The Final Martyrs (New Directions Paperbook) - Softcover

Endo, Shusaku

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0811218112 ISBN 13: 9780811218115

Publisher: New Directions, 2009

Synopsis

An affirmation of faith and identity by Japan's leading Christian novelist.

Eleven short, deeply spiritual stories ranging from autobiographical serendipities to solemn, empathetic parables. The title story is set during the 18th-century Shogunate persecution of Christians in Japan.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

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 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. 

Van C. Gessel has published six translations of works by Endo. 

About this edition

• Publisher: New Directions
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0811218112
• ISBN 13: 9780811218115
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224