Foreign Studies (Peter Owen Modern Classic) - Softcover

Endo, Shusaku

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0720612268 ISBN 13: 9780720612264

Publisher: Peter Owen Publishers, 2009

Synopsis

In the early 1950s, Shusaku Endo spent several years as an exchange student studying in Paris. Around him existentialism, Sartre, and Beckett were making the city the literary and philosophical capital of the world. But for Endo, the experience was deeply alienating, and he came away infected with tuberculosis, his studies incomplete, and having convinced himself that there could be no cultural commerce between East and West. Foreign Studies consists of three linked narratives exploring this theme. The first part, “A Summer in Rouen,” concerns Kudo, a Japanese student invited to France in the 1950s. It is a lucent snapshot of a young man who feels adrift in a Western country. The second part, “Araki Thomas,” sees Endo on familiar territory as he tells of an apostate Japanese Catholic who has visited 17th-century Rome. “And You, Too,” the third part, is the story of Tanaka, a Japanese scholar of French literature who visits France in the 1960s to research the life and work of the Marquis de Sade.

About this title

About the Author:

Shusaku Endo is widely regarded as one of the greatest Japanese authors of the late 20th century. He has won many major literary awards and was nominated for the Nobel Prize several times. His novels, which have been translated into 28 languages, include Deep River, The Samurai, Scandal, The Sea and Poison, and Silence.

Language Notes:

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Japanese

About this edition

• Publisher: Peter Owen Publishers
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0720612268
• ISBN 13: 9780720612264
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 200