nmcannon 's review for:

Dazai Osamu by James Aloysius O'Brien

3.5

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

---

 After reading and enjoying A Shameful Life, I was desperate to read a biography of Dazai Osamu-san’s life. My library has exactly two options: Dazai Osamu by James A. O’Brien and a chapter in Makoto Ueda’s Modern Japanese Writers and the Nature of Literature. Since O’Brien’s work was an entire book, I read it first. 

The library catalogue didn’t have much description beyond the title, so I dived in blind. In the front matter, O’Brien explains that this book is his doctoral dissertation expanded and revised to fit into Twayne’s World Author Series. Reminiscent of high school term papers (except way more hardcore), O’Brien’s thesis examines Dazai-san’s works in the context of his life. Not every single publication is put under the proverbial microscope—O’Brien straight up admits skipping iconic works because he doesn’t care about them personally. “A Landlord’s Life,” The Final Years, Flowers of Buffoonery, One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji, “New Hamlet,” Return to Tsugaru, Fairy Tales, “Villon’s Wife,” The Setting Sun, No Longer Human, Goodbye, and various stories of monkeys are included. 

Though the book isn’t a straightforward biography, it gave me the general shape Dazai-san’s life, for which I’m grateful. O’Brien makes careful, helpful distinction among Dazai the character, Dazai the author persona, and Tsushima Shūji-san the person. After reading, I felt knew Tsushima-san’s personality better and not a sculpture set on a pedestal. His mistreatment of his wife, Ishihara Michiko-san, is a real knock in the teeth. 

My main critique is O’Brien tends to study Dazai-san in isolation. His friends are mentioned when it can’t be avoided, and all women are poo-poohed. The Buraihi Trio is not mentioned once. He writes off Ishihara-san as an unknowable enigma who bore Dazai-san’s neglect and children with great patience. The single insight we receive is that she transcribed “Heed My Plea” and liked the story. This lack of women is especially weird because Dazai-san once missed women so much he became a drag queen. According to this book, Dazai-san survived WWII perfectly fine. He hopped between various bomb shelters and read fairy tales to his daughters. His post-war implosion came out of nowhere. The seemingly random plunge in mental health chilled me to the bone. 

O’Brien’s blind spots are balanced against my hunger for any Dazai-san knowledge and the fact that he wrote his dissertation in the 1970s. While reading, I itched for my own copy, so I could read more slowly, mark the pages, and absorb.