太宰治

Good morning, everyone. Today, we want to talk about a Japanese writer called Osamu Dazai, who is not familiar with Chinese readers but has a great impact on the world literature scene. And now let’s get started.

It’s alleged that childhood has a huge influence on that person’s life, especially for writers. In a way, their experience in early years helps form personalities, views of life and writing styles.

Dazai, formly known as Shuji Tsushima (津島修治), was born in a wealthy family as the eighth child in Kanagi, a remote town located in the western part of Japan. His father was a member of the Parliament and so was often away from home, while his mother soon passed away after having given birth to 11 children, so he was brought up mostly by the servants.

He used to be a model student, as he did fairly well on all subjects in high school, especially English. At the age of 17, Dazai had already showed a great interest in literature and had some short stories published on magazines. His life only started to change when his idol writer Ryunosuke Akutagawa(芥川龙之介) committed suicide in 1927.

Dazai was expelled by Tokyo University because he was fascinated by cigarette, alcohol and Left movement. Since then, e had been degenerating and publishing works at the same time. And gradually, he had formed a style of dispirited.

Dazai tried to kill himself but failed for four times. In 1929,he ate a large number of sleeping pills, but he was rescued by his friends; The second year, during his university time, he sacrificed his life for love with a female assistant, he was rescued by a fisherman, but the female assistant died; In 1935,he hanged himself for the failure of registering for news reporter examination ,he also was rescued; In 1937,he wanted to kill himself in the hot spring with a prostitute, as a result, they were rescued.

There always are a lot of women around him for he is handsome, Dazai can’t get rid of women in his lifetime, he has a hard-drinking and rolling life. Every suicide has something to do with women. For Dazai, living in this world is a torture. He once said:“Death is the most beautiful art.”Finally, in 1948.6.13, he sacrificed his life with his lover in the midnight, his dead body was found a week later, that day was his birthday also his death day.

No Longer Human (人間失格) is a Japanese novel by Osamu Dazai. Published after "Run Melos" and "The Setting Sun", it is considered as one of his best-known masterpieces and ranks as the second-best selling novel in Japanese history.

It is interesting that comparing the main character of the novel with Dazai, you would find that their experience and personalities are almost the same. So, in a way, the novel No Longer Human is an autobiography. As Dazai believes, “If anything, everyone in the series has struggles to be a part of human society, or they have serious doubts whether they have the right to be part of human society, then they are total losers.” And this may explain why you could get deeply depressed while reading the book.

Despite all these, we should admit that Dazai and his works still have a unshakable position in Japan, as well as around the world. For instance, No Longer Human has influenced generations since it was published in 1948 for the first time. In the recent years, it is adapted into different forms, such as comics, animation and movies.