End/ Shnsaku is probably the most widely translated of all Japanese authors. In this first major study of End/‘s works, Mark Williams moves the discussion on from the well-worn depictions of End/ as the 'Japanese Graham Greene’, and places him in his own political and cultural context. Through a discussion covering all End/‘s major novels, the picture painted by Williams is of an author building on his native Japanese tradition in pursuit of a more universal literary portrayal of the individual engaged in his, or her, unique 'process of individuation’. Bringing to light the enduring legacy of an author who has contributed as much as any Japanese writer of his generation to an unmasking of the unsustainability of talk of an ‘East-West divide’, this volume will be of great interest to all those interested in Japanese literature.