He was a complicated, troubled man who tried and failed many times to commit suicide during his lifetime, from swallowing sleeping pills to hanging himself, he tried everything.

With his father absent for most of the time and mother ill, Dazai was mostly brought up by the servants of the mansion and his aunt Kiye.ĭazai wrote many short stories and novels and most of his works were semi-autobiographical in nature, describing his sense of alienation and his debauchery. He came from a highly respected, wealthy family of landowners. Shuuji Tsushima (1909-1948), later came to be called Osamu Dazai, was a postwar Japanese writer considered to be one of the most prominent writers of fiction of the 20th century. Without sentimentality, he records the casual cruelties of life and its fleeting moments of human connection and tenderness. 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. Portraying himself as a failure, the protagonist of No Longer Human narrates a seemingly normal life even while he feels himself incapable of understanding human beings. The work is made up of three chapters, or 'memoranda', which chronicle the life of Ōba, how he declined to a morphine addict, how his life turned into one full of crimes, alcohol, prostitutes and suicides. The story is told in the form of notebooks left by Oba Yozo.

Whatever went on in his mind is conveyed through Oba’s character. No Longer Human is a dark and disturbing life-story told from the perspective of Oba Yozo, who is actually a reflection of Dazai himself.ĭazai wrote this novel in a state of frenzy and some people even suggested that he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. What should I talk about, how should I say it? – I Don’t know.” It is almost impossible for me to converse with other people. “All I feel are the assaults of apprehension and terror at the thought that I am the only one who is entirely unlike the rest.

No longer human book