"Hell screen"

In this article, Caleb shares his opinion on the Japanese short story literature composition Hell Screen.

"Hell screen"

By: Caleb Sullivan

“Hell Screen” is a short story by Ryunosuke Akutagawa, originally published in 1918. Akutagawa was a great Japanese writer active in the Taisho period. He is regarded as the "father of the Japanese short story", and Japan's premier literary award, the Akutagawa Prize, is named after him. "Hell Screen" is a short fiction story taking place during the reign of Emperor Horikawa in the late 11th century. The story is about the tormented painter Yoshihide, who is commissioned by his lord, Horikawa, to paint a horrific scene depicting the Buddhist hells. By the end, he becomes so artistically obsessed, despite his desire to reclaim his daughter, that he ends up losing her.

Cover of Hell Screen short story book. Cover design by Coralie Bickford-Smith

Photograph of Ryunosuke Akutagawa in 2003

"Hell Screen" is not the only good story Ryunosuke made; he has made many other interesting and entertaining popular short pieces of literature, such as “The Spider’s Thread”, “The Nose”, and “Kappa”. "The Spider’s Thread" is about when the Buddha notices one with a single good deed, sparing the life of a spider. As an act of mercy, he sends him a spider thread. The sinner, Kandata, climbs the thread in glee, but stops once noticing that other sinners are trying to climb the thread, causing the thread to snap, and Kandata falls back into the pools of Hell. The Nose tells a story of a Buddhist Monk, Zenchi, who is subconscious of his abnormally long nose. Tired of being mocked, he has surgery to shorten it to a normal size, but he is still mocked and learns that people were not laughing at his nose, rather his ego and how much he cares about how he appears. In the end, his nose turns back to normal, and he is happy. Finally, "The Kappa" is a short story that tells the perspective of a man committed to a mental asylum, where he recounts his time living in a land inhabited by Kappa.

This short story is an enjoyable and appealing read. Its horrific, yet beautifully written imagery is constantly spewed throughout the pages: appealing to both horror and historical fiction. This opinion is also shared by Diana, a Goodreads reviewer: “Akutagawa's story may be short, but it also evokes the most powerful imagery. The author was a master of storytelling, and in this story, we are presented with vivid descriptions that he also coupled with the peculiarly Japanese literary minimalism.” Not only that but, towards the end, it invokes such strong emotions that shock the reader. The ending and the final missing piece of the painting is so unexpected, though it is supposed to depict Hell-- and what is Hell without loss?

The uniqueness and power of this compilation leaves it destined to have good reviews. On Goodreads, it has an average rating of 4.17, and on Mywordlyobsessions, a personal website from a book lover that shares their thoughts on a vast variety of books, there is a rating of 4.5 stars. Both share their appeal for their dark, strong, yet beautiful depictions of beauty and suffering. The beauty lies in its ugly descriptions-- amazing, yet disgusting at the same time, splitting the reader's brain into two sides where they cannot help but want to read more. Once the reader reaches the end, they are disappointed and want more, but are left proud to have read the book and accepted its impact.

This book has strongly impacted my views on art and my interpretation of such art-- causing me to be more welcoming but more critical, with darker subjects becoming more appealing. And it all lies in what I believe to be its strongest quote, as well as my favorite quote in literature: “Other painters are such mediocrities, they cannot appreciate the beauty of ugliness.” If nothing were ugly, nothing would be beautiful, and we find life and humanity to be beautiful, but it is indeed the most evil and ugly at the same time: two sides of the spectrum. With all that said, this is one of my favorite books, and I am going to be giving it a 5/5 because of the small, yet beautifully compact text, and readers can feel like they have been on a journey, but it has only been one to two hours.

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