1. “In a Bamboo Grove” (Yabu no naka )
Ryūnosuke Akutagawa

2. Ryūnosuke Akutagawa (1892 — 1927)
Founder of modern Japanese literature
Name: “Son [of] Dragon”
Author of more than 150 short stories
Inherited a mental disease from his mother
Committed suicide at the age of 35
Father of a famous actor and a great composer
Japan’s most prestigious literary award bears his name

3. Ryūnosuke Akutagawa: Between East and West
Degree in English literature
Translator of European authors
Interest for history and traditional Japanese literature
Use of Japanese classics and folklore
European style of writing

4. “In a Bamboo Grove” (1921) Plot Traditional story told untraditionally
The semantic role of details (how do details create meaning?)
Points of view and narrators
Who tells the truth?
Who is the “someone” at the end?

5. Plot
The plot is only one of many aspects of a work of fiction. In some works the plot is very basic and unimportant.
The plot is necessary to create suspense and keep readers’ interest .
The plot serves to maintain character development.
There is a limited number of possible plots. One and the same story can be retold in many ways.
The plot can be linear and non-linear (flashbacks and flash-forwards).
The main question might be not “What happened?” but “How is it happening?”

6. RASHOMON: CLASSIC FILM INSPIRED BY AKUTAGAWA’S STORIES
“In a Bamboo Grove” and another story, “Rashomon,” were filmed by Akira Kurosawa in RASHOMON trailer Crime witnesses