Novels by James Clavell (Study Guide) - Asian Saga Novels, Sh Gun, Whirlwind, Noble House, King Rat, Gai-Jin, Tai-Pan (Paperback)

This is nonfiction commentary. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Asian Saga Novels, Sh gun, Whirlwind, Noble House, King Rat, Gai-Jin, Tai-Pan. Source: Wikipedia. Free updates online. Not illustrated. Excerpt: Shgun is a 1975 novel by James Clavell. It is the first novel (by internal chronology) of the author's Asian Saga. Beginning in 1600 in feudal Japan, some months before the critical battle of Sekigahara, it gives an account of the rise of the daimyo "Toranaga" (based upon the actual Tokugawa Ieyasu) of the Shogunate, seen through the eyes of an English sailor whose fictional heroics are loosely based on William Adams's exploits. John Blackthorne, an English pilot serving on the Dutch warship Erasmus, is shipwrecked on the coast of Japan. He and the few survivors of his Dutch crew are taken captive under the direction of the local samurai Kasigi Omi and confined to a pit for a few days, until, in the eyes of their captors, they begin to act like "civilized men," that is, when they stop complaining, demanding their freedom, shouting, etc. Omi's daimyo, Kasigi Yabu, arrives and executes a randomly-chosen sailor by having him boiled alive. At Omi's suggestion, Yabu plans to keep the guns and money recovered from Blackthorne's ship to increase his own influence, but he is betrayed by a samurai who has informed Yabu's later lord, Toranaga, of the ship's arrival; and Yabu is obligated to turn Blackthorne, the ship, and its contents over to him. While in the household, Blackthorne is given the title Anjin, meaning "pilot," by the Japanese because they can't pronounce his name. Blackthorne insists that Omi-san apply the honorary suffix -san as if he were a samurai worthy of respect, and so Blackthorne is henceforth known as Anjin-san. (In actual history, William Adams was called Anjin-sama, a higher honorific.) Blac...More: http: //booksllc.net/?id=18807