Tales grotesque and curious

by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa (1892–1927)

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Tales grotesque and curious by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa is a collection of short stories written in the early 20th century. The volume gathers darkly comic fables, historical reimaginings, and moral parables that probe vanity, faith, survival, and hypocrisy, often ending in ironic reversals. Its cast ranges from monks, professors, and servants to thieves and devils, moving between medieval Kyoto, early modern Japan, and China with a refined yet unsettling tone. The opening of the collection begins with a translator’s introduction that sketches Akutagawa’s life in Tokyo, his meticulous craft, major influences, recurring historical materials, and the reception of his work, then transitions into the stories. Tobacco and the Devil tells how a devil masquerading with Francis Xavier sows tobacco in Japan and loses a wager to a clever cattle dealer; The Nose follows a priest whose grotesquely long nose is “cured,” only to make him more miserable until it returns. In The Handkerchief, a sober-minded professor lauds stoic virtue when a bereaved mother visits, then later questions whether such composure is moral strength or mere mannerism. Rashōmon shows a desperate servant who, after catching an old hag plucking hair from corpses to make wigs, embraces theft himself. Lice portrays cramped samurai boats riddled with vermin, sparking a comic-philosophical feud over whether to nurture, kill, or even eat the pests. The Spider’s Thread offers a Buddhist parable in which a damned robber’s selfishness snaps his one chance at salvation. The Wine Worm opens on a scorching Chinese threshing floor with a bound wine-lover, a foreign priest, and a Confucian scholar, then begins recounting how the notorious drinker met the famed healer—before the excerpt breaks off.