Schoolgirl (Modern Japanese Classics)

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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. This, coupled with a stream-of-consciousness narration and wordplay, make for a very playful and boisterous style that keep the novel from wallowing in its own depressive qualities, which are still strong and will certainly pour it’s icy numbness over you all the same.

It would be an futile exercise to describe plot of the book to any degree, as the novella appears as a day-in-the-life, stream-of-consciousness, like a broadened journal section, where the youthful hero starts by discussing certain occasions that have impacted her life, for example, the war and the demise of her dad, just to then be diverted some minor detail giving us a look into her mind. As the day proceeds, the narrator increasingly turns her attention to more pressing questions about the world around her and her place in it. It is pathetic to watch whatever emotions or sense of reason I have acquired up to that point be devoured by instinct. The book is immensely simple in construction but this brevity facilitates great imagery throughout the pages.Tanabe died, but Tsushima lived, rescued by a fishing boat and was charged as an accomplice in Tanabe's death. If you were to point to a faraway mountain and say, If you can make it there, it's a pretty good view, I'd see that there's not an ounce of untruth to what you tell us. Written in 1939 but only now translated into English for the first time, Osamu Dazai’s Schoolgirl—a slim, precocious novella narrated by a schoolgirl of indeterminate age—was stylish and provocative in its time. He was widely known by contemporaries for his eclectic lifestyle, inventive use of language, and his multiple suicide attempts, which led to his final, successful attempt in 1948. As noted, the narrator’s emotional state is in constant flux as if being tossed about by the stormy waves of puberty.

The world revolts her, but the world is beautiful, but the world is sad, but the world is glittering and peaceful. Osamu's house was burned down twice in the American bombing of Tokyo, but his family escaped unscathed, with a son, Masaki ( 正樹), born in 1944. I would say that the strength of this medium, and indeed the strength of Dazai’s works, is that this brevity facilitates a large amount of imagery in each page.

Dazai's literary work No Longer Human has received quite a few adaptations: a graphic novel written by the horror manga artist Junji Ito, a film directed by Genjiro Arato, the first four episodes of the anime series Aoi Bungaku, and a variety of mangas one of which was serialized in Shinchosha's Comic Bunch magazine. She is also in a constant state of self-analysis, where every action that she considered a failing is logged and serves as source of shame. We don’t necessarily have a preamble to a book/ its review but it often adds a depth and understanding that is otherwise impossible.

Published in 1939, the novella that launched Dazai's career portrays pre-war Japan, but already foreshadows what's to come: The protagonist ponders that having a power that tells you what to do is a form of relief, as it takes away the pressure of decision-making and moral orientation. And when that happened, everyone would say, Oh, if only she had lived a little longer she would have known, if she were a little more grown up she would have figured it out. Propelling Dazai into the literary elite of post-war Japan, Schoolgirl gained notoriety for its ironic and inventive use of language. To describe the plot in any depth would be an exercise in futility, as the novella takes the form of a day-in-the-life, stream of consciousness, similar to an extended diary entry, where the young protagonist begins by talking about certain events that have influenced her life such as the war and the death of her father, only to then be sidetracked on some minor detail and to go off on a tangent, giving us a glimpse into her psyche.The themes woven into the woof and weft of his literary tapestries were so obviously cut from the fabric of his life that even when he assumed the guise of a mawkish female schoolgirl, readers have no trouble seeing through the flimsy veneer. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys short novellas, and to those who enjoy novellas that make them think about the world, and their own lives. It is also a tricky one to pin down as the opinions fluctuate so much, which is part of it’s dark beauty in exploring the nuances of life and existential despair. The book captures thinly veiled self-loathing, zany angst, wild mood swings, and "sublime nihility'' of Dazai in a way that speaks to the disaffected youth in us all.