“Dialogue” in Akutagawa Ryunosuke's short stories

Abstract

The article focuses on exploring the dialogue in short stories of Japanese writer Akutagawa Ryunosuke. Applying the dialogue theory of the Bakhtin Circle, we suppose that in Akutagawa's short stories, relationships are established and continuously dialogue, creating many layers of meaning for the text, while they themselves create lines of hidden dialogue. In addition, the use of declearizated style in the narrative makes his short stories always include dialogue. This happens not only between the characters in the story but also between the character\narrator and the reader, placing the reader in the role of co-creating meaning for the work. In terms of ideology, the dialogue in Akutagawa's short stories also deeply expresses his views on human values such as trustworthiness, brotherhood, democracy, or other ethical standards in human life.