Tales Grotesque and Curious

This collection gathers the strange, elegant, and unsettling stories of Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, the master of the modern Japanese short story, whose tales blend the grotesque, the psychological, and the darkly ironic. Drawing on old Japanese legends and human folly alike, his precise, jewel-like stories explore guilt, ambiguity, and the shifting nature of truth—qualities that made his tale ‘In a Grove’ the basis for the famous film Rashomon. Haunting and brilliantly crafted, they reveal one of the twentieth century’s finest storytellers. A superb introduction to a giant of Japanese literature, Tales Grotesque and Curious showcases Akutagawa’s genius for the eerie, the moral, and the unforgettable.