In a Grove by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa Analysis

In a Grove (1922) is an early modernist short story written by a Japanese writer Ryūnosuke Akutagawa (1892-1927). The story presents seven varying accounts of the murder of a samurai, whose corpse was found in a bamboo forest nearby Kyoto. Each account simultaneously clarifies and complicates what the reader knows about the accident, creating a complex and contradictory vision of events that brings into question humanity’s ability or willingness to perceive and transmit objective truth.