common of the time. The best in this collection, in my opinion, is actually “Spinning Gears,” an unfinished semi-biographical work about the author's unraveling at the end of his life. It was psychologically complex and poignant, and left me wondering what treasures Akutagawa would've been capable of writing had he lived longer.

This “review” is part of a series in which I quickly scribble a few of the thoughts I had regarding a book I read in the first half of 2021 during a time when I let my reviews get very behind.