Osamu Dazai published this book in 1947 Japan and it was translated to English in 1956. By the early postwar years Dazai had gained fame as a writer, the novel propelling him to even greater popularity. From an aristocratic family with ten siblings his father died from tuberculosis in 1923 when he was fourteen. He was excused from wartime service after he contracted TB himself. This is a story of the end of the nobility in Japan after WWII. It uses elements drawn from his own life, and a diary of the writer Shizuko Ota who bore him a child in 1947. Told in spare modernist prose it is a classic of mid-20th century Japanese novels and his best known work. He ended his life in a tragic 1948 suicide at the age of thirty eight. In this new society, she feels out of place and finds some relief in preserving her old habits. Instead, her children find themselves forced to adapt to the social change and their behavior is deviant from the morals they were raised in. As a result, Naoji makes some mistakes in his attempt to succeed and he ends up in suicide due to his failure to understand what has happened to the world as he knew it. In the days, weeks and months following 9/11 I had a really difficult time getting a grasp on reality. I pretty much walked around the city in a daze for quite a while not knowing what to make of any of it. I frankly still don't know what to make of any of it...

The book talks about eminent struggle of the protagonist- Kazuko- to come in terms with the rapid changing world wherein she’s not sure about her inclination whether it's about the aristocratic heritage or the new uprising world which is derived by convenience and desires. Eventually, she battles herself to survive along a fine thread lingering between the customary world and a developing modern sphere of humanity. The nihilistic traits of grief, sadness, bleakness, suicide, absurdism and despair of life are as evident as water in a vessel of glass and I found that these traits in other major works of Dazai too - No Longer Human and Schoolgirl. In fact, it could said be authority that post-war philosophy and literature is highly inspired form these abovementioned traits- whether it may be existentialism of Sartre, absurdism of Camus or any other modern and post-modern movement of literature. The harrowing experiences of World Wars certainly contribute to sudden rise in popularity and development of these schools of thoughts in post- war times. All these art/ philosophical movements works on similar themes that existence somewhat lingers upon absurd situation of life and one has to accept this state of absurdness, and in fact that very realization is the onset of true of existence wherein one has to take responsibility of one's life. This winningly naive thought by the main character, upon reading a book on economics in the wake of WWII, her first foray into such "adult" matters, is emblematic of the stance taken throughout this narrative. It says - Forget all the larger complicated political/economic/etc. analyses and concerns of collective life in times of massive upheaval and destruction and focus on one's own responses to events, however untutored and illogical. Defeatism? Possibly. But also heroic and perpetually necessary. Through his own egocentricism and resolute determination to remain authentic, Dazai wrote a book that gets to the heart of a universal individualism, while at the same time advocating for transient beauties and dissolution and suicide. When Kazuko accepts that her mother will soon die, she reflects on the differences between the two of them:The Setting Sun’ is told through the eyes of Kazuko, the daughter of a widowed mother whose brother Naoji has disappeared in the war. She is divorced after a stillborn birth. The money has run out and they are supported by her uncle. He is forced to sell their old house in Tokyo and move them to the country. Kazuko had destroyed snake eggs on the old property and has a sense of guilt and fear. Since then ill-fated events happened, from their forced relocation to her mother’s illness and a dangerous fire in the new house. She learns that Naoji hasn’t died in the war and is coming home, now an opiate addict, as Dazai was in real life. She pays the bills and enables his habit as he lies and breaks his promises to quit using drugs. A man of divided beliefs, Naoji loves literature and other mindful pastimes but feels alienated from a society he regards as hypocritical and shallow. When he was younger, Naoji was addicted to opium; upon returning home, he relapsed into his old ways, living a dissolute lifestyle, drinking and taking drugs, and spending money irresponsibly. This is a theme that first appears at the very beginning of the novel when Kazuko refuses to believe that her brother is dead. She explains that scoundrels like him always survive while beautiful, selfless souls like her mother die, as they cannot cope with the coarseness and vulgarity of the world. Wolfe, Alan Stephen (1990). Suicidal Narrative in Modern Japan: The Case of Dazai Osamu. Princeton University Press. p.368. ISBN 0-691-06774-0.

Dazai, Osamu, the setting sun, translated by Donald Keene, New Directions Publishing Corporation, revised edition, June 1968; The story is told through the eyes of Kazuko, the unmarried daughter of a widowed aristocrat. Her search for self meaning in a society devoid of use for her forms the crux of Dazai’s novel. It is a sad story, and structurally is a novel very much within the confines of the Japanese take on the novel in a way reminiscent of authors such as Nobel Prize winner Yasunari Kawabata – the social interactions are peripheral and understated, nuances must be drawn, and for readers more used to Western novelistic forms this comes across as being rather wishy-washy. The Setting Sun first appeared in serialised form in Shinchō magazine between July and October 1947, before being published as a book the same year. [2] When the room became faintly light, I stared at the face of the man sleeping beside me. It was the face of a man soon to die. It was an exhausted face. The face of a victimOsamu Dazai's The Setting Sun gave me a foriegn sort of feeling inside, like I felt different, not in a something is about to happen way, exactly. Different when you're yourself playing at being someone else? I wish I could match my heartbeat with its pulse and my impulses as I lapsed into its rhythm. I was creeped out. I was in awe. The best I can do is that it was the kind of foriegness that Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast trilogy had. I mean, it isn't a fantasy in the genre sense of the word. But it kinda is in my emotions. The images firing up in my mind's eyes are exactly that: a fantasy. A fantasy of victims, love, suicide, of living as dreaming in nightmares and hopes (childish hopes? I'll be able to tell the difference when I grow up). Throwing yourself on the fires fantasy. What else is there to do? Start a revolution. Emotional fantasy! Can't you just say that, Mariel? I know all about talking myself into shit too, same as Kazuko and her brother Naoji. (Is it any wonder that I kept thinking about Gormenghast? Decay, figurehead costume jewelry stage lights artistocracy, smoke and mirrors depression and love... What's real? Suicide as acting out... Perpetual teenagers... Ellipsis thoughts...) Despite her diminished circumstances, Kazuko reveals herself as a well-educated, highly cultured, and thoughtful woman. She reads widely, and her conversation is full of references to European culture. Cuando subimos al tren, creí que me iba a morir. Al llegar aquí me animé un poco, pero cuando anocheció noté que el pecho me ardía de añoranza y me sentí desfallecer. Es como si Dios me hubiera matado y no me hubiera devuelto la vida hasta después de haberme convertido en una persona diferente”. Anne soylu bir şekilde ölmek üzere, Naoji “soysuz “bir şekilde sonuna yelken açarken hikayeyi dinlediğimiz kızımız “ biz artık bu biçimde yaşayamayız” diyerek kaleme sarılır ve 7 yıl önce bir kez gördüğü bir adama, sevgili ya da metresi olma isteğini ileten 3 tane mektup yazar. Anlatının elini güçlendiren bölümlerden biri de bu mektuplardır. Bu mektuplarda biz çöküşe teslim olmaktan öte etik bir karşı duruşun yolunu arayan bir karakter görürüz. Dekadans dönemlerinde, ondan ekonomik olarak nemalanmayacak ya da konjonktüre yamanmayacaksak ( türk edebiyatının 12 Eylül çöküşü sonrası ürünleri genel olarak pişmanlık, nostalji, kabuğuna kapanma figürleri ve ağlak bir iç hesaplaşma ile konjonktürün içinden konuşmuştur, tutkusuz ve çıkışsızdır) delirme, intihar, aşk ve devrimcilik eldeki az sayıdaki seçeneklerden biridir. Ömrünü annesi ve annesinin değerlerine bağlılık ile geçiren anlatıcı annenin yaklaşan sonu ile başka bir yaşama bağlanmanın derdindedir. Aşk mektupları cevapsız kalınca, Naoji’nin kitaplığından Rosa, Lenin, Kautsky okur, devrimci olacaktır. Anlatıcı nasıl yırtacağından öte neresinden hayata tutunacağının derdindedir. Devrimci olamasa da Annenin ölümü ile harekete geçer, cevapsız mektuplara inat aşkının peşine düşer, bulur ama tahayyül ile gerçeklik uyuşmaz ama yine de hayalindeki adamla bir kez sevişir ve sabahında Naoji ardında mektup bırakarak intihar eder. When the room became faintly light, I stared at the face of the man sleeping beside me. It was the face of a man soon to die. It was an exhausted face. The face of a victim. A precious victim."