Silence

Front Cover
Taplinger Publishing Company, 1980 - Fiction - 294 pages

"Silence I regard as a masterpiece, a lucid and elegant drama." Irving Howe. -- The New York Times Review Of Books
*** Susaku Endo is Japan's foremost novelist, and Silence is generally regarded to be his masterpiece. In a perfect fusion of treatment and theme, this powerful novel tells the story of a seventeenth Portuguese priest in Japan at the height of the fearful persecution of the small Christian community.
*** "A major talent, Endo makes an impressive debut here with this novel, a bravura admixture of history, theological quandaries and rugged characterizations... Endo's achievement rests on... splendid characters, the restrained classical way he tells of their ordeals, and his sensitivity to the clash between Japanese culture and a very Western mode of religion." - Publishers Weekly
*** "A Japanese novelist of considerable distinction. Silence is impressive ibecause of its simplicity and its harrowing account of men of faith in a faith-denying situation. It is worthy of our serious contemplation and respect." - San Francisco Review of Books
*** "A profoundly moving, profoundly disturbing book... The translation by William Johnston is a brilliant, subtle piece of work with not a line akilter." - Washington Post Book World
*** "The calvary of Father Rodrigues is so brilliantly brought before us that even if no such person ever existed, he lives now... This is the best book on a Christian theme that I have read for years." - America
*** About the Author
Shusaku Endo was born in Tokyo in 1923. He specialized in French literature at Keio University and then studied for several years in France on a scholarship from the Japanese goverment. His novels, which are now being widely translated throughout the world, have established him as the leading writer in Japan.
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*** BREAKING NEWS *** SILENCE, Director Martin Scorsese's latest movie, is due to be released in 2016 and will star Liam Neeson, Andrew Gaefield and Adam Driver.
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From inside the book

Contents

Translators Preface vii
vii
Prologue
7
Chapter 1
21
Copyright

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About the author (1980)

Shusaku Endo was born in Tokyo in 1923 and, with his family, converted to Catholicism while he was still a child. Much of his writing centers on the conflict this conversion engendered as he struggled to develop faith in a deity foreign to Japanese culture. His writings also reflect on his experiences during World War II during the bombings and the subsequent shortage of basic human necessities for the Japanese people. He explores the suffering endured and the inevitable shock wave upon human relationships and the human psyche. Endo graduated from Keio University and then journeyed to France after the war to continue his studies, but was forced to return to Japan because of illness. After a period of convalescence Endo decided on a writing career, publishing his first novel, Shiroihito, in 1955. His novel The Samurai, published in the United States in 1996, is considered one of his finest works. His novel Silence, was made into a major motion picture and premiered in November 2016. Endo's reputation is due in part to his exploration of moral dilemma as it relates to divergent cultures. Endo has won many literary awards. In 1982 he was elected to the Japan Arts Academy. Shusaku Endo died in 1996.

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