Pathway to Japanese Literature
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On ClothingAuthor: Dazai Osamu
| Original Title | 服装に就いて |
|---|---|
| Author | 太宰 治 |
| Genre | Modern Short Fiction |
| Author Type | Male Author |
| Summary | In a wry, introspective journey through sartorial misadventures, a self-conscious man recounts his lifelong struggle with clothing as both armor and burden. After youthful attempts at dandyism collapse when a Tokyo shopkeeper mocks his provincial accent, he abandons style for practicality—only to find his towering frame and frugal habits perpetually mark him as odd. Rubber boots become battlegrounds of social judgment, inherited kimonos summon literal storms, and ill-fated experiments with Western suits end in public humiliation. Each garment becomes a mirror reflecting societal expectations and private insecurities, from a cursed rain-inducing robe that floods mountain towns to a decade-old serge kimono of spoiled persimmon hues that triggers drunken disgrace. Through floods, landslides, and friends’ relentless critiques, the narrator’s clothes chart his oscillation between rebellion and conformity—a hapless Don Quixote tilting at windmills of fabric, forever yearning for sartorial invisibility yet unable to escape the spotlight of his own conspicuous existence. |
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