Reading James Clavell

In June, I read three of James Clavell's "Asian Saga".

 

I picked up Noble House from the library's free books shelf earlier this year, a

hefty volume and what I needed after half a dozen short fiction anthologies.  I

enjoyed it overall and particularly some dialogues between Casey the American

business woman and the writer Peter Marlowe, e.g.,

    "What DO you know about me?"

        "Lots." Again the faint, easy, gentle smile. "Amongst them, that you're

    smart, brave and have great face."

        "I'm so tired of face, Peter. In the future..." Her smile was equally warm.

    "From here on in, in my book, a person's going to gain ass--or arse as you call

    it--or lose it."

 

As Noble House refers often back to the events and characters in the earlier

novel, Taipan, I read the latter just for completeness. I had heard of Taipan

years ago but resisted because I am a Chinese and brain-washed and I hated that

part of the history. I stopped limiting myself since and thought it good to see

the Opium wars from a westerner's point of view. It was again a nice tale and I

learned about the Jesuit's bark, among other tidbits of interesting knowledge,

but I won't revisit as I couldn't find in it even one Chinese character I liked.                                                                               

Then, I went for the 1975 Shogun over the last two weeks of the month. I had   

listened on Audible and the story had been adapted to the screen more than once

although I haven't watched any. I was delighted to learn about the

backdrop of world conflicts around 1600, Protestants vs. Catholics, Spain vs.

Portugal vs. England and the Dutch, Jesuits vs. Franciscans, Japan vs. its   

neighbors, etc., all woven memorably into the near 1400-page tale.                                                                                

I spotted a few mistakes. For example, the author could have said jiu-jitsu    

because judo was not invented until 1882 and Buddha was not the one who "lived

to point the Tao" to the Japanese.                                                       

                                                                            

I found in Toranaga, the wise, open-minded daimyo who was thirsty for the      

knowledge of and about the barbarians, a like-minded character. I used to solve

puzzles at work with exactly the same approach as he did, as in             

    That night Toranaga could not sleep. This was rare for him because normally

    he could defer the most pressing problem until the next day, knowing that if    

    he was alive the next day he would solve it to the best of his ability. He

    had long since discovered that peaceful sleep could provide the answer to

    most puzzles, and if not, what did really matter? Wasn't life just a dewdrop

    within a dewdrop?

 

and found it useful but I got fired from jobs as managers inevitably preferred

action over non-action. It was my karma.

   Now sleep. Karma is karma. Be thou of Zen. Remember, in tranquility, that the

   Absolute, the Tao, is within thee, that no priest or cult or dogma or book or

   saying or teaching or teacher stands between Thou and It. Know that Good and

   Evil are irrelevant, I and Thou irrelevant. Inside and Outside irrelevant as

   are Life and Death. Enter into the Sphere where there is no fear of death nor

   hope of afterlife, where thou art free of the impediments of life or the

   needs of salvation. Thou art thyself the Tao. Be thou, now, a rock against

   the waves of life rush in vain...

 

I applaud the author for a nice mix of some prominent ideas.