3 Strange Tales

About

Four stories from the writer who cracked open Japanese fiction and let the darkness in. "Rashōmon" — a servant at a ruined gate debates whether starvation or theft is the greater evil. "In a Grove" — seven witnesses to a samurai's death give seven irreconcilable accounts. "A Christian Death" — a convert in Nagasaki faces martyrdom with an ambiguity that unsettles both believers and skeptics. And "Agni" — appearing in English for the first time — adds a new dimension to Akutagawa's obsession with fire, destruction, and moral ruin. These are the stories that taught Japanese literature to distrust certainty. Akutagawa writes with surgical brevity — each tale barely long enough to sit with before it cuts. New translations that bring fresh precision to stories you may think you know. You don't — not like this.