GOD BETWEENGOD THE LINES God Between the Lines ed. by Tiziano Tosolini God Between the Lines The authors under study here belong to a wide and heteroge- neous religious background. Kazi Nazrul Islam (1899–1976), the Rebel Poet of Bangla- desh, was a Muslim. Yusuf Bilyarta Mangunwijaya (1929–1999), the priest-architect of Indonesia, was a Catholic. Endō Shūsaku (1923–1996), the restless-novelist of Japan, was also a Catholic, while Huang Chun Ming (1935–), the farmer-novelist of Taiwan, is a Folk Religion believer. These authors, while very much immersed and situated in Tosolini Tiziano their own specific time and context, expressed and witnessed a common human con- cern, although it was embodied in culturally different forms. Furthermore, they man- ifested in their literary production an outstanding capability of reflecting, interpreting and narrating the cultural core of being Bengali, Indonesian, Japanese and Taiwanese respectively —From the Introduction Asian Study Centre Study Asian tudy S C n en ia t s r e A Xaverian Missionaries – Japan God Between the Lines Asian Study Centre Series FABRIZIO TOSOLINI. Esperienza Missionaria in Paolo. 2002. S. Targa, F. Tosolini, T. Tosolini. To What Needs are Our Cultures Responding? 2003. S. Targa, F. Tosolini, T. Tosolini. Culture and Alterity. 2004. S. Targa, F. Tosolini, T. Tosolini. Experiences of Conversion. 2005. Fabrizio Tosolini. The Letter to the Romans and St. Paul’s Grace and Apostleship:Towards a New Interpretation. Edited with Fu Jen Catholic University Press, Taipei, Taiwan. 2005. Tiziano Tosolini. Controstorie dal Giappone. 2006. S. Targa, F. Tosolini, T. Tosolini. Faith and Money. 2006. Tiziano Tosolini ed., Women in Context. 2007. Tiziano Tosolini ed., Mission and Globalization. 20o9. Tiziano Tosolini ed., The Other Within. 2010. Tiziano Tosolini ed., Church and Culture. Selected Texts (1965–2009). Foreword by Mons. Gianfranco Ravasi, President of the Pontificial Council for Culture. 2010. Tiziano Tosolini ed., Chiesa e Cultura. Testi Scelti (1965–2009). Prefazione di Mons. Gianfranco Ravasi, Presidente del Pontificio Consiglio della Cultura. 2010. Tiziano Tosolini ed., Death and Those Beyond. 2011. Tiziano Tosolini ed., L’oggi del dialogo. 2012. Tiziano Tosolini ed., Threshold Religion. 2012. Tiziano Tosolini ed., Asia and Human Rights. 2013. Tiziano Tosolini ed., Borderline Gender. 2014. Tiziano Tosolini ed., Family Changes. 2015. Tiziano Tosolini ed., God Between the Lines. 2016. God Between the Lines edited by Tiziano Tosolini tudy S C n en ia t s r e A Xaverian Missionaries – Japan Published by Asian Study Centre Ichiba Higashi 1–103–1 598–0005 Izumisano (Osaka), Japan Private edition, 2016 Printed in Taipei (Taiwan roc) Contents Introduction 3 Bangladesh – Sergio Targa Kazi Nazrul Islam (1899–1976) 7 Nazrul’s Life: A Parable of Exuberance, Struggle and Tragedy 9 Nazrul and Religion 27 Nazrul between Conventional and Unconventional Islam 34 Nazrul and Christianity 45 Conclusion 50 Indonesia – Matteo Rebecchi Yusuf Bilyarta Mangunwijaya (1929–1999) 55 Romo Mangun’s Life 56 The Architet 60 Fighting Exploitation and Oppression 62 A Revolution that Begins from Education 67 The Writer 69 Burung-Burung Manyar 72 Freedom and the Discovery of the True Self 75 Open Nationalism 78 Siding with the Weak and the Loser 82 “The Glory of God is Man Fully Alive” 86 Conclusion 90 Japan – Tiziano Tosolini Endō Shūsaku (1923–1996) 95 Life and Career 97 113 Historical Setting and Plot of the Novel Silence 119 Beyond the “Silence of God” 124 In Search of the Japanese Face of Christ 134 Concluding Remarks Taiwan – Luigino Marchioron 141 Huang Chun Ming 黃春明 (1935–) 145 Some Biographical Data 148 Historical and Literary Context. Xiang Tu Wen Xue (鄉土文學), the “Nativist Literature” or “Literature of the Native Land” Movement 151 Analysis of the Short Story The Taste of Apples (ping guo de zi wei 蘋果的滋味) 158 The Value of “Com-passion” 162 Conclusion 165 Conclusion Introduction S. Targa, L. Marchioron he essays collected in this book attempt to recog- nize “God between the lines” in selected literature of four Asian countries: Bangladesh, Indonesia, Japan Tand Taiwan. The first to benefit from, and marvel at, reading this literary production were the members of the Asian Study Centre themselves. The discovery of the universality of the medium of literature and of its profound insight, together with its poignant descriptions of a culturally shaped, but also con- stantly open human heart, led us to experience the importance of a proclamation of the Gospel that cannot but walk the way of lived out human experiences as they become codified into the multiform literary expressions of peoples. Interestingly, the authors under study here belong to a wide and heterogeneous religious background. Kazi Nazrul Islam (1899–1976), the Rebel Poet of Bangladesh, was a Muslim. Yusuf Bilyarta Mangunwijaya (1929–1999), the priest-architect of Indonesia, was a Catholic. Endō Shūsaku (1923–1996), the 4 | God Between the Lines restless-novelist of Japan, was also a Catholic, while Huang Chun Ming (1935–), the farm- er-novelist of Taiwan, is a Folk Religion believer. These authors, while very much immersed and situated in their own specific time and context, expressed and witnessed a common human concern, although it was embodied in culturally different forms. Furthermore, they manifested in their literary production an outstanding capability of reflecting, interpreting and narrating the cultural core of being Bengali, Indonesian, Japanese and Taiwanese respectively. Kazi Nazrul Islam, in a colonial context, emphasized the equality of all people uncon- ditioned either by space or by time, culture or race, and based this on the human being’s “blood-relation” with God himself. Whatever constituted an obstacle to human emanci- pation was to be overcome, hence his often unconventional stand. In a similar context, Yusuf Bilyarta Mangunwijaya grounded his concern for solidarity, democratisation and a renewed education in the Church’s tradition. Characteristic of his vision is an open-na- tionalism which is itself a post-nationalism (Pasca-Indonesia), the practical fulfilment of the Pancasila principles. While Nazrul and Mangun were more concerned with a sociological and political context, Endō Shūsaku instead manifested and shaped a more spiritual and psychological struggle. He fought a cultural battle to discover Christ anew as companion of humanity, a Christ with maternal traits, a kenotic Christ who suffers with those who are tortured. Shūsaku finally hears the voice of God who speaks to him beyond the silence. Shūsaku’s internal struggle is paralleled, as it were, by Huang Chun Ming’s compas- sionate contemplation of seemingly insignificant ordinary people, facing the conflict between the new and the old, the rural and the urban, the traditional and the modern. This anthropological and cultural struggle, brought about by globalization, is confronted with a rediscovered virtue of compassion as a civil and social virtue, in which the emo- tional capacity for empathy and sympathy are regarded as part of love itself, and the cornerstone of greater social interconnectedness and humanism. The authors wish to thank the Xaverian Missionaries for their support, those who helped us in the research and those who revised the English text: Fr. Steve McKend sx, Fr. John Fagan sx, Ms Lauren Hanson, Sr. Nancy Murphy rscj, Alberto Bertozzi and Fr. Succu G. Paolo sx (for helping with the cover design). In grateful remembrance of Fr. Everaldo Dos Santos sx, a special word of thanks goes to the General Direction of the Xaverian Missionaries, the local community of the Jakarta Procura together with the whole of the Xaverian Region of Indonesia, for fraternally hosting our annual meeting in July 2016. Finally, the Asian Study Centre expresses its heartfelt gratitude to the Xaverian Region of Japan for its continuous financial support. God Between the Lines Bangladesh Sergio Targa azi Nazrul Islam (1899–1976), the Rebel Poet, as he is known all over the Indian subcontinent, is controversially counted among major litterateurs of Bengal.K Living in the epoch in which Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) was the absolute and unchallenged king of Bengal’s literature, Nazrul managed quite easily and without artificiality of any sort, unlike other poets of the day, to carve out for himself a space in the hardened hearts of the toiling Hindu and Muslim masses of Bengal. Tagore, despite his, perhaps, superior poetic might, because of his elitist background and appeal, could not but become the greatest poet of Bengal, of the academia, of the literati circles but not of the Bengalis. Nazrul, since the publication of his masterpiece, Bidrohi, The Rebel, in 1921–22, was identified as and still is the poet of dissent. Born in British colonial India, Nazrul was not only a poet, he was also a patriot, a nationalist, a freedom fighter. His first dissent was political: all through his healthy life Nazrul hankered for political freedom from the foreign power that then was ruling India. But Nazrul’s fight was not only political it was, perhaps 8 | God Between the Lines more than anything, also social, cultural and religious. Nazrul fought against anything which was an obstacle to human freedom and development. Allergic, as it were, to all orthodoxies, he envisaged a world united in brotherhood without exploitation of any kind. In his political zeal he therefore contested Gandhian orthodoxy in favour of direct and violent struggle against the colonial power. All forms of superstitions, hypocrisies, and religious manipulations both of Muslim religious orthodoxy and Hindu chauvinism were confronted fearlessly and unrepentantly by Nazrul. Untouchability and caste ideol- ogy, idolatry and religious corruption were not spared either. No less fierce in the end was Nazrul’s struggle to free Bengali literature from the clutches of Tagorian literary criteria and conventions. Nazrul, the rebel, fought on different fronts at the same time having in mind human freedom as his only and necessary aim.