Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Shusaku Endo, Scandal ***

Scandal is a later novel by the author of Silence. An aging Christian novelist hears rumors that he spends his free time in the seedy districts of Tokyo, and that there's a portrait hanging in an establishment there. His curiosity leads him to track down the portrait and his apparent doppelgänger, and ultimately leads to him question his own nature.

The story is well constructed, and it tackles Christian themes from a unique angle. It implicitly compares the artistic idea of finding beauty in ugliness with the religious idea that every sin contains the seeds of salvation. The main character struggles with the idea that he, and perhaps everyone, has a dark side.

The writing is very stiff and awkward. It that Endo or is it the translation? Either way, it detracts significantly from my enjoyment of the book.

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