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    Blue Bamboo: Tales by Dazai Osamu
    Unavailable
    Blue Bamboo: Tales by Dazai Osamu
    Unavailable
    Blue Bamboo: Tales by Dazai Osamu
    Ebook199 pages3 hours

    Blue Bamboo: Tales by Dazai Osamu

    By Osamu Dazai and Ralph F. McCarthy

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    The majority of these translations were first published by Kodansha International in 1993, as Blue Bamboo: Tales of Fantasy and Romance, which has been out of print for decades now. The prior translations have been massively revised by the translator, and new material added to make this a book that reveals an intelligent and humorous Dazai seldom encountered in existing English translations.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBookBaby
    Release dateJun 5, 2013
    ISBN9784902075632
    Unavailable
    Blue Bamboo: Tales by Dazai Osamu
    Author

    Osamu Dazai

    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.

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    Reviews for Blue Bamboo

    4/5

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    • 4/5
      Rating: 4 / 5

      Blue Bamboo: Tales by Dazai Osamu is a fantasy fiction book by renowned Japanese author, Dazai Osamu. In literary terms, this also falls into Japanese literature, and Japanese culture.
      Blue Bamboo is a collection of tales that Dazai has written during the middle years of his career as an author.
      Blue Bamboo was written during Dazai’s middle years as an author, and is often said to be the best work of that time frame. As someone who loves Dazai’s works, I couldn’t help but download the free eBook due to a free trial and get reading it. I’ve had a love for his works since I read Schoolgirl, and I couldn’t wait to sink my teeth into this one.

      I read this for free thanks to a 30 day free trial with Scribd.

      Note: with the 30 day free trial you only get three book credits to read three full books.


      On Love and Beauty - 4/5 stars

      “On Love and Beauty” is the first story within this collection and it was a story that I didn’t quite understand; at least, I didn’t understand it at first. Five children sit around in one of the room in their home and create a story with each other, due to the dreary rain keeping them from leaving the house.

      The story begins with a description of each child that we are introduced to, and it was interesting to see how the personality of each child came out in the story. Each word that the children speak shows us more and more of their personality, and made them seem so much more real. The story made much more sense as each character slowly came to life more and more in front of my eyes. Dazai did an amazing job with this story and it’s made me hungry to read more of this collection.

      The Chrysanthemum Spirit - 5/5 stars

      This is a wonderful story about how opinions and values may not always be the correct one to have. Within this story we have a man who absolutely loves chrysanthemums and travels the world looking for the best seeds to plant in his garden. On his travels, he meets a boy who also loves chrysanthemums, but sells them in order for his sister and he to have money for food and to survive. Our main character does not agree with this, and after allowing them to stay in the shack in his garden, continuously cuts ties with them over and over again. This story is one that taught me a lot about how other people have different opinions and even though I may not agree with them, it is what the other person believes in and that I need to be more understanding of them. This was a wonderful read and it was absolutely beautiful. It kept my attention through the entire story and I could not put this down.

      The Mermaid and the Samurai - 5/5 stars

      This story teaches of the dangers of bragging and how it may push things away from your favour. Our main character, a samurai, injures a mermaid during a terrible storm that threatens to sink the boat that he and others are travelling on. Once the mermaid disappears, injured from an arrow sent by the samurai, the sea calms and upon arriving at his destination, our samurai tells a close friend of what happens. After this, his friend begins to brag to an audience, and it ends with our samurai not being believed at all, and having to search for the mermaid he has injured. This was a brilliant story, ending in mental illness, death and judgement. I learned a lot from this story about bragging and it was a wonderful read. Again, it totally captured my attention and I could not put it down at all.

      Blue Bamboo - 3/5

      I didn’t quite understand this story, even with the explanation at the end. Our main character is miserable and does not like his life at all. Upon finding a shrine, he finds himself turned into a crow, and lives a wonderful life until he is turned back to a human. The moral of the story overall seems to be “be happy with the life you live, for the life you have may be all you need in life”. Although enjoyable, this story left me quite confused.

      Alt Heidelberg

      I didn’t really enjoy Alt Heidelberg. I don’t remember anything from it, trying to review it now. The story line didn’t capture me and it took me quite a while to read this one, having to read it over three days – it’s only 15 pages as well. It was quite boring, and I would recommend skipping this one, in all honesty, when reading Blue Bamboo.

      Romanesque

      This story is broken down into smaller stories and each one was beautiful and stunning and had it’s own moral.

      “Taro the Wizard” is a story that teaches us of the dangers of using unconventional methods in order to achieve what we want. There isn’t much I can talk about within this story without spoiling it, so this is going to be quite short. This was a really good read, and although I didn’t learn anything from it, due to already knowing the lessons taught in this, I found it really enjoyable and I laughed long and hard for a considerable amount of time. Dazai threw it out of the park with this one, and it was stunning.

      “Jirobei the Fighter” is a sweet little story that I really enjoyed about a man who wants to be strong and to be able to fight, and how it ruins him later on in life. Dazai did really well with this one and it kept me hooked until the end. It was a sweet story and really teaches of the dangers of ‘be careful what you wish for’.

      “Saburo the Liar” is the third instalment of Romanesque and one that I really didn’t enjoy. I found the story quite boring and after writing this review for it a few days after reading it, I don’t remember what the story line was. The only thing I really remember is that it connects Taro, Jirobei and Saburo all in one, and it was a beautiful little twist I really enjoyed.

      Lanterns of Romance

      And within the last story of Blue Bamboo, we return to the original family in On Love and Beauty, and another rather boring story. It was a shame, really, to revisit them, and I wish Dazai had done this story on something else rather than returning to the family and doing a loop. There was a lot in this that bored me, and I skipped the majority of this one, in all honesty.

      Overall, I wish that there had been a little more creativity in some of the stories that Dazai wrote in this collection. It was well written, and most of the stories were brilliant, but some of them fell flat for me. I suppose, in collections, that’s how things work. You like some, you miss some. I would recommend this though, for sure, to anyone who likes fantasy. I’ll definitely be buying this one to add to my collection at a later date.
    • 5/5
      who isn't in love with dazai? these stories are fantastic and dramatic and some of them make you feel all tingly inside - after all, he's a master storyteller who is far too underplayed in literature circles as far as i'm concerned.