![]() Still one of the ten bestselling books in Japan, No Longer Human is a powerful exploration of an individual’s alienation from society. 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. No Longer Human has been adapted as a graphic novel by horror manga artist Junji Ito, made into an anime film, Human Lost, directed by Fuminori Kizaki and is. Semi-autobiographical, No Longer Human is the final completed work of one of Japan’s most important writers, Osamu Dazai (1909-1948). 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. He is denied the f9 love of his father, taken advantage of by h i s friends, and finally in turn is cruel to the women who love him. It is the story of a man who is orphaned from his fellows by their refusal to take him seriously. ![]() 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. No Longer Human is almost symbolic of the predicament of the Japanese writers today. ![]() ![]() ![]() I can’t even guess myself what it must be to live the life of a human being. ![]()
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