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Shūji Tsushima (津島 修治, Tsushima Shūji, 19 June 1909 – 13 June 1948), known by his pen name Osamu Dazai (太宰 治, Dazai Osamu), was a Japanese novelist and author.[1] A number of his most popular works, such as The Setting Sun (Shayō) and No Longer Human (Ningen Shikkaku), are considered modern-day classics.[2]
Osamu Dazai | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
太宰 治 | |||||
 Dazai in 1948 | |||||
| Born | Shūji Tsushima June 19, 1909 | ||||
| Died | June 13, 1948 (aged 38) | ||||
| Cause of death | Double suicide with Tomie Yamazaki by drowning | ||||
| Occupation(s) | Novelist, Short story writer | ||||
| Notable work | |||||
| Movement | I-Novel, Buraiha | ||||
| Japanese name | |||||
| Kanji | 太宰 治 | ||||
| Hiragana | だざい おさむ | ||||
| |||||
His influences include Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, Murasaki Shikibu and Fyodor Dostoyevsky. While Dazai continues to be widely celebrated in Japan, he remains relatively unknown elsewhere, with only a handful of his works available in English. His last book, No Longer Human, is his most popular work outside of Japan.
Early life edit
Shūji Tsushima was born on June 19, 1909, the eighth surviving child of a wealthy landowner[3] and politician[1] in Kanagi, a remote corner of Japan at the northern tip of Tōhoku in Aomori Prefecture. He was the tenth of eleven children born by his parents. At the time of his birth, the huge, newly-completed Tsushima mansion, where he would spend his early years, was home to some thirty family members.[4] The Tsushima family was of obscure peasant origins, with Dazai's great-grandfather building up the family's wealth as a moneylender, and his son increasing it further. They quickly rose in power and, after some time, became highly respected across the region.[5]
Dazai's father, Gen'emon, was a younger son of the Matsuki family, which due to "its exceedingly 'feudal' tradition" had no use for sons other than the eldest son and heir. As a result, Gen'emon was adopted into the Tsushima family to marry the eldest daughter, Tane. He became involved in politics due to his position as one of the four wealthiest landowners in the prefecture, and was offered membership into the House of Peers.[5] This caused Dazai's father to be absent during much of his early childhood; and with his mother, Tane, being ill,[6] Dazai was brought up mostly by the family's servants and his aunt Kiye.[7]
Education and literary beginnings edit
In 1916, Dazai began his education at Kanagi Elementary.[8] On March 4, 1923, his father Gen'emon died from lung cancer.[9] A month later, in April, Dazai attended Aomori Junior High School,[10] followed by entering Hirosaki University's literature department in 1927.[8] He developed an interest in Edo culture and began studying gidayū, a form of chanted narration used in bunraku.[11] Around 1928, Dazai edited a series of student publications and contributed some of his own works. He also published a magazine called Saibō bungei (Cell Literature) with his friends, and subsequently became a staff member of the college's newspaper.[12]
Dazai's success in writing was brought to a halt when his idol, the writer Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, committed suicide in 1927 at 35 years old. Dazai started to neglect his studies, and spent the majority of his allowance on clothes, alcohol, and prostitutes. He also dabbled with Marxism, which at the time was heavily suppressed by the government. On the night of December 10, 1929, Dazai made his first suicide attempt, but survived and was able to graduate the following year. In 1930, Dazai enrolled in the French Literature Department of Tokyo Imperial University and promptly stopped studying again. In October, he ran away with a geisha named Hatsuyo Oyama and was formally disowned by his family.
Nine days after being expelled from Tokyo Imperial University, Dazai attempted suicide by drowning off a beach in Kamakura with another woman, 19-year-old bar hostess Shimeko Tanabe. Tanabe died, but Dazai lived, was rescued by a fishing boat, and was charged as an accomplice in Tanabe's death. Shocked by the events, Dazai's family intervened to stop a police investigation. His allowance was reinstated, and he was released of any charges. In December, Dazai recovered at Ikarigaseki and married Hatsuyo there.
Soon after, Dazai was arrested for his involvement with the banned Japanese Communist Party and, upon learning this, his elder brother Bunji promptly cut off his allowance again. Dazai went into hiding, but Bunji, despite their estrangement, managed to get word to him that charges would be dropped and the allowance reinstated yet again if Dazai solemnly promised to graduate and swear off any involvement with the party. Dazai accepted.
Leftist movement edit
In 1929, when its principal's misappropriation of public funds was discovered at Hirosaki High School, the students, under the leadership of Ueda Shigehiko (Ishigami Genichiro), leader of the Social Science Study Group, staged a five-day allied strike, which resulted in the principal's resignation and no disciplinary action against the students. Dazai hardly participated in the strike, but in imitation of the proletarian literature in vogue at the time, he summarized the incident in a novel called Student Group and read it to Ueda. The Tsushima family was wary of Dazai's leftist activities. On January 16 of the following year, the Special High Police arrested Ueda and nine other students of the Hiroko Institute of Social Studies, who were working as activists for Seigen Tanaka's armed Communist Party.
In college, Dazai met activist Eizo Kudo, and made a monthly financial contribution of ¥10 to the Japanese Communist Party. The reason he was expelled from his family after his marriage to Hatsuyo Oyama was to prevent the association of illegal activities with Bunji, who was a politician. After his marriage, Dazai was ordered to hide his sympathies and moved repeatedly. In July 1932, Bunji tracked him down, and had him turn himself in at the Aomori Police Station. In December, Dazai signed and sealed a pledge at the Aomori Prosecutor's Office to completely withdraw from leftist activities.[13][14]
Early literary career edit
Dazai kept his promise and settled down a bit. He managed to obtain the assistance of established writer Masuji Ibuse, whose connections helped him get his works published and establish his reputation. The next few years were productive for Dazai. He wrote at a feverish pace and used the pen name "Osamu Dazai" for the first time in a short story called "Ressha" ("列車", "Train") in 1933. This story was his first experiment with the I-novel that later became his trademark.[15]
In 1935 it started to become clear to Dazai that he would not graduate. He failed to obtain a job at a Tokyo newspaper as well. Dazai finished The Final Years (Bannen), which was intended to be his farewell to the world, and tried to hang himself March 19, 1935, failing yet again. Less than three weeks later, Dazai developed acute appendicitis and was hospitalized. In the hospital, he became addicted to Pavinal, a morphine-based painkiller. After fighting the addiction for a year, in October 1936 he was taken to a mental institution,[16] locked in a room and forced to quit cold turkey.
The treatment lasted over a month. During this time Dazai's wife Hatsuyo committed adultery with his best friend Zenshirō Kodate.[citation needed] This eventually came to light, and Dazai attempted to commit shinjū with his wife. They both took sleeping pills, but neither died. Soon after, Dazai divorced Hatsuyo. He quickly remarried, this time to a middle school teacher named Michiko Ishihara (石原美知子). Their first daughter, Sonoko (園子), was born in June 1941.
The year before last I was expelled from my family and, reduced to poverty overnight, was left to wander the streets, begging help for various quarters, barely managing to stay alive from one day to the next, and just when I'd begun to think I might be able to support myself with my writing, I came down with a serious illness. Thanks to the compassion of others, I was able to rent a small house in Funabashi, Chiba, next to the muddy sea, and spent the summer there alone, convalescing. Though battling an illness that each and every night left my robe literally drenched with sweat, I had no choice but to press ahead with my work. The cold half pint of milk I drank each morning was the only thing that gave me a certain peculiar sense of the joy in life; my mental anguish and exhaustion were such that the oleanders blooming in one corner of the garden appeared to me merely flicking tongues of flame...
— Seascape with Figures in Gold (1939), Osamu Dazai, trans. Ralph F. McCarthy (1992)[17]
In the 1930s and 1940s, Dazai wrote a number of subtle novels and short stories that are autobiographical in nature. His first story, Gyofukuki (魚服記, "Transformation", 1933), is a grim fantasy involving suicide. Other stories written during this period include Dōke no hana (道化の花, "Flowers of Buffoonery", 1935), Gyakkō (逆行, "Losing Ground", 1935), Kyōgen no kami (狂言の神, "The God of Farce", 1936), an epistolary novel called Kyokō no Haru (虚構の春, False Spring, 1936) and those published in his 1936 collection Bannen (Declining Years or The Final Years), which describe his sense of personal isolation and his debauchery.
Wartime years edit
Japan widened the Pacific War by attacking the United States in December, but Dazai was excused from the draft because of his chronic chest problems, as he was diagnosed with tuberculosis. The censors became more reluctant to accept Dazai's offbeat work, but he managed to publish quite a bit regardless, remaining one of very few authors who managed to get this kind of material accepted in this period. A number of the stories which Dazai published during the war were retellings of stories by Ihara Saikaku (1642–1693). His wartime works included Udaijin Sanetomo (右大臣実朝, "Minister of the Right Sanetomo", 1943), Tsugaru (1944), Pandora no hako (パンドラの匣, Pandora's Box, 1945–46), and Otogizōshi (お伽草紙, Fairy Tales, 1945) in which he retold a number of old Japanese fairy tales with "vividness and wit."[This quote needs a citation]
Dazai's house was burned down twice in the American bombing of Tokyo, but his family escaped unscathed and gained a son, Masaki (正樹), who was born in 1944. His third child, daughter Satoko (里子), who later became a famous writer under the pseudonym Yūko Tsushima (津島佑子), was born in May 1947.
Postwar career edit
This section needs additional citations for verification. (May 2019) |
In the immediate postwar period, Dazai reached the height of his popularity. He depicted a dissolute life in postwar Tokyo in Viyon no Tsuma (ヴィヨンの妻, "Villon's Wife", 1947), depicting the wife of a poet who had abandoned her and her continuing will to live through hardships.
In 1946, Osamu Dazai released a controversial literary piece titled Kuno no Nenkan (Almanac of Pain), a political memoir of Dazai himself. It describes the immediate aftermath of losing the second World War, and encapsulates how Japanese people felt following the country's defeat. Dazai reaffirms his loyalty to the Japanese Emperor of the time, Emperor Hirohito and his son Akihito. Dazai was a known communist throughout his career, and also expresses his beliefs through this Almanac of Pain.
On December 14, Dazai and a group of writers were joined by Yukio Mishima at a restaurant for dinner.[18] The latter recalled that on that occasion, he gave vent to his dislike of Dazai. According to a later statement by Mishima:[19]
The disgust in which I hold Dazai's literature is in some way ferocious. First, I dislike his face. Second, I dislike his rustic preference for urban sophistication. Third, I dislike the fact that he played the roles that were not appropriate for him.[18]
Other participants at the dinner could not remember if events occurred as Mishima described. They did report that he did not enjoy Dazai's "clowning" and that they had a dispute about Ōgai Mori, a writer Mishima admired.[20]
Alongside this Dazai also wrote Jugonenkan (For Fifteen Years), another autobiographical piece. This, alongside Almanac of Pain, may serve as a prelude to a consideration of Dazai's postwar fiction.[21]
In July 1947, Dazai's best-known work, Shayo (The Setting Sun, translated 1956) depicting the decline of the Japanese nobility after the war, was published, propelling the already popular writer into celebrityhood. This work was based on the diary of Shizuko Ōta (太田静子), an admirer of Dazai's works who first met him in 1941. The pair had a daughter, Haruko, (治子) in 1947.
A heavy drinker, Dazai became an alcoholic[22] and his health deteriorated rapidly. At this time he met Tomie Yamazaki (山崎富栄), a beautician and war widow who had lost her husband after just ten days of marriage. Dazai effectively abandoned his wife and children and moved in with Tomie.
Dazai began writing his novel No Longer Human (人間失格 Ningen Shikkaku, 1948) at the hot-spring resort Atami. He moved to Ōmiya with Tomie and stayed there until mid-May, finishing his novel. A quasi-autobiography, it depicts a young, self-destructive man seeing himself as disqualified from the human race.[23] The book is considered one of the classics of Japanese literature, and has been translated into several foreign languages.
In the spring of 1948, Dazai worked on a novella scheduled to be serialized in the Asahi Shimbun, titled Guddo bai (the Japanese pronunciation of the English word "Goodbye") but it was never finished.
Death edit
On June 13, 1948, Dazai and Tomie drowned themselves in the rain-swollen Tamagawa Canal, near his house. Their bodies were not discovered until six days later, on June 19, which would have been his 39th birthday. His grave is at the temple of Zenrin-ji, in Mitaka, Tokyo.
At the time, there was a lot of speculation about the incident, with theories of forced suicide by Tomie. Keikichi Nakahata, a kimono merchant who frequented the young Tsushima family, was shown the scene of the water ingress by a detective from the Mitaka police station. He speculated that "Dazai was asked to die, and he simply agreed, but just before his death, he suddenly felt an obsession with life".[24]
Works edit
You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Japanese. (December 2022) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
|
| Year | Japanese Title | English Title | Translator(s) | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1928 | Mugen naraku | "Bottomless Hell" | ||
| Aware ga | "The Pitiable Mosquitoes" | Referenced in "Leaves." | ||
| 1930 | Jinushi ichidai | “A Landlord’s Life” | incomplete | |
| 1933 | 列車
Ressha |
"The Train" | McCarthy | Wins prize from Tōō Nippō newspaper.[25] In The Final Years. |
| 魚服記
Gyofukuki |
"Metamorphosis" or "Transformation"; also translated as "Undine" | O'Brien | In The Final Years. | |
| 思い出
Omoide |
"Memories" or "Recollections" | Dunlop; Lyons; O'Brien | First published in Kaihyō;[26] In The Final Years. | |
| 1934 | Yonosuke no kien | "Big Talk from Yonosuke" | Partially ghost-written piece published under Ibuse Masuji’s name.[25] | |
| 葉
Ha |
"Leaves"[1] | Gangloff | In The Final Years. | |
| 猿面冠者Sarumenkanja | "Monkey-Faced Youth" | In The Final Years. | ||
| 彼は昔の彼ならず
Kare wa mukashi no kare narazu |
"He Is Not the Man He Used to Be" | In The Final Years. | ||
| ロマネスクRomanesuku | "Romanesque" | Published in the first and only issue of Aoi Hana.[27] In The Final Years. | ||
| 1935 | 逆行
Gyakkō |
"Losing Ground" | First appeared in literary magazine Bungei.[28] Was submitted for the first Akutagawa Prize, but did not win. The story was judged by Yasunari Kawabata to be unworthy due to the author's moral character, a pronouncement that prompted an angry reply from Dazai.[29] In The Final Years. | |
| 道化の華 Dōke no Hana |
"The Flowers of Buffoonery" | In The Final Years. | ||
| Dasu gemaine | "Das Gemeine" | O'Brien | ||
| Kawabata Yasunari e | "To Yasunari Kawabata" | |||
| 猿ヶ島
Sarugashima |
"Monkey Island" | O'Brien | In The Final Years. | |
| 玩具
Gangu |
"Toys" | O'Brien | In The Final Years. | |
| 陰火
Inka |
"Inka" (Will-o'-the-Wisp) | In The Final Years. | ||
| 1936 | 虚構の春 Kyokō no Haru |
"False Spring" | ||
| 晩年 Bannen |
The Final Years | First collection of short stories. | ||
| 1937 | 二十世紀旗手 Nijusseiki Kishu |
"A Standard-bearer of the Twentieth Century" | ||
| HUMAN LOST | "HUMAN LOST" | |||
| 1938 | 満願
Mangan |
"Fulfilment of a Vow" or "A Promise Fulfilled"[2] | Brudnoy & Kazuko; McCarthy | First appeared in the September 1938 issue of Bungakukai. In Schoolgirl. |
| 姥捨
Ubasute |
"Putting Granny Out to Die" | O'Brien | First appeared in the October 1938 issue of Shinchō. In Schoolgirl. | |
| 火の鳥
Hi no tori |
"The Phoenix" | |||
| 1939 | I can speak | "I Can Speak"[3] | Brudnoy & Kazuko; McCarthy | In Schoolgirl. |
| 富嶽百景 Fugaku Hyakkei |
"One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji" | McCarthy | First appeared in Bungakukai, February & March 1939. In Schoolgirl. | |
| 黄金風景
Ōgon fūkei |
"Golden Landscape" or "Seascape with Figures in Gold" | Dunlop; McCarthy | First appeared in Kokumin Shinbun, March 2–3 1939. In Schoolgirl. | |
| 女生徒 Joseito |
Schoolgirl | Powell | Novella which first appeared in the April 1939 issue of Bungakukai; also the title of a collection of stories in which it appears. Winner of the Kitamura Tokoku Award[30] | |
| 懶惰の歌留多
Randa no Karuta |
"Karuta of Laziness" | First appeared in the April 1939 issue of Bungei. In Schoolgirl. | ||
| Oshare doji | "The Stylish Child" | |||
| 1940 | 女の決闘 Onna no Kettō |
"Women's Duel" | ||
| Zokutenshi | "Worldly Angel" | |||
| Anitachi | "My Older Brothers" | McCarthy; O'Brien | ||
| Haru no tozoku | "A Burglar in Spring" | |||
| Zenzō o omou | "Thinking of Zenzō" | McCarthy | ||
| Kojiki gakusei | "The Beggar Student" | |||
| 駈込み訴へ Kakekomi Uttae |
"Heed My Plea" | O'Brien | ||
| 走れメロス Hashire Merosu |
"Run, Melos!" | McCarthy; O'Brien | ||
| 1941 | Tokyo hakkei | "Eight Views of Tokyo" | Lyons; McCarthy; O'Brien | |
| 新ハムレット Shin-Hamuretto |
"New Hamlet" | |||
| Fukusō ni tsuite | "On the Question of Apparel" | O'Brien | ||
| 1942 | Hanabi | "Fireworks" | Censored by the authorities, but published after the war as "Before the Dawn" (Hinode mae).[31] | |
| 正義と微笑 Seigi to Bisho |
"Righteousness and Smiles" | |||
| Kikyorai | "Going Home" | Lyons | ||
| 1943 | Hibari no koe | "Voice of the Lark" | Marshall | Published after the war in 1945 as "Pandora’s Box" (パンドラの匣 Pandora no Hako).[31] |
| Kokyō | "Homecoming" | O'Brien | ||
| 右大臣実朝 Udaijin Sanetomo |
"Sanetomo, Minister of the Right" | |||
| 1944 | Kajitsu | "Happy Day" | Filmed as Four Marriages Yottsu no kekkon). | |
| 津軽 Tsugaru |
Tsugaru | Marshall; Westerhoven | ||
| Hin no iji | "A Poor Man's Got His Pride" | O'Brien | ||
| Saruzuka | "The Monkey's Mound" | O'Brien | ||
| 1945 | 新釈諸国噺 Shinshaku Shokoku Banashi |
New Tales of the Provinces | ||
| 惜別 Sekibetsu |
Regretful Parting | |||
| お伽草紙 Otogizōshi |
Fairy Tales | Collection of short stories | ||
| Kobutori | "Taking the Wen Away" | O'Brien | ||
| 1946 | 冬の花火 Fuyu no Hanabi |
Fireworks in Winter | Play | |
| Niwa | "The Garden" | McCarthy | ||
| 苦悩の年鑑 Kuno no Nenkan |
Almanac of Pain | Lyons | Autobiography | |
| 十五年間 Jugonenkan |
For Fifteen Years | Autobiography | ||
| Haru no kareha | "Dry Leaves in Spring" | Broadcast as a radio play on NHK the following year.[32] | ||
| Shin’yu kokan | "The Courtesy Call" | |||
| Kahei | "Currency" | O'Brien | ||
| 1947 | Tokatonton | "The Sound of Hammering" | O'Brien | |
| ヴィヨンの妻
Viyon No Tsuma |
"Villon's Wife" | McCarthy | ||
| Osan | "Osan" | O'Brien | ||
| 斜陽 Shayō |
The Setting Sun | Keene | ||
| 1948 | 如是我聞 Nyoze gamon |
"Thus Have I Heard" | Essay responding to Shiga Naoya’s criticism of his work[32] | |
| 桜桃 Ōtō |
"Cherries" | McCarthy | ||
| 人間失格 Ningen Shikkaku |
No Longer Human | Gibeau; Keene | (2018 English Translation/Variation: A Shameful Life) | |
| グッド・バイ Guddo-bai |
Good-Bye | Marshall | incomplete | |
| Katei no kofuku | "The Happiness of the Home" | |||
| 19?? | Chikukendan | "Canis familiaris" | McCarthy | |
| 地球図
Chikyūzu |
"Chikyūzu" | Before 1937. In The Final Years. | ||
| Chiyojo | "Chiyojo" | Dunlop | ||
| Kachikachiyama | "Crackling Mountain" | O'Brien | ||
| Hakumei | "Early Light" | McCarthy | ||
| Sange | "Fallen Flowers"[4] | Swann | ||
| Chichi | "The Father"[5] | Brudnoy & Kazuko | ||
| 雌について
Mesu ni tsuite |
"Female" | McCarthy | ||
| Bidanshi to tabako | "Handsome Devils and
Cigarettes" |
McCarthy | ||
| Bishōjo | "A Little Beauty" | McCarthy | ||
| めくら草紙
Mekura no sōshi |
"Mekura no sōshi" | "The Blind Book." Title is intended as a parody of Makura no sōshi (The Pillow Book).[33] Before 1937. In The Final Years. | ||
| Merii kurisumasu | "Merry Christmas" | McCarthy | ||
| 朝
Asa |
"Morning"[6] | Brudnoy & Yumi | ||
| Haha | "Mother"[7] | Brudnoy & Yumi | ||
| Zakyō ni arazu | "No Kidding" | McCarthy | ||
| "Shame"[8] | Dunlop | |||
| Yuki no yo no hanashi | "A Snowy Night's Tale" | Swann | ||
| 雀こ
Suzumeko |
"Suzumeko" | Before 1937. In The Final Years. | ||
| Oya to iu niji | "Two Little Words" | McCarthy | ||
| Matsu | "Waiting"[9] | Brudnoy & Kazuko; Turvill | ||
| 女性の | "Of Women" [10] | Seidensticker |
- Omoide
- "Omoide" is an autobiography where Tsushima created a character named Osamu to use instead of himself to enact his own memories. Furthermore, Tsushima also conveys his perspective and analysis of these situations.[34]
- The Flowers of Buffoonery
- "The Flowers of Buffoonery" relates the story of Oba Yozo and his time recovering in the hospital from an attempted suicide. Although his friends attempt to cheer him up, their words are fake, and Oba sits in the hospital simply reflecting on his life.[35]
- One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji
- "One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji" shares Tsushima's experience staying at Misaka. He meets with a man named Ibuse Masuji, a previous mentor, who has arranged an o-miai for Dazai. Dazai meets the woman, Ishihara Michiko, who he later decides to marry.[36]
- The Setting Sun
- The Setting Sun focuses on a small, formerly rich, family: a widowed mother, a divorced daughter, and a drug-addicted son who has just returned from the army and the war in the South Pacific. After WWII the family has to vacate their Tokyo home and move to the countryside, in Izu, Shizuoka, as the daughter's uncle can no longer support them financially[37]
- No Longer Human
- No Longer Human focuses on the main character, Oba Yozo. Oba explains his life from a point in his childhood to somewhere in adulthood. Unable to properly understand how to interact and understand people he resorts to tomfoolery to make friends and hide his misinterpretations of social cues. His façade doesn't fool everyone and doesn't solve every problem. Due to the influence of a classmate named Horiki, he falls into a world of drinking and smoking. He relies on Horiki during his time in college to assist with social situations. With his life spiraling downwards after failing in college, Oba continues his story and conveys his feelings about the people close to him and society in general.[38]
- Good-Bye
- An editor tries to avoid women with whom he had past sexual relations. Using the help of a female friend he does his best to avoid their advances and hide the unladylike qualities of his friend.[39]
Selected bibliography of English translations edit
- The Setting Sun (斜陽 Shayō), translated by Donald Keene. Norfolk, Connecticut, James Laughlin, 1956. (Japanese publication: 1947).
- No Longer Human (人間失格 Ningen Shikkaku), translated by Donald Keene. Norfolk, Connecticut, New Directions Publishers, 1958.
- Dazai Osamu, Selected Stories and Sketches, translated by James O’Brien. Ithaca, New York, China-Japan Program, Cornell University, 1983?
- Return to Tsugaru: Travels of a Purple Tramp (津軽), translated by James Westerhoven. New York, Kodansha International Ltd., 1985.
- Run, Melos! and Other Stories. Trans. Ralph F. McCarthy. Tokyo: Kodansha International, 1988. Tokyo: Kodansha English Library, 1988.
- Crackling Mountain and Other Stories, translated by James O’Brien. Rutland, Vermont, Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1989.
- Self Portraits: Tales from the Life of Japan's Great Decadent Romantic, translated by Ralph F. McCarthy. Tokyo, New York, Kodansha International, Ltd., 1991.
- Blue Bamboo: Tales of Fantasy and Romance, translated by Ralph F. McCarthy. Tokyo and New York, Kodansha International, 1993.
- Schoolgirl (女生徒 Joseito), translated by Allison Markin Powell. New York: One Peace Books, 2011.
- Otogizōshi: The Fairy Tale Book of Dazai Osamu (お伽草紙 Otogizōshi), translated by Ralph F. McCarthy. Fukuoka, Kurodahan Press, 2011.
- Blue Bamboo: Tales by Dazai Osamu (竹青 Chikusei), translated by Ralph F. McCarthy. Fukuoka, Kurodahan Press, 2012.
- A Shameful Life: (Ningen Shikkaku) (人間失格 Ningen Shikkaku), translated by Mark Gibeau. Berkeley, Stone Bridge Press, 2018.
- "Wish Fulfilled" (満願), translated by Reiko Seri and Doc Kane. Kobe, Japan, 2019.
- The Beggar Student (Kojiki gakusei), translated by Sam Bett. New Directions, 2024.
See also edit
References edit
- ^ a b "Dazai Osamu | Japanese author | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2022-12-07.
- ^ "Many of Japan's most interesting creative writers cite 'No Longer Human' by Osamu Dazai as their favourite book or one that had a huge influence on them". Red Circle Authors. 4 January 2018. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
- ^ Lyons, Phyllis I; Dazai, Osamu (1985). The saga of Dazai Osamu: a critical study with translations. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press. pp. 8, 21. ISBN 0804711976. OCLC 11210872.
- ^ O'Brien, James A. (1975). Dazai Osamu. Boston: Twayne Publishers. p. 18. ISBN 0805726640.
- ^ a b Lyons, pp. 21–22.
- ^ O'Brien 1975.
- ^ Lyons, pp. 21, 53, 57–58.
- ^ a b O'Brien 1975, p. 12.
- ^ 野原, 一夫 (1998). 太宰治生涯と文学 (in Japanese). 筑摩書房. p. 36. ISBN 4480033971. OCLC 676259180.
- ^ Lyons.
- ^ Lyons, p. 26.
- ^ Lyons, pp. 28–29.
- ^ Inose, Naoki; 猪瀬直樹 (2001). Pikaresuku : Dazai Osamu den = Picaresque. 猪瀬直樹 (Shohan ed.). Tōkyō: Shōgakkan. ISBN 4-09-394166-1. OCLC 47158889.
- ^ Nohara, Kazuo; 野原一夫 (1998). Dazai Osamu, shōgai to bungaku. Tōkyō: Chikuma Shobō. ISBN 4-480-03397-1. OCLC 41370809.
- ^ Lyons, p. 34.
- ^ Lyons, p. 39.
- ^ 太宰治 (1992). Self Portraits. Kodansha International. ISBN 978-4-7700-1689-8.
- ^ a b Sato & Inose 2012, p. 163.
- ^ Sato & Inose 2012, p. 162.
- ^ Sato & Inose 2012, pp. 163–164.
- ^ Wolfe, Alan Stephen (2014-07-14). Suicidal Narrative in Modern Japan: The Case of Dazai Osamu. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-1-4008-6100-2.
- ^ Sakanishi, Shio. "Publishing Trend." Japan Quarterly 2.3 (1955): 384. "Dazai, a Bohemian and an alcoholic"
- ^ "The Disqualified Life of Osamu Dazai" by Eugene Thacker, Japan Times, 26 Mar. 2016.
- ^ 山内祥史 (1998). 太宰治に出会った日 : 珠玉のエッセイ集. Yumani Shobō. OCLC 680437760.
- ^ a b Lyons, p. 391.
- ^ Classe, Olive, ed. (2000). The Encyclopedia of Literary Translation into English, Vol. I. London & Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. p. 347. ISBN 1884964362.
- ^ Lyons, p. 36.
- ^ Magill, Frank N., ed. (1997). Cyclopedia of World Authors, Vol. 2 (Revised 3rd ed.). Pasadena, California: Salem Press. p. 514. ISBN 0893564362.
- ^ Starrs, Roy (2021-10-01). Japanese Cultural Nationalism: At Home and in the Asia-Pacific. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-21395-1.
- ^ Lyons, p. 392.
- ^ a b Lyons, p. 393.
- ^ a b Lyons, p. 395.
- ^ James O'Brien (1983-06-01). O. Dazai Selected Stories And Sketches.
- ^ Lyons, pp. 79–83.
- ^ O'Brien, James; G.K. Hall & Company (1999). Dazai Osamu. New York: G.K. Hall & Co. pp. 55–58.
- ^ O'Brien, James; G.K. Hall & Company (1999). Dazai Osamu. New York: G.K. Hall & Co. pp. 74–76.
- ^ Dazai, Osamu; Keene, Donald (2002). The setting sun. Boston: Tuttle. ISBN 4805306726. OCLC 971573193.
- ^ Dazai, Osamu; Keene, Donald (1958). No longer human. New York: New Directions. ISBN 0811204812. OCLC 708305173.
- ^ O'Brien, James; G.K. Hall & Company (1999). Dazai Osamu. New York: G.K. Hall & Co. p. 147. OCLC 56775972.
Sources edit
- O'Brien, James A., ed. Akutagawa and Dazai: Instances of Literary Adaptation. Cornell University Press, 1983.
- Ueda, Makoto. Modern Japanese Writers and the Nature of Literature. Stanford University Press, 1976.
- Sato, Hiroaki; Inose, Naoki (2012). Persona: A Biography of Yukio Mishima. Berkeley, California: Stone Bridge Press. ISBN 978-1-61172-008-2.
- "Nation and Region in the Work of Dazai Osamu," in Roy Starrs Japanese Cultural Nationalism: At Home and in the Asia Pacific. London: Global Oriental. 2004. ISBN 1-901903-11-7.
External links edit
- Osamu Dazai's works in Japanese on Aozora bunko
- Osamu's short story "Waiting" at the Wayback Machine (archived December 11, 2007)
- Osamu Dazai's grave
- Synopsis of Japanese Short Stories (Otogi Zoshi) at JLPP (Japanese Literature Publishing Project) (in English)
- Osamu Dazai at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- Works by Osamu Dazai at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
