No Longer Human
byOsamu Dazai
The story of a man, incable of revealing his true self to others, and find himself lost in vices until he withers away to a point where he feels as if he's disqualified from being a human being. He captures his story in the form of four notebooks, his journals that explores his unhappiness and lose of time. No longer Human, explores loneliness, depression, sadness and ones place in society through the story of Osamu.
Motivations to Read
Reading more material around depression as a self-reflective exercise.
3 Reasons to Read
- Story of a young man who is caught between the breakup of the traditions of a northern Japanese aristocratic family and the impact of Western ideas.
- Exploration of isolation and depression.
- The consequences of vices.
Notable Quotes
“I am convinced that human life is filled with many pure, happy, serene examples of insincerity, truly splendid of their kind-of people deceiving one another without (strangely enough) any wounds being inflicted, of people who seem unaware even that they are deceiving one another.” Osamu Dazai
“Now I have neither happiness nor unhappiness.Everything passes.That is the one and only thing that I have thought resembled a truth in the society of human beings where I have dwelled up to now as in a burning hell.Everything passes.” Osamu Dazai
“The weak fear happiness itself. They can harm themselves on cotton wool. Sometimes they are wounded even by happiness” Osamu Dazai
“What did he mean by "society"? The plural of human beings?” Osamu Dazai
“Unhappiness. There are all kinds of unhappy people in the world. I suppose it would be no exaggeration to say that the world is composed entirely of unhappy people. But those people can fight their unhappiness with society fairly and squarly, and society for its part easily understands and sympathizes with such struggles. My unhappiness stemmed entirely from my own vices, and I had no way of fighting anybody.” Osamu Dazai
“For someone like myself in whom the ability to trust others is so cracked and broken that I am wretchedly timid and am forever trying to read the expression on people's faces.” Osamu Dazai
No Longer Human Notes & Summary
