{"title":"Osamu Dazai","description":"","products":[{"product_id":"no-longer-human","title":"No Longer Human","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOsamu Dazai's \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eNo Longer Human\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, 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).\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDonald Keene, who translated this and Dazai's first novel, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Setting Sun\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, 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.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Book Beavers","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43499993038871,"sku":null,"price":170.0,"currency_code":"BDT","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0767\/8407\/4775\/files\/NoLongerHuman_OsamuDazai.jpg?v=1759914860"},{"product_id":"the-setting-sun","title":"The Setting Sun","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe 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.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe 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.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eKazuko’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.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Book Beavers","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43499998248983,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"BDT","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0767\/8407\/4775\/files\/TheSettingSun_OsamuDazai.jpg?v=1759915175"},{"product_id":"schoolgirl","title":"Schoolgirl","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOsamu Dazai's 1939 novella depicts a day in the life of a Tokyo schoolgirl. Propelling Dazai into the literary elite of post-war Japan, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eSchoolgirl\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e 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.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Book Beavers","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43500059131927,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"BDT","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0767\/8407\/4775\/files\/Schoolgirl_OsamuDazai.jpg?v=1759915510"},{"product_id":"the-flowers-of-buffoonery","title":"The Flowers of Buffoonery","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Flowers of Buffoonery\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e opens in a seaside sanitarium where Yozo Oba — the narrator of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eNo Longer Human\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e — is convalescing after a failed suicide attempt. Friends and family visit him, and nurses and police drift in and out of his room. Against this dispiriting backdrop, Yozo and his visitors try to maintain a lighthearted, even clownish atmosphere: playing cards, smoking cigarettes, vying for attention, cracking jokes, and trying to make each other laugh. Dazai is known for delving into the darkest corners of human consciousness, but in \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Flowers of Buffoonery\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e he pokes fun at these same emotions: the follies and hardships of youth, of love, and of self-hatred and depression. A glimpse into the lives of a group of outsiders in prewar Japan, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Flowers of Buffoonery\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is a fresh and darkly humorous addition to Osamu Dazai’s masterful and intoxicating oeuvre.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Book Beavers","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43500107956247,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"BDT","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0767\/8407\/4775\/files\/TheFlowersofBuffoonery_OsamuDazai.jpg?v=1759915752"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0767\/8407\/4775\/collections\/Osamu_Dazai.jpg?v=1759914088","url":"https:\/\/bookbeavers.com\/collections\/osamu-dazai.oembed","provider":"Book Beavers","version":"1.0","type":"link"}