Debating whether to read No Longer Human or Butter

[Liam]

I’ll forward this by saying I am in a good place mentally, so I’m not worried about the supposed negative effects of No Longer Human on my mental health 😳. But I’m debating whether it’s actually a good read, or if it’s been over hyped, or becuase of the life (and the circumstances of the death) of the author? I also have heard Butter is good, but I’ve seen several reviews saying *that* is over hyped as well?

If not these books, are there any mature or at least not cozy (just finished the Tales from the Cage series so I’m looking for something else) Japanese novels?

[Munehito]

If you are hesitant about trying No Longer Human, you might want to look at Jun'ichirō Tanizaki and his most renowned novel, Naomi. It's an entertaining, wild ride about a man foolishly falls for a younger woman.

Tanizaki was older than Dazai, who wrote No Longer Human, but he paved the way in Japanese literature in his "decadent" modernist style, which influenced Dazai a lot. Many seem to see him as a quitenssqal "Japanese" writer, because of the popularity of Makioka Sisters or his essay In Praise of Shadows, but he had a westernized sensibility/sensuality. He studied English literature at Tokyo Imperial University, after all.