No Longer Human

It's hardly proper to start this with anything but the book that got me into classics. No Longer Human, 人間失格、or the miserable human experience personified, was written by Shūji Tsushima under the pen name of Dazai Osamu. It was published in 1948, and the translation I read was by Donald Keene (R.I.P). His translator's introduction for No Longer Human is phenomenal. I will provide some quotes.

「and for once, nobody thought to use the damning adjective "exquisite" about an unquestionably Japanese product.」

「Can we with honesty rebuke the Japanese for a lack of purity in their modern culture? And can we criticise them when we are almost as conspicuously in their debt? We find it normal that we drink tea, their beverage, but curious that they should drink whiskey, ours.」

「No Longer Human is not a cheerful book, yet its effect is far from that of a painful wound gratuitously inflicted on the reader.」

And that's only 3 quotes pulled from his beautifully constructed introduction.

Shortly after the completion of No Longer Human, Dazai successfully committed a double suicide by throwing himself in to the Tamagawa canal with his mistress Tomie. His body was found 6 days later on June 19th, his 39th birthday. This was after 20 years of unsuccessful attempts. Some consider No Longer Human an autobiographical suicide note of sorts. I am one of those people.

Despite agreeing with Keene that No Longer Human is more of a nod to sadness than a wound inflicted on the reader, every time Yozo stuttered, or faltered, or failed to commit suicide, I felt the pain. On my first reading, my third, and my seventh. Every time. No Longer Human is deeply comforting to me, in the way that you feel as though someone finally 'gets it', that someone finally understands your sorrows. It hurts, it stabs you, but at the same time it wraps you in a hug and mumbles that everything will be okay, that you're not alone.I will deposit some of my favourite quotes here to spark interest.

はしがき (prologue)

「His head is tilted 30 degrees to the left, and his teeth are bared in an ugly smirk. Ugly? You may well question the word for insensitive people (that is to day, those indifferent to the matters of beauty and ugliness) would mechanically comment with a bland, vacuous expression, "What an adorable little boy!" It is quite true that what commonly passes for "adorable" is sufficiently present in the child's face to give a modicum of meaning to the compliment. But I think anyone who had ever been subjected to the least exposure to what makes for beauty would likely toss the photograph to one side with the gesture employed in brushing away a caterpillar, and mutter in profound revulsion, "What a dreadful child!"」(p.g. 14)

Phew. That was a long one! 'Why does he hate this little boy so much?' You may ask. Well, he's theorised to be talking about himself here. Such is the nature of something autobiographical. In the next paragraph he describes the same boy as "wizened" and "hideous". He seems to follow the pattern of being his own harshest critic quite well.

「The picture has a genuinely chilling, foreboding quality, as if it caught him in the act of dying as he sat before the camera,」(p.g. 15)

Wow. Evocative. As Keene said in his introduction, there is nothing meandering about Dazai. His writing does not stumble this way and that, but instead pierces straight through your heart, like an arrow.

The First Notebook 

「Mine has been a life of much shame. I can't even guess myself what it must be to live the life of a human being.」(p.g. 21)

Those are the first two lines of The First Notebook. Wow. Guess what? Those lines stuck with me so much, I didn't need to reference the book to quote them. Granted, the same goes for most lines in No Longer Human, but wow. What a powerful start from Dazai. If you weren't captured by the prologue, this is where the real fun starts. So many questions. "What does he mean he's not a human being?" "How has his life been shameful?" Questions he answers in due time.

「This revelation of human dullness stirred dark depression in me.」(p.g. 22)

Here, he was talking of utilitarian devices such as trains and pillow cases, but I also feel as though he was talking of humans as a whole. I have felt the same of human dullness.

「Whenever I was asked what I wanted my first instinct was to answer "Nothing." The thought went through my mind that it didn't make any difference, that nothing was going to make me happy.」(p.g. 29)

I've often, when depressed, found myself thinking the same way. The thought went through my mind that it didn't make any difference, that nothing was going to make me happy. I feel as though this is a common (somewhat) way for depressed people to think. "Nothing matters, I'll be eternally unhappy, I'll die anyway." I find it both relatable and saddening that Dazai relates this style of thinking to someone still in childhood.

The Second Notebook

「The weak fear happiness itself. They can harm themselves on cotton wool. Sometimes they are even wounded by happiness.」(p.g. 77)

Sometimes, sadness was all I could bear to cling to. Anything but would produce an unbearably uncomfortable guilt of "you don't deserve this". I believe that may be what Dazai is referring to when he says wounded by happiness.

The Third Notebook

「For someone like myself in whom the ability to trust others is so cracked and broken that I am wretchedly timid and am forever trying to read the expression on people's faces...」(p.g. 143)

Nothing needs to be said here. The quote speaks for entirely for itself. With the bravado and voice of generations of wretchedly timid people. That is, to say, quiet as a mouse.

「Now I have neither happiness or unhappiness. Everything passes.」(p.g. 161)

Epilogue

「He was a good boy, an angel.」(p.g. 169)

The line that stuck with me the most, undoubtedly. Despite Dazai spending the entire book emphasising how awful and abhorrent Yozo was, it was always from Yozo's perspective. Friends of Yozo, or friend, after his death when he can no longer narrate, described him unflinchingly as an angel. As easygoing and amusing. No one can keep an illusion after death. We see, with this, just how poorly Yozo felt of himself.

Final Thoughts

'No Longer Human' is a literary masterpiece. I can, will, and have said that with complete and utter confidence. Nothing will drag me away from No Longer Human, and I will forever treasure it close to my heart. Thank you, Dazai, and I'm sorry you struggled with such deep depression for so long. I'm glad you can rest now. You know what? I think I'll read No Longer Human again soon. Before the new books I have. See you soon, Yozo.

「There is nothing meandering reiminiscer about Dazai; with him all is sharp, brief, and evocative.」- Donald Keene, page 7, translator's introduction, No Longer Human.

Post-review

Hey. Thanks for reading my first review of a classic I've published on here all the way through. I really appreciate it ^^. Someone posed an interesting question to me. I told them what I was working on, and how I'd seen the book referred to as "Disqualified as a human being" or something similar before. They asked me which title I thought fit the book better.

Now, I've thought, and come to a conclusion.

Both titles fit the book equally well, just each in their own way.

Let's take the title it's published under, "No Longer Human". It connotes a lack of emotion, being, or soul. No longer being allowed to interact in human society as you aren't one. Encompasses the themes of the book very well.

"Disqualified as a human being" doesn't connote the lack of emotion, but does have a similar vibe of being cast away from human society, no longer to interact with it. I think this also encompasses the book well, given the rejection that Yozo seems to face at every turn once things begin to go poorly.

Uh, that's about it. I can't think of anything else to say, except "thank you" again.

So, thank you! Have a good evening/afternoon/morning/rest of your day, and take care of yourself.

[Review, not including Post-review, totals to 1,187 words.」