Japanese Modern Literature: Edogawa Rampo
The core of the "erotic, grotesque, and nonsense" movement in Japan and its impact on Japanese literature and traditions.
Besides the anime culture and great movie adaptations, Japanese literature has many unique stories and writers who created a major literary movement.
On September 1st, 1923, a major phenomenon happened in Japan: the Great Kanto earthquake, which also brought tsunamis and fires. After the disaster, people lost their lives, properties, and conventions, making the idea of "art for society" old-fashioned and shallow. That led people to focus on the darker sides of human nature. This focus started the "ero-guro-nansensu" movement, which basically means "eroticism, grotesquerie, and nonsensical." One of the leading Japanese writers of this movement was Taro Hirai, or Edogawa Rampo, as his pen name suggests.
This historical period in Japan saw an important increase in the publication of erotic grotesque literature, news articles, and music. The popularity of such media developed during the Great Depression (1929) and faded after the February 26 incident (a coup d'etat).
Following the publication of Edogawa Ranpo's short story "Inju" in the journal Shinseinen in 1928, Japanese society experienced an increase in bizarre and grotesque media. Yumeno Kysaku published his novel Binzume no Jigoku in the same year. "Nansensu" was added to "Ero Guro" about this time as a term that draws on the established feeling of sexual grotesqueness to communicate a specific kind of media, culture, and lifestyle. The release of Edogawa Ranpo's Complete Works in 1932 marks the highest point of this era.
Edogawa Rampo actually studied economics at Waseda University, but he continued his career as a mystery and horror writer and a critic. Taro Hirai was influenced by Edgar Allen Poe; you can also see that when you try to pronounce his penname quickly a few times, as well as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Due to this admiration, his works contain both Western and traditional aspects.
Now, if you love the aftereffects you get whenever you hear something so chilling and that speaks to your intellect, I believe Rampo's stories are just right for you.
"Japanese Tales of Mystery and Imagination" is the collective book containing most of Edogawa Rampo's scary short stories.
Imagine a man meeting another man who carries a weird painting on a train and says that his older brother is stuck in the painting, or a woman cheating on her sick husband and coming to the point of deciding whether to save him or not. Have you ever wondered what your reflection would be like inside a globe covered with mirrors, or how someone would murder ninety-nine people indirectly? Is it possible to apply a psychological test to find a criminal, or what would it be like to live inside a couch?
These are some of the questions that Rampo's stories make you wonder, and all of them have unexpected outcomes and plot twists that would satisfy a mystery and a horror/thriller fan more than enough.
If you are interested, there is also the Turkish translation of the book published by "İthaki," which is called "Aynalar Cehennemi ve Diğer Öyküler," or you could find the original version of the book on the internet.
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