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Ryonosuke Akutagawa

Ryonosuke Akutagawa. 18 92 – 1927 http:// www.kirjasto .sci.fi/akuta.htm. Early Life. Born in Tokyo , attended Tokyo Imperial University His mother we nt insane Founded Shin Shicho mag azine. Career.

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Ryonosuke Akutagawa

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  1. Ryonosuke Akutagawa 1892 – 1927 http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/akuta.htm

  2. Early Life • Born in Tokyo,attended Tokyo Imperial University • His mother wentinsane • Founded Shin Shicho magazine

  3. Career • Taught at a naval school in Yokosuka and turneddown teaching at the Tokyo andKyoto Universities to continue to write freely, not under a curriculum • As a skilled linguist, he translated the works ofStrindberg, Mérimée, Nietzsche, Dostoevsky, Baudelaire, and Tolstoy into Japanese • His early workstook placein ancient Japan, but most of his works were set in the1700’s and 1800’s. Only a few of his writings were set in his presentday, and even then they were notrepresentative of his experiencesat that time. • About 150 of his writings weremade into films, most of them by Akira Kurosawa.His writings were not very successful as films. • Most of his writingsfeatured characters with excitinglives, unlike his own, but were made to represent the outcomes of his own life.

  4. “The Nose” (Hana) • In “The Nose” (Hana), a character mutilates himselfdue because he thinks he is beingjudged for having a gargantuannose. At the end of the story, heends up shortening his nose to looknormal and he becomes moreof an outcast. As goofy as this author looks, his appearance wasnever a problem for him, whichmade it so easy for him to write andteach alesson about a character that is uncertain about his moralsand appearance.

  5. “Hell Screen” (Jigoku-hen) • In “Hell Screen”(Jigoku-hen), an artist is asked by an Imperial Lord to paint a portraitof hell. In doing so, the characterpaints of picture of his only daughterbeing burned alive, symbolizingthat perversions suchaspainting hell itself could turn aman to become insane. This parallelswhat could have been Akutagawa’s own life if he had given upwritingfor his enjoymentand hadaccepted to teach at a higher university where he wouldhaveto stick to a regimented curriculum insteadof his own work.

  6. “In A Grove” (Yabunonaka) • In “In a Grove” (Yabunonaka), a woman is raped and murdered. The main characteris an innocent bystander thatwitnesses this crime and representsAkutagawa’s life. Nothing eventfulever happened to him. All he did was write his entire life and watch the events around him.

  7. The End • Akutagawa committedsuicide at the age of 35 afterbecoming delusional withhallucinations. His mother went insane, so it was probably hereditary.

  8. Works Cited • Liukonnen, Preti. AkutagawaRyunosuke (1892-1927). Ed. Petri Liukonnen. 2008.22 May 2009 <http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/akuta.htm>. • Holt, Rinehart, and Winston. Modern World Literature. Austin: Harcourt Brace& Company, 2008. 259-66.

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