The Final Martyrs

by Shusaku Endo, Van C. Gessel (Translator)

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780811218115
Publisher:	New Directions Publishing Corporation
Publication date:	01/27/2009
Series:	NEW DIRECTIONS PAPERBOOK
Edition description:	Translatio
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.60(d)

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 is a professor of Japanese at Brigham Young University, and has a Ph.D. in Japanese literature from Columbia University. After joining the Church of Latter-day Saints in 1968, Gessel served as a missionary to Japan from 1970-71. He was given a lifetime achievement award from the Donald Keene Center of Japanese Culture of Columbia University for his translations of modern Japanese fiction.

Editorial Reviews

"If you like it, you have a lot of reading to look forward to."

Christianity Today - John Wilson

"In a calm, delicate, unobtrusive manner, several of these 11 deceptively simple stories by Japanese novelist Endo (The Golden Country) show people wrestling with central issues. In "The Last Supper," an alcoholic corporate executive confesses to a psychiatrist the source of his torment: as a starving soldier in WWII, he ate a dead earlier, in order to cremate her remains and place them with the ashes of his recently deceased brother. In the title story, set in the 1860s, when the Meiji government outlawed Christianity, a village coward recants his Christian faith to avoid the torture meted out to his fellow converts, but he ultimately redeems himself through an act of quiet courage. This deftly translated collection, comprised of stories written as early as 1959 and as late as 1985, also includes semi-autobiographical tales in which Endo deals with the traumatic impact He also writes with grace, compassion and gentle humor about old age, love betrayed, Japanese tourists and the marks we leave on the lives of others.

This ably translated compilation of short stories clearly demonstrates the tension inherent in practicing a nonorganic religion in a culture foreign to the philosophy it espouses. contexts the trials and triumphs of Christians practicing their religion in Japan. Both Westerners and Japanese are in the mix of situations presented, and the short story format sharply focuses the ideas and the events described, which present cultural differences in a bright light. From the cowardice turned into resolve shown in the title story to the gruesome and startling revelations of "The Last Supper," Endo demonstrates his mastery of a delicate and endlessly fascinating juncture of philosophies. Recommended for informed readers.

Somber, haunting stories that resonate with compassion, eloquence, and metaphor. Once again, Endo (Foreign Studies, 1990, etc.) explores the themes for which he is famous: Roman Catholics in Japan, the illness and fear of aging, the pain of divorce, the loneliness of childhood. In this collection of 11 stories written over the last 30 years, autobiography continues to take a front seat: Endo finds inspiration in his own experience with lung disease to address physical suffering; in his of innocence and compromise; in his own experience with Christianity to address, as the apostate in the almost epic title story, the question of whether or not it is all right to be afraid and run away from a commitment to Christianity in the face of persecution; and in his increasing age to tackle nostalgia, regret, and resignation. To make these heavy topics even murkier, they often overlap in ways that would be overwhelming to gentle touch. Spiritual decline feels natural as "A Fifty-year-old Man," a disillusioned husband, offers an almost comic look at watching his dog relief when a writer finally understands that he childhood mentor, nemesis, and betrayer. And we recognize the writer in "The Box" who follows the trail of postcards he finds in an antiques shop to discover love, betrayal, and espionage while wondering if "perhaps I think up such nonsensical, irrational things because I am getting old." What might otherwise feel like giving up becomes giving in to the unrecognized power of the human condition. This is the precious uncertainty of all of strange celebration of life and death that is wise but never weary."

From the Publisher

In a calm, delicate, unobtrusive manner, several of these 11 deceptively simple stories by Japanese novelist Endo (The Golden Country) show people wrestling with spiritual crises, extreme situations or life's central issues. In ``The Last Supper,'' an alcoholic corporate executive confesses to a psychiatrist the source of his torment: as a starving soldier in WWII, he ate a dead comrade's flesh. In ``Heading Home,'' a man exhumes his mother's body, buried 30 years earlier, in order to cremate her remains and place them with the ashes of his recently deceased brother. In the title story, set in the 1860s, when the Meiji government outlawed Christianity, a village coward recants his Christian faith to avoid the torture meted out to his fellow converts, but he ultimately redeems himself through an act of quiet courage. This deftly translated collection, comprised of stories written as early as 1959 and as late as 1985, also includes semi-autobiographical tales in which Endo deals with the traumatic impact that his parent's divorce had on his boyhood. He also writes with grace, compassion and gentle humor about old age, love betrayed, Japanese tourists and the marks we leave on the lives of others. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

This ably translated compilation of short stories clearly demonstrates the tension inherent in practicing a nonorganic religion in a culture foreign to the philosophy it espouses. Endo's works, collected here, show in many contexts the trials and triumphs of Christians practicing their religion in Japan. Both Westerners and Japanese are in the mix of situations presented, and the short story format sharply focuses the ideas and the events described, which present cultural differences in a bright light. From the cowardice turned into resolve shown in the title story to the gruesome and startling revelations of "The Last Supper," Endo demonstrates his mastery of a delicate and endlessly fascinating juncture of philosophies. Recommended for informed readers.-Mike Heines, USAF Rome Laboratory Technical Lib., N.Y.

Library Journal