Osamu Dazai Author Better Page

This sentiment found its purest expression in his masterpiece, The Setting Sun . The novel not only depicted the decline of the aristocratic class but also gave the world a phrase—"people of the setting sun"—that became a permanent part of the Japanese language. His characters, grappling with the new paradigm of Western democracy and individualism imposed by the Allied occupation, were the original anti-heroes of the disenchanted age.

While No Longer Human is his most famous work, his short stories like Run, Melos! show he could write with soaring optimism and classical structure when he chose to. Comparison With Contemporaries osamu dazai author better