Portraits of a Mother: A Novella and Stories - Paperback

by Shusaku Endo (Author), Van C. Gessel (Translator), Caryl Phillips (Foreword by)

From beloved Japanese author Shūsaku Endō, a newly discovered novella and five short stories of love, grief, and maternal longing

Shūsaku Endō, widely considered one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century, is known for his historical novels, which masterfully probe the encounters between the cultures and religions of East and West from a Japanese Catholic perspective. A salient and curious theme in his work is the unique image of a maternal God, and a concomitant sense of loss and longing for maternal love.

Confronting the Shadows, the semiautobiographical novella discovered at the Endō Museum in Nagasaki in 2020, is Endō's most personal work and the interpretive key to his entire oeuvre. It tells the story of Suguro, an aspiring novelist who was separated from his mother after his parents' divorce. Desperate to understand the woman his mother was, he sets out to retrace her footsteps, only to find himself face to face with his own demons. Accompanying the novella are five stories, each disclosing the intricacies of the sacred feminine and the apprehensions and joys of familial love. Endō once again beams bright light into the hidden corners of the human heart in this remarkable new collection.

Author Biography

Shūsaku Endō (1923-1996) was a renowned Japanese author. His many books include Silence, The Samurai, Deep River, and The Sea and Poison. Van C. Gessel is a professor in the department of Asian and Near Eastern Languages at Brigham Young University. Caryl Phillips is an award-winning novelist, essayist, and playwright.