Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

斜阳

Rate this book
《斜阳(精)/太宰治作品精选集》是日本文学大师太宰治于二次大战后所撰写的成名代表作,描写战后混乱苦闷的社会中,一个贵族家庭的沒落过程,恰如太阳西沉;备受压抑的女主角则为心爱的人怀孕生子,向传统爱情观与道德观挑战,重新发现生命的价值与喜悦。

190 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2016

9 people are currently reading
24 people want to read

About the author

Osamu Dazai

1,121 books9,418 followers
Osamu 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.

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
27 (46%)
4 stars
17 (29%)
3 stars
13 (22%)
2 stars
1 (1%)
1 star
0 (0%)
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
5 reviews
November 26, 2021
太宰治的作品还是一如既往的丧。(现在你这破人工智障把我的读后感删了,我也很丧)

“死去的人是美丽的,活着、苟延残喘着的反而是丑陋的”。直治就是当时社会氛围下没落贵族的缩影吧。很大程度上,我觉得直治甚至可以说是太宰的影子。他们内心的矛盾、强烈且根深蒂固的孤独与无力带着他们走上了自我毁灭的道路。这暗合了日本一脉相承的“樱花式生死观”。斜阳—正在下沉的夕阳—是颓废,也是衰败。

与这份渴求相对应的是和子对“生”的追求。很多心灵鸡汤告诉我们:“一切皆有可能,生命充满希望,我们可以乐观面对。”。这不过是自欺欺人的表现,而斜阳把这些作品极力藏起来的伤疤,一点点的剖开,暴露在我们面前。和子和直治一样,都在生与死的沼泽里绝望地挣扎。而所谓人生,就是一边背负着绝望,一边寻找着希望。
Profile Image for jasmine.
304 reviews86 followers
September 18, 2020
Setting Sun is about a family of 3 that are struggling to fit into contemporary society after the war and cultural revolution in Japan. There are a mother, an elder brother and a younger sister. The story is written in a biography style from the sister's POV.

Throughout the book, we learn that the aristocrat family are despised by current society and people often find ways to ridicule them. The family are coping it with a different mechanism, the mother and the sister are true aristocrats by holding on their beliefs and continue living in solitude. However, the sister often felt the pressure of social expectation that a woman should marry for financial help. She tried to be independent and earn for herself, yet she often falls short of it. Meanwhile, the brother tried to fit in and went on partying and drinking to get approval from society. However, no matter how hard he tried, he is still a bystander.

“When I pretended to be precocious, people started the rumor that I was precocious. When I acted like an idler, rumor had it I was an idler. When I pretended I couldn’t write a novel, people said I couldn’t write…but when I inadvertently groaned because I was really in pain, they started the rumor that I was faking suffering.” This is written in the brother's diary which shows the irony of pretending and honesty.

There are several symbols used in the book. The main symbols are the setting sun, snake and the fire. The name 'Japan' means 'Land of the Rising Sun', The setting sun indicates that Japan is slowly descent into destruction and madness. The fire depicts the decline of aristocracy where contemporary values are slowly engulfing it. The snake symbolizes death where it appeared whenever death is coming. Personally, I felt the author also used it as a symbol of sin as the snake that appeared in front of Adam and Eve in The Bible. It's like the sin and guilt are passed on for generations because of the wrong deed of a person, their father?

There are several Bible passages inserted in the book where the characters mocked about it. The book sets during post-war, where missionaries came to Japan to preach the gospel. Obviously, until now, most Japanese are atheist and did not embrace Christianity.

All in all, the book depicts the post-traumatic stress after a war, the struggles of embracing a new culture and the side effects that are remaining in the society till now.

(Just wanna quickly mentioned that the story is originated from his admirer, Shizuko Ōta. Osamu formed a relationship with her to obtain her diary, then abandon her after it. Shizuko also published her diary shortly after to retaliate, but she didn't get the recognition. This poor girl really need some credits :( )
33 reviews5 followers
March 15, 2021
活着的人载着死去人的痛苦继续活着。
Profile Image for 程赟.
11 reviews
April 18, 2020
你表现的快乐,别人说你快乐;你表现的有钱,别人说你有钱;你表现的难过,别人说你无病呻吟
72 reviews
July 1, 2022
2.15

这样一对比的话,果然我还是找不到那样的人啊
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.