Navigating Deep River

"this is a unified set of papersboth readable and intellectually enjoyable for those interested in modern Japanese literature, literary theology, and any aspect of Endo's life and work Highly recommended." CHOICE "This volume contextualizes, delineates, and articulates the complex religious/theological/spiritual dimensions of Deep River and its rich intertextual, interpersonal, psychosocial, and literary aspects. There are few edited volumes in which so many experts focus on a single Japanese text in this sustained manner, and this stands as a model of how to do so deftly and productively." David C. Stahl, author of Social Trauma, Narrative Memory and Recovery in Japanese Literature and Film

At Texas Christian University, Mark W. Dennis is Professor of East Asian Religions. At Texas Christian University, Darren J. N. Middleton is John F. Weatherly Professor of Religion. They are the coeditors of Approaching Silence: New Perspectives on Shsaku End's Classic Novel. Dennis is also the translator of Prince Shtoku's Commentary on the rml Sutra, and Middleton has written and edited many other books, including George Eliot: Illuminated by the Message.

Acknowledgments Foreword: The Myths of Ganga Julian Crandall Hollick Introduction: A Novel We Have Loved Mark W. Dennis and Darren J. N. Middleton Part One: Historical and Comparative Approaches 1. Navigating Deep River through the Lens of Buddhist Thought Mark W. Dennis 2. A Gaze Turned Inward: Perspectives from the Orient Mini Chandran 3. Japan's Orient and Animal Theology in End Shsaku's Deep River Zhange Ni 4. Religion and Violence in Deep River Ronald Green 5. End Shsaku: The Long Road to the Deep River Mark Williams Part Two: Literary and Theological Approaches 6. Catholic Convergences in Deep River Mark Bosco and Christopher Wachal 7. Shsaku End and Flannery O'Connor on the Grotesque Elizabeth Cameron Galbraith 8. From "Catholic" to "catholic": Arriving at Deep River Maeri Megumi 9. Deep River as End's Book of Job: Gathering a Community of Sufferers at the Water's Edge Van C. Gessel 10. Mitsuko, That's Me: Autobiographical Space in End Shsaku's Final Novel Justyna Weronika Kasza 11. Imagining India: Traversing Deep River with Enami and tsu P. A. George 12. End Shsaku and Religious Pluralism Emi Mase-Hasegawa 13. End Shsaku's Process Panentheism Darren J. N. Middleton 14. Japanese Sensibility, and Transcendence in Deep River Dennis Hirota Afterword: Deep and Wide: Tourists and Pilgrims in the Shallows S. Brent Plate For Further Reading Contributors Index