Who Was Osamu Dazai? His Background & Famous Books

Book reading is one of the most favourite hobbies of many people around the globe. You may find a long list of books available on the internet but no other author has reached the level of Osamu Dazai. If you are a fiction stories lover, you should read about him. In this blog, we are going to highlight some famous books written by Osamu Dazai for fiction lovers. You can read about him in detail from this page and choose the book that appeals to you.

Part 1. Who Was Osamu Dazai?

Osamu was a Japanese author who is considered one of those writers who started working on the fiction category in the 20th century. His real name was Shuji Trushima while Osamu Dazai is his pen name with which he is famous in the world. Because of his unique writing and thinking skills to write fiction stories, Osamu gained popularity in the field.

Dazai was born on June 19, 1909, in Kanangi which is a remote part of Japan. After completing his basic level education, Osamu Dazai enrolled in French Literature which gave him a boost to be an author. With his exceptional thinking skills, he stepped into the fiction writing category. That was the time when only a few authors were working in this category and publishing their books. That’s why Osamu Dazai is considered one of the earliest fiction authors in the world.

Part 2. Famous Books By Osamu Dazai

Nothing wrong in saying that Osamu Dazao has multiple masterpieces in his collection. Some of his books got attention of the people from other parts of the world which encouraged translators to do their work and offer a perfect translation for his books. We have researched a lot and found a few Osamu Dazai books that you must read if you love to explore his stories.

The Beggar Student

One of the most famous books of Osamu Dazai is The Beggar Student. In this story, the author takes himself as a person who is passing by the roads of Tokyo and finds someone committing suicide. To avoid any problem of being a witness, he thought of ignoring that person and stepped away.

The Begger Student Preview

Accidentally, he came into a conversation with that person who told him that he was a high school dropout student. From this point, Osamu Dazai shared a complete storyline about their conversation and the life of a student due to which the story is given the name of The Beggar Student.

The Flowers Of Buffoonery

Undoubtedly, Osamu Dazai has written multiple books but one of the most famous and prominent characters of his stories is Yozo Oba. The Flowers of Buffonery is also related to that character and the story revolved around the scene when Yozo tried to commit suicide but failed. In the story, Dazai explains the emotions of a human humorously.

The Flowers of Buffoonery Preview

Normally, Osamu Dazai wrote about the dark sides of the human being but in this story, he has done work in a fun and humorous way to keep the readers engaged. The main focus of the story is to emphasize human emotions like the hardships of friends, lovers, and family members for the sake of their relationship. You will surely find it engaging if you get this book and start reading this masterpiece by Osamu Dazai.

No Longer Human

Among other masterpieces of Osamu Dazai, No Longer Human is still among the best-selling books. The reason for being sold in this modern age too is the core concept of this book. In this story, Osamu has portrayed himself as a man who failed again and again in his life and is now tired of facing failure. Like his other stories, Osamu Dazai included a suicidal attempt in this story too.

But the main reason for its popularity is the soft points that he has hit nicely to capture the attention. The story starts from the childhood of the author and keeps on processing until he is an adult. He has discussed multiple situations in which he had to face failure that pushed him towards taking the harsh step of suicide. As the story has an ever-green concept i.e., the struggle of a person, it is still getting the attention of people in Japan.

The Setting Sun

Being a fiction writer, Osamu Dazai always tried to write something that captured the attention of readers and let them turn the pages till the end. The Setting Sun is one of those novels that makes the readers emotional by touching them to the deep parts of their hearts. In this novel, the author has nicely discussed the postwar years in Japan.

The Setting Sun Preview

As the novel was published in 1956, that was the time when Japan had come out of the war zone. In his novel, he explains the situation and scenes when the sun is setting and highlights the destruction of the war. The novel was liked by the Japanese people a lot which encouraged them to make “people of the setting sun” a part of their literature and language course.

Part 3. Notable adaptations of  Osamu Dazai

Part 4. Famous Quotes of  Osamu Dazai

FAQs

Is No Longer Human A True Story?

No, it is not a true story but a fictional story with all its fictional characters. Osamu Dazai has written this fiction story nicely by portraying himself as a model of failure and then explaining his struggles to be successful and getting nothing in the end.

When Did Osamu Dazi Die?

Dazai died on 13 June 1948 and his many books were published after his death. The Setting Sun was re-published in 1956 by another publisher 8 years of his death. The main reason for its publication was the aim to let people know about the work of Osamu Dazai.

Why Is No Longer Human Disturbing?

There can be multiple reasons why you are finding No Longer Human disturbing. But the major reasons include the storyline, suicide attempt, and failure highlighting. Undoubtedly, the story was written to give a moral lesson but it leaves a disturbing impact on teenagers when they know there is no way other than suicide after getting failure.

Part 8. Summary

By reading this blog, you must have got an idea about Osamu Dazai, his work, and his famous books and novels. All the mentioned books are best-selling books of this time too because of their prominent proportion of readers. If you would like to take an in-depth English reading and writing course, you can book a free Wukong English ELA course!