Sign-In
Cart
Theft
Paperback
Series: Ryunosuke Akutagawa Collection, Book 1
Classic FictionGeneral Fiction
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: Jun 7 2026
Pages: 76
Weight: 0.18
Height: 0.16 Width: 5.00 Depth: 8.00
Language: English
Kyoto is sinking into heat, sickness, and neglect. At a crossroads in the old capital, the one-eyed Tarō meets the old woman of Inokuma, and a story of thieves, ruined houses, and dangerous attachments begins to gather around him.
Tarō and his younger brother Jirō live on the edge of the law, bound to a band of outlaws led by the beautiful Shakin, whose presence unsettles everyone around her. What begins as desire soon draws the brothers toward jealousy, suspicion, and a raid that will test every fragile tie between them.
As moonlight falls over Rashōmon and the streets of a decaying city, Akutagawa lets violence, longing, and tenderness move through the same dark world. The story follows people who have learned to survive by theft and cruelty, yet who are still haunted by memory, kinship, and the possibility of grace.
First written in 1917, Theft is one of Ryunosuke Akutagawa's early historical stories. Set in Heian-period Kyoto, it shows the precision, severity, and psychological intensity that made Akutagawa one of the defining masters of modern Japanese short fiction.
Also in
Classic Fiction
James Fenimore Cooper: The Leatherstocking Tales Vol. 1 (Loa #26): The Pioneers / The Last of the Mohicans / The Prairie
Cooper, James Fenimore
Hardcover
Four Comedies: The Taming of the Shrew, a Midsummer Night's Dream, the Merchant of Venice, Twelfth Night
Shakespeare, William
Paperback
The Princess Bride Deluxe Limited Edition: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure
Goldman, William
Paperback
The Fellowship of the Ring: Being the First Part of the Lord of the Rings
Tolkien, J. R. R.
Paperback
The Lord of the Rings Illustrated by the Author: Illustrated by J.R.R. Tolkien
Tolkien, J. R. R.
Hardcover
The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure
Goldman, William
Hardcover
The Pilgrim's Progress: A Readable Modern-Day Version of John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress (Revised and easy-to-read)
Vermilye, Alan
Bunyan, John
Paperback
Frankenstein, Dracula, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Shelley, Mary
Stevenson, Robert Louis
Stoker, Bram
Paperback