白い人・黄色い人 (講談社文芸文庫 えA 4)
White Man is an early work by Shusaku Endo set in Lyon under German occupation during the Second World War, sharply exploring original sin, good and evil, and questions of faith within Western thought. Through Nazi violence and the ordeal of a seminarian, it anticipates Endo's later concerns with Christianity and human weakness.
Work Information
Endo's Akutagawa Prize-winning work confronts faith and evil against the wartime background of Lyon.
White Man is Shusaku Endo's Akutagawa Prize-winning work and an early piece shaped by the experience and intellectual concerns of a writer who had studied in France after the war. Kodansha Bungei Bunko's White Man and Yellow Man, which includes this work, was published in April 1996 and is confirmed on Kodansha's official page with ISBN 9784061963658, 262 pages, and an ebook edition. NDL Search also confirms the volume as a paperback containing White Man.
Review Summaries
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The work is presented as an early, clear statement of Endo's central concerns with Western thought, original sin, and the conflict between good and evil. Its weight comes from placing violence and faith not only in ideas but in the cruel actions of its characters.
Book Information
- Publisher
- 講談社
- Published
- 1996-04-10
- Pages
- 262 pages
- Language
- 日本語
- ISBN-13
- 9784061963658
- ISBN-10
- 4061963651
- Price
- 1980 JPY
- Category
- 本/文学・評論/文芸作品/日本文学
第2次世界大戦中のドイツ占領下のリヨンで，友人の神学生をナチの拷問にゆだねるサディスティックな青年に託して，西洋思想の原罪的宿命、善と悪の対立を追求した「白い人」（芥川賞），汎神論的風土に生きる日本人にとっての、キリスト教の神の意味を問う「黄色い人」の他、「アデンまで」「学生」を収めた遠藤文学の全てのモチーフを包含する初期作品集。
Reviews
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若さはあるものの主題はしっかりと。
人間とはなんと卑小でなんと傷つきやすい生き物なんだろうか。生きるということはかくも悲しく辛いものなんだろうか‥ 信じるということとは？神とは結局のところなんなのだろうか？ 遠藤周作のテーマがこの作品にすでにしっかりと刻まれている。
Related Literary Awards
- Akutagawa Prize Edition 33 (1955) ・award