Review of Okuno Takeo, On Dazai Osamu, by Yukio Mishima
"I sat directly in front of Dazai. The first thing I said was, “I hate your novels.” He became visibly livid and said, “What?”"
Review of Okuno Takeo1, On Dazai Osamu
Yukio Mishima
This is a second-hand quotation from Okuno’s quotation, but it seems that Dazai Osamu wrote, “I think he’s a nasty fellow. Even though he really likes me, in many cases he intentionally changes what he said, so I can’t stand him” (Rumors). This was the greatest of his misunderstandings of life. I have only met Dazai once. When I was a student, at the invitation of my young literary enthusiast friends, I entered a somewhat spacious, gloomy room where Dazai was drinking alcohol surrounded by a great number of young men. I sat directly in front of Dazai. The first thing I said was, “I hate your novels.” He visibly became livid and said, “What?” Shortly afterward, as if he had had second thoughts, and with his head hanging and still facing sideways, he said, “Come on, even though you say that, you came because you like them. You wouldn’t come to a place like this if you didn’t.”