No Longer Human

Author: Osamu Dazai, Donald Keene (Translator)

ISBN-13: 9780811204811
Publisher: Algonquin Young Readers
Publication date: January 1, 2001
Format: Paperback

Shipping: 20-40 business days

Portraying himself as a failure, the protagonist of No Longer Human narrates a seemingly normal life even while he feels incapable of understanding human beings. Oba Yozo's attempts to reconcile himself to the world around him begin in early childhood, continue through high school, where he becomes a "clown" to mask his alienation, and eventually lead to a failed suicide attempt as an adult. Without sentimentality, he records the casual cruelties of life and its fleeting moments of human connection and tenderness. Semi-autobiographical, No Longer Human is the final completed work of Osamu Dazai. Still one of the ten bestselling books in Japan, No Longer Human is a powerful exploration of an individual's alienation from society.