Approaching Silence: New Perspectives on Shusaku Endo's Classic Novel

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Description

Shusaku Endo is celebrated as one of Japan's great modern novelists, often described as "Japan's Graham Greene," and 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. Includes an Afterword by Martin Scorsese on adapting Silence for the screen as well as the full text of Steven Dietzs play adaptation of Endos novel.

Reviews

Approaching Silence is an anthology of essays (and one play) edited by Darren J. N. Middleton and Mark W. Dennis that explores the possible interpretations of the novel; it serves as a fitting prelude to the long-awaited Scorsese film of Silence that is due for release in the US in November. * Times Literary Supplement Review *
A deeply rewarding book. * The Expository Times *
A great contribution, with a fine collection of Endo scholars thinking candidly about the intense consciousness of problems in approaching Silence (original titled Scent of the Sunny Spot). The inter-disciplinary approaches and the range of issues discussed are diverse, complementary with each other, and effectively constitute the book as a coherent intellectual project. Recommended. * Emi Mase-Hasegawa, Associate Professor of Humanities, J.F. Oberlin University, Japan *

Author Bio

Mark W. Dennis is Associate Professor of East Asian Religions at Texas Christian University, USA. Darren J. N. Middleton is Professor of Literature and Theology at Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, Texas, USA. He is the author of three books, including Theology after Reading: Christian Imagination and the Power of Fiction (2008), as well as four edited volumes on religion, literature and film.