The Setting Sun (New Directions Book)

Product Information

Bebo para morir, pues vivir me resulta demasiado triste. La soledad, la melancolía, las estrecheces… la tristeza me abruma. Cuando oyes lúgubres sollozos procedentes de las cuatro paredes es que para tí no existe la felicidad. ¿Y cómo quieres que me sienta cuando me he dado cuenta de que no conoceré la felicidad ni la gloria mientras viva?“. The book talks about eminent struggle of the protagonist- Kazuko- to come in terms with the rapid changing world wherein she’s not sure about her inclination whether it's about the aristocratic heritage or the new uprising world which is derived by convenience and desires. Eventually, she battles herself to survive along a fine thread lingering between the customary world and a developing modern sphere of humanity. The nihilistic traits of grief, sadness, bleakness, suicide, absurdism and despair of life are as evident as water in a vessel of glass and I found that these traits in other major works of Dazai too - No Longer Human and Schoolgirl. In fact, it could said be authority that post-war philosophy and literature is highly inspired form these abovementioned traits- whether it may be existentialism of Sartre, absurdism of Camus or any other modern and post-modern movement of literature. The harrowing experiences of World Wars certainly contribute to sudden rise in popularity and development of these schools of thoughts in post- war times. All these art/ philosophical movements works on similar themes that existence somewhat lingers upon absurd situation of life and one has to accept this state of absurdness, and in fact that very realization is the onset of true of existence wherein one has to take responsibility of one's life. Y ya digo que Osamu Dazai escribe como los dioses, parece que hace sencillo lo más difícil. Esa generación casi “perdida” que se tiene que levantar tras una guerra, aquí está perfectamente reflejada en los personajes de Kazuo y de su hermano Naoji. Todos esos conflictos morales que estaba viviendo Japón en aquella época están aquí reflejados en ellos dos. Es una novela para saborear y disfrutar sin prisas. Una joya. Kazuko, the narrator, is a twenty-nine-year-old woman from a once-aristocratic Japanese family. She and her younger brother, Naoji, agree that class titles are not earned and that aristocrats are no more than “high-class beggars.” Their mother, however, is an exception; although she often departs from formal etiquette, her manners have the ease and elegance that mark her as a true aristocrat.

Dazai, Osamu, the setting sun, translated by Donald Keene, New Directions Publishing Corporation, revised edition, June 1968; A man of divided beliefs, Naoji loves literature and other mindful pastimes but feels alienated from a society he regards as hypocritical and shallow. When he was younger, Naoji was addicted to opium; upon returning home, he relapsed into his old ways, living a dissolute lifestyle, drinking and taking drugs, and spending money irresponsibly. From then on, however, I came to hold, almost as a philosophical conviction, the belief: What is society but an individual?” intihar birkaç sayfa içinde hem ölme hakkı olarak, hem toplumsal/siyasal bağlamda, hem genel/geleneksel ahlak anlayışına ve hem de soylu sınıfın yok oluşuna (çelişki?) tepki olarak anlatılıyor/açıklanıyor. bu düşünceler bildiğimiz gibi yazarın kişiliğinden/hayatından bağımsız değil. yazar kendi düşüncelerini hikaye içinde intiharından önce üzerinde yeterince durmadığı kahramanlarından biriyle dile getiriyor ama ne bu kahraman ne de bu küçük kitap bu düşünceleri taşıyabiliyor.In the days, weeks and months following 9/11 I had a really difficult time getting a grasp on reality. I pretty much walked around the city in a daze for quite a while not knowing what to make of any of it. I frankly still don't know what to make of any of it...

The 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. Baba’nın da öldüğü evi terk edip, köyde bir Çin evine taşındıklarında( düştüklerinde) anne’nin hastalığı ilerlemeye başlar. Bu esnada savaşta öldüğü düşünülen oğul eve geri döner ancak dönen oğul esrarkeş ve hayatla bağı olmayan bir entelektüeldir. Kendisine bir hayrı olmadığı gibi eve de yük olmaktan öte bir eylemi yoktur. Bu bölümde anlatıcımız bir köylüye dönüşür, toprağı işlemeye başlar ve soylu gelenek realiteye boyun eğer. Bu bölümde biz Naoji’nin Akşam Yüzleri Notları ile karşılaşırız. Kazuko plans to travel to Tokyo and visit Mr. Uehara in person, but just before she leaves, her mother falls ill with tuberculosis. One day, her mother tells her that she dreamed about a snake in front of the house and asks Kazuko to see if it is there. Kazuko sees the snake and finally accepts that her mother is going to die, which she does soon afterward. Her last words are an expression of concern for how hard Kazuko must work to survive. El ocaso/El declive (1947) de Osamu Dazai (1909-1948) nos muestra un tema recurrente en la literatura japonesa del siglo XX: la difícil transición de la tradición a la modernidad en ese país.At this moment, as I stood on the verge of tears, the words "realism" and "romanticism" welled up within me. I have no sense of realism. And that this very fact might be what permits me to go on living sends cold chills through my whole body." fakat yazar kitaba hikaye içinde bir intihar vakası ile birlikte bir intihar düşüncesi eklemlemeyi uygun bulmuş ve hikayenin merkezini de bu düşünceye kaydırma yoluna gitmiş. bir parçalanma/yıkım öyküsünde intiharın elbette yeri olabilir, bu tartışılacak bir konu değil. ancak yazar öykü içinde intiharın bağlamını/gerekçelendirmesini kısa bir öyküde bir intihar mektubunun içine sıkıştırarak ve dağıttıkça dağıtarak öykünün minimal/kompakt yapısını bozmuş, güzelliğini gölgelemiş. La propia estructura formal de la novela denota esa modernidad al dotar de género femenino al personaje principal de la novela, la hija, que es la narradora en primera persona. Pero también presenta muchas características propias de la literatura nipona, ritmo cadencioso, tono lineal, sin estridencias, un lenguaje sencillo y, sobre todo, esa minuciosidad en las descripciones de las cosas sencillas de la vida rutinaria (plantas, comidas, vestimentas, costumbres) que hacen de contrapunto a las ideas y acciones de los personajes. Me parece muy logrado que también en lo formal se pueda observar ese contraste. Twenty-nine-year-old Kazuko, her brother Naoji, and their widowed mother are members of an impoverished aristocratic family living in post-war Tokyo. Kazuko had been married, but divorced and returned to the family household after claiming that she had had an extramarital affair with a painter she admired. The child she had been expecting was stillborn. Naoji, who served with the military in the South Pacific, is declared missing. Kazuko recalls a time when she burned snake eggs, thinking that they were viper eggs. It is revealed that at the time of Kazuko's father's death, there were many snakes present in and around the house, which therefore have become ominous in her and her mother's eyes.