乞食学生

aka Kojiki gakusei

The Beggar Student

Author

Osamu Dazai

Language

Japanese

Year

1940

First Pub.

Japan

Genre

Novel

east asiamodern japan

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📷1 photo

The Beggar Student is a 1940 Japanese novella by Osamu Dazai. Set in Tokyo during WWII, the story stars a fictionalized version of the author who is roused from his depression by a high school dropout named Saeki and convinced to take his place as the live narrator for a silent film. Sharing a title with an 1882 operetta by Carl Millöcker, the book makes frequent reference to classic European literature and touches upon aspects of early twentieth-century cinema.