Self portraits : stories
Dazai, Osamu, 1909-19482024
Book
'Art dies the moment it acquires authority.' So said Japan's quintessential rebel writer Osamu Dazai, who, disgusted with the hypocrisy of every kind of establishment, from the nation's obsolete aristocracy to its posturing, warmongering generals, went his own way, even when that meant his death - and the death of others. Faced with pressure to conform, he declared his individuality to the world-in all its self-involved, self-conscious and self-hating glory. 'Art', he wrote, 'is 'I'.' In these short stories, collected and translated by Ralph McCarthy, we can see just how closely Dazai's life mirrored his art and vice versa, as the writer/narrator falls from grace, rises to fame and falls again.
Main title:
Self portraits : stories / Osamu Dazai ; translated by Ralph F. McCarthy.
Author:
Dazai, Osamu, 1909-1948, authorMcCarthy, Ralph F., translator, writer of introduction
Work:
Imprint:
New York : New Directions Books, 2024.
Collation:
256 pages ; 21 cm
Notes:
Translated from the Japanese.
ISBN:
9780811232265 (pbk)
Dewey class:
895.6344
Language:
EnglishJapanese
Added title:
Subject:
BRN:
3784756