James Clavell's Historical Novels of Asia

[VanS3n]

anybody familiar w/ James Clavell?

has anyone here read his works especially his "Story of Asia" ..?

Shogun, Taipan, Gai-jin, King Rat, The Noble House and Whirlwind

*looks around*

already read Shogun, Taipan and Gai-jin ... am currently reading King Rat

[richvh]

I read "Shogun" years ago, and maybe "Whirlwind" - is that the one set in Iran during the Shah's overthrow in the 70s? - but not the rest. I also watched the "Shogun" miniseries when it first aired.

[VanS3n]

sugoi!! ^__^V

well.. I also wanted to watch the miniseries of Shogun..

I love that book..

[AJBryant]

"Shogun" was what first got me into Japanese stuff. WHen I was a freshman in college, I was a friend of the college librarian, who suggested I should read this cool novel. I did, and the rest was history.

I used to read it about once every six or eight months, but I haven't been able to read it now for about twenty years. Knowledge kinda does that to you sometimes. It ruins the guilty pleasures, as I can see the millions of mistakes in the book now.


Tony

[Seijiro Hiko]

My youth minister said this was a good book too. I guess I'll look it up sometime.

[Infidel]

they are not historical novels, they are fiction set in the past. A historical novel tries to be as true to facts as possible and only embellish where it is not.

I just re-read shogun a month or two ago having originally read it sometime in high school and thinking it was great. Like Tony, I was amazed at all the mistakes that were now obvious based on my current knowledge of Japanese history, culture, and language. Shogun was also one of the original factors that got me interested in Japan.

[VanS3n]

oh well.. ^^V

well first and foremost it is a "novel" .. weheheh.. so there should be fiction or lemme say that the entire work is fictional in nature...

but when we say historical.. well.. I guess James Clavell claimed its as such since he based most if not the whole story on real historical events and real historical personages...

I am a history major also so I found alot of those stuffs in the book... irregularities in the historical claims ^^V

I had been fond of the Japanese mind set of things before even encountering the book... when I finally was able to borrow a copy of Shogun from a fellow anime artist .. my deepest sense of respect for Japanese culture was somehow strengthened... and a greater sense of respect to the author on how he wrote his stories that became my reason to pursue most of his works for literary purposes.. especially the other novels related to Shogun ...

^____^V

[clay]

When I learned I was going to Japan (in the JET program), I rented the entire TV mini-series (too lazy to read the book). I watched all episodes in 2 sittings. I had a major headache after, but it was great.

It would be interesting to watch it or read the book now. Maybe I will.

[AJBryant]

Keep the barf-bucket nearby.

You'll especially love the reference to baggage porters as "aka-boshi" (anyone remember "redcaps"?) and the mention of a "sea-worthy ship" as "a ship that is deserving of (= worthy to possess) the sea."...

To say nothing of all the names of MAJOR characters that can't even exist in Japanese.

And that whole bit about inflection and pitch distinguishing among "ikimasu" (I go) and "ikimasu" (he goes) and "ikimasu" (you go)...

And the horrid misrepresentation of "-sama" "-san" and "-chan" in the sengoku period...

And...

Tony

[Infidel]

still, because of Shougun, that is my favorite time period of Japanese history.

[two_heads_talking]

let it go Tony.. lol.. Let it go.. they didn't have accurate charcter development back then.. hell watch the original of The Titanic and then read about it, the movie is just plain garbage..

[AJBryant]

The film "Titanic" only had two good things going for it, and Kate Winslett had 'em.


Tony

[laurenkendall]

I read Shogun back in sixth grade and I loved it. That was... wow, a long time ago. I think I'm going to go read it again now.
^-^

p.s. hahahahaha tony ^^^^ freaking hilarious. I agree.