Retrograde
Three stories of the ruined and the lost: Osamu Dazai at his most tormented. This collection unearths the Japanese literary legend’s most controversial and exhilarating early-career writing with first-time and original translations. “Retrograde” traces the life of an anguished youth in reverse; “Das Gemeine” features an aspiring literato with a dark past who hitches his wagon to an eccentric violinist; “Blossom-Leaves and the Spirit Whistle” tells of an old woman recalling the final breaths of her beautiful, sickly sister. Experience the twisted agony of the prose that propelled Dazai to the top of the literary world.
1147107868
Retrograde
Three stories of the ruined and the lost: Osamu Dazai at his most tormented. This collection unearths the Japanese literary legend’s most controversial and exhilarating early-career writing with first-time and original translations. “Retrograde” traces the life of an anguished youth in reverse; “Das Gemeine” features an aspiring literato with a dark past who hitches his wagon to an eccentric violinist; “Blossom-Leaves and the Spirit Whistle” tells of an old woman recalling the final breaths of her beautiful, sickly sister. Experience the twisted agony of the prose that propelled Dazai to the top of the literary world.
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Retrograde

Retrograde

Overview

Three stories of the ruined and the lost: Osamu Dazai at his most tormented. This collection unearths the Japanese literary legend’s most controversial and exhilarating early-career writing with first-time and original translations. “Retrograde” traces the life of an anguished youth in reverse; “Das Gemeine” features an aspiring literato with a dark past who hitches his wagon to an eccentric violinist; “Blossom-Leaves and the Spirit Whistle” tells of an old woman recalling the final breaths of her beautiful, sickly sister. Experience the twisted agony of the prose that propelled Dazai to the top of the literary world.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781642735130
Publisher: One Peace Books
Publication date: 09/16/2025
Pages: 128
Product dimensions: 5.00(w) x 7.00(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Osamu Dazai (1909—1948) is one of the most highly respected author's of modern Japan and is widely regarded as one of the most important figures in post-war Japanese literature. He was widely known by contemporaries for his eclectic lifestyle, inventive use of language, and his multiple suicide attempts, which led to his final, successful attempt in 1948. His two major novels, No Longer Human and The Setting Sun, continue to be widely read and leave a vibrant legacy for one of Japan's greatest writers.

Leo Elizabeth Takada (b. 1991) is a translator and self-translating poet born in Japan, raised in Scotland, and currently living in Tokyo. Takada is the English translator of the screenplay and subtitles for the award-winning feature film Perfect Days, and also published the bilingual poetry collections Sapere Romantika, Kyoto Remains, and Anamnesiac. Takada's translations of Japanese poetry have appeared in MONKEY magazine.
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Literature
Anthologies
Asian Literature Anthologies
Literature
Anthologies
Asian Literature Anthologies

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