Hell of Solitude: Selected Writings of Ryūnosuke Akutagawa - Softcover

Über die Autorinnen und Autoren

Ryūnosuke Akutagawa (1892–1927), born in Tokyo, Japan, was the author of more than 350 works of fiction and non- fiction, including Rashōmon, The Spider’s Thread, Hell Screen, Kappa, and In a Grove. Japan’s premier literary award for emerging writers, the Akutagawa Prize, is named after him.

Ryan Choi’s books include In Dreams: The Very Short Stories of Ryūnosuke Akutagawa and Three Demons: A Study on Sanki Saitō's Haiku. He is an editor at AGNI. His writings and translations have appeared in Harper’s Magazine, Los Angeles Review of Books, The Nation, The New Criterion, Raritan, Times Literary Supplement, and elsewhere. He lives in Honolulu, Hawaii, where he was born and raised.

Polly Barton is a literary translator and writer. Her translations from Japanese to English include Butter by Asako Yuzuki, The Woman Dies and Where the Wild Ladies Are by Aoko Matsuda, and There’s No Such Thing as an Easy Job by Kikuko Tsumura. Her English-language translation of Hunchback by Saou Ichikawa was longlisted for the International Booker Prize 2025. Barton has written the books Fifty Sounds and Porn: An Oral History, both published by Fitzcarraldo Editions, and her debut novel What am I, a Deer? comes out in 2026.