The Setting Sun (New Directions Book)

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The book talks about eminent struggle of the protagonist- Kazuko- to come in terms with the rapid changing world wherein she’s not sure about her inclination whether it's about the aristocratic heritage or the new uprising world which is derived by convenience and desires. Eventually, she battles herself to survive along a fine thread lingering between the customary world and a developing modern sphere of humanity. The nihilistic traits of grief, sadness, bleakness, suicide, absurdism and despair of life are as evident as water in a vessel of glass and I found that these traits in other major works of Dazai too - No Longer Human and Schoolgirl. In fact, it could said be authority that post-war philosophy and literature is highly inspired form these abovementioned traits- whether it may be existentialism of Sartre, absurdism of Camus or any other modern and post-modern movement of literature. The harrowing experiences of World Wars certainly contribute to sudden rise in popularity and development of these schools of thoughts in post- war times. All these art/ philosophical movements works on similar themes that existence somewhat lingers upon absurd situation of life and one has to accept this state of absurdness, and in fact that very realization is the onset of true of existence wherein one has to take responsibility of one's life. In Dazai's view, modernization stays at the basis of the changes that took place in the traditional Japanese family. Although he sees modernization as corrupting, he is hopeful that these changes could bring progress and prosperity. Osamu Dazai published this book in 1947 Japan and it was translated to English in 1956. By the early postwar years Dazai had gained fame as a writer, the novel propelling him to even greater popularity. From an aristocratic family with ten siblings his father died from tuberculosis in 1923 when he was fourteen. He was excused from wartime service after he contracted TB himself. This is a story of the end of the nobility in Japan after WWII. It uses elements drawn from his own life, and a diary of the writer Shizuko Ota who bore him a child in 1947. Told in spare modernist prose it is a classic of mid-20th century Japanese novels and his best known work. He ended his life in a tragic 1948 suicide at the age of thirty eight.

Osmanlı’ya dair yakılan bu dörtlüğü duymuşsunuzdur, Anadolu’da kim bilir bu güne ulaşmamış ne sövgüler vardır Osmanlı’ya. Ama şöyle bir durum da var; 600 yıldan fazla bu topraklara hükmetmiş bir yapının çöküşünden sonra bu çöküşün yarattığı boşluğa dair tek bir edebi sözün, eserin ortaya çıkmamış olmaması çok garip ve aslında öğretici de. Cumhuriyetin kuruluş sancılarına dair romanları bilmekle birlikte o “ eski güzel günlere dair” hiçbir şey okumamış olmamız halife- hanedanın aslında bu topraklarla bir ilgisi olmadığının da bir kanıtı olsa gerek. Dekadans, toplumsal çözülme ya da gelişen yeni sınıflar karşısında çözülen eski aristokrasi hikayeleri daima ilgimi çeker lakin bir kişinin bile bunu edebi olarak kaleme dökememiş olması edebi bir eksik olmaktan öte sarayın kofluğuna delalet ediyor sanırım. Neyse geçelim bu faslı. The story is told through the eyes of Kazuko, the unmarried daughter of a widowed aristocrat. Her search for self meaning in a society devoid of use for her forms the crux of Dazai’s novel. It is a sad story, and structurally is a novel very much within the confines of the Japanese take on the novel in a way reminiscent of authors such as Nobel Prize winner Yasunari Kawabata – the social interactions are peripheral and understated, nuances must be drawn, and for readers more used to Western novelistic forms this comes across as being rather wishy-washy.Early in the first chapter, Kazuko says that her mother is the only member of the family who has the gracious manners of a natural aristocrat, though she continually departs from conventional etiquette. When she thinks of her mother urinating in the garden, she connects this with the stories she has read of ladies at the French court who “thought nothing of relieving themselves in the palace gardens or in a corner of the corridors.” The story of the aristocratic family that is confronted with the fall of their class and forced to accept its failure is the story of all aristocratic families forced to give up their values and traditions and confronted with the harsh reality of a postwar, transitional society. Dazai captures in his book the essence of the transformations of the Japanese society by capturing the changes that took place in a Japanese family, the symbol of society. A great influence on these changes was made by the Western ideas that corrupted the traditional Japanese values. What is it with Japanese literature, I always feel a sense of awe whenever I plunge myself into artistic universe of the country of rising sun and Osamu Dazai does no harm to the reputation of it. I find that plot development and action have often been of secondary interest to emotional issues and most of the modern Japanese authors stressed upon consciousness of narrators and perhaps that why it has resonated so well with me. Though I’ve started to read Japanese literature last year only (so couldn’t really claim myself to be master of it :P) however I find most of the modern Japanese authors- whether it is Kwabata, Abe, Mishima or Dazai for that matter- have been able to portray problems or rather ironies of human existence and so effortlessly put forth the condition of human consciousness on the canvas of art that it’s only second (to me) to modern Russian literature. You may well find traits of nihilism, existentialism well evident in the works of probably all great modern Japanese authors. I guess perhaps world war, fate of Japan in it played major role in the way modern Japanese literature has come out; for people there might have felt disaffection, utter loss of purpose and the difficulty in coping up with defeat in the World War II might have also played major role in it. Besides, Japanese society has been strongly influenced by western culture, wherein it left its aristocratic roots to rapidly developed into industrialized society; the sense of alienation in urban life, crisis of purpose must have also played a great role the way the modern literature of the country has panned out.

Esta novela de Dazai desde la primera página me envolvió (el simbolismo de la serpiente es de una belleza desoladora) y entiendo perfectamente el porqué Osamu Dazai está considerado uno de los grandes de la literatura universal. Toda la novela transpira un profundo pesimismo y una melancolía que casi se puede tocar. El personaje de Kazuo es además un personaje lleno de claroscuros porque por una parte te puede parecer superficial y egoísta pero a medida que la novela avanza entiendes sus razones, se tiene que ajustar a una nueva forma de vida que la va haciendo más fuerte y mucho menos pendiente de si misma. Kazuo es un personaje que refleja perfectamente a Japón en si mismo, un personaje/pais en plena transición entre el pasado y el incierto presente. El Declive transcurre en una Japón de posguerra, un país en ruinas no solo físicamente sino en todos los aspectos más íntimamente ligados con el individuo y sus valores. El sistema tal como se había conocido se tambaleaba y la aristocracia tal como se la conocía ya andaba dando sus últimos coletazos. La protagonista de la novela es Kazuo, la hija de veintinueve años y divorciada de una familia aristocrática que lo ha perdido todo y se enfrenta a la pobreza más absoluta. Kazuo y su madre se ven forzadas a vender la casa familiar y a trasladarse al campo a una casa más humilde en espera de que su hermano vuelva de la guerra. Kazuko plans to travel to Tokyo and visit Mr. Uehara in person, but just before she leaves, her mother falls ill with tuberculosis. One day, her mother tells her that she dreamed about a snake in front of the house and asks Kazuko to see if it is there. Kazuko sees the snake and finally accepts that her mother is going to die, which she does soon afterward. Her last words are an expression of concern for how hard Kazuko must work to survive. Baba’nın da öldüğü evi terk edip, köyde bir Çin evine taşındıklarında( düştüklerinde) anne’nin hastalığı ilerlemeye başlar. Bu esnada savaşta öldüğü düşünülen oğul eve geri döner ancak dönen oğul esrarkeş ve hayatla bağı olmayan bir entelektüeldir. Kendisine bir hayrı olmadığı gibi eve de yük olmaktan öte bir eylemi yoktur. Bu bölümde anlatıcımız bir köylüye dönüşür, toprağı işlemeye başlar ve soylu gelenek realiteye boyun eğer. Bu bölümde biz Naoji’nin Akşam Yüzleri Notları ile karşılaşırız. Later that day, Kazuko sees a female snake in the garden; her mother comments that the snake must be searching for her eggs. This sense of loss makes Kazuko think of her mother’s anguish when they were forced to move from their luxurious home in Tokyo to their current residence in Izu. Her mother said that if she did not have Kazuko, she would rather die than move out of her home, explaining: “I wish I could die in this house where your father died.”A science which is postulated on the assumption that human beings are avaricious through all eternity is utterly devoid of point (whether in problems of distribution or any other aspect) to a person who is not avaricious." This chapter introduces the central theme of decline, which is suggested by the novel’s title. Kazuko’s family is aristocratic and was once rich and powerful; now, they are left in reduced circumstances and are forced to move into a much smaller house far away from their decadent lives in Tokyo. a b Sakakibara, Richie (1999). Between the Defeat and the Constitution: Democracy in Dazai Osamu's Postwar Fiction. University of Michigan. p.34.