Description

• First UK Edition [Peter Owen, London, 1958]; xviii, 190 pages; black cloth, gold titling to spine, v. slight lean, a near-fine copy; in the excellent illustrated dustjacket, price-clipped, rubbed & chipped at extremities with small losses, 2cm tear at spine base
• Dazai’s first novel, originally published in 1947 [Shinchosha, Tokyo]
• Translated from the Japanese & with intro by Donald Keene, whose translation was first published in the US [1956]
• Jacket design by Eric Patton
• Osamu Dazai [1909-1948] wrote numerous short stories but completed only two novels, both of which are considered classics of Japanese Literature – The Setting Sun & No Longer Human. He committed suicide by throwing himself into the swollen waters of the Tamagawa Reservoir, aged 39.