Wonderful Fool (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: Shūsaku Endō
- First Published: 1959
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Wit and humor
- Time of Work: 1975
- Setting: Tokyo, Japan
- Genres: Long fiction
- Subjects: 1950’s, Culture, Class conflict, Crime or criminals, Missions or missionaries, Religion, Manners or customs, Social life, Death or dying, Ethics, Heroes or heroism, Japan or Japanese people
- Locales: Tokyo, Japan
Characters Discussed
Gaston (Gas) Bonaparte, a native of the Savoy region in France and a descendant of Emperor Napoleon I. Having failed to qualify as a missionary priest in France, he has followed an inner call to journey to Japan to act out some nebulous missionary role despite his limited knowledge of Japanese. A gigantic man resembling a sumo wrestler, he has a long, horselike face, with sad eyes. Despite his size and his obvious strength, he is a coward who will not even defend himself against an attacker. Moreover, he is both a simpleton and a bungler. He is a man of...
[The entire page is 671 words long]
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