Description
Dazai's brand of egoistic pessimism dovetails organically with the emo chic of this cultural moment and with the inner lives of teenagers of all eras. Andrew Martin, The New York TimesBest-known for his novels No Longer Human and The Setting Sun, Dazai was also an acclaimed writer of short stories, experimenting with a wide variety of styles and bringing to each work a sophisticated sense of humor, a broad empathy for the human condition and a tremendous literary talent. The twenty stories in this collection include:Memories An autobiographical tale in which Dazai relates episodes from his own childhood and adolescence, showing his relationship with his family and his tendency towards introspection and self-dramatizationOn the Question of Apparel A comic tour-de-force in which Dazai examines the hold that fashion has over him and how it relates to his own pathetic self-imageA Poor Man's Got His Pride A retelling of a story by 18th-century master of burlesque fiction Ihara Saikaku,