{"product_id":"the-life-of-a-fool-book-by-ryunosuke-akutagawa","title":"The Life of a Fool Book by  Ryūnosuke Akutagawa","description":"\u003ch4\u003e\u003cspan\u003eA haunting self-portrait — Akutagawa's final masterpiece\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWritten in the final weeks of his life and published posthumously, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eA Fool's Life\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is Ryūnosuke Akutagawa's most intimate and devastating work. In fifty-one spare, jewel-like vignettes, he traces the arc of his own existence — from a young man climbing a bookshop ladder in the gaslight of Meiji Tokyo, burning with the words of Baudelaire and Dostoyevsky, to a man whose hand shakes as he holds the pen.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis is not a conventional autobiography. Each chapter is a flash of image and sensation: a butterfly's wing brushing dry lips, violet sparks from an overhead wire in the rain, a moth-eaten stuffed swan in an antique shop window. Together they form a portrait of an artist who saw the world with unbearable clarity — and could not look away.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAkutagawa completed the manuscript on June 20, 1927. Less than a month later, he was dead.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAbout this translation\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis English translation preserves the spare, luminous quality of Akutagawa's prose — each chapter a single breath, a single image held in the mind. Seven original illustrations in the ukiyo-e woodblock tradition accompany the text.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAbout the author\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eRyūnosuke Akutagawa (1892–1927) is widely regarded as the father of the Japanese short story. His works — including \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eRashōmon\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eIn a Grove\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, and \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eCogwheels\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e — remain among the most celebrated in world literature. Japan's most prestigious literary award, the Akutagawa Prize, bears his name.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Book Lovers BD","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":55615059067171,"sku":null,"price":150.0,"currency_code":"BDT","in_stock":true},{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":55615059099939,"sku":null,"price":280.0,"currency_code":"BDT","in_stock":true},{"title":"eBook","offer_id":55615059132707,"sku":null,"price":150.0,"currency_code":"BDT","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0954\/5872\/2083\/files\/rn-image_picker_lib_temp_4d58bde2-cf81-477b-b40a-e2ddf25210a0.webp?v=1789758144","url":"https:\/\/www.bookloversbd.shop\/products\/the-life-of-a-fool-book-by-ryunosuke-akutagawa","provider":"Book Lovers BD","version":"1.0","type":"link"}