He is no longer human

Publication date: 1948

Writer: Osamu Dazai

No Longer Human is not only Osamu Dazai's magnum opus, it is also the second best-selling novel in Japan to date and a semi-autobiography of the writer first published in 1948. It is a deep, painful, true and very human novel and a pure depiction of the life, thinking, feelings and human experiences of a young man named Aoba Yuzo who considered himself an outcast. Socially, since his childhood, he was unable to understand others or communicate with them, so he adopted clowning as an approach to cover up his fears and psychological crises until he reached adulthood, where he became addicted to alcohol and lived with fatal indifference, which led him to attempt two suicide attempts and cause suffering to himself and those around him. Although this novel tells about a person who rejects and is rejected by society until he loses his humanity, we find it to be an incredibly humane work, even if it is dark and painful, because it tears the veil of the fantasies with which we deceive ourselves so as not to acknowledge the corruption lurking in the depths of reality and society. This book, which will take you on a journey into the secrets and fluctuations of the human soul, despite its cruelty and darkness, is required reading for everyone. It will introduce us and help us understand and feel what a person goes through when he feels depressed, lonely, and socially isolated.