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There is no doubt that Japanese books have been doing very well in British bookstores in recent years: in 2024 almost half of the best-selling fiction titles came from them. Japan. Most of the Japanese fiction that has been translated into English fits into broad categories – cats, crime, coffee shops – but the best sellers stand on their own.
The sale of books by Osamu Dazai, who committed suicide in 1948 at the age of 38, has been held for the past few years. His best-known novel, No Longer Human (1948), has sold over 75,000 copies in the UK alone. A deeply semi-autobiographical account of one person’s isolation, it was the last work of fiction completed before Dazai’s death.
Born in northern Japan in 1909 to a wealthy family, Dazai was a brilliant student, but showed early signs of mental illness, attempting to commit suicide twice at the age of 21. He lived what his translator Donald Keene called “a life of natural dissolution”, including morphine addiction and several relationships.
Until recently, Dazai’s work has been available in imported editions from US publishers New Directions. But this month, Penguin Classics capitalizes on her unexpected popularity by publishing the first UK volume of Dazai’s work in almost 70 years: a collection of short stories from a female perspective, called Schoolgirl.
Polly Barton, who selected and translated the stories into English, tells me that, although Dazai may be new to English-speaking readers, in Japan, he is “one of the big three, along with Yukio Mishima and Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, who are each referred to as the fathers of modern Japanese literature”.
In recent years, Barton adds, they’ve been discovered by a new generation of young readers. “What I’m finding is that they’re very popular with boys – the number of people we’re told don’t read books.” This is quite surprising, as Dazai’s books are not traditional bestsellers. They are slow, careless and full of self-loathing for their narrators.
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No Longer Human contains a series of essays by a former “pretty boy”, who declares his disagreement with the human race. For him, the world is a “dangerous place”; he concludes that “life itself is the source of sin”. The narrator of the Schoolgirl chapter feels the same way: “The problem is that I’m corrupt, I’m a bad girl.”
The constant suspense in Dazai’s work runs the risk of seeming heavy handed or cheesy but, as Barton says, Dazai “leans into (disgust) with a kind of joy”. Indeed, his partial appeal lies in “an unashamed quality of mind, as well as temper and great intelligence”.
Tynan Kogane, editor-in-chief of New Directions based in New York, agrees. “I think a lot of young readers see themselves in Dazai’s books.” He also said that “there are many sad and despairing things in Dazai’s work, and it is sad for our country right now, but there are many sad and despairing things (again). An unhappy person in Japan after the war is very popular with many readers.”
Dazai’s popularity among young readers probably spread online – on Reddit and TikTok, where commenters praise him as the only person who understands me.” But his renaissance began unexpectedly in the 2016 Japanese anime TV series Bungo Stray Dogs, which featured fictional authors as its central characters.
These extraordinary stories, featuring Osamu Dazai’s “swashbuckling” style, have been a hit at booksellers, says Chris Wait, editor at New Directions. After its TV release in America in 2018, New Directions saw sales of Dazai’s books grow.
“In the past we used to sell many or hundreds of copies (a year),” says Kogane. As Bungo Stray Dogs fever grew, Dazai’s sales progressed. “At its peak,” Wait adds, “the annual volume was something like 150,000 copies, which for us is very rare.” Is it true that the No Longer Human commercial bought New Directions a new office? “Yes,” replied Wait. “And our previous carpeting was in dire need of replacement.”
But the appeal of Dazai’s work goes much further than this cartoon. His books have style and relevance. There’s a “natural loveliness to his stories,” Wait says, “this connection that keeps you reading no matter what he’s saying”.
After the heartfelt desperation of No More Human, novels such as The Flowers of Buffoonery (1935) and The Beggar Student (1940) are often playful and humorous; pretentious and self-deprecating. “Why do I bother writing novels?” the narrator of The Beggar Student asks. “Am I attracted to literary celebrity? Or do I just want to write best-selling checks and big bucks? Let me spare you the acting lessons. I want all of that. It hurts.”
Likewise, Schoolgirl, with her feminine perspective alone, gives a different side to Dazai. The validity of the statement may be one-sided because the title story, as Barton tells me, “was based largely on the diary of a real 19-year-old girl that Dazai sent in the mail”.
But Dazai’s most famous novel remains closely linked to his life – and death. In No More Human, the narrator survives a suicide contract where his friend dies. Shortly after finishing the novel, Dazai completed his suicide pact with his lover Tomie Yamazaki. Their bodies were found six days later, on what would have been his 39th birthday. But his work – now more than ever – continues.
Schoolgirl by Osamu Dazai, translated by Polly Barton, published by Penguin Classics. Order a copy to go guardianbookshop.com. Shipping fees may apply.
