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Volcano
From the author of Silence, this powerful novel of ideas is also a sensitive and moving depiction of the trials of old age, set in the central region of Japan.
With two masterly portraits of two men who have lived their lives—both physically and metaphorically—under the shadow of the Akadeke volcano, this crucial work in Endo's oeuvre charts the conflicts between them, which have explosive results. This is the first paperback edition of one of Endo's greatest works.
With two masterly portraits of two men who have lived their lives—both physically and metaphorically—under the shadow of the Akadeke volcano, this crucial work in Endo's oeuvre charts the conflicts between them, which have explosive results. This is the first paperback edition of one of Endo's greatest works.
172 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1959
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436 people want to read
About the author
Shūsaku Endō
384 books1,048 followersShusaku Endo (遠藤周作), born in Tokyo in 1923, was raised by his mother and an aunt in Kobe where he converted to Roman Catholicism at the age of eleven. At Tokyo's Keio University he majored in French literature, graduating BA in 1949, before furthering his studies in French Catholic literature at the University of Lyon in France between 1950 and 1953. A major theme running through his books, which have been translated into many languages, including English, French, Russian and Swedish, is the failure of Japanese soil to nurture the growth of Christianity. Before his death in 1996, Endo was the recipient of a number of outstanding Japanese literary awards: the Akutagawa Prize, Mainichi Cultural Prize, Shincho Prize, and Tanizaki Prize.
(from the backcover of Volcano).
(from the backcover of Volcano).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
March 12, 2017
My outing into the Japanese literature has always been a rewarding experience.
This is also no exception. A simple theme (?) expounded using the Japanese landscape.
One of the natural happenings associated with Japanese geology is volcanic eruptions. This novel is set in a town close to a old/dying/dead volcano. There are mainly three principal characters - (1) a traditional Japanese, who is also the retired Section Chief of the Surveillance Section of the Weather bureau; (2) a old age defrocked French Catholic missionary priest; and (3) a Japanese Catholic priest.
The three of them view the volcano in three different ways. The Japanese Weatherman sees it as symbolism old age. He believes the following about the volcano:
What a mount of heartache it is. A volcano resembles human life. In youth it gives reign to the passions, and burns with fire. It spurts out lava. But when it grows old, it assumes the burden of past evil deeds, and it turns as quiet as a grave.
But only at the final lag of his life he realizes that man in his old age looks back at his life an his misdeeds. And that is a torment for he now has no time to change his life. It is already late. The old age and the last moments your memories burn inside you like the subterranean lava. And you die with a heartache.
For the defrocked French Catholic missionary, the volcano stands for Evil. The evil cannot die and cannot keep quiet. So the volcano which everyone believes to be a dying one, is challenged by him. For evil cannot die. It will erupt again.
For the Japanese Catholic priest, the volcano stands for sin and redemption. As the volcano which was active once and has come to its last days taking on the form of a serene mountain, so too people can turn away from sins and take a new birth. And for this reason he builds a retreat house on this mountain.
The interesting this about the novel is that Endo leaves us with a suspense. There are indications to suggest that the volcano has not died. Volcano can become active anytime soon. Now read into all the symbolism again. Old age is not something serene and peaceful. It can be full of burning lava. The Evil even when it remains quiet, it works on through invisible tentacles. Sin can anytime become victorious over redemption.
Besides these, there are revealing insights into sickness and old age and for Japanese Catholics insights into Catholicism/Christianity in Japan - the incompatibility of Christianity to Japanese culture. By the way Endo was a Japanese Catholic.
This is also no exception. A simple theme (?) expounded using the Japanese landscape.
One of the natural happenings associated with Japanese geology is volcanic eruptions. This novel is set in a town close to a old/dying/dead volcano. There are mainly three principal characters - (1) a traditional Japanese, who is also the retired Section Chief of the Surveillance Section of the Weather bureau; (2) a old age defrocked French Catholic missionary priest; and (3) a Japanese Catholic priest.
The three of them view the volcano in three different ways. The Japanese Weatherman sees it as symbolism old age. He believes the following about the volcano:
What a mount of heartache it is. A volcano resembles human life. In youth it gives reign to the passions, and burns with fire. It spurts out lava. But when it grows old, it assumes the burden of past evil deeds, and it turns as quiet as a grave.
But only at the final lag of his life he realizes that man in his old age looks back at his life an his misdeeds. And that is a torment for he now has no time to change his life. It is already late. The old age and the last moments your memories burn inside you like the subterranean lava. And you die with a heartache.
For the defrocked French Catholic missionary, the volcano stands for Evil. The evil cannot die and cannot keep quiet. So the volcano which everyone believes to be a dying one, is challenged by him. For evil cannot die. It will erupt again.
For the Japanese Catholic priest, the volcano stands for sin and redemption. As the volcano which was active once and has come to its last days taking on the form of a serene mountain, so too people can turn away from sins and take a new birth. And for this reason he builds a retreat house on this mountain.
The interesting this about the novel is that Endo leaves us with a suspense. There are indications to suggest that the volcano has not died. Volcano can become active anytime soon. Now read into all the symbolism again. Old age is not something serene and peaceful. It can be full of burning lava. The Evil even when it remains quiet, it works on through invisible tentacles. Sin can anytime become victorious over redemption.
Besides these, there are revealing insights into sickness and old age and for Japanese Catholics insights into Catholicism/Christianity in Japan - the incompatibility of Christianity to Japanese culture. By the way Endo was a Japanese Catholic.
June 13, 2014
This was a melancholic book which I had some trouble connecting with, despite its interesting depictions of Japanese culture. What I did enjoy was the symbolism of the volcano, linking it to human life. The two protagnonists, Jinpei and Father Durand, were both pretty pathetic characters. Jinpei was quite horrible to his wife and sons and was obsessed with the volcano; Father Durand was relatively tyrannical too and spent most of the novel trying to prove that Japanese culture and Christianity were incompatible. Not the best Japanese novel I've ever read but it wasn't too bad.
January 11, 2012
Volcano was originally published in 1959, and is set the town of Kagoshima on Kyushu Island, which is situated at the edge of a dormant volcano, Akadaké. Suda Kun has just retired after a long career as the Section Chief of the Surveillance Section of the regional Weather Bureau. He was called the "Akadaké Demon", as he claimed to know more about the volcano than anyone else on the island, despite his lack of a formal education. He wishes to publish a book about his research in order to cement his reputation, and agrees to help Aiba, a local city councilman, in a profit making scheme in exchange for financial support of his book.
Father Sato is the popular leader of a small but growing Catholic church in town, who has replaced Father Durand, a Frenchman who was removed for committing apostasy. Durand, embittered by his fall, receives frequent visits by Sato, but he belittles his former assistant and his plans to build a sanctuary for his followers on the side of the volcano.
Suda and Durand are felled by serious illness, and are faced with their own mortality. At the same time Akadaké is showing signs of renewed life after decades of dormancy, which threaten the plans of Aiba and Father Sato. Suda, who has proclaimed that the volcano is permanently dormant, chooses to ignore clues which indicate that it is becoming active. Durand actively tries to undermine Sato's position and the faith of the people he formerly ministered to. Both men face their own mortality and guilt about their past behavior, while the smoking volcano towers over them ominously, as if in judgment of them.
Volcano is a superbly written and dark yet hopeful novel, whose two main characters experience torment and guilt in the face of imminent death. Suda's lack of compassion toward his wife and sons and Durand's lack of belief in the faith of his parishioners lead directly to the fall of each man, as the volcano serves as a metaphor for both good and evil, and as a symbol of the unchanging power of Nature and God.
Father Sato is the popular leader of a small but growing Catholic church in town, who has replaced Father Durand, a Frenchman who was removed for committing apostasy. Durand, embittered by his fall, receives frequent visits by Sato, but he belittles his former assistant and his plans to build a sanctuary for his followers on the side of the volcano.
Suda and Durand are felled by serious illness, and are faced with their own mortality. At the same time Akadaké is showing signs of renewed life after decades of dormancy, which threaten the plans of Aiba and Father Sato. Suda, who has proclaimed that the volcano is permanently dormant, chooses to ignore clues which indicate that it is becoming active. Durand actively tries to undermine Sato's position and the faith of the people he formerly ministered to. Both men face their own mortality and guilt about their past behavior, while the smoking volcano towers over them ominously, as if in judgment of them.
Volcano is a superbly written and dark yet hopeful novel, whose two main characters experience torment and guilt in the face of imminent death. Suda's lack of compassion toward his wife and sons and Durand's lack of belief in the faith of his parishioners lead directly to the fall of each man, as the volcano serves as a metaphor for both good and evil, and as a symbol of the unchanging power of Nature and God.
January 31, 2016
A priest, a former priest, a retired weatherman and an oily councilman potter around as a dormant volcano may or may not be about to erupt.
Some good passages about what it means to grow old but ultimately this was not a book that moved me. Two stars.
Some good passages about what it means to grow old but ultimately this was not a book that moved me. Two stars.
September 6, 2020
I loved Volcano and finished it in just a few days. Endō uses beautiful language to tell a story and delve into 2 men’s reflective gaze into their lives. Central to the story are the issues of compassionate love (or better the lack of it), aging, death, and self worth. I found the two main characters fascinating and well brought to life. In the character of Jimpei Suda Endō perfectly captures the fears and dread of a person’s whose life’s work is on the line and who when looking back on his life sees it was mostly devoid of meaningful relationships. In Durand, a man who also sees his life’s work as a failure and a desire to watch it all burn to the ground. The exploration of the inner worlds of these men was the novels greatest element. I also enjoyed the use of the volcano itself as both a metaphor for aging and a plot device (ever working/ building up towards an explosive ending).
Having lived in Japan and visited Kagoshima (the city on which the setting borrows from), I greatly enjoyed this window into the Japanese experience. Another great work by Endō.
Having lived in Japan and visited Kagoshima (the city on which the setting borrows from), I greatly enjoyed this window into the Japanese experience. Another great work by Endō.
Read
November 15, 2019 A petty scientific functionary retires, grapples with his meaningless existence and horrible family in the shadow of a volcano which may or may not erupt. Endo was a great talent, and his status as a Christian offers a peculiar and distinct insight into the nature of Japanese society. Less grand than his period pieces, but with the same fine sense of—not subtlety, exactly, this is after all a book in which an active volcano serving as a metaphor for life's subterranean passions—but appreciation for the complexity of human agency. Good stuff.
August 9, 2025
not as good as some of his other works but still a pleasant read. almost fainted from the science talk.
January 1, 2019
I'm so glad I gave Endo a second chance after being terribly disappointed by "Silence". This is a much more satisfactory novel. The main characters are Suda, a meteorologist and seismologist, and Durand, a catholic priest who's been expelled from the Church. Both men are reaching the end of life, and end up meeting in hospital after Suda has his first stroke. Suda devoted the last 15 years of his career to a close study of volcano Akadaké, a short boat-ride away from town. Suda prides himself on knowing this volcano better than anybody else, even though in fact he has just espoused unconditionally his mentor's view that Akadaké is about to become extinct and can't have any more major eruptions. This theory is music to the ears of an ambitious businessman who needs Suda's word to convince investors to put money into a brand-new, Western style hotel complex on the slopes of the volcano. The novel starts on the day of Suda's retirement, when he reaches a deal with Aiba: in exchange for Suda's scientific support of his real estate scheme, Aiba will pay for the publication of Suda's detailed study of the volcano. On the other hand, Durand's successor Father Sato, also has plans to his own to build a retreat centre for his parishioners on the volcanic island, so that all the characters have a stake in what happens with Akadaké. When Suda starts having doubts about potential eruptions, it is too late and he dies without being able to express his misgivings. His last weeks are embittered by the realization that his relatives are impatient for him to die, and that his long obsession with Akadaké may not have made him the peerless specialist he thought he was. In fact, it becomes clear that his involvement with Aiba's scheme clouded his judgement. For his part, Durand actively wishes the volcano to erupt, because having made a mess of his life he can't stand the sight of people having a good time. His favorite pastime is to go and hang around Father Sato's church to needle the poor, well-meaning priest and frighten his former parishioners. For a bit of sick fun, he gives alms obtained from Father Sato to a young convert in the hope the young man will do something sinful with it. At the end of the novel, with both construction projects well under way, the reader cannot but share the characters's anxiety about what the volcano will do. This is a measure of Endo's achievement with this simple but very effective story about men, faith and bad faith.
July 22, 2009
'A volcano resembles human life. In youth it gives rein to the passions, and burns with fire. It spurts out lava. But when it grows old, it assumes the burden of those past evil deeds. It turns deathly quiet as we now behold it. Nevertheless, a human being is not entirely like the volcano. When we grow old, will cast a backward glance upon our lives, becoming fully aware of our mistakes.'
- Dr. Koriyama
Some people fear no death, they even challenged themselves off the limit. But for most getting old is like a dream we want to avoid, a nightmare. You'd aware lots of efforts are taken to stay young such as facelifts, botox, plastic surgery, seeking for immortality. It's like seeking a bucket of gold at the end of the rainbow! Oh come on, do you really want to stay alive when your dear friends are gone one by one? When the world is getting crazier and crazier?
I'd say just enjoy your old-age days, think of it as fall season when the leaves are fallen from the trees and the colour has it own beauty which distinguished itself from the other seasons.
***
'Vulkano itu mewakili kehidupan manusia. Saat muda begitu bersemangat dengan nyala api dan muntahan lava yang keluar dari dalam perutnya. Namun saat usianya menua begitu diam dan menyepi, seakan menangung semua tindakan perusakan yang ia lakukan di masa lalu. Walau begitu, manusia tidak selalu seperti sebuah vulkano. Saat kita beranjak tua, kita tidak henti-hentinya melihat ke belakang dan menyadari semua kesalahan yang kita perbuat.'
- Dr. Koriyama
Aku kagum pada orang-orang yang sepertinya tidak takut pada kematian, mereka bahkan menantang sang kematian itu sendiri. Merek yang suka olahraga ekstrim atau almarhum Steve Irwin misalnya. Namun rasanya ketakutan tersebesar bagi kebanyakan orang adalah menjalani masa tua. Tak heran banyak yang rela melakukan apa saja agar tetap muda, facelifts, botox, bedah plastik dan banyak hal lain.
Menurutku sih ngapain takut dengan masa tua, dinikmati saja dan bayangkan masa tua itu seperti musim gugur di luar negeri. Warna keemasan ketika daun-daun berguguran. Warna yang memiliki keindahan sendiri dan membedakannya dari musim-musim yang lain.
- Dr. Koriyama
Some people fear no death, they even challenged themselves off the limit. But for most getting old is like a dream we want to avoid, a nightmare. You'd aware lots of efforts are taken to stay young such as facelifts, botox, plastic surgery, seeking for immortality. It's like seeking a bucket of gold at the end of the rainbow! Oh come on, do you really want to stay alive when your dear friends are gone one by one? When the world is getting crazier and crazier?
I'd say just enjoy your old-age days, think of it as fall season when the leaves are fallen from the trees and the colour has it own beauty which distinguished itself from the other seasons.
***
'Vulkano itu mewakili kehidupan manusia. Saat muda begitu bersemangat dengan nyala api dan muntahan lava yang keluar dari dalam perutnya. Namun saat usianya menua begitu diam dan menyepi, seakan menangung semua tindakan perusakan yang ia lakukan di masa lalu. Walau begitu, manusia tidak selalu seperti sebuah vulkano. Saat kita beranjak tua, kita tidak henti-hentinya melihat ke belakang dan menyadari semua kesalahan yang kita perbuat.'
- Dr. Koriyama
Aku kagum pada orang-orang yang sepertinya tidak takut pada kematian, mereka bahkan menantang sang kematian itu sendiri. Merek yang suka olahraga ekstrim atau almarhum Steve Irwin misalnya. Namun rasanya ketakutan tersebesar bagi kebanyakan orang adalah menjalani masa tua. Tak heran banyak yang rela melakukan apa saja agar tetap muda, facelifts, botox, bedah plastik dan banyak hal lain.
Menurutku sih ngapain takut dengan masa tua, dinikmati saja dan bayangkan masa tua itu seperti musim gugur di luar negeri. Warna keemasan ketika daun-daun berguguran. Warna yang memiliki keindahan sendiri dan membedakannya dari musim-musim yang lain.
June 2, 2017
"A volcano resembles human life. In youth it gives rein to its passions, and burns with fire. It spurts out lava. But when it grows old, it assumes the burden of those past evil deeds, and it turns as quiet as a grave. You younger men can hardly fathom the pathos of this mountain."
Acquired after browsing the shelves of a small independent bookshop, I picked this up because I'd be reading it on holiday in Sicily - an island partly famed for its volcano. Also, it has a great cover.
Two characters reaching the end of their lives in a poetic, simply written novel that brought to mind the Yasujirō Ozu movie, Tokyo Story - released just a few years before this book was written. Despite addressing "the hard necessity of having to live after a man grows old", the book is not morbid, though encourages the reader to consider existential thoughts - no bad thing in 2017.
July 17, 2018
3½. A bleak, hopeless little novel without any likable characters, "Volcano" still manages to be interesting. I can tell the translation is not very good, and it may not be CLASSIC Endō, but it is definitely worth reading if you are a fan.
March 24, 2013
I really enjoyed this book. It paints a rather depressing picture of human nature with none of the characters having much to commend them (even the affable Father Sato) -- everyone has less than noble hidden agendas and motives. I appreciated the way in which the two main protagonists, who came from very different walks of life, were connected by the volcano. While the volcano looms large throughout the book, the main focus of the book is on the characters themselves and their motives and relationships, particularly as they approach the end of the lives.
December 19, 2009
Saya beli buku ini waktu ada diskon cuci gudang dari Periplus. Cuma 5000 rupiah aja sih. Lebih murah dari buku komik ya?
Ceritanya kurang menarik bagi saya, karena.... ya membosankan. Ditambah lagi saya gak suka gunung atau naik gunung, jadi gak ngerti si tokoh utamanya ngomong apaan. Tapi saya suka penggambaran perasaan si tokoh utama yang begitu jelas, dan juga gambaran mengenai keadaan Jepang pada saat itu.
Ceritanya kurang menarik bagi saya, karena.... ya membosankan. Ditambah lagi saya gak suka gunung atau naik gunung, jadi gak ngerti si tokoh utamanya ngomong apaan. Tapi saya suka penggambaran perasaan si tokoh utama yang begitu jelas, dan juga gambaran mengenai keadaan Jepang pada saat itu.
July 13, 2013
Very dry look at the lives of people who are living for their own interests, without loving or being loved. Going into the book, I already knew this was the theme. If I hadn't known that, I think I would have found the book frustrating.
The book is definitely worth reading, and is an impressive bit of writing. That said, I don't think it has as much of an impact on modern readers as it must have had to Japanese readers 50 years ago.
The book is definitely worth reading, and is an impressive bit of writing. That said, I don't think it has as much of an impact on modern readers as it must have had to Japanese readers 50 years ago.
January 18, 2016
I admit I wanted to put this down, but I pushed through and I am glad I did. It was a depressing read, but I enjoyed the descriptions of Japanese culture and the exploration of Catholicism in Japan, Durand 's questioning whether or not the Japanese can truly "be" Christian. A very uncomfortable book, I look forward to discovering more of Endo's novels. My favorite character was Akadake, the volcano, by far.
May 9, 2010
One star has been deducted for the very questionable work of Mr. Richard A. Schuchert, the translator of my Tuttle edition (not pictured above). Even so, this is certainly the least appealing Endo book I've read so far. Utterly hopeless and depressing, and this is coming from someone who gets more than your average degree of satisfaction from books that wallow.
Read
January 11, 2015This short, somewhat disjointed novel affirms what I already understood from Silence and a few of Endo's short stories: this man is obsessed with the idea of apostasy and nominalism in Christianity. Volcano doesn't work well as a whole unit, but there are stunning, even grotesque passages that I would recommend to anyone interested in the topic of Christian guilt.
December 8, 2008
An interesting story about an old volcano in Japan that related to the characters in the story, althought it has a little bit anticlimax because the eruption that I waited never happen until the book ended.
March 4, 2017
Most of this book was pretty well-written, and it did grip me. I give it only 3 stars for the ending. Quite disappointed in the ending. I'm sure it means something, but it left me flat. Perhaps sometime I'll read a literary critique of this work, and maybe I will appreciate it more.
December 11, 2013
i did not like this book by jake maddox. if you read this book
December 30, 2013
A moving and thought-provoking work.
June 20, 2014
The first Endo book I read. He is probably my second favorite Japanese writer, after Mishima
May 16, 2017
Che amarezza...
November 23, 2018
A thought-provoking tale of; regret, aging, and the fear of death. While I prefer Silence as my go-to Endo novel, this was a great book. Also, it was pretty short, so I recommend giving it a shot.
December 24, 2018
Actual rating: 2.75
August 21, 2022
"A volcano resembles human life. In youth it gives rein to the passions, and burns with fire. It spurts out lava. But when it grows old, it assumes the burden of those past evil deeds. It turns deathly quiet..."
I picked up this my fourth Endo novel while fresh from a rather hefty tome (anything above 350 pages is, for me, considered a doorstopper) and needing something shorter to read on this Sunday morning, before I work again in the afternoon.
When I look back on how busy pre-pandemic Sundays were (running to church and then to do groceries at the mall, family lunch and perhaps squeeze in a play or concert, or movie), I think pandemic Sundays offer more in terms of opportunity for both spiritual renewal and, let's face it, getting up to speed on work (C'est la vie, in "the next normal" of education). Who knew so much time would be freed up when one hides away from crowded malls?
Shusaku Endo is, fittingly, meant to be read on Sundays. Reading his books is similar to what Catholics feel when at church, listening to a particularly good sermon (which, like good books, are not as common as they ought to be and should be prized for their rarity). There is the mirror held up (behold your sins), the shame, then the resolve to be better. The better the sermon and the more respected the priest, the higher the likelihood of Sunday thought to be carried out to weekday action.
We have in VOLCANO the usual Catholic literature style of exposing people's most sinful thoughts. Like Graham Greene, Shusaku Endo does not shy away from putting on paper those most shameful desires of ours, the full spectrum of human pettiness and depravity made permanent on paper.
But while his other works seemed to end more hopefully, VOLCANO is unusually darker and morbid, plus it ends so ambiguously that this reader (who, like a good Catholic, wants her endings to end if not happily then at least with finality) is left with a disquiet soul.
This MAY be the point. While other brands of Christianity offer assurance in the forms of automatic salvation, Catholicism does not remove personal responsibility. There is no free pass, no matter how many masses or confessions one attends, because each person needs to put in the work to live Christ-like, daily, amidst all the world's evil.
Broken contracts. Dishonor. Mean thoughts against family members. Hypocrisy. The novel rings as true now as it was when Endo wrote this in 1959: "Evil itself is a volcano that will never be extinct."
Two men occupy neighboring rooms in a local hospital in Japan. One is a retired scientist who spent his whole life studying the (fictional) volcano Akadeke. The other is a defrocked foreign priest whose overflowing bitterness stems from envy and a "lust for controlling the lives of others."
You would think that this is a set up for a debate on religion versus science, or turn into a disaster thriller.
But this is Shusaku Endo, whom one reads because, like the master of human nature that he is, his works are unpredictable.
Endo writes of shared humanity. The two men have nothing in common... except a shared obsession with the volcano's fate (will it erupt or not?) and the sinfulness of living selfish, love-less lives. This loneliness in old age comes for both, never mind that one followed society's script and raised a family, while the other broke his order's rules every chance he got. The price of two cold hearts.
Genuine love, Endo reminds us, is not borne from outward acts, church memberships, formal relationships or positions. A baptism on paper means nothing without a genuine desire to love our neighbor.
Both men break down physically because they are unable to reconcile their innermost being with the truths they observe around them. Such selfishness has far-reaching consequences not just for them, but for their community.
For a very short 172 pages, Endo - as usual - leaves this reader pondering life choices. And while I wish this book had been cheerier, that would have lessened its ending's impact.
I picked up this my fourth Endo novel while fresh from a rather hefty tome (anything above 350 pages is, for me, considered a doorstopper) and needing something shorter to read on this Sunday morning, before I work again in the afternoon.
When I look back on how busy pre-pandemic Sundays were (running to church and then to do groceries at the mall, family lunch and perhaps squeeze in a play or concert, or movie), I think pandemic Sundays offer more in terms of opportunity for both spiritual renewal and, let's face it, getting up to speed on work (C'est la vie, in "the next normal" of education). Who knew so much time would be freed up when one hides away from crowded malls?
Shusaku Endo is, fittingly, meant to be read on Sundays. Reading his books is similar to what Catholics feel when at church, listening to a particularly good sermon (which, like good books, are not as common as they ought to be and should be prized for their rarity). There is the mirror held up (behold your sins), the shame, then the resolve to be better. The better the sermon and the more respected the priest, the higher the likelihood of Sunday thought to be carried out to weekday action.
We have in VOLCANO the usual Catholic literature style of exposing people's most sinful thoughts. Like Graham Greene, Shusaku Endo does not shy away from putting on paper those most shameful desires of ours, the full spectrum of human pettiness and depravity made permanent on paper.
But while his other works seemed to end more hopefully, VOLCANO is unusually darker and morbid, plus it ends so ambiguously that this reader (who, like a good Catholic, wants her endings to end if not happily then at least with finality) is left with a disquiet soul.
This MAY be the point. While other brands of Christianity offer assurance in the forms of automatic salvation, Catholicism does not remove personal responsibility. There is no free pass, no matter how many masses or confessions one attends, because each person needs to put in the work to live Christ-like, daily, amidst all the world's evil.
Broken contracts. Dishonor. Mean thoughts against family members. Hypocrisy. The novel rings as true now as it was when Endo wrote this in 1959: "Evil itself is a volcano that will never be extinct."
Two men occupy neighboring rooms in a local hospital in Japan. One is a retired scientist who spent his whole life studying the (fictional) volcano Akadeke. The other is a defrocked foreign priest whose overflowing bitterness stems from envy and a "lust for controlling the lives of others."
You would think that this is a set up for a debate on religion versus science, or turn into a disaster thriller.
But this is Shusaku Endo, whom one reads because, like the master of human nature that he is, his works are unpredictable.
Endo writes of shared humanity. The two men have nothing in common... except a shared obsession with the volcano's fate (will it erupt or not?) and the sinfulness of living selfish, love-less lives. This loneliness in old age comes for both, never mind that one followed society's script and raised a family, while the other broke his order's rules every chance he got. The price of two cold hearts.
Genuine love, Endo reminds us, is not borne from outward acts, church memberships, formal relationships or positions. A baptism on paper means nothing without a genuine desire to love our neighbor.
Both men break down physically because they are unable to reconcile their innermost being with the truths they observe around them. Such selfishness has far-reaching consequences not just for them, but for their community.
For a very short 172 pages, Endo - as usual - leaves this reader pondering life choices. And while I wish this book had been cheerier, that would have lessened its ending's impact.
November 12, 2020
I really have been wanting to read "Silence" but the library had "Volcano" so I decided to try that as my introduction to Shusaku Endo. It was interesting, meditative, and sad.
In a way, it was an interesting complement to "A Hologram for a King" which I finished just before it because they both concerned older men confronting an end to their careers and an end to their health and vitality. "Hologram" was of course a bit more uplifting by the end but I found "Volcano" to be more moving. I kind of wish it was a little longer, though, and maybe more straightforward because by the end I felt like I was missing something, or maybe just needed to be more experienced in reading Japanese literature to fully understand all the themes and what it was doing. I really *did* expect the volcano to explode at the end and kill everyone in Villa Theresa or for Aiba's business ventures to come to ruin. But... they didn't.
Schuchert's introduction talked about the volcano representing a looming evil yet, Durand and Suda had so much unhappiness in their lives that they came to recognize at the very end--what was the point of having this looming evil when there was evil all around them? (Especially in Suda's case, i felt where his son, daughter in law, and wife all seemed to hate him.)
And speaking of the wife (Taka) -- Suda overemphasizes that he never cheated on her when it was very apparent to me that he was cheating on her in a sense with the volcano. Akakake was his true love and passion, not her. At least he had that love in his life, but he died wondering if that love was going to "betray" him in the end (by exploding and contradicting his life's work).
In a way, it was an interesting complement to "A Hologram for a King" which I finished just before it because they both concerned older men confronting an end to their careers and an end to their health and vitality. "Hologram" was of course a bit more uplifting by the end but I found "Volcano" to be more moving. I kind of wish it was a little longer, though, and maybe more straightforward because by the end I felt like I was missing something, or maybe just needed to be more experienced in reading Japanese literature to fully understand all the themes and what it was doing. I really *did* expect the volcano to explode at the end and kill everyone in Villa Theresa or for Aiba's business ventures to come to ruin. But... they didn't.
Schuchert's introduction talked about the volcano representing a looming evil yet, Durand and Suda had so much unhappiness in their lives that they came to recognize at the very end--what was the point of having this looming evil when there was evil all around them? (Especially in Suda's case, i felt where his son, daughter in law, and wife all seemed to hate him.)
And speaking of the wife (Taka) -- Suda overemphasizes that he never cheated on her when it was very apparent to me that he was cheating on her in a sense with the volcano. Akakake was his true love and passion, not her. At least he had that love in his life, but he died wondering if that love was going to "betray" him in the end (by exploding and contradicting his life's work).
March 22, 2022
There are many volcanoes in Japan, but Akadake, as the volcano in Endo's novel is called, is not one of them. It is a fictional mountain, but is seems to have been based on Mt Sakurajima, the large volcano looming up above the city of Kagoshima in southern Kyushu. Kyushu is also the island where, in the 16th century, Christianity first flourished in Japan.
Volcano is a novel about the trials of old age. The two aged protagonists are Suda Jinpei, who is just retired from his position as section chief at the local Weather Bureau, and Durand, an unfrocked French Catholic priest. The fates of both men are linked by the volcano. Suda has for his whole life studied the volcano and believes it is dormant, reason why he advises a tycoon to build a luxury hotel on its slope. Durand, sick and bitter, is convinced that Akadake will erupt and that a tide of lava will sweep away the new Christian retreat being built on the mountain by a rival priest.
Suda suffers a stroke, and while in hospital believes that his family wants him to die. He feels sympathy for the volcano which is also dying. Durand contemplates the problem of Christianity and Japan and comes to the conclusion that Christianity is alien to the Japanese character. To him Akadake is a symbol of evil that will erupt and annihilate the fragile faith of the local Christian community.
See my website about modern Japanese fiction: https://adblankestijn.blogspot.com/p/...
Volcano is a novel about the trials of old age. The two aged protagonists are Suda Jinpei, who is just retired from his position as section chief at the local Weather Bureau, and Durand, an unfrocked French Catholic priest. The fates of both men are linked by the volcano. Suda has for his whole life studied the volcano and believes it is dormant, reason why he advises a tycoon to build a luxury hotel on its slope. Durand, sick and bitter, is convinced that Akadake will erupt and that a tide of lava will sweep away the new Christian retreat being built on the mountain by a rival priest.
Suda suffers a stroke, and while in hospital believes that his family wants him to die. He feels sympathy for the volcano which is also dying. Durand contemplates the problem of Christianity and Japan and comes to the conclusion that Christianity is alien to the Japanese character. To him Akadake is a symbol of evil that will erupt and annihilate the fragile faith of the local Christian community.
See my website about modern Japanese fiction: https://adblankestijn.blogspot.com/p/...
May 29, 2024
Jinpei Suda has just retired as the director of the local meteorological institute. He is considered the expert on the Akadate volcano that lies just across the bay. For years the volcano has been inactive, and Suda has declared it extinct. But with the arrival of a new, eager young member in the institute who challenges his judgement, Suda becomes insecure and starts to climb the volcano again.
Father Sato is exhilarated. He finally received permission to build a new church on the foot of the Akadate. It will be larger and more beautiful than any of the churches in the vicinity. The land is bought and all but cleared and he impatiently awaits the start of the construction.
(Father) Durand, however, the former priest of the parish has his doubts. He has had them for a long time now, not just about god but about almost anything. Having turned a cynical, sick old man, he hopes that the Akadate will erupt to wash away the old and make place for the new.
An interesting but rather slow novel about people’s fears and hopes and about getting old and seeing the new destroying – or at least replacing – what you have built. The stories of the three main characters above are only loosely connected; they live more next to each other than with each other. I found Durand, the expelled priest, the most interesting character. His cynical doubts and painful (self-) accusations make him the most memorable of the protagonists.
Father Sato is exhilarated. He finally received permission to build a new church on the foot of the Akadate. It will be larger and more beautiful than any of the churches in the vicinity. The land is bought and all but cleared and he impatiently awaits the start of the construction.
(Father) Durand, however, the former priest of the parish has his doubts. He has had them for a long time now, not just about god but about almost anything. Having turned a cynical, sick old man, he hopes that the Akadate will erupt to wash away the old and make place for the new.
An interesting but rather slow novel about people’s fears and hopes and about getting old and seeing the new destroying – or at least replacing – what you have built. The stories of the three main characters above are only loosely connected; they live more next to each other than with each other. I found Durand, the expelled priest, the most interesting character. His cynical doubts and painful (self-) accusations make him the most memorable of the protagonists.
November 10, 2024
Endo grapples with ideas of aging, loss of religion, and the substance of ordinary life set against the seemingly diametrical backdrops of Japanese culture and Catholicism. There is a thoughtful interplay between the lives of two similar old men: Jinpei Suda, a retired volcanologist, and Durand, a disgraced “apostate” Catholic priest; though the former is a Shinto Buddhist and the latter a Christian, they are linked by their obsession of a local volcano, Akadake, and the gnawing realization that their lives were ultimately meaningless and empty. Unfortunately for the reader, both characters are almost irredeemably unlikeable and corrupt, which makes trying to relate to them (let alone having any interest in the narrative) uncomfortable and unpleasant. The book also shyly walks along with almost no traditional climactic build— and it ends with a whimper. I turned the last page and was stuck wondering if I had missed something. Truly unfortunate, I really wanted to love this book as the premise interested me and I’d heard huge things about Endo’s greater oeuvre. No point in dwelling. On to the next.
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