' 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 & diversity of Penguin Classics with books from around the world & 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 & the Russian steppe Here are stories lyrical & savage; poems epic & intimate; essays satirical & inspirational; & ideas that have shaped the lives of millions Ryunosuke Akutagawa (1892-1927) Akutagawa's Rashomon & Seventeen Other Stories is also available in Penguin Classics