All the salient qualities that distinguish the superb work of Japanese writer Shusaku Endo are on full display in this new collection of eleven short, deeply spiritual stories ranging from autobiographical serendipities to solemn, empathetic parables. The Final Martyrs begins with the title story that is set during the 18th-century Shogunate persecution of Christians in Japan and was the basis for Endo’s book Silence. Together these stories constitute a singular declaration of faith. There is no other contemporary Japanese writer who has achieved such a balanced blend of things Western with those inherently Japanese. The highly acclaimed West Indian author, Caryl Phillips, supplements this collection with an enlightening introduction to Shusaku Endo's life and work.
Introduction by Caryl Phillips
Translated by Van C. Gessel
Editorial Reviews
"[Endo's work] filled the void I felt after The Last Temptation of Christ." --Martin Scorsese
"Sombre, delicate, and startingly empathetic." --John Updike
"A soulful gift to a world he keeps rendering as unrelievedly parched." --Robert Coles, The new York Times Book Review
"Archetypal Endo storytelling, suffused with a mystical connection to the spiritual realm that is difficult to forget after putting down the book." --San Francisco Chronicle
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 a winner of the Akutagawa prize (the Japanese equivalent of the Pulitzer). His novel Silence was recently made into a major film directed by Martin Scorsese.
Caryl Phillips (b. 1958) is the best-selling author of Crossing the River (1993), and most recently Dancing in the Dark (2005).
