Thoughts on "No Longer Human" by Osamu Dazai
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- Опубликовано: 10 янв 2023
- CW: This book deals with themes of suicide and dissociation. I do not recommend it if you are currently in crisis. Please use this link or call 988 if you need immediate help: 988lifeline.org/
This was Osamu Dazai's last book (published in 1948) and is still a bestseller in Japan. It's a heartbreaking semi-autobiographical narrative of a young man who feels he's been disqualified to be a human being. He struggles to understand and connect to the people around him and uses a sort of "class clown" persona to convince people that he isn't suffering.
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It’s necessary to read and to write books for and from the outside. They’re not always the easiest to read, and they can kind of be a double edged sword, as they can enhance one’s own feelings of loneliness, or or re-expose them, but we need to understand that we are not alone, that others all over the world are in the same depths. You can tell even Saoirse, someone looking pressed and refined and beautiful, who could easily be interpreted as having access to the pleasures and fulfillments of the world, struggles with the remembrances of her own alienation and despair as she reads the harrowing scenes from the story. This is why such stories are important, so that we may see how many of us are reaching for the light, to offer our light where we can, as formulaic as it sounds.
I immediately thought he was neurodivergent. I'm autistic and it was just "wtf this is just my childhood "
Read this book for the second time recently. It's definitely not a pleasurable read, but I think it serves a greater purpose. So glad to see your review!!
As a teacher with experience teaching Neurodiverse students, i will definitely add this my reading list. Thank you.. Gareth, Dublin
I just finished the book like twenty minutes ago and it’s so depressing.
hi saoirse, i just subscribed, i love how you talk about the books you’ve read and i think i might read this :)
This is a very powerful book. I have had periods in my life where I have had similar feelings. I lacked confidence, afraid of interaction with the opposite sex because of fear of rejection. Avoiding social situations, fear of organized religion, which I still have. For many single men, the dating scene is one of fear and rejection, sometimes leading to MGTOW or Incels, which is scary. But you have to pick yourself up and engage in what you are interested in to get out of this mental quagmire. Great video. I am afraid to read this, but I want to!
I'm really excited to see someone mention the possible neurodivergency in Yozo! I'm on the spectrum and was getting those vibes from his early childhood as well. But I wasn't 100% sure since I have a tendency to lean towards neurodivergent readings due to bias.
i haven't read it yet but i can relate to him in more than some way, i know the desire to end it all , like he did. anyways thank you for such a helpful video, i appreciate it.
The ending joke is genius.
Ive always found it interesting the type of art that spills out into its culture. Where Im from this kind of book could never have prospered. My ppl are emotionally stunted, regressive, simple. This type of material would have been mocked, derided and shamed. Yet theres Dovskyevski in Russia, Nietzsche in germany, Camus of France etc that have their voice heard and known, as though a part of their culture respects and revers those who ventured into the darkness of ourselves and retrieved something the masses could find palpable and relatable.
This is a really interesting point. Do you mind saying where you’re from?
@@SaoirsesShelf Oh I prefer to keep some level anonymity here :-P, I have a healthy paranoia when it comes to these things. Keep up the channel, love the style to some of your vids btw 😀
Never heard of this before. Gonna check it out
A terrifying book. Just beautiful.
Sounds like a powerful book but I don’t think I’ll put myself thru it😖 I’ve read “heavy” books before and then always need something light and fluffy to read afterward to recover!
The only universal truth is "Everything passes." 😢
I came into this review to see if this would be too much for me or deeply interesting and of value for me. Once you insisted on your warning, I knew it was not for me at this time, despite and perhaps even because my ability to understand or perhaps even connect to... some... of of the perspectives he presents Thankfully not all of them, but that's besides the point.
But I couldn't stop listening. Your review was so genuine, so authentic, so gentle and kind even when there was plenty to judge. It was truly lovely. Thank you for that.
As a complete side note, and I hope I am not intruding here (if I am, I apologize, that is not my intention)... but...
That piece of leather clothing that you are wearing... I attempted to find how those are called to no avail. And I am quite intrigued by it. It not only looks great but also has such a charming style and may be suited as a gift for someone I know very closely. Is there mayhaps a chance that you are able to tell me what that piece is called so I may look for one?
Thank you either way 🙏
Thanks for your comment. I’m glad books like this exist, but they can definitely be tough to read at times when we’re feeling especially vulnerable.
The thing I’m wearing is from the brand Free People and they call it a harness 😊
@@SaoirsesShelf Thank you. And may your days be filled with self love, positive reflection, and an embracing sense of balance.
This book took me apart. I read it during a low point on my life not so terribly long ago. I had thrown myself into literature. Like they were morsels of wretched food for my morbid psyche, I indulged myself more and more until I finally bottomed out. No Longer Human was that stopping point for me.
In the end I think it wound up helping me arrange the disturbed and unsettled thoughts that had been dragging me down into something more palatable, but I'm under no delusions that it could have easily gone a different direction.
I enjoyed hearing your thoughts on it, thanks for sharing. It was a dramatic and indulgent novel that straddled a line for me. I hated it, loved it and hated it again all in the span of a few pages repeatedly.
In retrospect however, I'm very glad I read it, but I will never touch that book again for as long as I live.
For similar sentiments, I would recommend Jean-Paul Sartre's Nausea.
I just finished the book. It's depressing as all hell, but damn can I relate to him. On an unrelated note, you look like just like Beth Harmon.
I have Asperger's so I know what it's like not understand emotion sometimes but this level is ridiculous I think the Japanese are quite strange when it comes to psychology no offence am I not fully understand about the human condition involving connecting with others I am fully aware I am not alienated from the world I think this is a fantasy of what depression is