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Shogun
In 1975, Clavell published Shogun, his magnum opus that took the literary
critics by storm. New York Times book reviewer Webster Schott wrote,
"Clavell has a gift, he breathes narrative; his hero is not a person but a
place and a time, medieval Japan on the threshold of becoming a sea power"
(Schott 1975). The novel seized the popular imagination, and Blackthorne,
Toranaga, Lady Mariko, arigato, and konnichi-wa soon became household words
among his readers. Book sales exceeded seven million copies. Eric Majors, a
personal friend of Clavell's associated with Hodder and Stoughton
publishers, explained the huge popularity of the book by saying: "It took
the Western mind into a completely different world. It was the first time
that one began to understand the Japanese." Indeed, Shogun is considered to
be one of the most effective depictions of cross-cultural encounters ever
written.
Shogun came to life on televison in 1980 in the form of a five part, 12
hour miniseries shot on location in Japan. It was viewed by an estimated
audience of 130 million viewers. Clavell acted as executive producer for a
one million dollar fee; he also co-wrote the screenplay with Eric
Bercovice. In 1981, a highly compressed version of Shogun was released as a
two and one half hour movie. Of note is the fact that Clavell insisted
that, for the sake of authenticity, the Japanese speak their own language
with no subtitles provided. Thus, the viewers, as Blackthorn did in real
life, had to deduce the meaning of verbal exchanges from the context of
individuals reactions and facial expressions, or from re-phrasing by one of
the English speaking characters. Also in 1981, Clavell wrote an
introduction for The Making of James Clavell's Shogun. An illustrated,
large format book that relates the trials and tribulations involved
Shogun, based in part upon a true story, is a detailed portrait of feudal
Japan in the process of becoming a nation-state dominated by one ruler. It
depicts the very different attitudes of seventeenth-century Japanese and
Europeans toward sex, food, drink, and bathing, and the very different
perspectives that allow each to learn from the other.
The novel is Clavell's finest effort, a forceful, gripping portrait of
gradual acculturation; we see the European sea captain Blackthorne (based
upon the real-life William Adams) slowly coming to see the Japanese first
as humans, then as equals to Europeans, and finally as superiors. The
psychological precision of Blackthorne's education and gradual
acculturation is one of Clavell's most praiseworthy literary achievements,
especially since at the end of the novel we come to see Blackthorne, "our"
European "stand-in" throughout, for what he really is: a pawn of a clever
warlord, an Englishman limited an |