"Living To Death": The Aesthetic Appeal Of Osamu Dazai's Literature

Dazai Osamu was the representative writer of Buraiha school and his work was hailed as "the eternal Pyramid of the Showa literature." In his short life,he has had five suicidal experiences.This unusual life experience is transformed into the gloomy,decadent and full of death and destruction consciousness in his novel.All along,Dazai’s works are generally considered to be negative and dismal.They are the textual disclosure of his personal death experience and are full of nihilism.However,a glimpse of Dazai’s literature reveals that behind this dark and desperate creative tone,there is a unique aesthetic attitude.Japanese aesthetics has always emphasized the unity of the aesthetic object and the aesthetic subject.It not only pursues the external perception of the aesthetic subject,but is also more focused on the aesthetic quality of the aesthetic subject under aesthetic appreciation.The unique aesthetic concept forms the three aesthetic categories in Japan:momo no aware,serenity and wabi-sabi.Under its supervision,aesthetics has become the highest philosophical category,and Japan has become an extension of the Japanese aesthetics.The aesthetic attitude behind Dazai’s works is precisely the downward movement and extension of Japanese traditional aesthetic consciousness.This aesthetic attitude combines its unique personal experience,traditional Japanese aesthetic sense,and traditional Japanese religious culture.Eventually it became the Dazai’s aesthetic ideal——being-towards-death.Being-towards-death is the concept Heidegger put forward in The Existence and Time,which is based on the life-and-death concept illustrated by the death ontology of existentialism,that is,man is the existence of death.Being-towards-death in this paper is a unique aesthetic ideal presented in Dazai’s works.The characters in Dazai’s works have the unity of aesthetic subjectivity and aesthetic objectivity.They are the symbol of author’s aesthetic attitude.According to the self-destruction of characters,affirming the nature of existence.Through this process,in order to obtain a transcendent aesthetic experience and aesthetic value.Focusing on this core concept,this paper is mainly elaborated in three chapters:The first chapter,based on the themes of "antics" and "Death" frequently appeared in Dazai’s works,based on the analysis of the characters in Dazai’s literature,sums up the identity and uniqueness of the characters’ destinies in Dazai’s literature in different periods.It is pointed out that behind the devastating themes such as "antics" and death,there is a commonality and identity of characters.The second chapter analyzes the characters in the summarization and analyzes the identity,concentration and uniqueness behind the characters.It concludes that the figures in Dazai’s works have "to-death" and "perception of existence".Commonality,and from the aesthetic point of view to prove its aesthetic and unique.First of all,based on the Japanese traditional aesthetic consciousness "momo no aware","serenity",and "wabi-sabi",it is explained that Dazai’s Literature has the pursuit of the ultimate aesthetic qualities.Secondly,using the aesthetics attitude of existential aesthetics to compare and analyze their similarity.The reason for the high degree of conformity is that the aesthetic appeal in Dazai’s works is the realization and extension of the individualism of existential aesthetics.Finally,through the analysis of death aesthetics,the aesthetic features of the"being-towards-death"are summarized.The third chapter analyzes the reasons for the aesthetics ideal of"being-towards-death" from the aspects of social politics,traditional aesthetics,national cultural psychology,and acceptance of Nihilism.In terms of socio-political background,the era of Dazai’s rule and its special personal experiences were restored.In terms of traditional aesthetics,the traditional aesthetic sense of Japan has profound implications for "momo no aware".Under its influence,Dazai’s rule formed a "get rid of evil and toward good".About the traditional religion culture,in the psychological aspects of ethnic culture,and under the sacredness of Shintoism,the view of life and death that the Japanese nation generally possessed has been deepened and extended in Dazai’s works.The acceptance of nihilism is reflected in Dazai’s ultimate aesthetic and unique means.In short,the aesthetic ideal of "being-towards-death" in Dazai’s works is rooted in traditional Japanese aesthetic concepts and traditional culture.It blends the author’s own personal experiences and life experiences,and is connected with the spirit of existential aesthetics and death aesthetics.It is a kind of pioneering and personalization attempt that Dazai Osamu inherited from the traditional aesthetic concept of Japan.It brings together personal experience and Japanese aesthetic spirit.