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About
Osamu Dazai is one of the most famous-and infamous-writers of 20th-century Japan. A Shameful Life (Ningen shikkaku) is his final published work and has become a bestselling classic for its depiction of the tortured struggle of a young man to survive in a world that he cannot comprehend. Paralleling the life and death of Dazai himself, the delicate weaving of fact and fiction remorselessly documents via journals the life of Yozo, a university student who spends his time in increasing isolation and debauchery. His doomed love affairs, suicide attempts, and constant fear of revealing his true self haunt the pages of the book and reveal a slow descent into madness. This dark tale nevertheless conveys something authentic about the human heart and its inability to find its true bearing.
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Reviews
"Dazai's reputation has not waned a bit in seventy years. Reading Mark Gibeau's brilliant translation will show you why."
Roger Pulvers, award-winning translator, film director, and author of LIV
"This new translation brings fresh skill and sensitivity to the task of interpreting one of modern Japanese literature's most endearing classics. It gives us Dazai in all his quirky hilarity and pathos, and deepens our understanding of this complex and brilliant writer."
Dr. Meredith McKinney, award winning translator of Sei Shônagon's The Pillow Book
"Certain novels evoke such a vivid sense of a character that it almost hurts to reach the end. This nuanced, engaging translation of Dazai Osamu's masterpiece A Shameful Life is just such a work: subtle and complex, it pulls the reader in and refuses to let go. Indeed, Mark Gibeau's helpful afterword left me wanting to turn right back to the first page and dig into the book again. A Shameful Life
Michael Emmerich, Associate Professor of Japanese Literature at UCLA