After eating in the evening, open Dazai's novel "Human Disqualification", a 65,000-word book, the main text of a total of five parts, including the overture, first hand, second note, third note, afterword, followed by Dazai Osamu's creation of the chronology and translation of the afterword.
If nothing else bothers you, expect to be able to read it before the lights go out.
But in reality, I only read a third of it before going to bed.
This novel is more difficult to read than expected.
From the time I opened it and finished reading it, it took three days, and the day I was talking about, not 24 hours, nor 8 hours, but part of it, had to stop, did not have the strength to continue reading.
On the morning of the third day, I finally finished reading the novel.
After reading it, I kept thinking about the following questions:
Why did Osamu Dazai write such a novel?
Is he writing about himself?
What's the point?
01. "I used to think I was lonely, but fortunately I watched "Human Disqualification""
The subtitle comes from the first page of the novel, immediately below the title "Human Disqualification", and from the text, the novel should tell a more lonely story, because only loneliness can cure loneliness.
Before reading this novel, I did a certain psychological construction in advance, although I don't know the specific characters and storyline, but I probably know what kind of tone this novel is, just like I probably know what kind of person the writer Osamu Dazai is.
Given the extremely decadent spiritual core of the novel and the world-weariness of "born to be human, I'm sorry", too many people do not want to read this novel, and some people even advise people with poor psychological quality not to read this novel, although this novel is hailed as "the pyramid of Japanese post-war literature".
Of course, some people say that history has given too much praise to the literary value of this novel.
I think the Japanese literary critic Keno Okino's evaluation is more objective, which is how I feel when I read this novel.
He said that for Osamu Dazai, whether he likes it or hates it, whether it is affirmation or denial, Osamu Dazai's works always have an incredible magic, and for a long time to come, Osamu Dazai's vivid depictions will reach the soul of the reader and make it impossible for people to escape.
"Human Disqualification" (also known as "Disqualification of Being Human", also translated as "No Longer Human") is a semi-autobiographical novel, this novel is a full stop in Dazai's writing career, but also the rest of his own life, after completing "Human Disqualification", Dazaiji jumped into the sea to commit suicide.
Osamu Dazai at different times
Osamu Dazai, whose original name was Shuji Tsushima, was born in 1909 and committed suicide in June 1948, at the age of 39, and was a representative writer of Japanese postwar rogue literature.
"Human Disqualification" probably says that a writer accidentally got a handwriting written by a man named Daying Yezang, which was given to him by a tavern proprietor he knew as writing material, and the writer who originally did not think about it thought that after reading the handwriting of Daying Yezang all night, he thought that the best way to deal with the handwriting was to take it directly and publish it. The writer exchanged his feelings after reading the handwriting with the lady of the tavern, and the writer said that if what was written in the handwriting was the truth, if I were also his friend, I might also take him to a mental hospital, but the lady owner of the tavern said that her impression of Xiaoye was a good person with a straightforward personality, intelligent and pure like a god.
Some people say that Osamu Dazai is a pessimist, and through the tragic story of the protagonist of "Human Disqualification", Otoya Yezo, he tells the pain of his own birth as a human being
I'm not quite sure about this claim.
Because, from this novel, what I feel is his tender compassion and desire for love for the world.
Some people asked, why is "Human Disqualification" so mournful, why is it still enshrined as a classic? I think what is appealing may be the power of hope behind the fall of humanity.
As the title of the novel reads, "I used to think I was lonely, but I was lucky to see 'Human Disqualification.'"
02. Overture: Three photos
So, what kind of person was Dating Yezang, and what kind of things had happened to him?
Three photographs are mentioned in the overture to "Human Disqualification".
The first photo is of the infancy of The Great Court Leaf Zang.
A boy of about ten years old, surrounded by many women, showed an ugly smile, a smile that became more and more annoying the more he looked at it.
(Picture from douban e-book "Human Disqualification")
The second photo is of The Great Court Yezang's student days.
Good looking, students dressed up, smiling, but do not feel the taste of life.
The third photo may be a young or middle-aged person in The Great Court, because the age is not visible.
His hair is gray and his face is expressionless, as if he had died naturally, and the ominous atmosphere on the photo makes people feel creepy.
These three photographs represent three different stages of Yezang's life and hint at his eventual disillusionment.
03． First hand note of "Human Disqualification": A child who hates himself
As a young boy, Ye Zang thought that the overpass of the railway station was complex and interesting, just as he thought that the underground car was more ingenious than the car on the ground, and when he found that everything was built for practical purposes, he would feel bored.
He had been frail and sickly since childhood, and he did not know whether it was for this reason, he did not know the taste of hunger, and the silent collective meal would frighten him, and it seemed to him that the scene was a ritual to the undead lurking in the house.
"People will die if they don't eat" is a threat to him, because people will die if they don't eat, so they have to work and have to eat.
He was puzzled by human behavior, which tossed and tossed and agonized, and this thinking plunged him into uneasiness and fear.
He is extremely afraid of human beings, but he cannot be dead to human beings.
So he came up with a way to put on a mask and be a person who pretends to be silly and funny.
His flattering performance won the hearts of his parents and siblings, but made him even more desperate for himself.
In school, he excelled in his studies but had just passed his character, all because he deliberately disguised himself as a funny freak in order to hide his inner melancholy and sensitivity.
Once, a celebrity from Ye Zang's father's party came to the town to give a speech, and almost all the people in the town who knew Zang's father rushed to the scene. After the speech, on the way home, everyone depreciated the speech to nothing and criticized how clumsy the opening speech of The Great Tibetan Father was. But when they stopped by the big collector, they had a smile on their faces and praised how successful the speech had been.
To deceive each other, but miraculously to deceive each other unscathed, is like not being aware of cheating on each other.
Ye Zang had difficulty understanding those who cheated on each other, but could live transparently and confidently. For him, human life is elusive.
He used entertainment to deceive others and make everyone think he was a happy child.
In fact, he just wanted to make everyone laugh so that no one would notice him and the secrets he had in his heart
I know that someone loves me, but I don't seem to have the ability to love people. - "Human Disqualification"
I found that on the surface, The Great Court Leaf Hidden was not a particularly strange child.
Come to think of it, we seem to have had similar experiences as children.
We are often full of curiosity and not understood, want to act like an adult, but in fact childish ridiculous, sometimes inexplicably want to attract the attention of others, do some strange actions or some playful words, but also deliberately funny in order to fit in, attracting the laughter of others, as if we become a member of the group, when a person will inevitably be overwhelmed by this reluctant integration.
In the face of these appearances, we have never thought about why we are like this. Adults are also accustomed to the strange behavior of their children.
But Osamu Dazai shows us a child trapped in a bottomless sense of loneliness.
The harder he tried to be funny, the more I felt sorry for him.
The sensitivity of shame, flattery, fear, despair, the gloom of feeling that life is worse than death as long as you remove the disguise of shallowness and humor, the feeling of powerlessness that you can only live like a clown when you have insight into everything, as if a basin of cold water has been poured down.
I tried to find a little hope between the lines, the light that shone through the cracks.
I can't hope that as I grow older, I will finish primary school, go to middle school and college, leave my family and enter society, and under the polishing of society, the initial sensitivity will gradually blunt, and I will spend my life happily.
So, what will be the next life of The Great Court Yezang?
Tomorrow, let's read the back part of "Human Disqualification" together to see what a different life will have in Ōtomo Yezo under Osamu Dazai's pen.
I am @ spit sisters, read together, grow together.
Have fun and thanks for reading.
PS: Yesterday I sent a micro headline, got the solidarity of many friends, 99 + and then 99 +, I try to reply to you in time, if there is an omission, please do not bother, here I also express special thanks, since everyone agrees with my point of view, then we will struggle together, I hope that we will go farther and farther on the road of the creation of the headlines, better and better!
Thank you!
(Image from toutiao's free gallery and network, for reference only)