Akutagawa was born on this day

 

And we are going to celebrate!!
By taking some barbiturates...

Writing

I was wondering lately why so many people try to publish something they wrote. In my country there is a bitter joke about it. It says: "We have 300 thousands of poets and twice as much writers". I think it comes from the certainty that everyone who can write a short message by phone or a memo is able to write a novel. And here we are, poor readers of such created monstrosity. Maybe I'm biased, OK, I AM biased, but for me, true literature ended with:

poetry: in 1891 - death of Rimbaud,

short story: in 1927 - death of Akutagawa,

novel: well, Ursula Le Guin is still alive, but she's one of maybe 5 people I admire.

These people were, or still are, the masters of the word. OK, maybe I am too much into the first two, but I love those troubled geniuses with all my heart and mind. I love every, even weak work of theirs. Whenever I read L'Eternite, Ophelie, or any short story by Akutagawa, I got goosebumps. The rhytm, melody, and composition are just perfect.

 If I experience this, over a hundred years after Rimbaud's death, over

 80 years after Akutagawa took his own life, that means it is eternal.

In contrary to most of modern writers.

Akutagawa Ryūnosuke - Rashōmon & In a Grove

 

(post stamp with Akutagawa^^)

Akutagawa Ryunosuke - Aozora Bunko

As I promised, I finished an outline of Akutagawa biography, and now, I'm giving the links to Aozora Bunko. All texts are in Japanese, sorted according to japanese kana order.
Aozora Bunko is open source for texts, and that is why I love it^^. Worth it.

Akutagawa Ryunosuke

                                   

I hope this to be growing biography of one of the best writers in the world. I am addicted, I cannot be cured. I do not want to be cured. And for those who can read Japanese, I will put up a link to Aozora Bunko, where His works are stored, easy to browse. Do not read it in English if you don't have to. There is something in his writings (short most of it, I don't count the reports from China) that makes the reader unable to turn back from the path leading to further reading. Even in his weaker works he managed to do better than some other writers in their best.

Yes, I lost my objectivity and sense of literary criticism, but when it comes to Akutagawa Ryunosuke, it is like Rimbaud Arthur - one cannot criticize them in my presence.

 ***In wind reeking of duckweed, a butterfly flashed. Only for an instant, on his dry lips he felt the touch of the butterfly wings. But years afterward, on his lips, the wing's imprinted dust still glittered***