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Home : Referate Engleza : Shogun

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.

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 [1]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 and bound by fading memories of his former culture
in making the miniseries a success. .

Shogun's sophistication about the clash of cultures has much to
teach modern readers and would make Clavell an important writer quite
apart from his other efforts. However, his striking image patterns,
the tensions between his personal history as a war-time prisoner of
the Japanese and his urge for fairness, the detailed descriptions that
vividly bring to life an historical moment and yet make a modern
statement, his masterful control of perception, and, most of all, his
in-depth psycho-analytical study of characters distanced by both time
and culture yet endowed with life and spirit make this his finest
work--one that deserves closer critical attention than it has
received.

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References

1. http://www.jamesclavell.net/william_adams.htm
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