Melancholic and unconventional, this is half a melancholic short story and half autobiographical notes on how to write a melancholic short story that speaks about the human soul.
Osamu Dazai, pen name of Shūji Tsushima, is a beloved Japanese author whose most touching work is probably No Longer Human.
The author’s focus is often about expectations, about masking, about the inexplicable depths and shallows of something that’s too complex to even approach, and about depression.
And that’s what the main characters do in this short story: instead of speaking sincerely, even in the face of something terrible like one of them who just survived a suicide attempt, they mask and carry on, even if it means passing for clowns. And that’s what the author does: instead of unpacking the main character’s reasons, even in the face of such a dramatic premise, what he does is talk about his ineptitude as a writer, masking his own depth.
Unconventional, as I said, and a privilege to read this translated.
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