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Retrograde
Three stories of the ruined and the Osamu Dazai at his most tormented. This collection unearths the Japanese literary legend's most controversial and exhilarating early-career writing with strikingly original translations. "Retrograde" traces the life of an anguished youth in reverse; "Das Gemeine" features an aspiring literato with a dark past who hitches his wagon to an eccentric violinist; "Blossom-Leaves and the Spirit Whistle" tells of an old woman recalling the final breaths of her beautiful, sickly sister. Experience the twisted agony of the prose that propelled Dazai to the top of the literary world.
128 pages, Paperback
Published September 16, 2025
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50 people want to read
About the author
Osamu Dazai
1,114 books9,375 followersOsamu DAZAI (native name: 太宰治, real name Shūji Tsushima) was a Japanese author who is considered one of the foremost fiction writers of 20th-century Japan. A number of his most popular works, such as Shayō (The Setting Sun) and Ningen Shikkaku (No Longer Human), are considered modern-day classics in Japan.
With a semi-autobiographical style and transparency into his personal life, Dazai’s stories have intrigued the minds of many readers. His books also bring about awareness to a number of important topics such as human nature, mental illness, social relationships, and postwar Japan.
With a semi-autobiographical style and transparency into his personal life, Dazai’s stories have intrigued the minds of many readers. His books also bring about awareness to a number of important topics such as human nature, mental illness, social relationships, and postwar Japan.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 13, 2025
“Beautiful prose” my ass
First things first, this book consists of Retrograde(four short stories),
Das Gemeine and Blossom-Leaves and the Spirit Whistle(both novellas). And i have some thoughts….
The writing of OD is very straight forward and simple to read, but the plot freezes you in a way you think you read the sentence wrong. I liked his descriptions of scenery and people at first but only when its welcome, they were times where it didnt fit in the text and it just made me stop myself.
Reading this book didnt give me anything and take me anywhere, the way the book is written is as if you spent 3 hours in a lecture with a pretentious professor who has the most boring, monotone voice you ever heard. I don’t know if it has to do with the translation or if i read it wrong? I’m honestly surprised this had such good reviews.
In one of the reviews i read for this book, a reviewer described his characters as “wannabe badboys”..hun the word you’re looking for is loser, but i love me a pretentious loser so that was fine from my side.
There’s not many things i liked in this book but it was certainly an introduction to Dazai, i’ll be definitely be reading more of him to see whats so special about him.
1.5*
First things first, this book consists of Retrograde(four short stories),
Das Gemeine and Blossom-Leaves and the Spirit Whistle(both novellas). And i have some thoughts….
The writing of OD is very straight forward and simple to read, but the plot freezes you in a way you think you read the sentence wrong. I liked his descriptions of scenery and people at first but only when its welcome, they were times where it didnt fit in the text and it just made me stop myself.
Reading this book didnt give me anything and take me anywhere, the way the book is written is as if you spent 3 hours in a lecture with a pretentious professor who has the most boring, monotone voice you ever heard. I don’t know if it has to do with the translation or if i read it wrong? I’m honestly surprised this had such good reviews.
In one of the reviews i read for this book, a reviewer described his characters as “wannabe badboys”..hun the word you’re looking for is loser, but i love me a pretentious loser so that was fine from my side.
There’s not many things i liked in this book but it was certainly an introduction to Dazai, i’ll be definitely be reading more of him to see whats so special about him.
1.5*
September 18, 2025
Retrograde collects five short stories and one novella written by a young Osamu Dazai and gorgeously translated by Leo Elizabeth Takada. This new translation is an admirable achievement that breathes fresh life into classic stories from the 1930s.
The collection’s novella, Das Gemeine, follows a 25yo student studying French literature who aspires to become a writer himself, but his foray into a literary lifestyle ends in a tragedy that may not have been entirely unintentional.
The five shorter stories in the collection read like something that the youthful narrator of Das Gemeine might actually have written. Each of these stories is only a few pages long, and their unguarded sincerity contributes to their charm.
My favorite of the stories, “Blossom-Leaves and the Spirit Whistle,” is about two sisters in love with an idealized version of a man who only exists on paper until the strength of their shared storytelling summons his ghost to appear under their window. This aesthetically luxurious story is classic Dazai, and I appreciate its clever touch of Todorovian fantasy.
In their “Translator’s Afterword,” Takada describes Dazai’s writing style as “a casual conversation with someone familiar,” and they explain that they want their translation to feel as if they’re “doing this just for you,” the reader. Takada gets the tone exactly right, rendering Dazai’s straightforward prose into an invitation to sympathize with the writer and his characters.
One Peace Books has put admirable love and care into the layout and typeset of this book, giving the words on the page exactly the room they need to breathe. Retrograde is a lovely object to hold in your hands, so much so that it might even spark the same enthusiasm for literature that Dazai so aptly captures in his early fiction.
The collection’s novella, Das Gemeine, follows a 25yo student studying French literature who aspires to become a writer himself, but his foray into a literary lifestyle ends in a tragedy that may not have been entirely unintentional.
The five shorter stories in the collection read like something that the youthful narrator of Das Gemeine might actually have written. Each of these stories is only a few pages long, and their unguarded sincerity contributes to their charm.
My favorite of the stories, “Blossom-Leaves and the Spirit Whistle,” is about two sisters in love with an idealized version of a man who only exists on paper until the strength of their shared storytelling summons his ghost to appear under their window. This aesthetically luxurious story is classic Dazai, and I appreciate its clever touch of Todorovian fantasy.
In their “Translator’s Afterword,” Takada describes Dazai’s writing style as “a casual conversation with someone familiar,” and they explain that they want their translation to feel as if they’re “doing this just for you,” the reader. Takada gets the tone exactly right, rendering Dazai’s straightforward prose into an invitation to sympathize with the writer and his characters.
One Peace Books has put admirable love and care into the layout and typeset of this book, giving the words on the page exactly the room they need to breathe. Retrograde is a lovely object to hold in your hands, so much so that it might even spark the same enthusiasm for literature that Dazai so aptly captures in his early fiction.
October 12, 2025
“So long I have waited; blooming again— Once-white peach blossoms are blushing in red.”
Read
November 30, 2025one or two oddities language-wise but this still felt like a good introduction to dazai's writing. I'll read no longer human at some point!
September 14, 2025
🐣 First Time Babysitting
This wasn't my first rodeo, but I still took a while going over the ad. You know, just to make sure this was indeed something I wanted to handle on my own.
"On September 16, 2025, One Peace Books will release Retrograde, a collection of first-time and original translations of some of Osamu Dazai’s most controversial and exhilarating writing. “Retrograde” is the topsy-turvy tale of an anguished youth from the brink of death back to his early days. This story famously failed to win the prestigious Akutagawa Prize, leading to the start of Dazai’s unsurpassed literary anger and agony. The novella “Das Gemeine” tells of an aspiring literato who hitches his wagon to an eccentric violinist, dripping with irony and featuring a surprising autobiographical portrayal. The collection finishes with “Blossom-Leaves and the Spirit Whistle,” a fable told with uncharacteristic romance about an old woman recalling her sister’s final breaths as the cherry blossoms scatter from the trees. All three feature Dazai’s inimitable pathos and wit, and his unsurpassed resentment toward a cruelly modernizing Japanese society."
My first thought: this guy is gonna trauma dump on me, isn't he? But then again, who am I kidding? I love some good angst and anxiety.
In books only.
🌱 The Green Flags
My mind is swirling. With theories. With thoughts. With images. With songs. As I kept flipping through the pages, each scene developed itself cinematically, allowing me to see everything through my mind's eye with ease.
Dazai has a vibrant and yet dark style. His characters are the bad-boy wannabes and his prose is like a winter night sky. He definitely paints his own confessions into his characters, letting them perpetually agonize over the same things.
Tender moments aren't forgotten either. Dazai paints a beautiful relationship between two sisters and their longing.
🚩 The Red Flags
There were moments when all the drama was cut short or the characters played with my mind. Those moments made me think of Faulkner, and his own anguished character souls.
Full review here: https://witsandtwists.wordpress.com/2...
And let's not forget a thank you to the publisher for the ARC!
This wasn't my first rodeo, but I still took a while going over the ad. You know, just to make sure this was indeed something I wanted to handle on my own.
"On September 16, 2025, One Peace Books will release Retrograde, a collection of first-time and original translations of some of Osamu Dazai’s most controversial and exhilarating writing. “Retrograde” is the topsy-turvy tale of an anguished youth from the brink of death back to his early days. This story famously failed to win the prestigious Akutagawa Prize, leading to the start of Dazai’s unsurpassed literary anger and agony. The novella “Das Gemeine” tells of an aspiring literato who hitches his wagon to an eccentric violinist, dripping with irony and featuring a surprising autobiographical portrayal. The collection finishes with “Blossom-Leaves and the Spirit Whistle,” a fable told with uncharacteristic romance about an old woman recalling her sister’s final breaths as the cherry blossoms scatter from the trees. All three feature Dazai’s inimitable pathos and wit, and his unsurpassed resentment toward a cruelly modernizing Japanese society."
My first thought: this guy is gonna trauma dump on me, isn't he? But then again, who am I kidding? I love some good angst and anxiety.
In books only.
🌱 The Green Flags
My mind is swirling. With theories. With thoughts. With images. With songs. As I kept flipping through the pages, each scene developed itself cinematically, allowing me to see everything through my mind's eye with ease.
Dazai has a vibrant and yet dark style. His characters are the bad-boy wannabes and his prose is like a winter night sky. He definitely paints his own confessions into his characters, letting them perpetually agonize over the same things.
Tender moments aren't forgotten either. Dazai paints a beautiful relationship between two sisters and their longing.
🚩 The Red Flags
There were moments when all the drama was cut short or the characters played with my mind. Those moments made me think of Faulkner, and his own anguished character souls.
Full review here: https://witsandtwists.wordpress.com/2...
And let's not forget a thank you to the publisher for the ARC!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews