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    Schoolgirl
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    Schoolgirl
    Unavailable
    Schoolgirl
    Ebook46 pages54 minutes

    Schoolgirl

    By Osamu Dazai

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    The novella that first propelled Dazai into the literary elite of post-war Japan. Essentially the start of Dazai's career, Schoolgirl gained notoriety for its ironic and inventive use of language. Now it illuminates the prevalent social structures of a lost time, as well as the struggle of the individual against them--a theme that occupied Dazai's life both personally and professionally. This new translation preserves the playful language of the original and offers the reader a new window into the mind of one of the greatest Japanese authors of the 20th century.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOne Peace Books
    Release dateMar 19, 2020
    ISBN9781937563622
    Unavailable
    Schoolgirl
    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 Schoolgirl

    4/5

    186 ratings4 reviews

    What did you think?

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      Genuine beauty is always meaningless, without virtue.

      Rating

      I’ve opted to give Schoolgirl a 5/5 rating.

      Genre

      I am very unsure of the genre of this book, and therefore can only label is as Japanese Culture, and Japanese Literature.

      About the Book

      Schoolgirl follows the typical day of a young Japanese school girl. We are introduced to a lot of her inner feelings, including grief, mourning, happiness, and are shown her realism. With further revision, I have found out that this novella describes the social structures of a time in Japan, now lost, and how the young girl we follow struggles against them.

      Why did I choose this book to read?

      I chose to read Schoolgirl because it was the first Dazai Osamu story I came across. I’ve wanted to read Dazai’s work for a long time; he’s well renowned as being one of the best Post-War Japanese authors around, so when I found Schoolgirl I just had to dive in and give it a read.

      Pricing

      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.

      What did I think of it?

      Schoolgirl is a hard title to review. I didn’t think much of it when I first started reading it, and it was hard to actively get into (see: qualms). Eventually, when I say down and forced myself to read, I was able to appreciate it for what it was. A young girl, struggling in the coarse of daily life; it was really relatable, other than the obvious Japanese traditions which I don’t partake in, but it was scary how much I could relate to this. It moved me, massively, and I teared up at one or two parts of the story. Dazai’s words may be used very simply at times, but they portray such a massive picture. Dazai has created a true work of art within Schoolgirl, and I may be biased because I love Dazai’s aesthetic so much, but this was truly stunning.

      Did I have any qualms with it?

      I had a qualm when I first began to read it, and that was the very short sentences that read more like a poem than they did a story. It took me time to get used to it, and to realise that perhaps this was due to translation, or this is how sentences are structured in Japanese, or just simply, Dazai wrote them that way. It took me time to adjust, but once I did, I can no longer refer to this as a qualm. Upon studying it after finishing Schoolgirl, I found out that Dazai was using new language types, using ironic and inventive language use and it made sense. After rereading the first few pages with this in mind, I was able to enjoy it much more.

      Would I recommend it and who to?

      I would definitely recommend this novella to everyone and anyone who enjoys Japanese literature, and stories that are likely to become classics in later years. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys short novellas, and to those who enjoy novellas that make them think about the world, and their own lives.

      Overall opinion

      Schoolgirl is honestly a masterpiece. Never have I been so taken back by a story before, let alone a small novella. This deserves so much attention. You can feel the pain that Dazai was in when writing this and it gives the story a whole new feel. I loved this; I 100% loved this, and this is definitely a book I will be buying a copy of to add to my small collection of Japanese literature.
    • 4/5
      At first, I didn’t like it and wanted to quit it. But I kept going and found myself relating to how she felt about becoming an adult and being a woman in culture; although times have changed and it’s easier to be a woman.

      I did struggle to understand parts of it but that’s because I lack knowledge of Japanese culture and history.

      It was a likable story and found myself giving her sympathy because of what she’d gone through.

      The author did a good job in my opinion at giving a soon to be adult school girls perspective of life.
    • 4/5
      Osamu Dazai's novella Schoolgirl was one of his breakthrough works as an author. Dazai is best known for his short novels The Setting Sun and No Longer Human, both of which I have read and enjoyed, No Longer Human being my personal favorite. I was very pleased to learn that One Peace Books recently published a new translation by Allison Markin Powell of Dazai's earlier work and was even more pleased when I was offered a review copy of the book. Originally published in Japan in 1939, Schoolgirl has been translated into English at least two other times (once by Lane Dunlop in 1992 and once more previously by Ralph F. McCarthy in 1988), neither of which I have read, making Powell's translation the first I've had the opportunity to enjoy. Schoolgirl is also the first volume in One Peace Books' new Modern Japanese Classics series which will continue to feature novellas as well as longer works of literature.Schoolgirl follows the day in the life of a Japanese teenager in the late 1930s from the moment she wakes up until she once again falls asleep. She tells her own story candidly, more for herself than for anyone who might be prying. I'm not always a fan of stream-of-conscious storytelling, but Schoolgirl flows naturally and remains engaging throughout the novella. As the story progresses, the girl reveals her desires from petty wishes to more substantial dreams, shares her frustrations from minor irritations to deepest grief, and exhibits a growing maturity in how she approaches her life. She is a girl on the brink of adulthood, intelligent and sincere and a little bit selfish, and not without her share of troubles and worry.One of the things that makes Dazai's works so potent is the sense of authenticity with which his characters are imbued. They are likeable, imperfect, and completely believable as people. This is true of the titular schoolgirl as well. I found her to be charming and appreciated how honest she could be with herself. She's still in the process of growing up and finding herself. There were moments when I couldn't help but smile and think "Just wait until you're a little bit older, you'll understand better." She may be a fictional character, but I found myself wishing the best for her as if I actually knew her. Another thing that impresses me about the characters in Dazai's stories is that no matter how unlike me they are, I am still able to identify with them and care about them. I am in no way a late 1930s Japanese schoolgirl, but even though most aspects of our lives are different we still shared some similar thought processes and personal quirks. Dazai's writing can be surprisingly universal.Although I haven't read any other translations of Schoolgirl in order to compare, I was quite happy with Powell's work on the novella. The accessible translation reads nicely, is almost poetic in places, and while I would exactly call it "bubbly," it is well suited as the voice of a precocious teenage girl. I did find myself interrupting my reading to look up references to pieces of literature mentioned with which I was unfamiliar, so it would have been nice if a few cultural notes would have been included as well. This additional information is not absolutely critical to the understanding and enjoyment of Schoolgirl although it does add some extra depth to the narrative. While Schoolgirl may not be as obviously tragic as some of Dazai's following works, echos of the story and the themes he deals with in it can be readily found later on. I am very glad that I finally had an opportunity to read one of Dazai's earliest successes. I'm also looking forward tremendously to seeing what other delights One Peace Books will be bringing readers as part of the Modern Japanese Classics series.Experiments in Manga

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      We have a vague notion of the best place we should go, or the beautiful places we should like to see, or the kinds of places that would make us grow as a person. We yearn for a good life. We have real hopes and ambitions. We feel impatient for an unshakable faith that we can rely on. But it would require considerable effort to express such things in our typical life as a girl. – from Schoolgirl, page 31 -A young, Japanese girl wakes up fighting sadness, and missing her father who has died. She dresses, has breakfast and plucks some weeds from the garden before heading for school. As the day unfolds, she muses about life, arranged marriages, the struggles of growing up and being misunderstood; she wrestles with ambivalent feelings about her mother. She returns home from school and visits with her family and visitors, has dinner, bathes. It is all but an ordinary day in the life of a young schoolgirl. But it is less the actions of the protagonist and more her adolescent ruminations which draw the reader into Osamu Dazai’a slim novella.This is a universal story about what it is like to grow from childhood into adulthood. The angst, moodiness, and introspection are all typical of adolescents who feel largely misunderstood.Nobody in the world understood our suffering. In time, when we became adults, we might look back on this pain and loneliness as a funny thing, perfectly ordinary, but – but how were we expected to get by, to get through this interminable period of time until that point when we were adults? – from Schoolgirl, page 89 -In Schoolgirl, the protagonist longs to grow up, but clings to childhood. She has the added burden of dealing with the death of her father, and her feelings toward her mother range from irritation to love.I felt ashamed about the earlier resentment I had harbored towards Mother when Imaida had been here. I’m sorry, I formed the words softly. I only ever think of myself, I thought, I let myself be coddled by her to my heart’s content, and then take such a reckless attitude with her. – from Schoolgirl, page 83 -Schoolgirl was the work which brought Dazai’s writing to the forefront of the literary world in post-war Japan. Within its pages can be found the cultural mores of this period in history, where girls in Japan were still finding themselves in arranged marriages. The young girl in the story worries about being forced into marriage to an older man who she does not love.Across from me four or five salarymen who looked about the same age were just sitting there. They must have been around 30. I didn’t like any of them. Their eyes were empty and dull. They had no vigor. But now, if I so much as grinned at them, I could very well be dragged off by one of these men, falling into the chasm of compulsory marriage. – from Schoolgirl, page 35 -Dazai’s style is like a long, narrative poem – observant, simple and oddly compelling. I read this book in less than two hours, but found it haunting me for several days. Dazai does not name his narrator, and so she becomes symbolic of all young girls growing up and trying to define their identities against their families and society at large. Despite an underlying sadness there is also a great deal of optimism in this novella. When the young girl drops off to sleep at the end the tone is decidedly hopeful.Schoolgirl is a literary work which appears simple on the surface, but explores themes of identity, family and grief. Readers who enjoy literary fiction will find this an interesting read.Recommended.

      1 person found this helpful