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    Osamu Dazai

    Osamu Dazai was born in 1909 into a powerful landowning family of northern Japan. A brilliant student, he entered the French department of Tokyo University in 1930, but later boasted that in the five years before he left without a degree, he had never attended a lecture. Dazai was famous for confronting head-on the social and moral crises of postwar Japan before he committed suicide by throwing himself into Tokyo’s Tamagawa Aqueduct. His body was found on what would have been his 39th birthday.

    Osamu Dazai

    Osamu Dazai was born in 1909 into a powerful landowning family of northern Japan. A brilliant student, he entered the French department of Tokyo University in 1930, but later boasted that in the five years before he left without a degree, he had never attended a lecture. Dazai was famous for confronting head-on the social and moral crises of postwar Japan before he committed suicide by throwing himself into Tokyo’s Tamagawa Aqueduct. His body was found on what would have been his 39th birthday.

    Books by Osamu Dazai

    • No Longer Human

      Osamu Dazai, Donald Keene

      Paperback, 1973

      The poignant and fascinating story of a young man who is caught between the breakup of the traditions of a northern Japanese aristocratic family and the impact of Western ideas.

    • The Setting Sun

      Osamu Dazai, Donald Keene

      Paperback, 1968

      This powerful novel of a nation in social and moral crisis was first published by New Directions in 1956.

    • No Longer Human

      Osamu Dazai, Donald Keene

      E Book, 2012

      The poignant and fascinating story of a young man who is caught between the breakup of the traditions of a northern Japanese aristocratic family and the impact of Western ideas.

    • The Setting Sun

      Osamu Dazai, Donald Keene

      E Book, 2014

      This powerful novel of a nation in social and moral crisis was first published by New Directions in 1956.

    • Early Light

      Osamu Dazai, Donald Keene, Ralph McCarthy

      Hardback, 2022

      Early Light gathers three tales by Osamu Dazai, author of the wildly popular No Longer Human

    • Early Light

      Osamu Dazai, Donald Keene, Ralph McCarthy

      E Book, 2022

      Early Light gathers three tales by Osamu Dazai, author of the wildly popular No Longer Human

    • No Longer Human

      Osamu Dazai, Donald Keene

      Hardback, 2022

      Now in a gift cloth edition, No Longer Human ponders profound alienation

    • The Setting Sun

      Osamu Dazai, Donald Keene

      Hardback, 2022

      Now in a beautiful gift cloth edition, a masterpiece of postwar Japanese literature

    • The Flowers of Buffoonery

      Osamu Dazai, Sam Bett

      Paperback, 2023

      For the first time in English, Osamu Dazai’s hilariously comic and deeply moving prequel toNo Longer Human

    • The Flowers of Buffoonery

      Osamu Dazai, Sam Bett

      E Book

      For the first time in English, Osamu Dazai’s hilariously comic and deeply moving prequel toNo Longer Human

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