The Life of a Stupid Man

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'What is the life of a human being — a drop of dew, a flash of lightning? This is so sad, so sad.'

Autobiographical stories from one of Japan's masters of modernist story-telling.

Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th-century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions.

Ryunosuke Akutagawa (1892–1927). Akutagawa's Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories is also available in Penguin Classics.

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50 printed pages

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Impressions

Theodore Maurice August "Vanderboom" Scarletshared an impression2 years ago
👍Worth reading
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Quotes

Despandrihas quotedyesterday
‘It is unfortunate for the gods that, unlike us, they cannot commit suicide.’
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Despandrihas quotedyesterday
he was ashamed of himself and afraid of them – afraid of the society he so despised.
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Despandrihas quoted6 days ago
She did once give him a bottle of cyanide with the remark, ‘As long as we have this, it will give us both strength.’

And it did indeed give him strength. Sitting in a rattan chair, observing the new growth of a shii tree, he often thought of the peace that death would give him.
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