芥川龙之介是位相当复杂、一言难尽的作家,既阴郁,又激烈;既是日本文学的正宗,又是日本文学的异端。从前我写文章称谷崎润一郎是“二十世纪最具日本文学特色的日本作家”,换个说法,芥川龙之介则是“日本最具二十世纪文学特色的日本作家”。如果说谷崎以及川端康成是在现实之中昭示了传统,芥川则是在传统之中呈现了现实。芥川是最先也最深刻感受到“现代”来临的人。这几位的共同之处在于具有十足的日本味,不像后来的 Akutagawa Ryunosuke is a rather complicated and hard-pressed writer, both gloomy and fierce; he is both an authentic Japanese literature and a heresy of Japanese literature. I used to write that Tanimori Tanizaki is “the most Japanese writer in the twentieth century with the most Japanese literature.” In other words, Akutagawa Ryunosuke is “Japan’s most Japanese writer of the twentieth century literature.” If we say that Tanizaki and Kawabata Yasunari made the tradition manifest in reality, Akutagawa presented the reality among the traditions. Akutagawa is the first and most profound person to feel “modern” coming. What these few have in common is that they have a full Japanese taste, unlike later