No longer human

Title:

No longer human / story & art by Junji Ito ; original novel by Osamu Dazai, based on English translation by Donald Keene ; translation & adaptation, Jocelyne Allen ; touch-up art & lettering, James Dashiell.

Author/Creator:

Itō, Junji, 1963-, author, illustrator.

Publication:

[2019]

Format:

graphic novel

Notes:

Translated from the Japanese.

Translation of Ningen shikkaku vol. 1-3.

Reads from right to left.

"Original Japanese edition published by Shogakukan"--Colophon.

Includes bibliographical references (page 615)

Summary:

'Mine has been a life of much shame. I can't even guess myself what it must be to live the life of a human being.' Plagued by a maddening anxiety, the terrible disconnect between his own concept of happiness and the joy of the rest of the world, Yozo Oba plays the clown in his dissolute life, holding up a mask for those around him as he spirals ever downward, locked arm in arm with death. Osamu Dazai's immortal, and supposedly autobiographical work of Japanese literature is perfectly adapted here into a manga by Junji Ito. The imagery wrenches open the text of the novel one line at a time to sublimate Yozo's mental landscape into something even more delicate and grotesque. This is the ultimate in art by Ito, proof that nothing can surpass the terror of the human psyche.

ISBN:

9781974707096 (hardback)

1974707091 (hardback)

Subjects:

Men -- Japan -- Comic books, strips, etc.

Anxiety -- Comic books, strips, etc.

Japan -- Social life and customs -- 20th century -- Comic books, strips, etc.

Graphic novels.

Graphic novel adaptations.

Psychological fiction.

Autobiographical comics.

Comics (Graphic works).

Other Authors/Creators:

Keene, Donald, translator.

Allen, Jocelyne, 1974-, translator, adaptation.

Dashiell, James, illustrator, letterer.

Graphic novelization of (work) Dazai, Osamu, 1909-1948. Ningen shikkaku. English.

Record ID:

SD_ILS:1357948

Available:

Library	Shelf Location	Shelf Number	Item Category 2	Item category 3	Status
Searching... Launceston Library	Adult fiction graphic novels	ITO	Adult graphic novel	Undefined	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Rosny Library	Adult fiction graphic novels	ITO	Adult graphic novel	Undefined	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

Nothing can surpass the terror of the human psyche.

Mine has been a life of much shame.

I can't even guess myself what it must be to live the life of a human being.

Plagued by a maddening anxiety, the terrible disconnect between his own concept of happiness and the joy of the rest of the world, Yozo Oba plays the clown in his dissolute life, holding up a mask for those around him as he spirals ever downward, locked arm-in-arm with death.

Osamu Dazai's immortal--and supposedly autobiographical--work of Japanese literature, is perfectly adapted here into a manga by Junji Ito. The imagery wrenches open the text of the novel one line at a time to sublimate Yozo's mental landscape into something even more delicate and grotesque. This is the ultimate in art by Ito, proof that nothing can surpass the terror of the human psyche.

Reviews (1)

Library Journal Review

As a boy, Yozo Oba adopts a clownish persona to disguise the severe anxiety he feels while interacting with other people. His buffoonery results in several tragic deaths, transforming his fear into full-blown terror and sending him down a path of compulsively self-destructive behavior that typically leads to others suffering the horrible--and frequently fatal--consequences of his actions. After an misguided adventure as a member of a Marxist group and a failed suicide attempt, he meets and marries a young woman who naively dotes on him, providing a small window of stability in which his work as a manga artist thrives, until his paranoia, cowardice, and innate selfishness send him spiraling into darkness, addiction, and insanity. VERDICT If the internationally acclaimed master of horror Ito (Smashed: Junji Ito Story Collection) seems at first a strange choice to adapt Dazai's 1948 novel, his skill for stories mixing existential dread, body horror, and nightmarishly surreal imagery quickly prove him matched to the material. This unsparingly intense vision of life as a journey through hell, reminiscent of Dostoyevsky and Kafka, just might be Ito's magnum opus.--TB