Quotes from Ryūnosuke Akutagawa's books, and about them
Kappa on Thus Spoke Zarathustra: “This is Nietzsche, the poet of Thus Spoke Zarathustra. That saint sought salvation in the Superman he himself had created. But he was not saved after all, and went mad. [auto-translated]”
Cogwheels on Inferno: “I remembered the souls turned into trees in Dante's Inferno, and decided to walk on the far side of the tram tracks, where there was nothing but rows of buildings. [auto-translated]”
Cogwheels on Crime and Punishment: “To dispel this fear I began to read Crime and Punishment. But the page I happened to open was a passage from The Brothers Karamazov, and I thought I had picked up the wrong book. [auto-translated]”
Cogwheels on Polikushka: “I lay down on the bed and began to read Tolstoy's Polikouchka. Its hero was a man of complex character, a mixture of vanity, morbid tendencies and ambition. [auto-translated]”
Cogwheels on Legend: “On the second floor of Maruzen I found Strindberg's Legend on a shelf and read a few pages here and there. It described experiences not much different from my own. [auto-translated]”
Cogwheels on A Dark Night's Passing: “After he had finally left, I lay on the bed and began to read A Dark Night's Passing. The hero's spiritual struggles were painfully real to me. [auto-translated]”
Cogwheels on Shakko: “"I'm sending you the reprint of the poetry collection Shakko..." Shakko! I felt some unseen thing sneering at me, and decided to flee from my room. [auto-translated]”
Cogwheels on The Brothers Karamazov: “I began reading "Crime and Punishment" to ease this fear. But the page I happened to open was a passage from The Brothers Karamazov. [auto-translated]”
Cogwheels on Madame Bovary: “Even when I picked up Madame Bovary, which I had read over and over, I felt that I was, after all, nothing but a middle-class Monsieur Bovary myself. [auto-translated]”
Gesaku Zanmai on Nansō Satomi Hakkenden: “The Nansō Satomi Hakkenden, Master, grows ever more wondrous with each volume, and it is splendidly done. Funamushi disguising herself as a blind woman to try to kill Kobungo, and then, once seized and tortured, the rescue by Sōsuke: that sequence is simply beyond words. [auto-translated]”