Includes bibliographical references (pages 403-411) and index.
Contents:
Afterword / Martin Scorsese. 16. Background and Reception: 1. Before Silence: Stumbling Along with Rodrigues and Kichijiro / Kevin M. Doak; 2. Silence on Opposite Shores: Critical Reactions to the Novel in Japan and the West / Van C. Gessel; 3. The 'Formality' of the fumie?: A Re-Consideration of the Role of the fumie in Silence / Mark Williams; 4. Endo and Greene's Literary Theology / Darren J.N. Middleton; 5. Charting Endo's Catholic Literary Aesthetic / Mark Bosco, S.J.; 6. Forbidden Ships to Chartered Tours: Endo, Apostasy, and Globalization / Christopher B. Wachal -- Part Two. Christianity and Buddhism: 7. The Catholic Shift East: The Case of Japan / Christal Whelan; 8. Agape Unbound in Silence and Deep River / Elizabeth Cameron Galbraith; 9. Discerning the Marshland of This World: Silence from a Japanese Buddhist Perspective / Dennis Hirota; 10. A Buddhist Reading of the Blue Eyes of Jesus in Silence / Mark W. Dennis -- Part Three. Endo's Theology: 11. Literature as Dohansha in Silence / Jeff Keuss; 12. Is Abjection a Virtue?: Silence and the Trauma of Apostasy / Dennis Washburn; 13. 'And Like the Sea God was Silent': Multivalent Water Imagery in Silence / Frances McCormack; 14. Laughter Out of Place: Risibility as Resistance and Hidden Transcript in Silence / Jacqueline Bussie -- Part Four. Teaching Silence: 15. Silence in the Classroom / John Kaltner -- Part Five. Later Adaptations: 16. Silence, a play / Steven Dietz -- Afterword / Martin Scorsese.
Summary:
"Shusaku Endo is celebrated as one of Japan's great modern novelists and is often described as "Japan's Graham Greene." Silence is considered by many Japanese and Western literary critics to be his masterpiece. Approaching Silence is both a celebration of this award-winning novel as well as a significant contribution to the growing body of work on literature and religion. It features eminent scholars writing from Christian, Buddhist, literary, and historical perspectives, taking up, for example, the uneasy alliance between faith and doubt; the complexities of discipleship and martyrdom; the face of Christ; and, the bodhisattva ideal as well as the nature of suffering. It also frames Silence through a wider lens, comparing it to Endo's other works as well as to the fiction of other authors. Approaching Silence promises to deepen academic appreciation for Endo, within and beyond the West"-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.