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Dazai, Osamu (太宰 治, June 19, 1909 - June 13, 1948) was a Japanese author. He was born in Kanagi, Japan as Tsushima Shuji(津島修治).
Among his most important works are No Longer Human (人間失格) and The Setting Sun(斜陽), as well as Melos, Run! (走れメロス).
Dazai's works are characterized by a profound pessimism, not surprising from an author who, after several unsuccessful attempts, eventually killed himself days before he turned 39. In his novels the main characters similarly consider suicide as the only viable alternative to their hellish existence, yet(often)fail to kill themselves due to an equally savage apathy towards their own existence ie. the question of whether they live or not becomes comically trivial. However, there are exceptions -- the aforementioned "Melos, Run!" is a very positive story about the power of friendship with an unambiguously happy ending.
'No Longer Human' deals with a character hurtling headlong towards self-destruction, all the while despairing of the seeming impossibility of changing the course of his life. The novel is told in a brutally honest manner, devoid of all sentimentality. At the end the young protagonist becomes a semi-invalid isolated in a hut on the outskirts of Tokyo, in the care of an old woman who has 'violated him in a curious manner' several times. This work is one of the seminal classics of Japanese literature.
Other novels by Dazai include:
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