Tales grotesque and curious by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa
QR code
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. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
Download for free
For your e-reader or reading app — Kindle, Kobo, Apple Books, Calibre etc.
Kindle → Use Send-to-Kindle
Kobo, Nook etc → Transfer via USB
Phone, tablet or computer → Open in a reading app
Other formats & older devices
There may be more files related to this item.
About this eBook
| Author | Akutagawa, Ryūnosuke, 1892-1927 |
|---|---|
| Translator | Shaw, Glenn W. (Glenn William), 1886-1961 |
| Title | Tales grotesque and curious |
| Original Publication | Japan: The Hokuseido Press, 1930. |
| Contents | Tobacco and the devil -- The nose -- The handkerchief -- Rashōmon -- Lice -- The spider's thread -- The wine worm -- The badger -- The ball -- The pipe -- Mōri Sensei. |
| Credits | Hendrik Kaiber and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from scanned images of public domain material from the Google Books project.) |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | PL: Language and Literatures: Languages and literatures of Eastern Asia, Africa, Oceania |
| Subject | Japan -- Social life and customs -- Fiction |
| Subject | Short stories, Japanese -- Translations into English |
| Category | Text |
| eBook-No. | 78105 |
| Release Date | Mar 4, 2026 |
| Copyright | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 6917 downloads in the last 30 days. |
Project Gutenberg eBooks are always free!