{"product_id":"hell-of-solitude","title":"Hell of Solitude: Selected Writings of Ryūnosuke Akutagawa","description":"\u003cp\u003eTranslation by Ryan Choi\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAn essential selection of fiction, poetry, and philosophical prose by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa that illuminates the restless brilliance of one of modern literature’s most influential voices. With a foreword by Polly Barton.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHell of Solitude presents a bold and varied selection of writings by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, one of the central figures of twentieth-century Japanese literature. Bringing together fiction, poetry, and philosophical prose—much of it appearing in English for the first time—this collection showcases the range and intensity of Akutagawa’s imagination.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMoving from the whimsical and fantastical to the grave and introspective, the pieces reveal a writer of extraordinary clarity and psychological depth. Interwoven throughout are poems from a prolific body of verse, examples of which are sparse in English, alongside ‘Art and Other Things’, a fragmentary essay in which Akutagawa expounds his aesthetic views while drawing on examples from world literature and art.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTranslated with sensitivity and precision by Ryan Choi, Hell of Solitude offers a vital reintroduction to a writer whose lucidity, irony, and existential unease continue to resonate across cultures and generations.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e~ ~ ~ ~ ~\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePraise:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e‘One never tires of reading and re-reading his best works… The flow of his language is the best feature of Akutagawa’s style. Never stagnant, it moves along like a living thing.’ – Haruki Murakami\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e‘The quintessential writer of his era.’ – David Peace\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e‘Extravagance and horror are in his work, but never in the style, which is always crystal-clear.’ – Jorge Luis Borges\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e‘At long last, a new volume of Akutagawa’s writing has been ushered into English by the consummate translator Ryan Choi. He has rendered the master storyteller’s previously unavailable prose pieces and poetry more readable than ever. The exquisite subtlety and inimitable charm of the tales, sketches, and poems in this volume will captivate new readers and scholars alike.’ – L. S. Popovich, author of The Arden\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e‘For the past decade, Ryan Choi has quietly been doing the heroic work of bringing Akutagawa’s lesser-known writings into English. What we are given in this collection are impressions and observations, anecdotes, philosophical digressions, stories that read like poems that read like dreams remembered the morning after. The writings are restrained, understated, precise and fractured. The surfaces of these texts crackle with the charge of Akutagawa’s inimitable mind. Choi’s translations are a revelation.’ – Stephen Mortland\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e‘Choi is Akutagawa’s boldest – and best – translator. Hell of Solitude restores Akutagawa, the most daring architect of modern Japanese literature, to his rightful state: bewildering beauty, a cascade of shifting rhythms and forms, and the penetrating alertness of a truly aesthetic mind. Akutagawa’s soul is here in this book-shaped vessel, waiting to be known.’ – Dreux Richard\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53617595220315,"sku":null,"price":18.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0569\/8951\/5850\/files\/zabriskie_hell_of_solitude.jpg?v=1784563292","url":"https:\/\/zabriskie.de\/products\/hell-of-solitude","provider":"Zabriskie Buchladen für Kultur und Natur","version":"1.0","type":"link"}