Introducing Little Clothbound Classics irresistible mini editions of short stories novellas and essays from the worlds greatest writers designed by the awardwinning Coralie BickfordSmith. Celebrating the range and diversity of Penguin Classics they take us from snowy Japan to springtime Vienna from haunted New England to a sundrenched 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 Kurosawas 1950 film Rashomon showcases the terrible beauty cynicism sublime pain and absurd humour of his writing.One never tires of reading and rereading his best works. The elegantly spare style has a truly spinetingling brilliance Haruki Murakami