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I've been slowly exploring Japanese literature over the last little while. First, I read 'I am a Cat' by Soseki Natsume during my hiatus from this capsule. Just recently I went on my second foray into this realm: No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai. While the first was a humorous, playful romp through a Japan that was rapidly modernizing, the second was one of the darkest books I've ever read. No Longer Human is the story of a man named Oba Yozo following him from childhood to death (or at least implying he died) in the form of 'found documents' that are almost like a series of journals written by Yozo chronicling certain stages in his life, with the prologue and epilogue being written by people who never met him.
While the story unfolds, the one thing that becomes very clear is that Yozo suffers from both anxiety and depression. He's not comfortable in the world or dealing with people. As a child, to help him deal with this he plays the clown in front of others so that he can stay on their good side. As an adult, he turns to substance abuse. First alcohol, then morphine. As he's spiralling trying to deal with a world he's afraid of, he develops a very low opinion of him self. When he's a kid he takes up painting and creates some self-portraits that depict him as hideous and terrible. Later, as Yozo is reflecting on his actions through his journal entries he describes himself as less and less human. He's just incapable of seeing the good in himself which causes his depression to get worse and worse.
There is a lot of overlap between Yozo and Dazai as well. Both came from well-to-do families in the north of Japan. Both led self destructive lives fuelled by substance abuse. Both made suicide attempts. In the case of Dazai, there were several, leading up to his death in 1948 (shortly after this novel was published). For Yozo there was only one failed attempt in the novel, but he thought of it often and it's left up to the reader as to whether that was what happened to him in the end.
No Longer Human does a really good job of showing how anxiety and depression can eat away at a person, and it pulls no punches in how it depicts Yozo going through all of this. For some people, this may hit a little too close to home, becoming a very uncomfortable read. Despite how dark things can get, one thing that stands out is how personable Yozo is throughout his notebooks. There isn't any sort of gloom hanging over him. It can get one thinking, "If only he could tap into this when interacting with others, maybe he would have been okay." Unfortunately, he couldn't and when he was with others he would clam up or goof around or just bury himself in drink, which makes the story all the more sad as he spiralled more and more even though he was a good person at his core.
This was definitely something I'm glad I read, even if I didn't feel great by the end. Dazai's depiction of anxiety and depression hits hard. He's being very honest about what it's like to live with those things since he was going through it himself. This novel was really eye opening.
- Pennywhether
pennywhether@posteo.net