الوصف
“Kappa” by Ryunosuke Akutagawa (1927) is a satirical novella that explores existential themes through the eyes of a mental patient. He recounts his surreal journey to the land of the Kappa, mythical creatures from Japanese folklore.
In the Kappa world, social norms are inverted: fetuses decide whether to be born, theft is acceptable, and art exists without regard for public understanding. As the protagonist observes these strange customs, he becomes increasingly disillusioned with human society, drawing parallels between the absurdities of both worlds.
The story reflects Akutagawa’s struggles with depression and alienation shortly before his suicide, offering a dark critique of societal values and human existence.
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Akutagawa Ryūnosuke (芥川 龍之介) was one of the first prewar Japanese writers to achieve a wide foreign readership, partly because of his technical virtuosity, partly because his work seemed to represent imaginative fiction as opposed to the mundane accounts of the I-novelists of the time, partly because of his brilliant joining of traditional material to a modern sensibility, and partly because of film director Kurosawa Akira's masterful adaptation of two of his short stories for the screen.
Akutagawa was born in the Kyōbashi district Tokyo as the eldest son of a dairy operator named Shinbara Toshizō and his wife Fuku. He was named "Ryūnosuke" ("Dragon Offshoot") because he was born in the Year of the Dragon, in the Month of the Dragon, on the Day of the Dragon, and at the Hour of the Dragon (8 a.m.). Seven months after Akutagawa's birth, his mother went insane and he was adopted by her older brother, taking the Akutagawa family name. Despite the shadow this experience cast over Akutagawa's life, he benefited from the traditional literary atmosphere of his uncle's home, located in what had been the "downtown" section of Edo.
ريونوسكي أكوتاغاوا كاتب ياباني من فترة تايشو في عصر ميجي، أيْ بعد ربع قرن من بداية حركة التحديث والتنوير اليابانية التي بدأتْ بإعادة الساموراي مقاليدَ السلطة والحكم إلى الإمبراطور. درس أكوتاغاوا الأدب الإنجليزيّ في جامعة طوكيو الإمبراطورية، وبدأ في الكتابة والنشر وهو ما يزال طالبًا في الجامعة.
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