No Longer Human

(Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)

Introduction by David Boyd
Translated by David Boyd
Notes by David Boyd
Audiobook Download
On sale Jun 10, 2025 | 6 Hours and 0 Minutes | 9798217080021
Portraying himself as a failure, the protagonist of Osamu Dazai's No Longer Human narrates a seemingly normal life even while he feels himself incapable of understanding human beings. Oba Yozo's attempts to reconcile himself to the world around him begin in early childhood, continue through high school, where he becomes a "clown" to mask his alienation, and eventually lead to a failed suicide attempt as an adult. Without sentimentality, he records the casual cruelties of life and its fleeting moments of human connection and tenderness.
Osamu Dazai (1909–1948) was one of the most important Japanese novelists of the twentieth century. His many published works include No Longer Human, The Setting Sun, Schoolgirl, and A Shameful Life. Dazai died by suicide at the age of thirty-eight. View titles by Osamu Dazai

About

Portraying himself as a failure, the protagonist of Osamu Dazai's No Longer Human narrates a seemingly normal life even while he feels himself incapable of understanding human beings. Oba Yozo's attempts to reconcile himself to the world around him begin in early childhood, continue through high school, where he becomes a "clown" to mask his alienation, and eventually lead to a failed suicide attempt as an adult. Without sentimentality, he records the casual cruelties of life and its fleeting moments of human connection and tenderness.

Author

Osamu Dazai (1909–1948) was one of the most important Japanese novelists of the twentieth century. His many published works include No Longer Human, The Setting Sun, Schoolgirl, and A Shameful Life. Dazai died by suicide at the age of thirty-eight. View titles by Osamu Dazai

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