Welcome to Litsy!

Next up, Dazai's novel of the decline of the Japanese aristocracy immediately following WWII. Published in 1947, the year prior to Dazai's death by suicide, it's tragic in tone.
The translator's introduction in this edition was written in the 1950s, and is itself an interesting, if brief, historical insight into a contemporary Westerner's perception of Japanese post-war culture.

In The Setting Sun, you read about a period Kazuko's life: a young woman who is deeply troubled.
She lives with her mother after her divorce.
After her father's death, they lose the house and have to move to the countryside and live a very poor life. On top of that her mother is constantly in poor health; and her brother has a drug addiction. Reading this, I felt the despair that came from Kazuko and felt very sorry for her.

This is about a family of aristocrats. It takes place shortly after WWII. The father in the family has died 10 years earlier, so we see the downfall of the family in the years after Naoji comes back from the war. He‘s a heroin addict that has cost the family their fortune. The mother and sister sell their things and home in Tokyo and move to the country. Unfortunate events occur, and there is no silver lining. A depressing account all around.

Read over half, and I was really intrigued …but halfway through when Kazuko starts writing her letters it moved too slow for me. Maybe I wasn‘t grasping something. Will pick it back up in a few weeks.

Got this a while back, but just reading it now 🌅

‘anyway, you can be sure of one thing , a man‘s got to fake just to stay alive.‘ 4.5/5

I just finished the setting sun from Osamu Dazai. It was quite an emotional read. I felt very sorry for the main protagonist Kazuko. If you like some tragical literature I can recommend you this book.

Reading with a view! I'm enjoying this book while sitting outside of our Alpine foster. I love this place so much 💕