“In a Bamboo

Grove”

(Yabu no naka )Ryūnosuke Akutagawa

Ryūnosuke Akutagawa (1892 — 1927)

Founder of modern Japanese literature

Name: “Son [of] Dragon”

Author of more than 150 short stories

Inherited a mental disease from his mother

Committed suicide at the age of 35

Father of a famous actor and a great composer

Japan’s most prestigious literary award bears his name

Ryūnosuke Akutagawa:Between East and West

Degree in English literature

Translator of European authors

Interest for history and traditional Japanese literature

Use of Japanese classics and folklore

European style of writing

“In a Bamboo Grove” (1921)

Plot

Traditional story told untraditionally

The semantic role of details (how do details create meaning?)

Points of view and narrators

Who tells the truth?

Who is the “someone” at the end?

Plot

The plot is only one of many aspects of a work of fiction. In some works the plot is very basic and unimportant.

The plot is necessary to create suspense and keep readers’ interest .

The plot serves to maintain character development.

There is a limited number of possible plots. One and the same story can be retold in many ways.

The plot can be linear and non-linear (flashbacks and flash-forwards).

The main question might be not “What happened?” but “How is it happening?”

RASHOMON: CLASSIC FILMINSPIRED BY AKUTAGAWA’S STORIES

“In a Bamboo Grove” and another story, “Rashomon,” were filmed by Akira Kurosawa in 1950.

RASHOMON trailer

Crime witnesses