COMMENTARY: The Flowers of Buffoonery (1935)
The following are thoughts and reactions I had while reading The Flowers of Buffoonery (1935) by Osamu Daiza. They do not reflect my overall post-reading opinion of the work. For self-study purposes, there may also be extensive summaries of the plot in these notes. In short…
⚠️ MAJOR SPOILER ALERTS AHEAD ⚠️
- Welcome to sadness. Population one.
- 50% in. Not much change in opinion of Dazai’s writing compared to No Longer Human. I don’t dislike it, I don’t love it either. It’s not middling either. It’s just what literary fiction and playing with the form is.
- The middle one who recommended this author to me asked me what I thought of No Longer Human . I said it if I were 25 years younger, I would’ve enjoyed this existential writer. But it was a phase and it’s not what I believe anymore. As I write this, I recognize that my belief system is still rooted in existentialism but in the sense that it’s up to us to make our own meaning not to merely and only accept that that’s all there is and that’s it, but to live life, make and build relationships, nurture and give love, and in being human, define those beliefs for yourself as an individual what you believe to be meaningful for you. I didn’t say all that to her, but I hope I’ve passed that to her in one way or another.
- OK Done. Yeah… I get what he’s doing, I can see why critics and artists like it, but having read his biography in the short story collection while lining up at Ghibli Park… I’m not too enamored to continue reading his stuff. Two books is quite enough for me.