Osamu Dazai
11 nov 2023
In this book we follow Oba Yozo's life, an isolated, afraid and depressed man from Japanese upper class. The author explores the existential fears of being human, deals with dense topics such as suicide, phobias, economic and family pressures, love. It makes us question what does it mean to be human, and to adapt to human conventions.
Human life is filed with many pure, happy, serene examples of insincerity. Of people deceiving one another without any wound being inflicted in one another.
What is society but the individual (self will. When does the collective end, and the individual starts.
We are used to cultural submission. Not wanting anything but being unable to say no to anything. To what extent are we free?
Isolation and self rejection. The constant anxiety's "What should I talk about? How should I say it?"
Humor as a mechanism of dealing with society: "I feigned an innocent optimism; I gradually perfected myself in the role of the farcical eccentric. He could only consider me as the living corpse of a would-be suicide, a person dead to shame, an idiot ghost."
In general it is a great way to empathize with people struggling with mental health issues. This book does a great job at describing everyday life through the lenses of a very specific situation, and yet showing the reality of a vast sector of the population. In general it is a great reading, I would absolutely recommend it.