Osamu Dazai

Japanese author

Osamu Dazai (19 June 1909 – 13 June 1948), was a Japanese author. Dazai was born Tsushima Shūji in Aomori, northeastern Japan.[1] He is best known for his novels The Setting Sun (1947) and No Longer Human (1948).[1] Dazai wrote a number of novels about the meaning of life, pessimism and alcoholism based on his own private life. Dazai remains the most popular author among Japanese college students.[2]

On 13 June 1948, Dazai along with his wife both killed themselves by drowning. Their corpses were discovered on 19 June, his birthday, of the same year.

References

change
  1. 1.0 1.1 Gary D. Allinson, The Columbia Guide to Modern Japanese History (New York: Columbia University Press, 1999), p. 188
  2. Mamoru Iga, The Thorn in the Chrysanthemum: Suicide and Economic Success in Modern Japan (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986), p. 85