Deep River

Endo, Shusaku. Deep River. Translated from the Japanese by Van C. Gessel. London / Chester Springs, Peter Owen Publishers, 1994. 16 x 24cm. 216 pages. Original hardcover with dustjacket in protective Mylar. Illustrated endpapers. Excellent condition. Includes inserted newspaper reviews of this book and of other works by the author. Shusaku Endo was a Japanese author who wrote from the rare perspective of a Japanese Roman Catholic. In this, his last novel, 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. [From The Library Journals]