There is a reason why Ryunosuke Akutagawa’s short stories are still being studied in thousands of schools all over the world. “In a (Bamboo) Grove” is in the curriculum of two high school subjects in the school where I teach, and to review for our discussion, I did my annual re-read of a volume I first read a decade ago: the Penguin edition translated by Jay Rubin, with an introduction by Haruki Murakami.
There’s always something new, some fresh insight into the shadows of human nature, with each revisit.
Murakami wrote how “national writers” like Akutagawa are integral to the formation of a common cultural identity (he calls it “subliminal imprinting”).
Interestingly enough, the translator counts “Hell Screen” as the gem among the 18 stories in the collection, while Murakami praises “Spinning Gears” above the rest.
“In a (Bamboo) Grove” is taught in Philosophy classes as well as English classes because it features several unreliable narrators and forces the reader to play detective. A murder is committed, and we are left with several testimonies as clues. The classic story features one of life’s lessons that comes with maturity, but comes as a shock to some teenagers: how one event can have several different interpretations, to underscore how much of a social construct “reality” is, in that it requires other people’s verification of one’s version. Otherwise it’s all just in your head.
To read an author is to visit, however briefly, his mind. And to be perfectly honest, Akutagawa’s isn’t a very pleasant place to be in. I think of his life as the tension between Old Japan and New Japan made real, with all the instability that comes from samurai walking around fifty years ago in his time, but then being educated in the most Western manner possible. A clash of civilizations, indeed, with poor, brilliant Akutagawa one of its tragic casualties.
This makes one reflect on how much a country's narrative for its cultural identity is woven with our personal narrative for our own soul.
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