Confession of an Incomplete Person

"Confession of an 'Incomplete' Person" is perhaps the most famous work of Dazai Osamu, one of the greatest Japanese writers of modern times, written in the genre of "watakushi shōsetsu" ("I-novel"). It is believed that this text is a kind... of autobiography of the writer, in which he tells not about the twists and turns of his life path, but about the painful wanderings of his ego. The epithet "incomplete" is not used lightly. The spiritual vivisection that the main character of the story subjects himself to unexpectedly illuminates both the deceitfulness of the surrounding society and the incomprehensible ability of 'complete' people to lie without fearing the consequences. The protagonist's naïve confidence in his inadequacy gradually becomes less and less convincing for the reader as the text unfolds."