The present volume brings together twenty-one selected stories and prose texts, not previously available in German, from all creative phases of the great Japanese narrator, poet, and essayist Akutagawa Ryunosuke (1892-1927). His stylistically and thematically diverse work is highly regarded in Japan, embodying the transition from tradition through modernity to post-modernity. Founded in 1935, the award bearing Akutagawa's name is now the most highly regarded literary prize in Japan, and many of his stories, which continue to be popular today, are read in Japanese schools.