The Sea and Poison (New Directions Paperbook, No. 737) (Paperback)

~ (Author), Michael Gallagher (Translator)
Key Phrases: second surgery, electric scalpel, chief nurse, Old Man, Chief Nurse Oba, First Surgery (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Against the backdrop of World War II, Japanese writer Endo ( Scandal ) explores the nature of morality. In this novel, originally published in Japan in 1958, the author examines the inner lives of three characters in the central drama, a grisly vivisection of an American prisoner of war, in an attempt to understand what conscience, or lack of conscience, allowed them to participate in such an atrocity. Through the character of Suguro, an unsophisticated medical intern from the country bullied into acquiescence in the crime by his colleague, Toda, the cynical son of a wealthy doctor, we see how pangs of conscience are not enough to save one from the consequences of participation--even as only an observer--in an unethical act. Endo's finely wrought descriptions of place and the monotonous routine of daily life in a hospital subtly but powerfully evoke the despair and terror of a people at war. He presents here a decidedly postmodern world, where individuals exist in a state of disconnected anomie. Despite its bleakness, the novel is compulsively readable. We are fascinated even as we are repelled by these characters' moral corruption and their slow, inevitable decline.

Copyright 1992 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)

Product Details

• Paperback: 167 pages
• Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation (April 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811211983
• ISBN-13: 978-0811211987
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #517,447 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Info on Film Version, July 14, 2001

By A Customer

My compliments to the reviewers who have contributed to the further publicity of this harrowing and psychologically complex novel, an exploration of those who have denounced their spirituality in exchange for social acceptance, and the consequences they have to suffer. I would like to just add one side note. There is an excellent film adaptation of SEA AND POISON, directed by Kumai Kei in 1986. Because of the controversial subject matter, no major studio would finance the film and it took Kumai years to finish it. (It would certainly not be made in today's Japan, considering the strength of revisionists and glorifiers of the imperial past) This movie has also been nearly completely neglected in the US, no doubt due to its unflinching realism, thoroughly unexotic visuals and political content, something we do not expect from the country mostly known to us through bubblehead animation, Power Rangers and Godzilla. Please do seek it out, if you have wherewithal to do so, and show it to as many Americans (and Chinese, etc.) as you can. I believe the US distrubtor in 1987 was Gates Films.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Indictment of Japan's Prewar Nihilism, July 10, 1999

By A Customer

Endo creates a haunting portrait of characters caught up in the vivisection of an American prisoner of war during the latter days of the Pacific War and their reactions to their crime. Through the separate narrations of each character, we see how the nihilism that swept Japan's prewar intelligentsia prepared each character for his or her role in the vivisection. Evocative of the understatement in Camus's "The Stranger," Endo's characters relate their stories in straight line, cinematic narrations which reveal the desensitivity to life and suffering that Japan's prewar society had conditioned them to, and in doing so Endo offers readers a sober warning of the dangers of living in a moral vacuum.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Crime and Punishment, May 9, 2000

By A Customer

Obedience to authority and power leads people to harm others, and not being able to resist authority of someone higher is human weakenss. It seems that the Intern named Toda is the one Endo wanted to emphasize upon. The charactor of Toda remainds me of Albert Camus's "The Stranger," and Dostoevsky's "Devils," and it can also be related to other charactors Endo draws in his other novels. Can people feel guilty without punishment of the society? What is morality? What is "right" and "wrong" in such an absurd world like today?

There is a sequel to The Sea and Poison. I do not believe that it is published in the United States, but it is about Dr. Suguro's later life. People judge him and punish him under the name of "democracy" and its "justice." Dr. Suguro ends up hanging himself. Can people judge and punish others? If judging and blaming are the meaning of justice, how does it differ from what is unjust?

I am Japanese, and I personally think that Endo is the best writer from our country. I strongly recommend all his work to Americans.