초록 열기/닫기 버튼
Endo Shusaku’s most well-known work Silence takes place during the persecution of Kirishitan in Japan and depicts the agony of a priest who had no choice but to commit apostasy and the image of a God who embraces and forgives the weak human beings. It is a historical novel based on the desperation that the author himself felt during a near-death experience, sympathy toward the weak who lived during the oppression of Kirishitan, and systematic research conducted by the author on the Kirishitan period. Unlike most novels, Silence takes a particular form of a prologue, chapters 1through 9, “Diary of an Officer at the Christian Residence,” an appendix and from the actions and words of the characters described in the prologue, it can be seen that the work attaches a great significance to historicity and is a historical novel telling a story which stays true to historical facts. Considering that the novel is based on historicity, it is worth taking notice of the author’s historical awareness as expressed in the two diaries included in the novel which are rewritings of historical documents. This thesis focuses on the “Diary of the Dutch Clerk Jonassen in Nagasaki Dejima,” the less studied diary of the two until now, and contemplates on how the author wrote the diary based on the original document “Diaries Kept in the Dutch Factory in Nagasaki.”As “Diary of the Dutch Clerk Jonassen in Nagasaki Dejima” is a part of the novel, the main characters of the novel Rodrigues and Ferreira are set as the main actors so that the content of the diary may connect with the novel. Furthermore, instead of keeping the names of multiple Dutch clerks who write in the original diary, the author creates a fictional character named Jonassen and designates him the diary writer, thereby preventing unnecessary dispersion of the reader’s attention. In examining the “Diary of the Dutch Clerk Jonassen in Nagasaki Dejima,” the most important fact is that the dates of the diary are limited to the years 1644 and 1645. To contemplate on the diary, it is of utmost importance to understand that the year 1644 is recorded in history as the year when there were no priests remaining in Japan. It can be surmised that by setting the diary in 1644 and the following year and depicting the activities of two apostasy priests Rodrigues and Ferreira, Endo Shusaku sought to prove that although 1644 is recorded as a year when no priests were left in Japan, during that time and afterwards, many apostasy priests who had renounced Christianity in public maintained their faith and played an active role underground. In addition, putting together the contents of another diary following the “Diary of the Dutch Clerk Jonassen in Nagasaki Dejima,” “Diary of an Officer at the Christian Residence,” and the contents of various essays written by the author reveals that, through the two diaries, Endo Shusaku is delineating “Kakure Kirishitan,” a religious group unique to Japan, who, since the martyrdom of the last priest Konishi Mancio in 1643 or 1644 and the ban on social activities, have kept and practiced their Kirishitan faith in their hearts even as they disguised themselves as Buddhists until they were able to practice openly. Ultimately, through “Diary of the Dutch Clerk Jonassen in Nagasaki Dejima,”Endo Shusaku sought to convey a message of forgiveness and hope for those living in shadow because they cannot deny that they are descendants of apostates yet have cherished their faith in their hearts to come out into the light and to acknowledge the lives of Kakure Kirishtans who had to spread their faith in hiding even in face of oppression.
키워드열기/닫기 버튼
persecution of Kirishitan, historical novel, historical document, apostasy, Kakure Kirishitan
