No One Knows

This dazzling collection from Dazai (1909–1948) comprises all the “soliloquies” he wrote from the perspectives of women. Taken together, they convey a startling breadth of emotion, from the melancholy of “Cherry Leaves and the Whistler,” about a compassionate woman who tries to bring her dying sister comfort, to the amusement of “Katydid,” in which the narrator criticizes her successful artist husband. Though he’s praised for his “ascetic purity,” she knows he’s merely a “happy-go-lucky egotist.” Throughout, Dazai moves from banal situations to profound insights with ease. In “Skin and Soul,” the narrator’s skin rash gives her the sense that her entire self is unravelling, leading her to admit, “I feel doomed.” On the exterior, most of the women characters are silent and submissive presences—dutiful wives, daughters, sisters, and mothers. The juxtaposition between how the world sees them and how they see the world lends an urgent sense of revolt to their freewheeling monologues. Dazai’s spectacular collection sings with resounding truths. (Feb.)