The Setting Sun (New Directions Book)

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Miller, J. Scott (2021). Historical Dictionary of Modern Japanese Literature and Theater. Rowman and Littlefield. p.29. ISBN 9781538124413. El ocaso/El declive (1947) de Osamu Dazai (1909-1948) nos muestra un tema recurrente en la literatura japonesa del siglo XX: la difícil transición de la tradición a la modernidad en ese país. Early in the first chapter, Kazuko says that her mother is the only member of the family who has the gracious manners of a natural aristocrat, though she continually departs from conventional etiquette. When she thinks of her mother urinating in the garden, she connects this with the stories she has read of ladies at the French court who “thought nothing of relieving themselves in the palace gardens or in a corner of the corridors.”

This chapter introduces the central theme of decline, which is suggested by the novel’s title. Kazuko’s family is aristocratic and was once rich and powerful; now, they are left in reduced circumstances and are forced to move into a much smaller house far away from their decadent lives in Tokyo.a b Sakakibara, Richie (1999). Between the Defeat and the Constitution: Democracy in Dazai Osamu's Postwar Fiction. University of Michigan. p.34. In our lives we know joy, anger, sorrow, and a hundred other emotions, but these emotions all together occupy a bare one per cent of our time. The remaining ninety-nine per cent is just living in waiting." However, Kazuko is plagued by feelings of shame, worried that she is not a good enough daughter for her elegant mother. Over time, Kazuko reveals herself to be highly sensitive and prone to bouts of melancholy; she also clings to her aristocratic self-confidence, which allows her to pursue her relationship with a married man, to whom she writes: “Ever since I was small, people have often told me that to be with me is to forget one’s troubles. I have never had the experience of being disliked.” Naoji The story is told through the eyes of Kazuko, the unmarried daughter of a widowed aristocrat. Her search for self meaning in a society devoid of use for her forms the crux of Dazai’s novel. It is a sad story, and structurally is a novel very much within the confines of the Japanese take on the novel in a way reminiscent of authors such as Nobel Prize winner Yasunari Kawabata – the social interactions are peripheral and understated, nuances must be drawn, and for readers more used to Western novelistic forms this comes across as being rather wishy-washy. A man of divided beliefs, Naoji loves literature and other mindful pastimes but feels alienated from a society he regards as hypocritical and shallow. When he was younger, Naoji was addicted to opium; upon returning home, he relapsed into his old ways, living a dissolute lifestyle, drinking and taking drugs, and spending money irresponsibly.

When Kazuko accepts that her mother will soon die, she reflects on the differences between the two of them: The revolution is far from taking place. It needs more, many more valuable, unfortunate victims. In the present world, the most beautiful thing is a victim."Uncle Wada acts as the head of Kazuko’s family; they seek his advice and financial support in all important practical matters. Naoji accuses him of being stingy, as he does not provide a generous allowance for Kazuko and her family and instead suggests that she should work as a governess. Uncle Wada traveled to Europe in his youth and is generally regarded as worldly and experienced. Mr. Uehara Lejos de avergonzarme, me pareció que el mundo real era un organismo extraño, completamente distinto a mi propio mundo imaginario. Me asaltó una terrible sensación de abandono que jamás había experimentado y me encontré sola, gritando y gritando sin obtener respuesta en un páramo desierto bajo la luz del ocaso".