LONDON -- For oddly different reasons the names of two not so long dead Catholic novelists from East and West are prominently, simultaneously, in the news. Because of two books dealing with his sexuality and the release of a quirky film based on "The End of the Affair," the ambivalent nature of Graham Greene's Catholicism and his literary merits are being imaginatively argued about in Britain.
Because of his growing international reputation and his widow's dedication, Endo Shusaku's memory is being enshrined in a remarkable memorial near Nagasaki. Between these two authors, by chance I once played the adventitious role of go-between.
Greene I knew from school days as a famous author, first through his books, beginning with "The Power and the Glory," which (when I was 16) a Jesuit teacher urged me to read, but not before I was 21. With Endo I became friendly in the process of getting to know Japan as a journalist (first visiting the country with Maurice Edelman in 1963); then in some depth through running the Anglo-Japanese Economic Institute and making annual visits to Tokyo from 1988.
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