The Final Martyrs - Hardcover

Endo, Shusaku

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0811212726 ISBN 13: 9780811212724

Publisher: New Directions, 1994

Synopsis

All the salient qualities that distinguish the superb work of Japanese writer Shusaku Endo are on full display in this new collection of eleven stories written over the course of almost thirty years. The themes are akin to those in the author's novels (Silence and The Sea and Poison, for example): the martyrdom of Roman Catholics in Japan; coming to terms with old age - a compound of infirmity, fear, and pangs of nostalgia; the incongruity of Japanese travelers in Europe; spiritual doubt and sexual yearning; and, clearly, elements of autobiography, particularly of Endo's lonely boyhood unhappiness over the strife between his parents that ended in divorce.
There is no other contemporary Japanese writer who has achieved such a balanced blend of things Western with those inherently Japanese. As John Updike comments in The New Yorker, Endo's work is "sombre, delicate, startlingly emphatic." It is also uniquely moving in its compassionate exploration of the human condition.

About this title

About the Author:

Shusaku Endo (1923–1996) is widely regarded as one of the most important Japanese authors of the late twentieth century. He won many major literary awards and was nominated for the Nobel Prize several times. His novel Silence was recently made into a major film directed by Martin Scorsese.

Language Notes:

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Japanese

About this edition

• Publisher: New Directions
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0811212726
• ISBN 13: 9780811212724
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 199