Dazai's frail sunken chest and haunted handsome gaze says it all - dissolution, sickness, deep feeling, and beauty are authentic pathways through an inauthentic and decaying world.

Going into this I thought him a self-absorbed hedonist unconcerned with the heartbreak and death he left in his wake. Coming out of it I think of him as a self-absorbed hedonist who absorbed all the heartbreak and death in himself and the world at large and transformed them into simple and sensitive tales of epiphanies and transient beauties, while remaining eerily objective about his own sociopathic and self-destructive nature.

Dazai was a cool expert on suicide and an aesthete to the end. japanese-fiction19 s Kimley199 223

On the cover of my copy of this book is a blurb that says "A cult figure for Japan's disaffected youth" but let's just cut to the chase, Dazai was an asshole! Living off his wealthy family, he was a drunk, a drug addict, a womanizer, a fan of the suicide pact in which he survives but his partner in crime does not (oops!) - just the kind of guy you want to bring home to mother. He was also handsome, a snappy dresser and I'm guessing could ooze charm if he wanted to. It always seems to be that...

But! Yes, it's a big "but", this guy could write some of the most beautiful, painful, funny stories. All the stories are more or less autobiographical and the translator gives a brief intro to each story explaining the events in Dazai's life that are relevant to the story at hand which allows you to see where he's "embellished" (though this isn't really necessary). The stories have a brutal honesty that one rarely sees - not a sticking to the facts kind of honesty (which isn't very interesting anyway) but an honesty in the response to the events. He frequently makes himself out to be the fool but it's not in that nauseatingly insecure way that most of us cop to. Not to say that he doesn't frequently show his insecurities. He's just very matter-of-fact about them. The stories are for the most part pretty straight-forward, nothing overly clever or tricky.

This collection covers his earliest work in 1933 to work from right before he died in 1948. The topics range from his youthful obsession in winning a prestigious writing prize to his later years in dealing with the day-to-day existence during the war. As one of those sappy animal-lovers, I did not think I would make it through "canis familiaris" in which he goes on and on about how much he hates dogs but let's just say as in most of these stories, he never makes himself look good.

Writing this makes the rare good case for self-absorbed enfant-terrible assholes...20th-century japanese16 s ToshAuthor 13 books685

Osamu Dazai is my favorite Japanese writer. And I love a lot of Japanese writers. In fact Dazai is my favorite writer period. And I or love a lot of writers. Why I love Dazai is that he had a mess-up life and wrote about it with incredible charm and with a sense of humor. "Self Portraits" is a series of stories that are based on Dazai's life, but he changed it around to suit his purpose and of course to entertain the reader. The editor writes a brief intro to each story explaining what really took place - and it's fascinating to see how Dazai takes the 'truth' and bends it to take us somewhere else. As a writer I realized that our lives are interesting and we can use what we have done - but the art of it is to take it to another level. And Dazai has done that over and over again.

He's sort of the James Dean of literature. A true rebel and incredibly handsome, a hard drinker, drug addict, woman-chasing, and a good friend of the suicide gesture (and he die in a joint-suicide with a girlfriend). One of the greats and will always be a great to me. A ten star book!books-bought fiction japan11 s jigyasa ????60

he is my patrick bateman 7 s Quiet302 14

(I just wrote this long and loving review of this collection of essays and stories while sitting at a cafe in Hirakatashi, Japan, but unfortunately there was a small earthquake halfway through writing. Not realizing it had disrupted the wifi, I hit submit--- and lost all those careful words I chose! And I am lazy, so instead--- a very brief and hasty review)

This collection has what you'd anticipate from Dazai; many autobiographical essays with masochistic angles where Dazai self-deprecates into some existential hole, dragging the reader, willing or not, into the depths along with him.

But there is also comedy in many of these writings, a comedy which Dazai himself did not recognize until after they'd been composed. Being a self-obsessed, suicidal person who'd had a decade of opium addiction and a lifetime of alcoholism, Dazai is, for all his earnest sorrows, also an eccentric neurotic, who at times finds tragedy and horror in things which, only through writing about them, does he uncover for himself their silliness. It's a genuine humor, which is truly rare in literature, and even if this collection where only those couple of inane, hilarious stories I would still say it's worth purchasing.
If you've only time for one, read through "Canis Familiaris." It will have you absolutely dying, I guarantee it; for myself, that memoir/essay is the funniest of those mediums I have ever read.

There's really everything within this collection, and it paints a better chronology of Dazai's life than any biography could construe. Dazai was perhaps too hard on himself, but there is certainly honesty in all of his writing, particularly the honesty which paints himself the villain. And yet, he is still loved by so many,and this collection reveals how the selfish and self-destructive can remain within the glow of adored and admired.

Read it!memba-dat ?????5 s RKanimalkingdom505 68

“Art cannot order people around. Art dies the moment it acquires authority.”

3.5/5

Ah, what can I say? This is probably the 8th , 9th book I’ve read by Osamu Dazai? The 20th, 30th story? He’s just a great vignette story teller. Self-portraits is a collection of the stories (compiled and translated by Ralph McCarthy) Dazai wrote during various periods of his life. The title does the collection justice as they help illustrate an image of the author as well as life in Japan from 1930-40. I didn’t every story, but there is a reason why I enjoy Dazai’s works in general. Despite his life and his confessional style of writing, I find there is a sincere and genuine person emerging in his stories. He’s not afraid of dissecting himself in his own stories. He laments his behaviour and shy nature, but I honestly found that he displays a tremendous amount of courage to be quite forthright about his life and person.

Review Continued Herefavorites japan5 s sophia52

SO GOOD. I HEART OSAMU DAZAI. MWA. KISSES. IM MAKING OUT WITH HIS TOMBSTONE.

my elder brothers:
do not get me started on how upset this made me !! this short story just slapped me again and again with the realization of "hes never really been genuinely happy" hngrhgngh. some quotes i d from it are "im not really alive." "no one really knew the loneliness inside him." and "at thirty he stood firm, but i, for one, far from standing, feel as if im about to collapse. i no longer have a tangible sense that my life is worth living."

train:
not AS good, but not horrible. just another little excerpt of an event in his life but it wasnt super "WOAHHH". i d some of the quotes thouhg "you've said all you have to say and can do nothing but gaze helplessly at each other. and in this case it was even worse, because i hadnt been able to come up with a single thing to say in the first place" hes so realio.

female:
the ending made me burst into flames. i exploded on multiple levels including physical. i dont even know what to say. "stop right there. you're not making this up." ooh LLLL dazai L he got caught telling a REAL story (tears running down my face). pretty sure the girl hes talking about in his "hypothetical" encounter (real encounter actually) is tsuneko from no longer human!! quotes i d: "she was killed simply because she turned over in bed. i didnt die. seven years have passed and im still alive." "im just a blur, a ghost." "she stands behind you and quietly gazes at the same spot you're gazing at. she's empathizing with you, trying to see the beauty of the scenery as you see it."

seascape with figures in gold:
the "'you lose', i told myself, and i was glad of it." was unnecessary and caused me so much grief and pain and i am so upset. not overexaggerating, just autistic. its hard to put into words how this story made me feel, but its absolutely a masterpiece. its crushing. quotes i d: "you lose, i told myself, and i was glad of it, i wouldnt have had it any other way. that victory of theirs illuminated the road i must walk tomorrow." "clucking my tongue and shuddering to shake off the voice that, somewhere in side me, kept whispering 'you lose'" "there before me was a picture of peace and harmony."

no kidding:
i was doing ok with this story until the last page. oh dazai hes so silly what a goofy little trickster- "my suicide was postponed for another month." oh. oh ok. some other quotes i d: "what was to become of me? just to think about that was enough to leave me shuddering and too distraught to sit still," "my white yukata was already out of season, and i felt horribly conspicuous, as if i glowed in the dark, and so full of sorrow i no longer wanted to live." "vanquished souls, one and all. i couldnt help seeing them that way."

a promise fulfilled:
really short but i loved the simplicity of it and how dazai notices the girls beauty i just thogut it was really inspiring. a very calming story for me.

100 views of mount fuji:
dazai x mt fuji enemies to lovers. guy has beef with a mountain. i loved this story!! genuinely one of my favorites. the ending was so arghrghg "goodbye mt fuji. thanks for everything." DUDE?? his final goodbye to mt fuji before he dies im definitely not sad about this.

i can speak:
guy speaks english, dazai is inspired. hes literally so me, i get inspired and awestruck by the most random shit. as dazai said, it was a trivial scene, but one ill find difficult to forget.

a little beauty:
ok. this story. erm... i DO some parts of it but i cant get past the whole "im better acquainted with your breasts than your face." ?? oh! ok! bordering on pedophilia (the girl is 16/17 and they were at the same bath-house/spa) but not REALLY. yes he says hes just admiring the aesthetic of her body at the spa ("something worthy of truly dispassionate, almost sublime, aesthetic appreciation") but its just weird for me. one of my least favorites its a little creepy.

canis familiaris:
he really diss dogs because hes scared of them and then he starts to actually care for this dog that he took in. i realy d this silly little story. his hatred for dogs seems similar to his fear of humans. hes unable to understand them and thus fears them, dog psychology is even more confusing than humans, and this fear is so intense it becomes hatred. "the more i think about dogs, the more disgusting they seem. dogs are repulsive. they remind me of myself in some ways, and that only repulses me all the more. i cant stand dogs. how, then, to describe what i felt when these very beasts decided to take a particular liking to me and began rolling up with wagging tails and lavish displays of affection?"

thinking of zenzo:
this hurt me so bad. hes so self deprecating. this story is fr "mine has been a life of much shame". i loved this story but i felt so sad. "it saddened me to think how vexed and mortified my mother and eldest brother would be if they could have seen me at that moment, but my brakes had failed completely. i just kept drinking. i was positively infantile."

eight views of tokyo:
THIS STORY PHYSICALLY PAINED ME. i felt nauseous and sick and it just kept getting worse and worse. istg bro it was more in detail than no longer human and i could not stop crying when he failed that attempt in the mountains. it was horrible. then he went home and "i dont think id ever experienced such wondrous feelings before." DUDE. "i no longer had the strength to withstand the misery in my own heart." "what had i done to repay him for all his affection but toy with my own life in a reckless manner?" me fr.

early light:
sometimes i forget hes an actual DAD. this is one of the few stories that is mostly about his children and wife. pretty good story me y. "having survived so much adversity, even i felt a desire to go on living a bit longer, if only to see how things would turn out with the world."

garden:
do u ur garden trimmed or untrimmed be honest. solid story. me y. "i, even at my age, was still young. i still likd old, untended gardens overgrown with weeds." "he is, after all, a barbarian who can gaze at an overgrown, untended garden and think it beautiful."

two little words:
ackshully its just one word. ermm two guys are alcoholics. they see eachother at the post office when withdrawing money. not much to it but its good!! "im going to be thirty eight next year, but in many ways, as you can see, im still a completely hopeless case." "if i manage to get through an entire lifetime pulling stunts this, wont that, in itself, be a rather spectacular achievement?"

merry christmas:
merry christmas guys its christmas time. random guy shouts "merry christmas" at an american, dazai laughs. eating eel and drinking sake with a girl, pretending her dead mother is with them (another by yukito ayatsuji reference?!!?!)

handsome devils and cigarettes:
is this a reference to tobacco and the devil by akutagawa ryunosuke??? the reporters are treating him a zoo animal. and the "bums". i dis them severely. "im such a handsome devil" that handsome devil refernce?? "no longer even human" no lonegr human refeence???! ACTUALY SUCH A GOOD STORY THO. I LOVED LOVED LOVED IT.

cherries:
SO GOOD. another story focusing on his children and wife. i really d it. i could treat him better. i could fix him. 3 s5 comments Jee KohAuthor 23 books176

Translated by Ralph F. McCarthy, Self Portraits: Tales from the life of Japan's great decadent romantic comprises 18 short stories by Osamu Dazai. The long introduction by the translator provides a useful biographical context for the stories. Dazai wrote a form of biographical fiction, which amounted to a light fictionalization of his actual life. The life was certainly decadent. Born into a wealthy and politically influential family, Dazai left his class by marrying a young geisha. He forsook his university education in order to be a writer. He had romantic liaisons with many women. He was addicted to drugs and alcohol. He tried committing double suicides with his lovers, and finally killed himself at the age of 39.

The Tales are, however, not romantic with a capital R; they do not seek transcendence of the mundane. Instead, they are wistful, even comical in places, full of consciousness, and self-consciousness, of life's suffering. They are non-resistant to life. "Cherries," the final story of the collection, is particularly self-lacerating. The shorter stories, such as "Female," "Seascape with Figures in Gold," "A Promise Fulfilled," are shapely and striking. The longer stories are ambitious and complex. His famous "One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji, " though not quite providing the number of views promised in the title, gave a variety of fresh expression of the beauty and meaning of this touristy icon. Not least among these views is a view of art, an ars poetica:

To take what is simple and natural--and therefore succinct and lucid--to snatch hold of that and transfer it directly to paper, was, it seemed to me, everything, and that thought sometimes allowed me to see the figure of Fuji in a different light. Perhaps, I would think, that shape was in fact a manifestation of the beauty of what I to think of as "elemental expression." Thus I'd find myself on the verge of coming to an understanding with this Fuji, only to reflect that, no, there was something about it, something in its exceedingly cylindrical simplicity that was too much for me, that if this Fuji was worthy of praise, then sow ere figurines of the Laughing Buddha--and I find figurines of the Laughing Buddha insufferable, certainly not what anyone could call expressive. And the figure of this Fuji, too, was somehow mistaken, somehow wrong, I would think, and once again I'd be back where I started, confused. 3 s Dxdnelion209 9

Self-Portraits by Dazai Osamu is a wonderful collection of short stories that providing insights into the turbulent life of a captivating character. Dazai is an author that known for his drinking, womanizing and suicide attempts, and here in this short stories collections, we get to see more of his character and personal life.

Self Portraits is far more than just a collection of stories. This eighteen short stories are arranged in a chronological order according to the events in Dazai's life, which make it more or less (semi-) autobiographical in nature. We start with ‘My Elder Brothers’, a poignant family story that depicts the early death of his brother, Keiji. The book then comes with another short piece, which is ‘Cherries’, a bitter tale of a bad husband and father, written shortly before Dazai’s suicide. The stories in Self Portraits are a mix of short pieces and longer stories, which some of them are write in a 'no purpose' way. But each of them stand out on their own. There are some stories that took a pretty dark side of his life, for example in ‘Thinking of Zenz?’, the writer is invited to writers and artists meeting from his home prefecture and despite his best intentions, he ends up making a fool of himself.

The story here telling us more of Dazai's character. It has great variety and much more humor compares to No Longer Human. While I think it could be a continuation of No Longer Human, his character here has more emotion and shows multiple times when Dazai felt positive and hopeful for his life. Despite him feeling the failure of being human, Dazai indeed feels a lot of human emotions. Of course Dazai we have known are such a problematic, misogynistic man, but at some point he was just an obsessed man with his writing and constantly fighting his demons of addiction and self-destructive tendencies. What surprise me is knowing that Dazai is a family man, he felt a lot for his children but failed due to his continuous struggles. One of his words that I genuinely feels sad for him:

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