No Longer Human

Portraying himself as a failure, the protagonist of Osamu Dazai`s No Longer Human narrates a seemingly normal life even while he feels himself incapable of understanding human beings. Oba Yozo`s attempts to reconcile himself to the world around him begin in early childhood, continue through high school, where he becomes a clown to mask his alienation, and eventually lead to a failed suicide attempt as an adult. Without sentimentality, he records the casual cruelties of life and its fleeting moments of human connection and tenderness.