Catholic author Endō Shūsaku (1923-1996) has gained worldwide acclaim for his novels and short stories that explore the conflicts between ethnicity, faith, and native Japanese religious sensibilities. A number of international scholars have interpreted his works as an effort towards religious inculturation and a search for a form of Christianity that resonates more harmoniously with the Japanese spiritual landscape. However, this article challenges such an interpretation, positing that Endō’s oeuvre primarily functions as a dialectical response to the prevailing discursive paradigms of the past, rather than being a conscious attempt at evangelisation. In particular, I argue that his final work, Fukai kawa (Deep River, 1993), stands as a tangible testament to his deliberate attempt to propose an all-encompassing religious pluralism capable of overcoming the binary divisions inherited from earlier literary debates.
Western Washington University, United States
Chapter Title
Inculturazione religiosa o risoluzione dialettica? Fukai kawa (1993) e il Cattolicesimo di Endō Shūsaku nel contesto letterario del Giappone del Novecento
Authors
Massimiliano Tomasi
Language
Italian
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0422-4.19
Peer Reviewed
Publication Year
2024
Copyright Information
© 2024 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Book Title
Il dono dell’airone
Book Subtitle
Scritti in onore di Ikuko Sagiyama
Editors
Luca Capponcelli, Diego Cucinelli, Chiara Ghidini, Matilde Mastrangelo, Rolando Minuti
Peer Reviewed
Number of Pages
390
Publication Year
2024
Copyright Information
© 2024 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Publisher Name
Firenze University Press
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0422-4
ISBN Print
979-12-215-0421-7
eISBN (pdf)
979-12-215-0422-4
Series Title
Connessioni. Studies in Transcultural History
Series ISSN
2975-0393
Series E-ISSN
2975-0261