Introducing Little Clothbound Classics: irresistible mini editions of short stories novellas
and essays from the world's greatest writers designed by the award-winning Coralie
Bickford-Smith. Celebrating the range and diversity of Penguin Classics they take us from
snowy Japan to springtime Vienna from haunted New England to a sun-drenched Mediterranean
island and from a game of chess on the ocean to a love story on the moon. Beautifully designed
and printed these collectible editions are bound in colourful tactile cloth and stamped with
foil. Akutagawa was one of the towering figures of modern Japanese literature and is
considered the father of the Japanese short story. This paradigmatic selection which includes
the stories that inspired Akira Kurosawa's 1950 film Rashomon showcases the terrible beauty
cynicism sublime pain and absurd humour of his writing. 'One never tires of reading and
re-reading his best works. The elegantly spare style has a truly spine-tingling brilliance' -
Haruki Murakami
