Rashomon Gate

Ryunosuke Akutagawa (1892-1927) is a classic of Japanese literature, a sophisticated psychologist, possessor of a bright visionary gift, a brilliant novelist who received recognition during his lifetime. At the age of 35, driven to despair by life circumstances, fearing to repeat the fate of his mother, who lost her mind, the writer took a large dose of sleeping pills. "He wanted to live so frantically that he could die at any moment without regret," Akutagawa wrote in his last autobiographical work. And he lived wildly.

His novels - fantastic and realistic, historical and modern - are distinguished by an exquisite interweaving of fiction and reality, deep psychologism, paradoxical judgments and subtle irony. With his works, he forces the reader to think about what truth is and whether a person is able to grasp it.