Silence (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: Shūsaku Endō
- First Published: 1966
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Historical realism
- Time of Work: The seventeenth century
- Setting: Japan
- Genres: Long fiction, Historical fiction
- Subjects: Voyages, Missions or missionaries, Religion, Spiritual life or spirituality, Seventeenth century, Christianity, Martyrs or martyrdom, Japan or Japanese people, East and West
- Locales: Nagasaki, Japan
Characters Discussed
Sebastian Rodrigues (seh-bahs-tee- AHN rrohd-REE-gehs), a young Portuguese seminarian. Rodrigues, with two other priests, acquires permission to journey to Japan to track down his former mentor to learn why he has renounced his faith. Because the novel is essentially the spiritual odyssey of Rodrigues told through his correspondence, his character is discerned through his sensitive and candid portrayal of the events around him, which are filtered through the eyes of one seeking to understand and exonerate his beloved teacher from his ostensible apostasy....
[The entire page is 896 words long]
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