This powerful and tragic novel vividly paints life in a nation in social and moral crisis. Set in the early postwar years, it probes the destructive effects of war and the transition from a feudal Japan to an industrial society. Ozumu Dazai died, a suicide, in 1948. But the influence of his book has made "people of the setting sun" a permanent part of the Japanese language, and his heroine, Kazuko, a ayoung aristocrat who deliberately abandons her class, a symbol of the anomie that pervades so much of the modern world.

Essentially the start of Dazai's career, Schoolgirl gained notoriety for its ironic and inventive use of language. Now it illuminates the prevalent social structures of a lost time, as well as the struggle of the individual against them-a theme that occupied Dazai's life both personally and professionally. This new translation preserves the playful language of the original and offers the reader a new window into the mind of one of the greatest Japanese authors of the 20th century.

Portraying himself as a failure, the protagonist of Osamu Dazai's No Longer Human narrates a seemingly normal life even while he feels himself incapable of understanding human beings. Oba Yozo's attempts to reconcile himself to the world around him begin in early childhood, continue through high school, where he becomes a "clown" to mask his alienation, and eventually lead to a failed suicide attempt as an adult. Without sentimentality, he records the casual cruelties of life and its fleeting moments of human connection and tenderness.

Dazai Osamu wrote The Fairy Tale Book (Otogizoshi) in the last months of the Pacific War. The traditional tales upon which Dazai's retellings are based are well known to every Japanese schoolchild, but this is no children's book. In Dazai's hands such stock characters as the kindhearted Oji-san to Oba-san ("Grandmother and Grandfather"), the mischievous tanuki badger, the fearsome Oni ogres, the greedy old man, the "tongue-cut" sparrow, and of course Urashima Taro (the Japanese Rip van Winkle) become complex individuals facing difficult and nuanced moral dilemmas. The resulting stories are thought-provoking, slyly subversive, and often hilarious.
In spite of the "gloom and doom" atmosphere always cited in reviews of The Setting Sun and the later No Longer Human, though, Dazai's cutting wit and rich humor are evident in the entire body of his work. His literature depicts the human condition in painfully blunt and realistic terms, but, like life itself, is often accompanied by a smile.

「無頼派」「新戯作派」の破滅型作家を代表する昭和初期の小説家、太宰治による評論。初出は「新潮」［1948（昭和23）年3～7月］。志賀直哉を筆頭とする一群の「老大家」と、いわゆる「文化人」に対する非難で、継続の意志が見られるものの太宰の死とともに終了している。感情がままの罵詈雑言で評論と呼ぶには耐えがたいとの評価もある一方、その捨て身の訴えは大きな問題提起を孕んでいる。

「無頼派」「新戯作派」の破滅型作家を代表する昭和初期の小説家、太宰治の長編小説。初出は「新潮」［1947（昭和22）年］。母、かず子、直治、上原の四人を中心として、直治の「夕顔日記」、かず子の手紙、直治の遺書が巧みに組み込まれるという構成の作品で、没落していく弱きものの美しさが見事な筆致で描かれている。発表当時から現在に至るまで賛辞の声がやまない、「人間失格」と並ぶ太宰文学の最高峰である。

Portraying himself as a failure, the protagonist of Osamu Dazai's
narrates a seemingly normal life even while he feels himself incapable of understanding human beings. Oba Yozo's attempts to reconcile himself to the world around him begin in early childhood, continue through high school, where he becomes a "clown" to mask his alienation, and eventually lead to a failed suicide attempt as an adult. Without sentimentality, he records the casual cruelties of life and its fleeting moments of human connection and tenderness.
Semi-autobiographical,
is the final completed work of one of Japan's most important writers, Osamu Dazai (1909-1948). The novel has come to "echo the sentiments of youth" (Hiroshi Ando,
) from post-war Japan to the postmodern society of technology. Still one of the ten bestselling books in Japan,
is a powerful exploration of an individual's alienation from society.

《御伽草纸》是第二次世界大战期间，太宰治躲在防空洞里根据日本传统民间故事改编的故事集。太宰治翻案的《御伽草纸》，因故事里充满的对人性与现实命运的无奈，而使得原本原本简单单纯的故事，成为更贴合成人世界的充满耽溺之美的人生悲喜剧。
除原《御伽草纸》收录的故事外，本书还特别收录了太宰治改写自蒲松龄《聊斋志异》的《竹青》和《清贫谭》两篇翻案作品。中国的乡野奇谈在太宰治肆意妄为的笔调演绎之下，与太宰治诠释下的日本经典民间故事一起，共同成为太宰治刻画人性荒谬的载体。

(献给孤独又单纯的你！我以为自己很孤独，幸好看了《人间失格》！日本芥川奖直木奖得主推荐，译者获日本H氏大奖)

本书蕴藏了其短暂一生的种种遭遇和内心的迷茫挣扎。即使时移世易，最深的绝望依旧源自内心的迷茫，而这种迷茫和彷徨几乎贯穿了太宰治以及我们每个人的青春。因此，《人间失格》是一部残酷而永恒的青春文学。只是，在迷茫的灵魂破碎之后，有人选择在喧嚣中继续生命，而太宰治诗意地离去了。从他的作品中，你可以读懂曾经的彷徨与绝望，看到我们内心那个懦弱而又渴望实现的自我。

「私はこの短編集一冊のために、十箇年を棒に振った。まる十箇年、市民と同じさわやかな朝めしを食わなかった。……私はこの本一冊を創るためのみに生れた」（「もの思う葦」）。第一創作集『晩年』（昭和十一年刊）と、それにつづく“苦悩の時期”に書かれた諸篇を収める。晩年（葉思い出　魚服記　列車　地球図　猿ヶ島　雀こ　道化の華　猿面冠者　逆行　彼は昔の彼ならず　ロマネスク　玩具　陰火　めくら草紙）ダス・ゲマイネ　雌に就いて　虚構の春　狂言の神

人類永遠在不幸中掙扎。
　　但這盒子的角落，留了一顆宛如芥菜種子閃閃發亮的小石子。
　　這顆小石子上，隱約寫著『希望』二字……

　　〈潘朵拉的盒子〉是以「健康道場」療養場為舞台，一名對抗病魔的少年雲雀，以寫給好友多篇書信所構成的小說。描寫開朗的少年雲雀，雖然害怕死亡，卻不放棄與病魔鬥爭，透過以書信向好友述懷，記錄了自己初嘗戀愛的悸動，以及在這特別的療養場圍繞在他生活周圍的善良人們故事。

　　不同於太宰治一貫的無賴頹廢，這是他的作品中極少數能感受到充沛的生命喜悅與希望的名作──宛如潘朵拉盒底，亦或是太宰治人生的一抹透亮光彩。我們能從〈潘朵拉的盒子〉中，窺得了太宰治深藏心底的善良與希望。抱懷希望的少年，憧憬著自己與日本的未來，一切將變得不同，開創更美好的世界。何不鼓起勇氣，做個合格的新男人，再往前飛躍一步。

　　「我們的笑，是發自躺在潘朵拉盒子一角的小石子。
　　與死亡毗鄰而活的人，一朵花的微笑，比生死問題更刻骨銘心。」

　　因為深陷絕望，而報以微笑；因為生死過於沉重，所以輕盈相待。這部以太宰治的讀者木村庄助的病床日記為藍本而寫成的作品，是步入中年的太宰寫給青春的挽歌，也是爛漫的永恆戀歌。並借作品中的人物，對戰後的新時代表達各種想法，對於了解其戰後日本的時代氛圍有極豐富的啟發。

　　※另收錄〈正義與微笑〉──
　　「我要成為世界第一的演員。帶著微笑行使正義！」

　　〈正義與微笑〉以日記的形式，巧妙地表現了在踏入社會的過程中，搖擺不定的中學生的內心世界。若說《潘朵拉的盒子》是一首光亮得近乎透明的青春戀愛之詩。那〈正義與微笑〉就是一曲熱血激昂、鬥志高漲之少年的夢想樂章。無論是為華麗獻身而努力活下去的少年雲雀，或是為了成為偉大演員而衝撞現實的高中生芹川進，在兩篇經典作品中，都將帶領讀者遇見另一個溫暖到令人心動的太宰治，沒有頹廢與絕望、亦無痛苦與悲鳴，唯有暖心洋溢，猶如一道清明透亮的希望之光。