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"""Today, such a writer might be castigated, condemnedN and turned into an instant pariah: Perhaps his books would be taken from bookshops. Yet when Osamu Dazai's short, electrifying novel, ""Ningen Shikkaku"" (No Longer Human) was published in 1948, it triggered a huge ""Dazai Boom.""…"" --Damian Flanagan, The Japan Times: ""A journey to hell with Osamu Dazai, Japan's ultimate bad boy novelist"" ""Dazai's brand of egoistic pessimism dovetails organically with the emo chic of this cultural moment…and with the inner lives of teenagers of all eras."" -- Andrew Martin, The New York Times"