Approaching Silence
Subtitle: new perspectives on Shusaku Endo's classic novel
By: edited by Darren J. N. Middleton and Mark Dennis
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Published: 2015
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 423
ISBN-13: 9781623562809; 9781623569839
Subjects: Criticism and interpretation; Japanese fiction; History and criticism; LITERARY CRITICISM / General; PERFORMING ARTS / Film & Video / General
Description: "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"--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 403-411) and index.
Table of contents: title: Machine generated contents note: -- Acknowledgments Introduction: Silence in the World Mark W. Dennis (Texas Christian University, USA) and Darren J. N. Middleton (Texas Christian University, USA)Part One: Background and Reception 1. Before Silence: Stumbling Along with Rodrigues and KichijiroKevin M. Doak (Georgetown University, USA)2. Silence on Opposite Shores: Critical Reactions to the Novel in Japan and the WestVan C. Gessel (Brigham Young University, USA)3. The 'Formality' of the fumie?: A Re-consideration of the Role of the fumie in SilenceMark Williams (University of Leeds, UK)4. Endo and Greene's Literary TheologyDarren J. N. Middleton (Texas Christian University, USA)5. Charting Endo's Catholic Literary AestheticMark Bosco, S.J. (Loyola University, Chicago, USA)6. Forbidden Ships to Chartered Tours: Endo, Apostasy, and GlobalizationChristopher B. Wachal (Marquette University, Milwaukee, USA)Part Two: Christianity and Buddhism7. The Catholic Shift East: The Case of JapanChristal Whelan (Independent Scholar and Filmmaker)8. Agape Unbound in Silence and Deep RiverElizabeth Cameron Galbraith (St. Olaf College, USA)9. Discerning the Marshland of This World: Silence from a Japanese Buddhist PerspectiveDennis Hirota (Ryukoku University in Kyoto, Japan) 10. A Buddhist Reading of the Blue Eyes of Jesus in SilenceMark W. Dennis (Texas Christian University, USA) Part Three: Endo's Theology11. Literature as Dohansha in SilenceJeff Keuss (Seattle Pacific University, USA)12. Is Abjection a Virtue?: Silence and the Trauma of ApostasyDennis Washburn (Dartmouth College, USA) 13. 'And Like the Sea God was Silent': Multivalent Water Imagery in Silence" Frances McCormack (National University of Ireland, Galway, Republic of Ireland)14. Laughter Out of Place: Risibility as Resistance and Hidden Transcript in SilenceJacqueline Bussie (Concordia College, USA) Part Four: Teaching Silence15. Silence in the ClassroomJohn Kaltner (Rhodes College, USA) Part Five: Later Adaptations16. Silence, a play Steven Dietz 17. Silence, a film Martin ScorseseContributorsFor Further ReadingIndex.