The Setting Sun
The Setting Sun
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The Setting Sun by Osamu Dazai
Set in the early postwar years, it probes the destructive effects of war and the transition from a feudal Japan to an industrial society. Ozamu Dazai died, a suicide, in 1948. But the influence of his book has made people of the setting sun a permanent part of the Japanese language, and his heroine, Kazuko, a young aristocrat who deliberately abandons her class, a symbol of the anomie which pervades so much of the modern world.Author Osamu Dazai (1909-48) retains an enormous following today. He is as famous for his darkly introspective novels as for the light-hearted children's stories that are a staple of many Japanese textbooks. His novel Shayo has been published in English as The Setting Sun. Son of a wealthy family in northern Japan, Dazai was a top student who showed an early penchant for literary writing. He led a troubled, unstable life and suffered from drug abuse and alcoholism; he attempted suicide and had numerous affairs, even as his literary fame grew. A Shameful Life is said to be a close approximation of his lifestyle and struggles. The protagonist in the novel survives, but shortly after publication of A Shameful Life, Dazai and his lover drowned themselves in the Tamagawa Canal in western Tokyo.
Mark Gibeau is a literary translator and scholar of postwar Japanese literature. His previous translations include fiction by Yasunari Kawabata, Jun'ichirü¾†˜¼ Tanizaki, Shü¾˜¦˜¼gorü¾†˜¼ Yamamoto, Sakumi Tayama, Mitsuyo Kakuta, Sakyü¾†˜¼ Komatsu among others. He is currently a Senior Lecturer in the College of Asia and the Pacific at The Australian National University, Canberra.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781784350833 |
| ISBN 10 | 1784350834 |
| Title | The Setting Sun |
| Author | Osamu Dazai |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Jiahu Books |
| Year published | 2014-04-19 |
| Number of pages | 158 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |