Deep River

by Shusaku Endo, Van C. Gessel, Van C. Gessel (Translator)

Overview

The river is the Ganges, where a group of Japanese tourists converge: Isobe, grieving the death of the wife he ignored in life; Kiguchi, haunted by war-time memories of the Highway of Death in Burma; Numada, recovering from a critical illness; Mitsuko, a cynical woman struggling with inner emptiness; and, the butt of her cruel interest, Otsu, a failed seminarian for whom the figure on the cross is a god of many faces. In this novel, the renowned Japanese writer Shusaku Endo reaches his ultimate religious vision.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780811212892
Publisher:	New Directions Publishing Corporation
Publication date:	04/17/1995
Pages:	222
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.90(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.

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

"…Mr. Endo is a master of the interior monologue, and he builds ‘case’ by ‘case,’ chapter by chapter, a devastating critique of the world that has ‘everything’ but lacks moral substance and seems headed nowhere. "

Robert Coles

Japanese novelist Endo combines a harsh critique of the emptiness in modern lives with a religious vision of spiritual rebirth. (May)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

A trip to India becomes a journey of discovery for a group of Japanese tourists playing out their "individual dramas of the soul." Isobe searches for his reincarnated wife, while Kiguchi relives the wartime horror that ultimately saved his life. Alienated by middle age, Mitsuko follows Otsu, a failed priest, to the holy city of Varanas, hoping that the murky Ganges holds the secret to the "difference between being alive and truly living." Looking for absolutes, each character confronts instead the moral ambiguity of India's complex culture, in which good and evil are seen as a whole as indifferent to distinction as the Ganges River, which washes the living and transports the dead. This novel is a fascinating study of cultural truths revealed through a rich and varied cast. Endo, one of Japan's leading writers, (The Final Martyrs, LJ 9/1/94) skillfully depicts the small details of life, investing them with universal significance. Highly recommended.-Paul E. Hutchison, Bellefonte, Pa.

Library Journal

Endo's standing as a major Japanese author is not based on a scintillating prose style but rather on his probing moral inquiries. Endo's haunting fiction is a vehicle for his views on God, religion, and the vast divides between cultures. In his newest novel, he intertwines the compelling stories of a group of troubled strangers on a tour of Buddhist shrines in India. We meet each of them at a pivotal point in their lives. Isobe, a conservative businessman, never openly expressed affection for his sweet-natured wife but now, after her death, misses her terribly and is obsessed with her belief in reincarnation. Mitsuko, a woman unable to love, can't forget Otsu, a pious Christian she mocked for his beliefs. She hopes to find him in India, where he wandered after being rejected by the church for his "pantheistic" views. And then there's Numada, an author of children's books who has a special bond with animals. Each has come to India and the holy river Ganges on a spiritual quest, and each discovers that God has "many faces."

Donna Seaman