He might be regarded as the most important and versatile writer of modern Japan as well as the most (un)happy one. He had more than five suicide attempts, when he loved, he loved to excess, women in his life hated him and loved him to the death – first the most beloved, with whom he wanted to commit suicide was Shimeko Tanabe, he survived the attempt, the young nineteen – years old girl died, drowned, her body was discovered just couple of days after the accident. His marriages were a great mistake, futile attempts for stability and balance, however, it was not meant to be a happy ending, His life had amplitudes, depressions didn't ease, in contrary, war made it more and more severe. Despite of mental breakdowns he was a very strong man, he emotionally endurance all his wives, who were very submissive and totally devoted to his illness and the way of life he led. He finally succeeded to kill himself, he and his wife died – drowned in Tamagawa Canal.
During the war He had never been enlisted, he suffered for tuberculosis, his health was very weak, his war time novels are regarded as masterpieces; “Fairy Tales”, “Pandora's Box”, post-war period was very lucky for him, his novels bloomed and his writing career thrived. All his characters are broken (reflect him), alcoholics and neurotics, helpless and condemned to destruction. Was he a genius? Well, it is still an open discussion, without a cloud of doubt he was very controversial, rebellious and distracted, addicted to everything he could … no longer human …
“No
longer Human” was and I presume is a bestseller, its genius was
only outshone by Natsume Soseki's “Kokoro”. His novels made an
impact of modern culture of Japan, were put on silver screen. “No
Longer Human” presents a character, revealed and confused, unable
to face the truth of its own identity, unable to reveal his true
identity to others, it made him tired, it made him depressed, Oba
Yozo seems to be lost, in search of way out he submerges himself into numerous sexual relationships, lots of “love”, loads of new
people don't mean happiness and balance. In contrary it made him
addicted to alcohol and morphine. His existence is hollow, emotional
dryness triggers him to search for more and more new lovers, his is
emotionally dead, therefore, indifferent to changes, harassment (he
had been abused for so many times, that this one more time doesn't
really make a difference), He seems to hate women, of beware of them
due to inconveniences he suffered from female before, while being a
child. The character withdraws from socializing, emotional, responsible relationship, He prefers escapism;
“...People
talk of social outcasts ... the words apparently denote the miserable
losers of the world, the vicious ones, but I feel as though I have
been a ‘social outcast’ from the moment I was born...”
Sadly,
but true, the novel reflects author's personal life, almost like an
autobiography, his own character, which is weak, put deep into loneliness. The
hero tries to fit into society, its frames, hopelessly. Japan as a nation was having the same feeling, it was destroyed by war, in ruins
of war, occupied, forced to surrender. Japanese were startled and
afraid of what the new day comes.
“...
The
world, after all, was still a place of bottomless horror. It was by
no means a place of childlike simplicity where everything could be
settled by a simple then-and-there decision...”
“...
After being hurt by the world so much, they began to see the demons
within humans. So without hiding it through trickery, they worked to
express it...”
The
author wants to make the reality more bearable, he pretends to be the
clown, to become closer to people, to entertain his soul and mind,
sadly, no matter how badly he tries he never succeeds.
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