So… things regarding where I was going to work did not go as planned today. The result is that I had a bit more time to read than I expected today, so I managed to finish An English Murder as planned!

I definitely enjoyed this reread very much. The humour is gentle but constant and now that I think about it, it reminds me a bit of Berkeley’s humour. And the book actually treats anti-semitism as a problematic view and not one that is to be glossed over. In terms of how social issues are dealt with, this book is refreshingly unproblematic for its time. Considering how I was disappointed by Five Children and It, I was really pleased with this.

And since I was done, I managed to pick up another book – this time from Endo Shusaku. Foreign Studies is described as three separate narratives, but it’s really two short stories and a novella. Today, I managed to finish reading the introduction and the two short stories.

The introduction is by Endo and it’s interesting to see him reflect on how his view has changed, and how he moved from the viewpoint that the East and West are unable to understand one another to a viewpoint that meaningful communication between the two is possible.

The first story, A Summer in Rouen, is a personal one (though he adds that it’s not about his experience), as a Japanese student moves to Rouen to study and learn the French language. Though he has religion in common with his hosts, he still feels like a fish out of water and Endo manages to capture this discomfort wonderfully.

The second story, Araki Thomas, is very different from the first. Where the first is a personal account of one’s experiences, Araki Thomas reads like a report about the titular character, who went to Europe to study but ended up apostasizing when Christianity was banned in Japan. It reminded me a little of his other novel, The Samurai, but we aren’t really given a glimpse into Araki’s heart.

Tomorrow, I’ll start the third narrative/the novella. It’s a bit intimidating since this is like 90% of the book, but given how much I enjoyed these two short stories, I’m optimistic I will enjoy that too.