Hell Screen

E181244

Hell Screen is a dark, psychologically intense short story by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa that explores artistic obsession, cruelty, and moral decay in medieval Japan.

All labels observed (1)

Label Occurrences
Hell Screen canonical 1

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (42)

Predicate Object
instanceOf Japanese literature work
short story
adaptation film adaptations in Japan
stage adaptations
antagonist the Lord
author Ryūnosuke Akutagawa
centralCharacter Yoshihide
centralCharacterRole painter
countryOfOrigin Japan
criticalReputation classic of modern Japanese short fiction
explores the boundary between representation and reality
the complicity of bystanders in cruelty
the destructive nature of obsession
the ethics of artistic creation
firstPublicationForm magazine publication
genre dark fiction
horror fiction
psychological fiction
influencedBy Buddhist conceptions of hell
Japanese medieval court culture
literaryMovement Taishō period literature
literaryTechnique frame narrative elements
unreliable narration
mainTheme abuse of power
artistic obsession
cruelty
moral decay
the relationship between art and reality
motif artistic perfection at any cost
depictions of Buddhist hells
fire
torture
narrativePerspective first-person narrator
narratorRole retainer of a feudal lord
originalLanguage Japanese
partOf Ryūnosuke Akutagawa short story collections
settingPeriod medieval Japan
settingPlace Heian-era court
studiedIn Japanese literature courses
world literature courses
tone dark
psychologically intense

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Ryūnosuke Akutagawa notableWork Hell Screen