Wonderful Fool Author:Shusaku Endo The publication in English of Shusaku Endo's _Wonderful Fool_ must add to the growing reputation of this Japanese writer. — In Wonderful Fool, Endo a catholic, continues his examination of "mudswamp Japan" - his phrase for the Japanese inner world of moral apathy and insensitivity to God and sin - as it interacts and contrasts with the world of t... more »he Christian West. _Wonderful Fool _ is Endo's first novel to suggest a way out of the swamp. It is also hi first to give full play to his extraordinary sense of humor and his gift for narrative.
The self-sacrificing trusting, gentle love of essential Christianity is represented by the French youth Gaston, the "wonderful fool." On a visit to Japan he at first strikes hi young hosts,Takamori and his sister Tomoe, as an utter fool, clumsy and naive, but they soon discover that Gaston has one great virtue: and overpowering and completely self-sacrificing love of people and animals. His trusting love forces all who come into contact with him, even a hardened killer, to face up to themselves and challenges them to change. Endo presents the story of Gaston's adventures in modern Japan as a kind of fable yet with comlete realism and keen social satire.« less