This collection features a brilliant new translation of the Japanese master's stories, from the source for the movie Rashōmon to his later, more autobiographical writings. Ryūnosuke Akutagawa (1892-1927) is one of Japan's foremost stylists - a modernist master whose short stories are marked by highly original imagery, cynicism, beauty and wild humour. 'Rashōmon' and 'In a Bamboo Grove' inspired Kurosawa's magnificent film and depict a past in which morality is turned upside down, while tales such as 'The Nose', 'O-Gin' and 'Loyalty' paint a rich and imaginative picture of a medieval Japan peopled by Shoguns and priests, vagrants and peasants. And in later works such as 'Death Register', 'The Life of a Stupid Man' and 'Spinning Gears', Akutagawa drew from his own life to devastating effect, revealing his intense melancholy and terror of madness in exquisitely moving impressionistic stories.

A narrative written in the 1830s and in public domain - an example of good writing skills for short story writers. Portada: A Nose Adjustment (Face Farce) 1971 Arnulf Rainer

'It was a wonderful night, the kind of night that can perhaps only happen when we are young, dear reader.' With this sentence, Dostoyevsky opens his story of an incipient love that arises from the chance encounter between the lonely narrator and the young Nastenka. Over four nights, the two reveal their fears and longings to each other. But Nastenka's heart belongs to someone else. Dostoyevsky's 'sensitive novel' tells of unfulfilled love in a moving and sensitive way.