Verlaine And Dazai: Two Sides Of The Same Coin Of Loneliness

Verlaine and Dazai: Two Sides of the Same Coin of Loneliness

As anyone who has read Storm Bringer will know, Verlaine dislikes people telling him he's human. So, that got me thinking, if you were friends with Verlaine and aware of his situation, what could you say to him that wouldn't hurt him more? Eventually I concluded that what you could say is that you know he isn't human and that's ok, he doesn't need to be human. But even that probably wouldn't bridge that gap he seems to see between himself and others.

Verlaine describes the loneliness he feels quite vividly. This is how it's written. This takes place in the English version of the Storm Bringer light novel on page 58. 'True loneliness...,' began Verlaine in an elegant tone reminiscent of a violin solo. 'True loneliness is the comet travelling alone through the universe, surrounded by vacuous space and nothingness at absolute zero,' (p. 58). This is quite the striking metaphor. He is, I believe referencing the philosophical idea that if a comet is travelling in space away from any other object there is no real way of determining that it is moving or even if it is even there, since nobody is there to observe it. Incidentally a similar idea is put forward in George Orwell's novel 1984 in that if no one is aware of what the past truly was, does is it even exist? This, I think is what Verlaine is getting at with this vivid depiction of loneliness. So I thought to myself, what if rather than having a companion comet, which is what Verlaine seeks through Chuuya, what if, someone was observing that comet. Put more clearly, although Verlaine might not have someone exactly like him, especially given that Chuuya turned out to be the original rather than the clone, he might have someone who doesn't understand exactly what he is going through but is willing to stay by him all the same, as Rimbaud was. An observer of the comet, if you will. And I think Asagiri does explore this idea, through Dazai.

In Osamu Dazai and the Dark Era Odasaku desribes Dazai's state of loneliness in a way which I personally found strikingly similar to Verlaine's description, at least in terms of imagery. He states, '...nothing beyond your own expectations will happen. Nothing in this world can fill the hole that is your loneliness. You will wander the darkness for eternity,' (p. 160.). This takes place on page 160 of the English version of Osamu Dazai and the Dark Era. While not exactly referencing comets or space, the idea of wandering (or floating like a comet) in darkness is similar. It is my personal belief that even though most of us are no Dazai in terms of intelligence and no Verlaine in terms of being skill based life forms, no one can truly understand exactly what our life experience is like. Even if they love us, no one can truly know what our experience on Earth is like. But that's ok, because they don't need to. This is because we can still have meaningful relationships that cure us of loneliness without this level of understanding, of course a measure of understanding is needed, but in my opinion the level of understanding Verlaine was looking for in Chuuya, of being the same, is not necessary. And this is shown both through how much Rimbaud cared for Verlaine and through Dazai's relationship with his colleagues at the agency.

According to page 100 of the English version of Storm Bringer 'Nobody could understand how Dazai worked.' Which probably means that no one can understand Dazai. During the Dark Era light novel when Odasaku is dying we see Dazai realise how well Odasaku knew him, but even here Odasaku wishes he knew Dazai better. And yet we still see Dazai have meaningful relationships Odasaku and with his colleagues at the agency. They care about him and, I think, he cares about them. They know that even though he's a slacker he will be there when it really counts. When the agency is in trouble after the incident with Nikolai and the chainsaw (I forget what the arc was called) it's always Dazai that Atsushi pictures telling him what to do and giving him advice. It's clear how much Atsushi cares for Dazai given what he goes through to save his life during the 55 Minutes light novel and given Kunikida's reaction at the end of said light novel it's pretty clear how important Dazai is to him too.

To conclude, in my opinion what Verlaine needs is, I think, to recognise that people do not have to be the same as him in order to have a meaningful relationship with him, to stay by him and to cure him of his loneliness. This is something he realises at the very end of Storm Bringer but unfortunately by that time it's already too late.