DAZAI OSAMU (1909–48) retains an enormous following in Japan today and is as famous for his darkly introspective novels as for the light-hearted children’s stories that are a staple of many Japanese textbooks. Son of a wealthy family in northern Japan, Dazai was a top student who showed an early penchant for literary writing. He led a troubled, unstable life and suffered from drug abuse and alcoholism; he attempted suicide and had numerous affairs, even as his literary fame grew. A Shameful Life (Ningen shikkaku), is said to be a close approximation of his lifestyle and struggles. Shortly after its publication in 1948, Dazai and his lover drowned themselves in the Tamagawa Canal in western Tokyo.

MARK GIBEAU is a literary translator and scholar of postwar Japanese literature. His previous translations include fiction by Kawabata Yasunari, Tanizaki Jun’ichirō, Yamamoto Shūgorō, Tayama Sakumi, Kakuta Mitsuyo, and Komatsu Sakyō among others. He is currently a Senior Lecturer in the College of Asia and the Pacific at The Australian National University, Canberra.