Schoolgirl (1939) by Osamu Dazai

Book Review

Schoolgirl (1939)

by Osamu Dazai

Translation from Japanese 

Allison Markin 2011

  Japanese fiction is interesting because it combines a centuries long tradition of native fiction- mostly literature of the court type stuff with mostly twentieth century developments in Western literature, with many published authors coming from a background in western literary studies.   The limit on absorption of these authors by western readers has been a lack of translation and the general lack of interest of English-speaking readers in non-English fiction, but times have been changing.  These days, there are well respected yearly literary awards on both sides of the Atlantic for best translated fiction into English.  Personally, I believe both the E-book and Audiobook format have opened some doors for translated fiction as publishers refine their ideas of what and how they can sell books not written originally in English. 

  I thought Schoolgirl was interesting because it is a kind of proto-existentialist text written from the POV of a young woman at a time (the 1930's) when the idea of a "youth culture" was still emerging in the west. This makes Dazai a trailblazer in this regard, and it is interesting that the English translation I read didn't even happen until 2011. It's a brief read and well worth the time for anyone interested in pre-World War II literature from whatever part of the globe