In the 1930s and 1940s, Dazai wrote a number of subtle novels and short stories that are autobiographical in nature. His first story, "Gyofukuki" (魚服記, 1933), is a grim fantasy involving suicide. Other stories written during this period include "Dōke no hana" (道化の花, "The Flowers of Buffoonery", 1935), "Gyakkō" (逆行, "Against the Current", 1935), "Kyōgen no kami" (狂言の神, "The God of Farce", 1936), an epistolary novel called "Kyokō no Haru" (虚構の春, "False Spring", 1936) and those published in his 1936 collection "Bannen" ("Declining Years"), which describe his sense of personal isolation and his debauchery.