In those rare moments of tranquility afforded by my busy life, I often find myself reaching for a novel of faraway lands, hoping that in the prose I will somehow find a proxy for the actual vacations I frequently envision yet rarely achieve. Having read so much fiction rooted on the European continent, it’s of particular delight to journey to the East in the popularly-termed “Asian Saga” of my favorite author, James Clavell.
Seventeen years after his death in 1994 to a cancer-induced stroke, Clavell’s collective works still stand as monuments of historical fiction. Probably best known for his novel Shogun (my personal favorite, made into a TV miniseries in 1980), Clavell penned works that span both centuries and countries. He wrote of Japanese society three times, from Shogun’s brilliant portrayal of Japanese civil war set in the 1600s to Gai-Jin’s 1860’s portrayal of trade wars to King Rat’s account of life in a World War II Japanese POW camp. He also wrote about war of the corporate kind in Noble House (miniseries starring Pierce Brosnan), set in Hong Kong in 1963, after having previously established the historical roots of many of that novel’s characters in the Hong Kong-based Tai-Pan, set circa 1841.
Clavell, a real-life WW II POW according to the New World Encyclopedia, was in my view nothing short of a poet in a novelist’s body. His plots were multi-layered and compelling to the core, but it was in the intricate and haunting beauty with which he expressed his characters that Clavell most thoroughly captivated his audience. It is in those character’s lives and loves, their joys and triumphs, and their sorrows and their loss, that Clavell’s words worked their majesty. His characters were often flawed and imperfect, and frequently scarred by tragedy, yet his readers were ever richer for the experience of having known them, and forever affected by their loss.
To read a Clavell novel is to immerse yourself in linguistic and cultural opulence. My only regret upon completing one of his works is that there aren’t more of them to enjoy. If you haven’t yet had the pleasure, I most highly recommend a trip back in time to Clavell’s faraway lands.