Schoolgirl (Modern Japanese Classics)

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Consider adding a topic to this template: there are already 3,561 articles in the main category, and specifying |topic= will aid in categorization. If one part of the book could sum up the sentiment and the feeling of Dazai’s works in general, it would be this, the imagery and word use being deep but accessible: His influences include Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, Murasaki Shikibu and Fyodor Dostoyevsky. While Dazai continues to be widely celebrated in Japan, he remains relatively unknown elsewhere, with only a handful of his works available in English. His last book, No Longer Human, is his most popular work outside of Japan.

Whenever i put pen on to a paper or I type words I think of Osamu Dazai. The craft of his writing with the mixture of his character equals a major influence on me, and I suspect on contemporary Japanese literature as well. For instance, Mishima's major influence was Dazai. Well, sort of. He didn't want to be a Dazai, in fact, he hated his work. But the truth is hatred of Dazai's character and work was a sign of love and respect to the great decadent literary figure - and Dazai was extremely decadent in the Japanese context. Drinker, womanizer, cad, drug addict, and extremely handsome - and a writing talent that is extremely superb. Dazai is one unique writer, and a day doesn't go by where I don't think about him. Hmm, perhaps this is really an obsession on my part, but let's put that aside for the moment. My first Osamu Dazai, and I guess I have to join his cult - why is the literary world outside Japan largely sleeping on him? This novella describes an average day of, you guessed it, a schoolgirl, and while the unnamed girl follows mundane routines and chores, the stream-of-consciousness opens up her inner world. In her mind, she is struggling with the loss of childhood and the transition into the world of adolscents, and while she mourns the loss of her father, she ponders concepts like morality, authenticity, human cruelty and responsibility. It's quite remarkable that the young woman is also an alter ego of the author, who often employed his main characters as stand-ins for his own trials and tribulations. before I knew it that privilege of mine had disappeared and, stripped bare, I was absolutely awful.’ Classe, Olive, ed. (2000). The Encyclopedia of Literary Translation into English, Vol. I. London & Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. p.347. ISBN 1884964362.

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In 1929, when its principal's misappropriation of public funds was discovered at Hirosaki High School, the students, under the leadership of Ueda Shigehiko (Ishigami Genichiro), leader of the Social Science Study Group, staged a five-day allied strike, which resulted in the principal's resignation and no disciplinary action against the students. Tsushima hardly participated in the strike, but in imitation of the proletarian literature in vogue at the time, he summarized the incident in a novel called Student Group and read it to Ueda. The Tsushima family was wary of Dazai's leftist activities. On January 16 of the following year, the Special High Police arrested Ueda and nine other students of the Hiroko Institute of Social Studies, who were working as terminal activists for Seigen Tanaka's armed Communist Party. I go about saying how pained and tormented, how lonely and sad I feel, but what do I really mean by that? If I were to speak the truth, I would die. Her inner world is largely ruled by her imagination and impulses. But there is an edge to her idle thoughts. A note on the translation. While I think that Allison Markin Powell has done a great job of recreating the voice of a teenage girl, readers from the United Kingdom may find the Americanisms such as ‘bogus’ and ‘the worst’ to be irksome. Otherwise, this is a crisp and accessible translation. What’s hard to discern in this critique is Dazai’s attitude towards women. His narrator prefers not to think about her gender (“[my] body had no connection to my mind,” she complains, “it developed on its own accord”), and instead, busies herself with abstract thoughts about the nature of life. Though there is an androgynous quality to many of her daydreams and observations, the narrator, as the title suggests, is decidedly female, and (as she turns the corner into adolescence) just beginning to confront many of the particular difficulties her gender poses. There are simple girlish pleasures in her life—she secretly embroiders flowers onto her underclothes and sneaks off to get her hair done with a friend—but her innocence has already largely eroded. On the train, she keeps her eyes and her thoughts to herself (“if I so much as grinned at them, I could very well be dragged off by one of these men, falling into the chasm of compulsory marriage”). When a group of gruff laborers mutter obscenities at her, she crumples inside. “I felt like I was about to cry,” she says. “I wish I would hurry up and grow stronger and purer so that such a trifling matter would no longer afflict me.”

The truth is that I secretly love what seems to be my own individuality . . . but fully embodying it is another matter,” the schoolgirl confesses. who is the schoolgirl? she's you, she's me, as happy as we are sad, as hopeful as we are hopeless, a wild emotion, an abstraction, an absolute human contradiction. I'm frantically torn between giving it 5 stars or 4 but then I decided to settle somewhere in between. In moments of anxiety, the narrator desires to give herself up into something larger and greater than herself, such as when she contemplates religious servitude. ‘ It must be easier to relax,’ she thinks, ‘ when someone always told you who you are and what to do.’ The narrator lamenting the loss of childhood and her father brushes against her trepidations about adulthood and desires to be part of something that will direct her. Is this, perhaps, an examination on the appeals of fascism? Especially in times of struggle being frightened of the possible future while also frightened by watching the normalcy of the past receeding from sight. There is a certain cruelty that pops up in the novel towads anything that deviates from a socially prescribed 'normal', such as her disgust for poverty and unkemptness (her desire for purity). ‘ I cant stand how poor and pathetic he is,’ she admits about her own dog, ‘ and because of that I am cruel to him.’ There is also a desire to look down on others, even the middle class: ' These people seemed like they were of the worst rank in today’s world. The filthiest. Were they what they call petit bourgeois?’ The narrator only finds purity and upper class freedoms appealing, with little to no regard to anyone beneath that. Japan in the 1930’s was going through economic turmoil and military expansion, and somewhere in here seems to be Dazai’s thoughts on how the disillusionment with social roles and life can push one towards strict adherence and participation in a larger power. Alternatively, these moments of cruelty and disgust may simply be projection of her own frustration over not being good enough. It’s obvious that the protagonist is a person, much like Dazai, who is struggling with their role in their particular class. Dazai, who felt great resentment for the ease of his life and the luxury of his social status, was never on good terms with his parents, or in many cases his siblings. He was even a member of the Japanese communist party, whose ideal would certainly see Dazai’s class dragged from their pedestal. These acts of self-flagellation were a constant feature in Dazai’s years and he finally succumbed to them in 1948 ,when he committed suicide after several unsuccessful attempts.The reason being THE ENDING and honestly, it's not just with this book...it's with every Japanese novel I have read until now. The book is also the central work in one of the volumes of the Japanese light novel series Book Girl, Book Girl and the Suicidal Mime, [36] although other works of his are also mentioned. Dazai's works are also discussed in the Book Girl manga and anime series. Dazai is often quoted by the male protagonist, Kotaro Azumi, in the anime series Tsuki ga Kirei, as well as by Ken Kaneki in Tokyo Ghoul. Dazai is able to supply a fascinating depth and heft in such a small space with Schoolgirl. On the surface, not very much seems to happen. She bemoans mornings (‘ mornings are torture’) and distracts herself with dark thoughts as she readies herself for the day, goes to school, gets a haircut and comes home to houseguests. Yet a whole world of complex emotions and social critiques overflow from every passage. The narrator herself explains the gist of this book best: Japan entered the Pacific War in December, but Tsushima was excused from the draft because of his chronic chest problems, as he was diagnosed with tuberculosis. The censors became more reluctant to accept Dazai's offbeat work, but he managed to publish quite a bit regardless, remaining one of very few authors who managed to get this kind of material accepted in this period. A number of the stories which Dazai published during World War II were retellings of stories by Ihara Saikaku (1642–1693). His wartime works included Udaijin Sanetomo (右大臣実朝, "Minister of the Right Sanetomo", 1943), Tsugaru (1944), Pandora no hako (パンドラの匣, Pandora's Box, 1945–46), and Otogizōshi (お伽草紙, Fairy Tales, 1945) in which he retold a number of old Japanese fairy tales with "vividness and wit." [ This quote needs a citation] The body had no connection to my mind, it developed on its own accord, which was unbearable and bewildering. It made me miserable that I was rapidly becoming an adult and that I was unable to do anything about it.

In 1946, Osamu Dazai released a controversial literary piece titled Kuno no Nenkan (Almanac of Pain), a political memoir of Dazai himself. It describes the immediate aftermath of losing the second World War, and encapsulates how Japanese people felt following the country's defeat. Dazai reaffirms his loyalty to the Japanese Emperor of the time, Emperor Hirohito and his son Akihito. Dazai was a known communist throughout his career, and also expresses his beliefs through this Almanac of Pain. Kitap okuma denilen şey benden koparılıp alınırsa, hiçbir hayat deneyimi olmayan ben ağlanacak hâlde olurdum galiba. Kitapta yazılanlara işte o kadar çok güveniyorum.” Böylesi bir ilk dönem eserinin neden çevrilmediğini anlamak mümkün değil. Eğer çevrilmiş olsaydı ve Dazai’ye ilk hangi kitapla başlayayım diye sorsaydınız; şüphesiz cevabım ‘Schoolgirl’ olurdu. Dazai’ye ilginiz varsa ve İngilizce okurum derseniz kaçırmayın derim. Umarım yakın zamanda dilimizde de okuma fırsatına sahip oluruz.It made me miserable that I was rapidly becoming an adult and that I was unable to do anything about it.’