Shiga Naoya

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Shiga Naoya (志賀 直哉 Shiga Naoya, February 20, 1883 - October 21, 1971) was a Japanese writer. He was considered a master of the "mental attitude novel", a close relative of the "I Novel" (私小説 watakushi-shosetsu), both indigenous Japanese literary forms based on the author's subjective recollection of his own daily experience. His terse style influenced many later writers. He garnered praise from the likes of Akutagawa Ryunosuke and Agawa Hiroyuki, but was despised by Dazai Osamu for his "sincere" style. He wrote only one novel A Dark Night's Passing (暗夜行路 An'ya Kōro), which was published in the radical socialist magazine Kaizo. He is mostly remembered for his short stories, such as Reconciliation (和解 Wakai). Later in life he was given the title shôsetsu no kamisama -- "the god of fiction" -- by those who admired him.