Osamu Dazai

Blue Bamboo is a collection of seven short stories by one of Japan's preeminent postwar writers and prose stylists, Osamu Dazai. Not the typical romantic fantasies so often seen in Japanese writing, filled with water sprites and vengeful ghosts, these stories are a mixture of fantastic allegory, slightly skewed fables, and affecting romantic tales. Revealing the wide range of Dazai's imaginative powers, they also give a glimpse of his humane and idealistic side. From the title story, about an impoverished, henpecked scholar who is transformed by the love of a voluptuous bird, to "The Chrysanthemum Spirit," about a passionate gardener who meets a brother and sister with extraordinary powers, Dazai creates a world of fantasy and romance that is infused with his own psychological concerns. Many readers may recall the poignancy of Oscar Wilde's The Happy Prince or Han Christian Andersen. The collection is capped by two delightful stories-within-a-story, in which the assorted members of a quirky family compose alternate episodes of a slightly gothic romance with hints of Poe and Saki (in "On Love and Beauty") and a wildly elaborate retelling of Rapunzel that is engaging, horrifying, and touching by turns (in "Lanterns of Romance"). All in all, these warm, inventive, and life-affirming stories will strike a deep, satisfying chord in many readers.

A glimpse into the humorous, sardonic world of Dazai Osamu, presenting a new and very different look at a one of the recognized masters of Japanese, and indeed global, literature. These works from the middle years of his brief career show a skilled hand, with angst muted and his penchant for subtle comedy deftly displayed. Scholars and fans often divide the career of Dazai Osamu (1909-1948) into three periods: early, middle, and late. The early and late periods tend to get all the attention, but in fact Dazai was at his very best in the middle period, which corresponds roughly to the years of the Pacific War. All the stories in this collection, with the exception of the early "Romanesque," were written during that time.

Una chica joven, de familia pobre, se ve obligada a cometer un robo por amor. Una mujer mayor confiesa que una noche, muchos años atrás, se sintió fuertemente atraída por un hombre al que apenas conocía. Un ama de casa narra su sufrimiento al descubrir que su marido tiene una amante. Una muchacha narra cómo empeoró su vida tras recibir un premio literario… Los relatos incluidos en Colegiala abordan con tremenda delicadeza y exquisitez el universo femenino y sus contradicciones: la vergüenza, el amor no correspondido, la incomprensión ante la muerte de un ser querido, la felicidad extrema o, simplemente, los pensamientos que pasan por la cabeza de una adolescente japonesa de posguerra.

Features 11 outstanding works by Osamu Dazai, widely regarded as one of 20th century Japan's most gifted writers and a master teller of tales. Dazai experimented with a wide variety of short story styles and brought to each a sophisticated sense of humor, a broad empathy for the human condition, and a tremendous literary talent. This book showcases a range of his styles from the poignant childhood recollections of "Memories", to the samurai buffoonery of "A Poor Man's Got His Pride", to reworked folk classics such as the title story. By turns hilarious, ironic, introspective, mystical and sarcastic, the eleven stories present the most fully rounded portrait available of a tragic, multifaceted genius of modern Japanese letters.

Suenan las sirenas. Las baterías antiaéreas rugen con su estruendo atronador. Los bombarderos B-29 se aproximan a Tokio para soltar su mortífera carga. Pero, en un estrecho refugio casero, un padre con una imaginación muy particular construye un mundo de fantasía con el que entretener a su hija. Mientras lee en voz alta y afectada los cuentos de un libro ilustrado para niños, en su mente van tomando forma otras historias en absoluto infantiles pero siempre divertidas, impredecibles y mordaces. «La historia de Urashima», «La montaña Kachi-kachi», «El gorrión de la lengua cortada» y «El lobanillo desaparecido» son cuatro de los cuentos más célebres de Japón, que en esta inusual versión de Osamu Dazai se transforman en una sátira provocadora e hilarante de la eterna guerra de sexos. En esta edición se ha incluido también la versión original de los cuentos.

Dazai's timeless tale of fame, doubt, family and critics. A brand new translation from Maplopo.

Mă simt ca un paria din clipa în care am venit pe lume. O nălucă imbecilă, un cadavru viu. Rebut uman incurabil. Capodopera și testamentul lui Osamu Dazai, al doilea cel mai bine vândut roman japonez din toate timpurile, reunește temele recurente din viața autorului: suicidul, alienarea socială și depresia. Zugrăvindu-se ca pe un ratat, protagonistul romanului narează o viață aparent normală, cu toate că se simte incapabil să înțeleagă ființele umane. Încercările lui Oba Yozo de a se reconcilia cu lumea din jurul său încep din copilărie, continuând pe durata liceului, când devine un „clovn” pentru a-și masca înstrăinarea, iar în cele din urmă conduc la o tentativă eșuată de suicid la maturitate. Fără pic de sentimentalism, eroul consemnează cruzimile obișnuite ale vieții și clipele ei trecătoare de tandrețe și conexiune umană. Semiautobiografic, Dezumanizat a ajuns să „dea glas sentimentelor tineretului” (Hiroshi Ando, The Mainichi Daily News) din Japonia postbelică până în societatea tehnologică postmodernă, fiind o explorare puternică a înstrăinării unui individ de societate. Un roman atemporal. Lupta individului de a se integra într-o societate normalizantă rămâne la fel de relevantă astăzi ca atunci când Dazai a scris acest roman. William BradburyThe Japan Times

Kazuko, la joven narradora de El declive, vive con su madre en una casa del pudiente barrio tokiota de Nishikata. La muerte del padre, y la derrota de Japón en la Segunda Guerra Mundial, han reducido considerablemente los recursos de la familia, hasta el extremo de tener que vender la casa y trasladarse a la península de Izu. La frágil armonía de la vida en el campo, donde Kazuko cultiva la tierra y cuida de su madre enferma, se verá alterada por la aparición de una serpiente, símbolo de muerte en la familia, y de Naoji, hermano de Kazuko ex adicto al opio que desapareció en el frente. La llegada de Naoji, cuyo único interés consiste en beberse el poco dinero que les queda, empujará a Kazuko a rebelarse contra la vieja moral en una última tentativa de escapar de una asfixiante existencia. La publicación original de El declive en 1947 convirtió a su autor en una celebridad entre la juventud nipona de posguerra. Sin embargo, Dazai, enfermo de tuberculosis y acosado por sus demonios interiores, no pudo gozar del éxito de la novela y un año después, en 1948, se suicidó junto a su amante. La otra novela del autor de Indigno de ser humano y enfant terrible de las letras japonesas del siglo XX.

Un mundo cerrado, en ruinas, sin salida ni amanecer a la vista es lo que se retrata en El Ocaso, caída del sol y de sueños de grandeza en el otrora Imperio del sol naciente. Tras la II Guerra mundial la inestabilidad y la angustia se apoderan de las nuevas generaciones japonesas. Un universo de tradiciones y castas militares se desmorona. Esta novela narra la historia de una desconcertada familia aristócrata al tiempo que cada página va explorando una región de la moderna conciencia nipona. Una madre prisionera del pasado, un recién llegado del frente adicto a la droga y a los tugurios húmedos, y una joven en busca de amor, de explicaciones y de nuevos caminos son los protagonistas abatidos y aislados que se tocan casi tangencialmente. Refugios individuales y mucha incomunicación son las claves que nos acercan al paraíso perdido, un lugar donde el sol poniente asedia y agota personajes y circunstancias hasta acabar, tras la publicación de este libro, con la propia vida de su autor.

「無頼派」「新戯作派」の破滅型作家を代表する昭和初期の小説家、太宰治の短編小説。初出は「若草」［1939（昭和14）年］。自分の歌を失い、無為徒食の日々を過ごした「私」が、「生活のつぶやき」とでもいうべき作品を書き続けるうち、自分の作品から自分の文学の進むべき路を知らされるという話で、それまでの苦悩から再生への祈りと明るい希望がこもった作品。

La guerra è terminata da pochi mesi, il Giappone è un Paese ferito e lacerato tra le memorie di un passato aristocratico e uno stile di vita che già guarda ai modelli dei vincitori occidentali, senza tuttavia riuscire a liberarsi di quella «moralità obsoleta» che ha imperato per secoli. Anche Kazuko è ferita e lacerata: morto il padre da molti anni, finito con un divorzio e senza figli il suo matrimonio, disperso nel Pacifico del Sud il fratello Naoji, tutto ciò che le rimane della sua nobile famiglia è una madre dall'istintiva eleganza, ormai anziana e malata. Senza più un soldo, le due donne sono costrette a lasciare la casa di Tōkyo e trasferirsi in campagna, dove Kazuko dovrà imparare a lavorare la terra, in attesa del ritorno di Naoji. Sarà proprio con l'arrivo del reduce, divenuto dipendente dalle droghe, che la vicenda di Kazuko avrà un drammatico sviluppo. Pubblicato nel 1947, "Il sole si spegne" è un romanzo di grande intensità emotiva che ebbe enorme influenza nella società giapponese del Dopoguerra, umiliata e oscillante tra feudalesimo e civiltà industriale: il libro nel quale si è riconosciuta un'intera generazione.

Indigno de ser humano se ha convertido, con el paso de los anos, en una de las obras mas populares de la literatura japonesa, superando los diez millones de ejemplares vendidos desde su primera publicacion en 1948."

Japonya'nın en çok okunan romanlarından İnsanlığımı Yitirirken'de Osamu Dazai, savaş sonrası Japonya'sının boğucu atmosferinin toplumdaki izdüşümünü ve bireyin kalabalıklar karşısında giderek yabancılaşarak insani değerlerini yitirişini aktarmak için teşrih masasına kendini yatırıyor. Gündelik yaşamın acı veren detaylarını ve yıkıcı anların uğultusunu tüm yalınlığıyla kâğıda dökerek yarattığı bu anti-kahramanla, Japonya'nın genç aydınlarının Batı ile geleneksel kültür arasındaki sıkışmışlığını resmederek, bireyciliğin ve toplum karşıtlığının "salgın" gibi yayıldığı bir coğrafyada varoluşçuluk tohumları serpiyor. Duygular hırpalanarak siliklenirken, dünyanın gerçekliğini yitirişini aktaran Dazai, dünyevi hazlar peşinde iyileşmeye çalışırken daha da parçalanan Yozo karakterinde cisimleşen evrensel sancının yansıdığı satırlarla yazın dünyasında ölümsüzleşiyor. Yaşamı intihar girişimleriyle şekillenmiş bir yazardan, ölümün sınır çizgilerine misilleme yapan bir metin...

У јапанској модерној књижевности тешко ће се пронаћи дело које својим квалитетима, уверљивошћу и заокруженошћу боље и јасније приказују слику безнађа једне људске душе. „Изопштеник”, егзистира као уметнича пројекција истине (голе и горке, која својом немилосрдном стварношћу и жестином тера читаоца да скрене поглед са текста) ауторовог живота и његових нејаких стремљења да се издигне из моралне баруштине и ситнодушја у себи и другима. Кроз очи Јозо Обе, Изопштеника, протагонисте и протијунака, видимо хладно и објективно описивање Дазаијеве накарадне стварности, која га судбински неумољиво прати још од најранијих година. Ауторова оштрица монолошко-асоцијативог типа приповедања, путем којег протагониста са тешком горчином евоцира сећања на своје дечаштво, струже по Дазаијевој кожи и огољава га до његове најтананије нутрине. Већ са првом реченицом: „Провео сам живот пун срама”, сазнајемо да овде нема језичког шарлатанства и залудних покушаја да се уметнички израз учини пријемчивљијим и допадљивијим. Живот Обе (па и сам живот Дазаија) насушна је потреба за љубављу. Како би, па барем и само на тренутак, осетио трунку људске топлине и привржености, он се препушта безнадној готовости да уради било шта. Тражи спас (нејак) у уметности, придружује се левичарском покрету, одаје проституткама и алкохолу, али, упркос свему, осећај тешке горчине и безнађа не да се избрисати, па ни ублажити ничим, а он само наставља да пада из зла у горе. И тако, вечито тражећи (и проналазећи) кривицу у самом себи, у клетој судби што га је на свет донела таквог – никаквог, уз критичко-сатирични модалитет, усмерен ка читавом свету, он беспоштедно и непромењено шиба по самоме себи, разобличујући се до степена једног обичног „пропалитета”. На крају, са неизрецивим очајањем у себи, он подиже главу к небу и обраћа се Богу, упитавши га: - Злочин ли је невино поверење? Злочин, казна, друштвене норме и друштвени закони, све су то категорије за свет „здравих” људи, коме наш протагониста, по рођењу, не припада. Он је продукт безнадне препуштености самом себи, вечитих немира што непромењено рију по дну људске душе, ледене самоће што савија кичму и ломи изнута. Он је нејаки тежак, напаћени многострадалник, он је.... Изопштеник!

«Je suis devenu bouffon. C'était mon ultime demande adressée aux hommes. Extérieurement, le sourire ne me quittait pas ; intérrieurement, en revanche, c'éatit le désespoir.» Ainsi se présente Yôzô, né dans une famille riche du nord du Japon, qui veut être peintre, abandonne ses études au lycée de Tôkyô pour travailler dans des ateliers, mais s'initie plus vite au saké et aux filles qu'au dessin et à la peinture. D'amours malheureuses en amours malheureuses, après n'avoir été qu'un médiocre caricaturiste de revues de second ordre, il échoue à vingt-sept ans, malade, tel un vieillard, dans une vieille chaumière, irréparable d'où il rédige l'histoire de sa vie, «vécue dans la honte», et alors qu'il ne connaît plus désormais ni le bonheur ni le malheur.

Japón, primera mitad del siglo XX. El gobierno Meiji trata de modernizar un país que, a causa del aislacionismo, se ha quedado anclado en el pasado. Un país que en pocos años se convertirá en una potencia mundial. En su interior, la sociedad busca un nuevo equilibrio entre tradición y modernidad, para no perder su identidad. En este escenario se ambientan los cuentos que conforman este libro, doce relatos que permiten una visión privilegiada de esa sociedad y de sus costumbres, mezcla de belleza, sensualidad, miseria y decadencia. Una selección de relatos contemporáneos de marcado carácter costumbrista, unidos todos ellos bajo el hilo conductor de la comida, tan importante para los japoneses y que constituye una seña de identidad de valor incalculable fuera de sus fronteras, reconocida como Patrimonio Inmaterial Cultural de la Humanidad por la Unesco. Junto a Antología de relatos japoneses y a Un gran descubrimiento, este libro pone fi n a la trilogía de Relatos Japoneses Contemporáneos, tres libros que nos han permitido conocer y disfrutar de autores inéditos en nuestro país además de otros tan famosos como imprescindibles.

"Lo squalificato" (1948), narra la storia di un uomo, Yozo, che, sentendosi rifiutato dalla società nella quale vive, deve affrontare una condizione esistenziale di estrema solitudine. Ciò che rende intensamente suggestive le "pagliacciate" escogitate da Yozo per sopravvivere tra i suoi simili, patetici i suoi tentativi di dedicarsi alla politica e tormentosi i suoi rapporti con le donne, è il senso di insuperabile ambiguità che domina l'intera esperienza da lui vissuta in bilico tra il piacere di infrangere il codice sociale e il sentimento di colpa per non sapersi adeguare a esso. La "squalifica" alla quale è condannato Yozo (nel cui problematico ritratto certamente si riflettono vicende di cui fu vittima lo stesso Dazai) acquista un senso diverso solo dopo la sua morte, quando l'autore sposta bruscamente e sapientemente il punto di vista narrativo fuori della coscienza del protagonista.

Osamu Dazai's No Longer Human, this leading postwar Japanese writer's second novel, tells the poignant and fascinating story of a young man who is caught between the breakup of the traditions of a northern Japanese aristocratic family and the impact of Western ideas. In consequence, he feels himself "disqualified from being human" (a literal translation of the Japanese title). Donald Keene, who translated this and Dazai's first novel, The Setting Sun, has said of the author's work: "His world … suggests Chekhov or possibly postwar France, … but there is a Japanese sensibility in the choice and presentation of the material. A Dazai novel is at once immediately intelligible in Western terms and quite unlike any Western book." His writing is in some ways reminiscent of Rimbaud, while he himself has often been called a forerunner of Yukio Mishima. Cover painting by Noe Nojechowiz, from the collection of John and Barbara Duncan; design by Gertrude Huston

Mine has been a life of much shame. I can't even guess myself what it must be to live the life of a human being. Portraying himself as a failure, the protagonist of Osamu Dazai's No Longer Human narrates a seemingly normal life even while he feels himself incapable of understanding human beings. Oba Yozo's attempts to reconcile himself to the world around him begin in early childhood, continue through high school, where he becomes a "clown" to mask his alienation, and eventually lead to a failed suicide attempt as an adult. Without sentimentality, he records the casual cruelties of life and its fleeting moments of human connection and tenderness. Semi-autobiographical, No Longer Human is the final completed work of one of Japan's most important writers, Osamu Dazai (1909-1948). The novel has come to "echo the sentiments of youth" (Hiroshi Ando, The Mainichi Daily News) from post-war Japan to the postmodern society of technology. Still one of the ten bestselling books in Japan, No Longer Human is a powerful exploration of an individual's alienation from society.

No one really understands how we suffer. One day, when we're adults, we may come to recall this suffering, this misery, as silly and laughable, but how are we to get through the long, hateful period until then? No one bothers to teach us that. Osamu Dazai was a master raconteur who plumbed--in an addictive, easy style--the absurd complexities of life in a society whose expectations cannot be met without sacrificing one's individual ideals on the altar of conformity. The gravitational pull of his prose is on full display in these stories. In "Lantern," a young woman, in love with a well-born but impoverished student, shoplifts a bathing suit for him--and ends up in the local newspaper indicted as a crazed, degenerate communist. In "Chiyojo," a high-school girl shows early promise as a writer, but as her uncle and mother relentlessly push her to pursue a literary career, she must ask herself: is this what I really want? Or am I supposed to fulfill their own frustrated ambitions? In "Shame," a young reader writes a fan letter to a writer she admires, only to find out, upon visiting him, that he's a bourgeoise sophisticate nothing like the desperate rebels he portrays, and decides (in true Dazai style): "Novelists are human trash. No, they're worse than that; they're demons. . . They write nothing but lies." This collection of 14 tales--a half-dozen of which have never before appeared in English--is based on a Japanese collection of, as Dazai described them, "soliloquies by female narrators." No One Knows includes the quietly brilliant long story "Schoolgirl" and shows the fiction of this 20th-century genius in a fresh light.

Ocho escenas de Tokio reúne, por primera vez en castellano, nueve relatos de uno de los escritores con más talento de la literatura nipona del siglo XX. Muy apreciado entre la juventud japonesa, Dazai goza en la actualidad de un reconocimiento equiparable al de ilustres compatriotas suyos como Soseki, Mishima y Kawabata. Aunque más conocido en Occidente por las dos novelas que publicó tras la Segunda Guerra Mundial -Indigno de ser humano y El ocaso-, Osamu Dazai mostró a lo largo de toda su vida predilección por el género breve. En sus relatos están presentes tanto el nihilismo como los demonios interiores que acecharon al escritor durante su corta vida, pero también encontramos un particular sentido del humor. Escritos entre 1933 y 1948, año en que Dazai se quitó la vida junto a su amante, los relatos aquí reunidos, a veces mordaces y sarcásticos, otras veces introspectivos y poéticos, nos ofrecen un retrato completo de un escritor avanzado a su tiempo y dotado de una sensibilidad poco común.

"I've led a life full of shame. Human beings are a complete mystery to me."This manga version of novelist Osamu Dazai's masterpiece NO LONGER HUMAN—the #2 bestselling novel of all time in Japan—tells the story of Yozo Oba, a young man growing up in Japan in the immediate aftermath of World War II, who finds himself caught between the disintegration of the traditions of his aristocratic provincial family and the impact of the new postwar world.Oba is tormented by a failure to find any value in himself or in human relationships, despite being surrounded by women who love him. He creates the persona of a buffoon who mocks himself while entertaining others. But inside he is tortured, and as he moves from childhood to adulthood he becomes addicted to sex and alcohol. Largely autobiographical, No Longer Human explores Dazai's own sense of failure and alienation which drove him to self-destruct with alcohol and numerous suicide attempts.Osamu Dazai (1909—1948) is Japan's second most popular novelist (after Soseki), and his works are seeing a huge surge in popularity among young people worldwide thanks to the success of the recent manga, anime and film series Bungo Stray Dogs, whose protagonist, a detective called Osamu Dazai, has similar character traits to Yozo Oba. Fans of manga and anime are turning to the original No Longer Human novel, whose themes of alienation from society and an inability to reconcile social appearances with inner self—told with great wit, irony and pathos—strike a deep chord among readers today.**Recommended for readers ages 16+ due to mature themes and graphic content**

Dazai Osamu wrote The Fairy Tale Book (Otogizōshi) in the last months of the Pacific War. The traditional tales upon which Dazai's retellings are based are well known to every Japanese schoolchild, but this is no children's book. In Dazai's hands such stock characters as the kindhearted Oji-san to Oba-san ("Grandmother and Grandfather"), the mischievous tanuki badger, the fearsome Oni ogres, the greedy old man, the "tongue-cut" sparrow, and of course Urashima Taro (the Japanese Rip van Winkle) become complex individuals facing difficult and nuanced moral dilemmas. The resulting stories are thought-provoking, slyly subversive, and often hilarious. In spite of the "gloom and doom" atmosphere always cited in reviews of The Setting Sun and the later No Longer Human, though, Dazai's cutting wit and rich humor are evident in the entire body of his work. His literature depicts the human condition in painfully blunt and realistic terms, but, like life itself, is often accompanied by a smile.

The war is over. Japan is defeated. Together with his country, a young man must rebuild his life. He will begin at a sanatorium, where everyone gets a nickname, surrounded by an interesting ensemble of patients and caregivers.

Repudiados reúne nueve cuentos, escritos entre 1939 y 1948 e inéditos hasta ahora en castellano, con el inconfundible sello del enfant terrible de las letras japonesas del siglo XX. En ellos leemos la aséptica descripción del viaje que emprende una pareja al lugar donde planean poner fin a sus miserables vida (Repudiados); los infructuosos esfuerzos de Dazai para ganarse el respeto de sus paisanos y dejar de ser fuente de preocupaciones y disgustos para su familia (En memoria de Zenzō); los devastadores efectos de la guerra en el día a día y la mentalidad de los japoneses (Diosa); o la angustia e incapacidad de Dazai ante su condición de marido y padre de familia (Cerezas).

内容紹介 「セリヌンティウスよ、私も死ぬぞ。君と一緒に死なせてくれ」 タイムリミットは日没。メロスの身代わりに磔にされた友を救う為に、友の信頼を守る為に、メロスは疾風のごとく走った―― 美しい愛と友情を力強く綴った永遠の名作『走れメロス』、「富士には、月見草がよく似合う」の一節が名高い『富嶽百景』ほか、 『駈込み訴え』、『東京八景』など全六篇を収録した短編集。 声優・鈴木達央が紡ぐ『走れメロス』名場面抜粋の朗読CD封入。 内容（「BOOK」データベースより） タイムリミットは日没。メロスの身代わりに磔にされた友を救う為に、友の信頼を守る為に、メロスは疾風のごとく走った―美しい愛と友情を力強く綴った永遠の名作『走れメロス』、「富士には、月見草がよく似合う」の一節が名高い『富嶽百景』ほか、『駈込み訴え』、『東京八景』など全六篇を収録した短篇集。声優・鈴木達央が紡ぐ『走れメロス』名場面抜粋の朗読CDを封入。 著者略歴 (「BOOK著者紹介情報」より) 太宰/治 1909年、青森県金木村(現五所川原市)生まれ。本名、津島修治。東大仏文科中退。1939年、井伏鱒二の世話で結婚。平隠な生活を得て多くの作品を執筆するが、1948年、玉川上水にて入水自殺(本データはこの書籍が刊行された当時に掲載されていたものです)

「無頼派」「新戯作派」の破滅型作家を代表する昭和初期の小説家、太宰治の短編小説。初出は「新潮」［1940（昭和15）年］。「邪智暴虐の王」への人質として差し出した友人・セリヌンティウスの信頼に報いるために、メロスがひたすら走り続けるという作品。信頼と友情の美しさを基本に描きつつ、そこに還元されない人間の葛藤をも描いた、日本文学における傑作のひとつ。

Osamu Dazai's 1939 novella depicts a day in the life of a Tokyo schoolgirl. Propelling Dazai into the literary elite of post-war Japan, Schoolgirl gained notoriety for its ironic and inventive use of language. Now it illuminates the prevalent social structures of a lost time, as well as the struggle of the individual against "them" -- a theme that occupied Dazai's life both personally and professionally. This new translation preserves the playful language of the original and offers the reader a new window into the mind of one of the greatest Japanese authors of the 20th century.

“Art dies the moment it acquires authority.” So said Japan’s quintessential rebel writer Osamu Dazai, who, disgusted with the hypocrisy of every kind of establishment, from the nation’s obsolete aristocracy to its posturing, warmongering generals, went his own way, even when that meant his death—and the death of others. Faced with pressure to conform, he declared his individuality to the world—in all its self-involved, self-conscious, and self-hating glory. “Art,” he wrote, “is ‘I.’” In these short stories, collected and translated by Ralph McCarthy, we can see just how closely Dazai’s life mirrored his art, and vice versa, as the writer/narrator falls from grace, rises to fame, and falls again. Addiction, debt, shame, and despair dogged Dazai until his self-inflicted death, and yet despite all the lies and deception he resorted to in life, there is an almost fanatical honesty to his writing. And that has made him a hero to generations of readers who see laid bare, in his works, the painful, impossible contradictions inherent in the universal commandment of social life—fit in and do as you are told—as well as the possibility, however desperate, of defiance. Long out of print, these stories will be a revelation to the legions of new fans of No Longer Human, The Setting Sun, and Flowers of Buffoonery.

A rich boy turned drop-out, a radical turned drug addict, obsessed with self destruction and suicide, Osamu Dazai retains his cult status among Japan's intellectual youth more than forty years after his death. These stories, based on his own experiences and arranged chronologically, provide insight into the sources of Dazai's enduring appeal as well as his art.

For fans of No Longer Human, Osamu Dazai’s darkly bewitching novel about the small redemptions of being a pathetic, miserable writer. A fictional thirty-something writer named Osamu Dazai has just mailed his publisher a terrible manuscript, filling him with dread and shame. Shortly afterward, while moping around a park in suburban Tokyo, he spots a figure drowning in a nearby aqueduct. He doesn’t want to become a witness to a suicide and eventually decides to flee the park. But as he is leaving, he trips over the boy who had been drowning, and the two begin an unlikely conversation that turns into an intellectual spat. Hoping to ingratiate himself with the boy―a high-school dropout―Dazai finds himself agreeing to perform that very night as the live narrator of a film screening in the boy’s stead… So begins the madcap adventure of The Beggar Student, where there is glamor in destitution and glimmerings of truth in intellectual one-upmanship. Replete with settings straight out of the popular anime Bungo Stray Dogs and echoes of the themes in No Longer Human, this biting novella captures the infamous Japanese writer at his mordant best.

The Flowers of Buffoonery opens in a seaside sanitarium where Yozo Oba—the narrator of No Longer Human at a younger age—is being kept after a failed suicide attempt. While he convalesces, his friends and family visit him, and other patients and nurses drift in and out of his room. Against this dispiriting backdrop, everyone tries to maintain a lighthearted, even clownish atmosphere: playing cards, smoking cigarettes, vying for attention, cracking jokes, and trying to make each other laugh.  While No Longer Human delves into the darkest corners of human consciousness, The Flowers of Buffoonery pokes fun at these same emotions: the follies and hardships of youth, of love, and of self-hatred and depression. A glimpse of the lives of a group of outsiders in prewar Japan, The Flowers of Buffoonery is a darkly humorous and fresh addition to Osamu Dazai’s masterful and intoxicating oeuvre.

The post-war period in Japan was one of immense social change as Japanese society adjusted to the shock of defeat and to the occupation of Japan by American forces and their allies. Osamu Dazai’s The Setting Sun takes this milieu as its background to tell the story of the decline of a minor aristocratic family. The story is told through the eyes of Kazuko, the unmarried daughter of a widowed aristocrat. Her search for self meaning in a society devoid of use for her forms the crux of Dazai’s novel. It is a sad story, and structurally is a novel very much within the confines of the Japanese take on the novel in a way reminiscent of authors such as Nobel Prize winner Yasunari Kawabata – the social interactions are peripheral and understated, nuances must be drawn, and for readers more used to Western novelistic forms this comes across as being rather wishy-washy. Kazuko’s mother falls ill, and due to their financial circumstances they are forced to take a cottage in the countryside. Her brother, who became addicted to opium during the war is missing. When he returns, Kazuko attempts to form a liaison with the novelist Uehara. This romantic displacement only furthers to deepen her alienation from society.

Set in the early postwar years, it probes the destructive effects of war and the transition from a feudal Japan to an industrial society. Ozamu Dazai died, a suicide, in 1948. But the influence of his book has made "people of the setting sun" a permanent part of the Japanese language, and his heroine, Kazuko, a young aristocrat who deliberately abandons her class, a symbol of the anomie which pervades so much of the modern world.

Powojenna Japonia. Kazuko wraz z chorą matką zmuszone są sprzedać swój dom rodzinny w zniszczonym podczas wojny Tokio i przeprowadzają się na wieś. Ich dnie mijają na czytaniu książek, robieniu na drutach i na czekaniu na powrót brata z frontu. Kiedy Naoji wraca do Japonii, Kazuko musi opiekować się nie tylko podupadającą na zdrowiu matką, zagubioną w świecie damą z poprzedniej epoki, ale także uciekającym w alkohol i narkotyki bratem. Ale w jej sercu powoli zaczyna pojawiać się cień i w poszukiwaniu ukojenia postanawia złamać społeczne konwenanse. Zmierzch to opowieść o poszukiwaniu siebie w świecie wywróconym do góry nogami. To poetycka i przejmująca historia ludzi, którzy próbują jakoś funkcjonować, szukając swojej formy buntu. Pełne symbolicznych retrospekcji, przetykane fragmentami intymnych listów i dzienników obrazy z życia na tle przemian, jakie po przegranej wojnie zachodziły w japońskim społeczeństwie. Poprawione tłumaczenie profesora Mikołaja Melanowicza pozwoli na nowo odkryć fascynujące piękno japońskiego Zmierzchu. Wydanie zaczyna się od wstępu Karoliny Bednarz, który pozwoli na zrozumienie tła historycznego i wprowadzi w klimat powieści.

อันว่า ‘อิสตรี’ นั้นมีหลากหลาย ร้อยนางก็ร้อยใจ ต่างกันไปร้อยแบบ จนยากจะหาคำจำกัดความ ชีวิตของผู้เขียน ดะไซ โอซามุ แวดล้อมด้วยผู้หญิงมาตลอด ตั้งแต่ลืมตาดูโลกจวบจนลมหายใจสุดท้าย อีกทั้งคุณสมบัติอันครบถ้วน ทั้งสายตาอันเฉียบคม นิสัยช่างสังเกต และความกระหายใคร่รู้ จึงไม่น่าแปลกใจเลยที่ ดะไซ จะได้รับเสียงชื่นชมล้นหลาม ว่าฉายภาพสตรีได้แนบเนียน และลึกซึ้งตรึงใจ และในรวมเรื่องสั้นชุดนี้ JLIT จะพาคุณไปส่องมอง ‘อิสตรี’ สี่นาง ผ่านสายตาของเขา ผู้เป็นเจ้าของผลงาน สูญสิ้นความเป็นคน ซึ่งครองตำแหน่งเบสต์เซลเลอร์มาอย่างยาวนานถึงทุกวันนี้ ในบรรดานักเขียนนวนิยายสมัยใหม่ของญี่ปุ่น ดะไซ โอซามุ ได้รับการชื่นชมว่าเป็นเอกในด้านการเล่าเรื่องผ่านสายตาตัวละครผู้หญิง ดะไซสร้างสรรค์ผลงานลักษณะนี้มากมาย มีตัวละครผู้หญิงในหลากหลายวัย แตกต่างกันทั้งสถานะและสภาพแวดล้อม การเลือกใช้สำนวนภาษาและจังหวะจะโคนของดะไซ ทำให้ผู้อ่านอนุมานได้แม้กระทั่งอุปนิสัย ทรรศนะ และแรงปรารถนาลึกในจิตใจของตัวละครหญิงผู้เล่า เห็นภาพชัดจนเผลอลืมไปว่าแท้จริงแล้วผู้เขียนเป็นชาย รวมเรื่องสั้นชุด อิสตรี เล่มนี้ประกอบด้วยเรื่องสั้น 4 เรื่อง ได้แก่ อับอายขายหน้า แปลจาก 恥 (1942) ตั๊กแตน แปลจาก きりぎりす (1940) เรือนกาย เรือนใจ แปลจาก 皮膚と心 (1939) นักเรียนหญิง แปลจาก 女生徒 (1939) เขียนโดย ดะไซ โอซามุ แปลและคัดสรรโดย พรพิรุณ กิจสมเจตน์