No Longer Human
What does it mean to be human when you no longer feel the pulse of belonging? No Longer Human is a raw and haunting confession of alienation, tracing the slow unraveling of Yozo Oba—a man who masks despair with laughter, only to sink deeper into a world he cannot grasp. With prose as delicate as it is devastating, the novel explores the aching silence between performance and authenticity, exposing the fragility of identity in a world that demands masks. Is it madness to feel too much—or not enough? Dazai’s masterwork is a piercing elegy for those stranded on the margins of themselves.
- Originally Published: 1948
- Publisher: Book Hill, 1973
- Genre: Fiction, Novel
- Pages: 177
- Book Type: Hardcopy
- ISBN: 978-0811204811
- Access: Members
Description
No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai is a haunting exploration of alienation, despair, and the fragile human condition. Through the fragmented notebooks of Oba Yozo, a man who feels fundamentally disconnected from society, Dazai unravels a soul consumed by self-doubt and inner torment. Oba masks his pain behind a façade of humor and charm, yet he is gripped by an unrelenting sense of inadequacy, shame, and isolation that spirals into self-destruction.
Set against the backdrop of post-war Japan, this semi-autobiographical masterpiece delves into themes of identity, addiction, and the desperate search for meaning. With chilling honesty and poetic prose, Dazai captures the raw fragility of the human spirit, inviting readers into the mind of a man teetering on the edge of existence.
No Longer Human is a timeless and deeply unsettling meditation on the complexities of human nature, making it one of Japan’s most acclaimed and thought-provoking works of literature. It is a profound reminder of the invisible struggles so many endure—and the universal desire to be understood.
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