The Construction Of Nagasaki’s Image Of “Silence” By Shusaku Endo

Novel “Silence” is Shusaku Endo’s first novel.The novel tells the story of a Portuguese missionary who broke through difficult obstacles to preach in Japan.The creation of the novel "Silence" began with “Starting from a Pedal" by Shusaku Endo.In order to complete the creation,Shusaku Endo wrote many short stories related to "Silence" from his hospital bed,and finally assembled the short stories collection "Elegy".“Elegy” is closely related to” Silence”,and the common feature of these novels is their geographical location in Nagasaki.The importance of Nagasaki to the study of Shusaku Endo’s literature is self-evident.Since Nagasaki was an important trading port during Japan’s prohibition period and also the most prevalent place of Catholicism.Shusaku Endo,as an inspiration for his novels,visited Nagasaki many times.“Silence” is a typical historical narrative novel.The background of the novel is selected in Nagasaki after the Shimabara chaos in 1638.This is suitable for the interpretation and analysis of the novel by linking regional space with historical space.This article starts with a historical perspective,reviewing the history of Nagasaki’s ban on religion,and clarifying the cultural characteristics of Nagasaki during the period of banned by analyzing the tripartite relationship between the banned officials,Japanese Christians,and Western missionaries.Multiple fusion and convergence,struggle and split,novel "Silence" is highly consistent with historical facts.The novel “Silence”is unique in that its protagonists are weak,which is also a major feature of Shusaku Endo’s novels.He likes the conflict of opposites,and the debate between the strong and the weak runs through the whole novel.This paper focuses on the spatial image analysis of Nagasaki under Shusaku Endo’s description.The main theory is Gabriel Zoran’s towards narrative space theory,which treats the Nagasaki under Shusaku Endo’s description from the perspective of language selection,narrative order and perspective selection of the novel.After the space has been shaped,Nagasaki has left a brand that belongs to Shusaku Endo.We can treat the entire space of Nagasaki as a metaphor for literary research.It can be seen that Nagasaki is also in constant change due to the changes and conflicts of the characters’ actions.Flow of space to make the space narrative become more real,whether from the perspective of religious and cultural input and accept,or how to think about the relationship between the strong and the weak,human spirit flows in Shusaku Endo’s writing.He saw himself as the weak,happened for the weak,and found the secret hidden behind history.Shusaku Endo’s growth experience and religious belief changes are an important basis for the paper,from which you can find the reason why the author chose Nagasaki as the background of the novel.By studying the spatial narrative of” Silence”,we can explore the connection between Shusaku Endo and Nagasaki,and his profound thoughts on the behavior of banning and abandoning Catholicism.