As an avid enjoyer of Dazai’s other work, I really expected to find this brilliant. Whilst some stories were, like Eight Views of Tokyo and One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji, many of them felt a little dull, not imbued with the same consideration as some of his other work and held up mostly by a subversion in the final lines. Others I really hated. A Little Beauty is merely a perverted misogynistic story and I can’t imagine why the curator would feel the need to include it. I think, too, whilst these stories offer a personal look at a unique life and mind, Dazai at certain points becomes to deeply unlikeable, especially regarding his treatment of others and especially women, that I can barely even continue reading it. I’m glad I did, though, for he remains a talented artist and powerful literary voice. What I found most interesting was the final story, featuring his youngest daughter Yuko Tsushima, for the fact that one can begin to compare his telling of their life to hers. 

I consult my own flesh, my own passions, and find myself, alas, unable to deny it. Mark this well: your youth is gone. I would write a farewell to my youth without pandering to anyone.