What is Osamu Dazai?
[[File:Osamu Dazai.jpg|thumb]] '''Osamu Dazai''' (19 June 1909 – 13 June 1948), was a [[Japan]]ese [[author]]. Dazai was born '''Tsushima Shūji''' in [[Aomori Prefecture|Aomori]], [[northeast]]ern Japan.<ref name=Allinson188>Gary D. Allinson, ''The Columbia Guide to Modern Japanese History'' (New York: Columbia University Press, 1999), p. 188</ref> He is best known for his [[novel]]s ''The Setting Sun'' (1947) and ''[[No Longer Human]]'' (1948).<ref name=Allinson188/> Dazai wrote a number of novels about the [[meaning of life]], [[pessimism]] and [[alcoholism]] based on his own private life. Dazai remains the most popular author among [[Japan|Japanese]] [[college]] [[student]]s.<ref>Mamoru Iga, ''The Thorn in the Chrysanthemum: Suicide and Economic Success in Modern Japan'' (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986), p. 85</ref> On 13 June 1948, Dazai along with his wife both [[suicide|killed themselves]] by drowning. Their corpses were discovered on 19 June, his birthday, of the same year. == References == {{reflist}} {{commonscat|Osamu Dazai}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Dazai, Osamu}} [[Category:1909 births]] [[Category:1948 deaths]] [[Category:Japanese novelists]] [[Category:People from Aomori Prefecture]] [[Category:Suicides by drowning]] [[Category:University of Tokyo alumni]] {{bio-stub}}