Osamu Dazai

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Osamu Dazai (19 June 1909 – 13 June 1948), was a Japanese author. Dazai was born Tsushima Shūji in Aomori, northeastern Japan.Gary D. Allinson, The Columbia Guide to Modern Japanese History (New York: Columbia University Press, 1999), p. 188 He is best known for his novels The Setting Sun (1947) and No Longer Human (1948). Dazai wrote a number of novels about the meaning of life, pessimism and alcoholism based on his own private life. Dazai remains the most popular author among Japanese college students.Mamoru Iga, The Thorn in the Chrysanthemum: Suicide and Economic Success in Modern Japan (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986), p. 85

On 13 June 1948, Dazai along with his wife both killed themselves by drowning. Their corpses were discovered on 19 June, his birthday, of the same year. 

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Category:1909 births
Category:1948 deaths
Category:Japanese novelists
Category:People from Aomori Prefecture
Category:Suicides by drowning
Category:University of Tokyo alumni