"Scandal" by Shusaku Endo *****

> 3rd novel so far in year long author read on LibraryThing.com
>Japanese author
> Originally published 1986

> Introduction:

• "This thing called old age is not a beautiful maturity but something loathsome and painful, with lots of ugly aspects to it.  If asked why it is loathsome and ugly, I would say that it is because it is a rite of passage, a preparation for going to the next world.  A rite of passage involves having to undergo ordeals.  That is one of the themes of the novel." - Endo
• "The city is like a human body, containing a multitude of different organs to cater for different functions and desires." - Damian Flanagan
• Novel is autobiographical per Endo himself

> Characters:  Seguro (65 year old author...Endo), Kobari (reporter who wants to topple him from pedestal), Mrs.Naruse (middle aged hospital volunteer and masochist

 > Quotes I Like:

• " As a novelist he could not bring himself to skirt over or ignore any of the components of a human being." - Seguro
• "He had the notion that a true religion should be able to respond to the dark melodies, the faulty and hideous sounds that echo from the hearts of men." - Seguro in answer to the question, "Why don't you write stories that are nicer, more beautiful" (as a Christian)
• "I feel as though our erotic behaviour expresses our profoundest secrets, the ones we ourselves aren't aware of." - Madame Naruse discussing sex with Seguro
• "Midway upon the journey of our life,  I found myself within the forest dark, for the straightforward pathway had been lost."  - "The Divine Comedy"
• "Old age was something hidden from view for many years, only showing itself when it was fanned by the winds that blow from the pit of death."
• "This Jesus you believe in.....I wonder if he was murdered because he was too innocent....too pure"
• "I read somewhere that in our youth we live through our bodies; in our prime we live through our intellect; and in our old age we live through our minds as they prepare  for the journey to the next life."

> Vocabulary:

• biophilous:  a love of life and the living world; the affinity of human beings for other life forms
• doppelganger: ghost double

> Interesting Ideas:

• the author's study indicative of a desire to return to the womb
• Seguro's novels pair with Endo's....."The Voice of Silence"/"Silence",
• Group of young female artists seeking "beauty in ugliness.  an aesthetics of ugliness".....just like Endo's novels
• The psychology of sex "resembles the frame of mind in which one yearns for God.
• I wonder if many journalists feel an inner urge to "shake those who were secure loose from their moorings"....seems a trend in our current affairs
• Shadow self.......not a new concept, but really well written in this story 
• Mrs. Naruse's husbands story of the heart, with items in the storage at the bottom coming to life at night
• necrophilous v. biophilous writers
• strong human desire to return to an inanimate state......strongest in masochists.....masochism as a deformation of a natural instinct...interesting
• Seguro references the title for his next novel...."Scandal:  An Old Man's Prayer"

> Review:   I think this is a novel that took courage to write.  The author, Shusaku Endo, offers his own self-exploration up to the reader as a guide to accepting our own humanity, including the darkest aspects of self.  His protagonist, Seguro, is an author at the pinnacle of his career, at which moment he is confronted by his own doppelganger, or spirit double.  Thus begins a painful exploration of the aspects of self we try to hide from.  With references to "The Divine Comedy", Shakespeare's "King Lear" and other works used to emphasize the universality of Endo's beliefs, this book is uncomfortably marvelous to read.  Take a deep breath before diving in, because you will be a different person when you emerge at the end!