Shūsaku Endō (1923–1996) was a renowned Japanese author. His many books include Silence, The Samurai, Deep River, and The Sea and Poison. Van C. Gessel is a professor in the department of Asian and Near Eastern Languages at Brigham Young University. Caryl Phillips is an award-winning novelist, essayist, and playwright.

Praise for Shūsaku Endō:“[Endō is] a master of the interior monologue.”—New York Times Book Review“A writer of rare perception and disquieting honesty.”—Evening Standard“One of Japan’s greatest twentieth-century writers.”—Publishers Weekly“I think about Silence, and Endō’s work more generally, all the time.”―Phil Klay, author of Redeployment and Winner of the 2014 National Book Award“Endō is to my mind one of the finest living novelists.”―Graham Greene, author of The Power and the Glory“A masterly historical writer.”—David Mitchell, author of Cloud Atlas“[Confronting the Shadows is] not juvenilia from the start of Endō’s career, or a wistful late autumnal flourish. This is a writer working at the height of his powers.”—from the foreword by Caryl Phillips“Endō is a consummate writer who, as a master photographer, brings intense sentiment, character, and movement out of the subtle light and shadows that he focuses around his subject.”―Choice