Self-Portraits: Stories

In the world of modern Japanese literature, Dazai stands alone. Or rather perches precariously on a tall stool, rambling effusively (and just a tad drunkenly) to any with ears to hear--an open, unpretentious, warmly irreverent expression on his face the whole time. His writings, like the man himself most likely, contain a host of contradictions: goofily entertaining and yet deadly serious, tragically pessimistic and yet irresistibly humorous, self-effacing and humble and yet conceited and arrogant, devil-may-care iconoclastic and yet solicitous of public opinion, full of vice and degradation and yet sublimely wholesome, prodigal and profligate and yet confessional and repentant, honest to a fault and yet full of sly little deceptions, full of life and yet suicidal.And the collection of short stories in "Self Portraits" is perhaps the very best possible way to get to know this eccentric writer and his unique literary voice, in English translation anyway. As the title suggests, each tale is more or less (semi-) autobiographical in nature, mostly brief little vignettes taken from his own life and arranged and fictionalized just enough so that it's art rather than merely memoir. The stories themselves were written by Dazai over many years for a number of different venues, but the translator, Ralph M. McCarthy, has brought them together and anthologized them in chronological order according to the events in Dazai's life to which they more or less correspond, crafting from such disparate fragments the self-told tale of an extremely talented and troubled man--told as only he can. This imposed overarching structure is effective, certainly, but each story stands on its own too, each with its own character, mood and feel. By the end, the reader will get a surprisingly vivid sense of Dazai's versatility in tone and variability in literary craftsmanship--every so often a bit unsteady, admittedly, but never slipping off entirely.In addition, the translator has supplied a fine introduction that quickly brings the reader up to speed on Dazai's life and writing and has generously included 22 photographs of Dazai and those close to him, many of which can only be found readily right here (at least on this side of the Pacific). So for longtime Dazai fans and new acquaintances alike, this fine little book is a great way to get to know this short-lived and yet unforgettable author a little better. Only be careful--sometimes he's just pulling your leg.P.S. The short stories included in this collection are as follows:1. "My Elder Brothers"2. "Train"3. "Female"4. "Seascape with Figures in Gold"5. "No Kidding"6. "A Promise Fulfilled"7. "One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji"8. "I Can Speak"9. "A Little Beauty"10. "Canis Familiaris"11. "Thinking of Zenso"12. "Eight Scenes from Tokyo"13. "Early Light"14. "Garden"15. "Two Little Words"16. "Merry Christmas"17. "Handsome Devils and Cigarettes"18. "Cherries"

this book include the more biographical works of Dazai. Many of these explained his unorthodox behaviors, such as his addiction to drugs, and his involvement in communism. But some stories are a little confusing, such as "I Can Speak English" and the "Handsome Devil and Cigeretts". or maybe it's just me.The pictures are very interesting. there were pictures of his wife, his suicide partner, and his best friends. how skinny he was when he was using drugs, and how depressed he looked in his later years, especially after he became a celebrity after the pblication of the setting sun...

This is a collection of the autobiographical stories that made Dazai's reputation in Japan during the 1930s and 40s. Dazai, like many Tanizaki characters, shows that a good analysis is only a good analysis, not a means to change. He did not lack for insight into his pathologies, and he wrote with considerable wit about his self-defeating and self-destructive patterns (especially parasitism, lack of any ability to associate with others casually, alcoholism, and, for a time, addiction to pain-killer medication). Dazai sounds like a wittier version of the European Romantic artist suffering on the road to suicide, not made for the crass world, but feeling less superior to it than European romantics.Like many bright provincials, he went to the metropolis, Tokyo. "To this charmless, featureless plain, people from all over Japan roll up in droves to push and shove and sweat, to fight for an inch of ground, to live lives of alternating joy and sorrow, to regard one another with jealous, hostile eyes, females crying out to males, males merely strutting about in a frenzy." As boorish as was the figure of himself that he wrote, and as debunking of many verities, there is still something delicate in his perceptions as in both his resistance to the cult of Mount Fuji and how he is affected by it and by other natural phenomena. "One hundred views of Mount Fuji" and "Eight scenes of Tokyo" are self-lacerating, but not wholly self-absorbed. That is, there are other characters. There is even, in "Early light," reportage of being on the ground during the incendiary bombings at the end of World War II (lacking in rancor, preoccupied with surviving and taking care of the children). There's nothing about the American Occupation.