No Longer Human Confessions of a Faulty Man

No Longer Human (1948, Ningen Shikkaku /A Shameful Life / Confessions of a Faulty Man) wasan attack on the traditions of Japan, capturing thepostwar crisis of Japanese cultural identity. Framed byan epilogue and prologue, the story is told in the formthree notebooks left by Ōba Yōzō, whose calm exteriorhides his tormented soul.Osamu Dazai was a Japanese author who isconsidered one of the foremost fiction writers of 20thcenturyJapan. A number of his most popular works,such as Shayō (The Setting Sun) and Ningen Shikkaku(No Longer Human), are considered modern-dayclassics in Japan.Japanese novelist and a master storyteller, whobecame at the end of World War II the literary voiceand literary hero of his generation. Dazai's life endedin double-suicide with his married mistress. In manybooks Dazai used biographical material from his ownfamily background, and made his self-destructive lifethe subject of his books.Translated by Mary Fox.