Overview

In 1950s Japan, Doctor Suguro is carrying on a humdrum practice in a small town still recovering from the war. A quiet, withdrawn individual, he has a horrific secret in his past: during the war he participated in an experimental operation on a downed American airman, carrying out a vivisection which led to his agonising death. As we move from the seemingly tranquil, civilised present back into the wartime past, we learn more about the people involved in the operation. There's sensitive Suguro, whose acquiescence at the time has left him with an agonised conscience; Toda, a worldly colleague who readily participated in order to advance his career; and Ueda, a nurse who had no power to resist the plans of her male colleagues - nor any pity for the enemy. Based on real events, this spare, harrowing novel is a profound exploration of the pressures of conflict, the moral numbness of conformity, and the painful legacy of violence.

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9781805332428

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Reviews

'The Sea and Poison is a short novel of considerable power and distinction . . . its effect and its implications are haunting' - TLS 'Shusaku Endo has in this novel exposed a frailty which to some degree we all share' - Sunday Times 'This is an important book . . . but you will need a strong stomach for the graphic descriptions of operations, as blood flows and ribs crack' - Telegraph 'Analytical without being passionless, horrifying without brutality, structured without seeming contrived' - Irish Times 'A remarkable and distinguished novel about the nature of evil, guilt and conscience' - Scotsman

Author Information

SHUSAKU ENDO (1923-1996) was one of the greatest novelists of postwar Japan. Baptised as a Roman Catholic as a child, his work explores the relationship between East and West from his unique perspective as a Japanese Christian. Endo won the Akutagawa Prize and the Yomiuri Literary Prize, was nominated for the Nobel Prize several times, and received an Order of Culture from the Japanese government. Among his other novels are Deep River, The Samurai, and his masterpiece Silence, all published by or forthcoming from Pushkin Press.

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