No Longer Human (Ningen shikkaku) aka A Shameful Life

A young man describes his torment as he struggles to reconcile the diverse influences of Western culture & the traditions of his own Japanese heritage.

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 & author. A number of his most popular works, such as The Setting Sun (Shayō) and No Longer Human (Ningen Shikkaku), are considered modern-day classics.

In the 1930s & 1940s, Dazai wrote a number of subtle novels & 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) & those published in his 1936 collection Bannen (Declining Years or The Final Years), which describe his sense of personal isolation & his debauchery.

In July 1947, Dazai's best-known work, Shayô (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 & his health deteriorated rapidly. At this time he met Tomie Yamazaki (山崎富栄), a beautician & war widow who had lost her husband after just ten days of marriage. Dazai effectively abandoned his wife & children & 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 & stayed there until mid-May, finishing his novel. A quasi-autobiography, it depicts a young, self-destructive man (...)