Campus Chronicles

Book Review

A Review by Avis

Book Name: The Setting Sun [Original Name: 斜陽, Shayō]

Author: Osamu Dazai [Real Name: Shūji Tsushima]

Original Publishers: Shinchō (magazine)

Shinchōsha (book)

Publication date: 1947

Published in English: 1956

Media type: Print

Translated By: Donald Keene

Publishing House: New Directions Publishing House

Originally written in Japanese by the classical Japanese author Osamu Dazai; The Setting Sun is one of the final works of the author before his death encompassing several topics, emotions as well as literary waves the were present in Post World War – 2 Japan. The novel opens to our main character, Kazuko who is a widow moving to the country side with her mother. The book can be described quite frankly in one phrase: Gut – Wrenching. The autobiographical nature that was adapted by the author makes the relatability all the more realistic as well as quite personal, almost intimate in nature. 

The novel is quite the answer as to why the author is a classical Japanese author. It is not because it was penned down during the time of war but also the way it captures the despair, bargaining, trauma as well as the romanticisation of death during the time period so well, that may leave you wondering if you were truly aware of the nature of the wars well. Despite being a man who wrote the woman protagonist, Dazai hasn’t failed to capture the woes of a domestic life as well as Kazuko’s desire to bear a child in the anticipation of feeling her existence as a “whole” as she suffers loss after loss at the hands of war. Added, to the exploration of several influences from Western Authors present in the novel especially the influence of Christianity & Marxism. 

The translation by Donald Keene, in an essence keeps the respect of the language and the author as each chapter still have the original Kanji it was titled as well as draws the Japanese culture, especially the aristocracy quite properly. 

The name of the book “The Setting Sun” can also be critiqued to be the emotional turmoil that the young Japanese people of war went through as it associates with an old name of Japan “The Land of the Rising Sun”. 

The book is an absolutely recommended read for those who are interested in classical Japanese Literature, Japanese culture as well as the romanticisation & aesthetics it draws in the progression of deteriorating mental health and suicide.