Ōba Yōzō
The notebook writer, who hides his terror of other people behind jokes before falling into addiction and passivity.
To avoid exposure and somehow survive among people whose rules he fears, even when the disguises and substances he chooses deepen his isolation.
The book
At a glance
- Protagonist and notebook writer
- Clowning and charm
- Alcohol, morphine, and repeated self-destruction
Who they are in the book
Spoiler-freeYōzō believes that other people possess an instinct for ordinary life that he lacks. As a child he turns himself into a clown because laughter feels safer than being observed seriously.
His intelligence does not protect him from self-deception. He can describe his weakness with precision while repeatedly treating shame as proof that change, repair, and human connection are impossible.
How the book draws them
- Slim Japanese manHis appearance is attractive but physically worn.
- 1930s–1940s clothingHis clothes place him in prewar and postwar Japan.
- Tired featuresAddiction and fear have accumulated.
- Incomplete smileCharm does not reach his watchful eyes.
- Close engraved bustNo bottle, drawing desk, or institution appears.
- Muted blue-gray accentThe cool color supports his distance.
Yōzō becomes dependent on alcohol and morphine and is confined in an institution. His notebooks end in passivity, although the final outside testimony challenges his belief that he was simply monstrous.
If you like No Longer Human
If you like Osamu Dazai
Explore authors with a similar voice, perspective, and influence.
Louis-Ferdinand Céline
The doctor of the Paris slums who wrote the century's blackest, funniest novel — and changed the sound of French prose.
View author
James Joyce
Dublin's great exile — he left Ireland at twenty-two, carried the city with him through Trieste, Zurich, and Paris, and rebuilt it entire in [Ulysses](work:ulysses).
View author
Henry Miller
The Brooklyn dropout who arrived in Paris broke at thirty-eight and wrote the exuberant, banned books that ended American censorship.
View author