As an unprecedented short story writer in Japan, most of Akutagawa's works included in "A Love Story" are short stories, with only "Theft" being a novella. In order to show the development of the writer's views on love, marriage, and women, this book attempts to arrange it in a time context and select 14 love-themed short stories from Akutagawa's more than 140 novels. Among them, "Adventures" and "Epilogue Letter" are placed at the beginning of the volume, allowing readers to appreciate Akutagawa's traditional Chinese cultural qualities and traditional literati feelings, and also understand Akutagawa's excitement and expectations before traveling in China. The romantic fantasy in "Adventure" brings a gleam of light to the book, but its twists and turns of advancement also retain the author's consistent rational cognitive perspective, which is also the keynote of Akutagawa's view of love. However, we cannot deny Akutagawa's tender side. The "Epilogue Letter", which is as poignant as a prose poem, is rich in the writer's emotions and is actually a cultural story. The brotherhood in "Theft" and the author's affection for the idiot girl A Nong are also worthy of attention.
Reader comments
This book contains many short stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa, and the stories are all wonderful! I especially like "Adventure" and "Letter at the End", the plots are romantic and poignant. And I think Akutagawa's portrayal of the characters is very delicate, which allowed me to better understand the emotions in the story. But it's a pity that he has to set off before he can finish reading the required books. I wonder what wonderful experiences he will have during his trip to China! I really hope he can write all this into the novel.
It was so well written that I almost fell asleep while reading it. I also gave the author a five-star review.
This book contains many short stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa, and the stories are all wonderful! I especially like "Adventure" and "Letter at the End", the plots are romantic and poignant. And I think Akutagawa's portrayal of the characters is very delicate, which allowed me to better understand the emotions in the story. But it's a pity that he has to set off before he can finish reading the required books. I wonder what wonderful experiences he will have during his trip to China! I really hope he can write all this into the novel.
It was so well written that I almost fell asleep while reading it. I also gave the author a five-star review.