Deep River - Softcover

Endo, Shusaku; Gessel, Van C.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0340637714 ISBN 13: 9780340637715

Publisher: New Directions, 1995

Synopsis

In this moving novel, a group of Japanese tourists, each of whom iswrestling with his or her own demons, travels to the River Ganges on apilgrimage of grace.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

Thirty years lie between the leading contemporary Japanese writer Shusaku Endo's justly famed Silence and his powerful new novel Deep River, a book which is both a summation and a pinnacle of his work. The river is the Ganges, where a group of Japanese tourists converge: Isobe, grieving the death of the wife he ignored in life; Kiguchi, haunted by wartime memories of the Highway of Death in Burma; Numanda, recovering from a critical illness; Mitsuko, a cynical woman struggling with inner emptiness; and butt of her cruel interest, Otsu, a failed seminarian for whom the figure on the cross is a god of many faces. Bringing these and other characters to vibrant life and evoking a teeming India so vividly that the reader is almost transported there, Endo reaches his ultimate religious vision, one that combines Christian faith with Buddhist acceptance.

About the Author:

Shūsaku Endō (遠藤 周作 Endō Shūsaku) was a renowned 20th century Japanese author who wrote from the unusual perspective of being bothJ apanese and Catholic. (The population of Christians in Japan is less than 1%.) Together with Junnosuke Yoshiyuki, Shotaro Yasuoka, Junzo Shono, Hiroyuki Agawa, Ayako Sono, and Shumon Miura, Endo is categorized as one of the "Third Generation," the third major group of writers who appeared after the Second World War. His books reflect many of his childhood experiences. These include the stigma of being an outsider, the experience of being a foreigner, the life of a hospital patient, and the struggle with tuberculosis. However, his books mainly deal with the moral fabric of life. His Catholic faith can be seen at some level in all of his books, and it is often a central feature.  

About this edition

• Publisher: New Directions
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0340637714
• ISBN 13: 9780340637715
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224