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Akutagawa, RyuLnosuke, 1892-1927. . RashoLmon and seventeen other stories / RyuLnosuke Akutagawa ; selected and translated with notes by Jay Rubin ; with an introduction by Haruki Murakami. 0140449701 (pbk.) series London ; New York : Penguin, 2006.
Call#: Van Pelt Library PL801.K8 A2 2006b
Call#: Van Pelt Library PL801.K8 A2 2006b
2. Ryunosuke Akutagawa. Rashomon and Other Stories. New York: Liveright Publishing Corporation, 1952. P17-31 ’In a Grove’ In a Grove is a short story which is about a chapter length by Ryunosuke Akutagawa, who also wrote ‘Rashomon’ which first appeared in the January 1922 edition of the Japanese literature monthly Shincho. The story consists of seven varying accounts of the murder of a samurai. Each section simultaneously clarifies and obfuscates what the reader knows about the murder; eventually creating a complex and contradictory vision of events that brings into question humanity’s ability or willingness to perceive and transmit objective truth. Akira Kurosawa used this story as the basis for the film, ‘Rashomon’ despite of its name from Akutagawa’s another short story. This provided the symbolic background atmosphere and went into the depths of the human heart as if with a surgeon’s scalpel, laying bare its dark complexities and bizarre twists. These strange impulses of the human heart were expressed through the use of an elaborately fashioned play of light and shadow. The setting was moved to a large forest in the film showing people wandering in to a wider wilderness. Also the script from this story ‘In a Grove portrays human beings who cannot survive without lies to make them feel they are better people than they really are. It shows how human beings are unable to be honest with themselves about themselves.