Approaching Fifty Years of "Silence": An Interdisciplinary Discussion of Shusaku Endo’s Classic Novel

Session Submission Type: Roundtable Session

Abstract

This roundtable will discuss Shusaku Endo’s “Silence” fifty years after its publication in Japan. Discussants will consider the novel’s reception in Japan and the United States and its adaptation for the stage and screen, including Martin Scorsese’s film scheduled for release in 2016.

Discussants—all of whom contributed to “Approaching Silence: New Perspectives on Shusaku Endo's Classic Novel” (Bloomsbury Academic, 2015)—will take ten minutes to reflect on the novel’s enduring significance, leaving over an hour for wider and broader discussion about the following topics. Why do critics consider “Silence” a “classic novel”? As a text, does “Silence” exist in the world solely in its words? What is the relationship between Endo’s “original” Japanese text and the English translation, but also between the original and its adaptation for stage and screen? If there are, as some discussants note, significant differences in the Japanese and English versions are they the same text?

Discussants will also address the figure of the author. What is Endo’s literary significance as a writer influenced by Roman Catholicism but writing from a country whose dominant religious traditions are non-Christian? How, also, are we to understand the historical Endo or other prominent writers like Graham Greene whose names and works live on but all of whom have died? How do they relate to their publications? To what degree can they influence the reception and interpretation of their work?

And, finally, what sorts of readings do the discussants bring to bear with their diverse disciplinary perspectives? The roundtable’s five discussants represent Comparative Literature, Japanese Language and Culture, Christian Theology, and East Asian Buddhist Studies. Van Gessel will discuss how the novel has been “translated” on both stage and screen, while Mark Williams will consider the varied interpretations of the novel’s climactic scene, which raises fascinating questions about Christian teachings. Darren Middleton will compare Endo’s “Silence” and other novels to the literary art of Graham Greene, while Dennis Washburn will examine the varied interpretive frames readers may bring to bear when reading “Silence” as a historical novel. Finally, Mark Dennis will interpret “Silence” through the lens of Buddhist thought.

Area of Study

• Japan

Session Organizer

• Mark Dennis, TCU

Chair

• Mark Dennis, TCU

Discussants

• Mark Dennis, TCU

• Van C. Gessel, Brigham Young University

• Darren J. N. Middleton, Texas Christian University

• Dennis Charles Washburn, Dartmouth College

• Mark Williams, University of Leeds