The Setting Sun by Osamu Dazai | Book Review
The post-war period in Japan was one of immense social change as Japanese society adjusted to the shock of defeat and to the occupation of Japan by American forces and their allies. Osamu Dazai’s The Setting Sun takes this milieu as its background to tell the story of the decline of a minor aristocratic family.
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 the 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 Yasunori 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.
Kazuko’s mother falls ill, and due to their financial circumstances they are forced to take a cottage in the countryside. Her brother, who became addicted to opium during the war is missing. When he returns, Kazuko attempts to form a liaison with the novelist Uehara. This romantic displacement only furthers to deepen her alienation from society.
Famous as it is in Japan, I wouldn’t recommend The Setting Sun. The translation comes across today as being dated and stilted. If you are looking for a novel focusing on the decline of the aristocracy I would recommend Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited, which while having no relation to these fair isles does manage to capture the decline of the nobility without sending the reader to sleep.
#Title: The Setting Sun
#Author: Osama Dazai
# Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation; Revised edition (June 1968)
# Language: English
# ISBN-10: 0811200329
# ISBN-13: 978-0811200325
You can pick up a copy of Osama Dazai’s The Setting Sun by clicking here
2 Comments, Comment or Ping
Marc
I find this a very narrow minded review. Comments like “for readers more used to Western etc…” speak for themselves. If one is unable to get used to other than Western novelistic forms one should perhaps not review that kind of books. And to choose an example like “Brideshead Revisited” for the declining nobility when there would be books like “In Search of Lost Time” is, well… quite…
Jun 7th, 2008
simon
Thanks for your comment Marc.
Sorry that you found the review to be narrow minded. I haven’t had the pleasure of reading Recherche so I compared it with something I had read and I think the ennui of Waughs work fits quite nicely. Still if I every have the chance to plow through those seven volumes, I will consider it.
Honestly though, The Setting Sun, in that translation is as boring as your average American sitcom. I used to edit the books page for a magazine in New Zealand, and one thing I noticed from that was that we always got positive reviews - one gave books to people who were interested in that topic. Here though it is what I think, so I am quite happy to call a dog a dog.
Jun 7th, 2008
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