‘Patient X: The Case-Book of Ryūnosuke Akutagawa’ by David Peace (Review)

After reading the excellent Hell of Solitude recently, and then fitting in a cheeky reread of Rashōmon and Seventeen Other Stories, I was browsing online for more work by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa when I stumbled across something very intriguing. However, rather than a book *by* the famed Japanese writer, it was a work *about* him, and constructed in a fairly unusual manner. Well, I suspect you know how that story ended (with a workout for my credit card), and today’s post has me telling you all about the book, one that pays homage to Akutagawa in more ways than one. ***** Patient X: The Case-Book of Ryūnosuke Akutagawa is English writer David Peace’s tribute to the great man. It’s a novel in twelve parts, followed by a summary of Akutagawa’s life and literary career in which Peace outlines his work and importance to Japanese literature, yet while this post-script plays it straight, what precedes it is anything but. From the first page, the author’s preface sets the scene, explaining how…