Deep RiverThirty years lie between the leading contemporary Japanese writer Shusaku Endo's justly famed Silence and his powerful new novel Deep River, a book which is both a summation and a pinnacle of his work. 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 wartime memories of the Highway of Death in Burma; Numanda, recovering from a critical illness; Mitsuko, a cynical woman struggling with inner emptiness; and butt of her cruel interest, Otsu, a failed seminarian for whom the figure on the cross is a god of many faces. Bringing these and other characters to vibrant life and evoking a teeming India so vividly that the reader is almost transported there, Endo reaches his ultimate religious vision, one that combines Christian faith with Buddhist acceptance. |
Contents
ONE The Case of Isobe | 7 |
TWO The Informational Meeting | 28 |
FOUR The Case of Numada | 69 |
FIVE The Case of Kiguchi | 84 |
SIX The City by the River | 104 |
SEVEN Goddesses | 127 |
EIGHT In Search of What Was Lost | 148 |
NINE The River | 169 |
TEN The Case of Ōtsu | 182 |
THIRTEEN He Hath No Form Nor Comeliness | 205 |
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asked began believe beside bird body Buddhist Burma called Christian corpses cremation grounds darkness dead death doctor door drink Enami eyes face feel felt finally Gaston ghāts girl goddess hands head heard heart Highway of Death Hinduism Hindus hornbill hospital husband India Indira Gandhi Isobe Isobe's Japa Japan Japanese jungle Kālī Kiguchi knew Kultur Heim listened living look Lyon malaria Miss Naruse Mitsuko Moïra mother mouth muttered myna never night nodded Numada nurses once Onion opened Ōtsu Ōtsu's pain Pierrot priest River Ganges Sanjo seemed Sikhs sleep smell smile soldiers someone sorry stared student suddenly talk taxi tell There's Thérèse Thérèse Desqueyroux thing thought Tokyo tour tourists trees Tsukada turned understand Vārānasī village voice waiting walked watched wife's window woman women words Yatsushiro Sea young