A review by augustimely
Mandarins by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa

4.0

“What good is intelligence if you cannot discover a useful melancholy?”

Mandarins is a selection of short stories from one of Japan’s early modern literary giants, Ryunosuke Akutagawa. My acquaintance with Akutagawa came (unsurprisingly) from a little anime series called ‘Bungo Stray Dogs’ (lit. Literary Stray Dogs). When I found out that the characters were named and loosely based on real-life Japanese authors, I immediately scoured the web for their biographies and most especially, their books.

My romance with Akutagawa was something of a literary slow-burn; I took my time with this collection, intentionally did not devour these stories in a two-day binge. And it’s the space and breaks in-between that allowed me to savor the intelligence and ruminate on the melancholic irony of Akutagawa’s plots and characters.

Often the stories serve as social commentary in the guise of human dramas. At times, they veer towards the bleakly autobiographical. But they are all tied together by the genius of Akutagawa’s pen.

I’m still thinking about the last story; it’s so painful, so human. I’m glad I watch anime.