Sunday, November 04, 2007
Rashomon
I have just finished reading Rashomon by Ryunosuke Akutagawa.
This was a collection of short stories by a famous Japanese
writer. There is a great film called Rashomon, that starts
with a man walking in some trees. The book makes an appearance
in the film "ghost dog" as well.
A good piece of writing can warm my soul for a long
time. I could feel the influence of a story called
"hell screen" for a couple of days. There was a lot of ambiguity about
the story, which describes a terrible but fascinating event.
Ryunosuke changed writing styles later on his life. He started
by writing historical stories, but later the stories were
more autobiographical (set in the early part of the twentieth century).
The last story was called "spinning gears". It involved him just jotting
down things he felt and saw, some of which may have been real.
He was so sensitive and depressed. I feel the same way when I have
not talked to anyone for a couple of days.
Labels:
books