The Asian Saga

The Asian Saga is a series of six novels written by James Clavell between 1962 and 1993. The novels all centre on Europeans in Asia, and together explore the impact on East and West of the meeting of these two distinct civilizations.

Overview

The name Asian Saga was first applied to the series after Shōgun had been published. The purpose of the Asian Saga was, according to Clavell—descendant of a family long in service to the British Empire, and who was a prisoner of war of the Japanese during World War II—to tell "the story of the Anglo-Saxon in Asia."[1] In publication order, the books are:

The books are listed by internal chronology below:

Apart from Shōgun and King Rat, all the books follow the dealings of the great trading company Struan's, the Noble House of Asia (based on Jardine Matheson Holdings Limited), its founder Dirk Struan, and his various descendants. Gai-Jin provides the major link between the Shōgun and Struan's storylines.

Some of the characters make appearances in multiple books, and many characters from one book are referred to in later books. For example, two characters from King Rat (Robin Grey and Peter Marlowe) reappear in Noble House, and Robert Armstrong is a major character in both Noble House and Whirlwind. As a tie-in, Linc Bartlett's (Noble House) ancestor appears in Clavell's film, Walk Like a Dragon (1960).

There are dozens of characters throughout the series, with very complex family relationships and a great deal of history that is hinted at but never described in detail. For instance, Peter Marlowe is almost certainly a descendant of Lt. John Marlowe, the captain who married Malcolm Struan and Angelique Richaud against the wishes of Tess Struan, as Clavell refers often to Peter Marlowe's family's long history of naval service. Clavell peppers the entire Asian Saga with these genealogical Easter eggs.

After publishing Whirlwind, Clavell wrote a shorter version of the story which focused on two characters from the book. Titled Escape: The Love Story from Whirlwind, the book is generally not considered an official part of the Asian Saga; nonetheless, some reviewers said it helped flesh out several aspects of the original novel.

In 1980, Clavell stated that, beyond Noble House, future entries in the series would include Nippon, set in 1970s Japan, and China, set in the present and future.[1] When he died in 1994 after the publication of Gai-Jin, it was reported that he was planning several more entries in the Asian Saga series.

Plot

List of tai-pans of Struan's

Main article: Struan's

Lochlin Struan became tai-pan for a second time after Kelly O'Gorman, the fifth tai-pan, was killed as he tried to murder Tess Struan, and so Lochlin Struan became the sixth tai-pan, but totally under the thumb of Tess Struan, until his death in 1915. It is not explained how O'Gorman, whose name is presumably Irish, was permitted to assume the top post of Struan's as Dirk Struan had specified that the leader must be of Scottish descent and "kin to the clan Struan."

Hag Struan was tai-pan in everything but name from 1841 until her death in 1917. She assumed "the power behind the throne" due to Culum's weaknesses (GAI-JIN implies that Culum became an alcoholic and died of stroke) and her apparent affection for Dirk Struan's memory.

The half coins of Jin-qua

In 1841 when Struan's was on the brink of collapse, Dirk Struan received a loan of silver from the merchant Jin-qua in exchange for a series of favors. Among these were four bronze coins, split in half, four halves given to Dirk Struan, the other four halves kept by Jin-qua. Anyone who brought a half coin to the tai-pan of the Noble House would be granted whatever he asked, whether legal or illegal. All future tai-pans must swear to keep this bargain, before learning the details, if they were to become tai-pan. This served as repayment to the loan of silver.[3]

Of the four coins, one was kept by Jin-qua, passed down through his family. One given to the warlord Wu Fang Choi. One given to Gordon Chen, and passed down through his family, and one given out in secret.

The first coin was brought to Dirk Struan in 1841 by Wu Fang Choi.

The second coin was brought in 1894 by Chiang Wu-tah. He asked that the Noble House give aid and sanctuary to Sun Yat-sen and to assist him to overthrow the Manchu dynasty. This is recounted in Noble House, chapter 60. In the movie however, the second coin is stated to have been returned to Hag Struan in 1911.

The story of the third coin is a major plot line in Noble House. The coin is owned by Struan's trusted compradore Phillip Chen, handed down to him from his grandfather Gordon Chen. However, his son John Chen learns the secret of the coin, steals it, and bargains it and its secret away to American businessman Lincoln Bartlett. Before Bartlett takes possession of the coin, John Chen is kidnapped and murdered. When Phillip Chen enlists his underworld cousin Four Finger Wu to help locate John, Wu discovers the coin in the possession of one of the kidnappers, and takes it for his own, knowing its secret. When Wu dies, his son Profitable Choy takes over the coin and begs the favours from Ian Dunross.

The fate of the fourth coin is not addressed in the saga. However, it is speculated in Noble House that it was given to May-may (Dirk Struan's mistress) and passed down to their descendant Sir Shih-teh "Shitee" T'Chung.

Adaptations

As of 2006, four installments of the Asian Saga have been adapted for film or television:

Although there were press reports in the mid-1990s that a miniseries adaptation of Gai-Jin was planned, no production eventuated.

References

  1. 1 2 Smith, Henry D. II, ed. (1980). Learning from Shōgun: Japanese HIstory and Western Fantasy. University of California, Santa Barbara / The Japan Society. pp. 14–16.
  2. ↑ Whirlwind
  3. 1 2 Tai-Pan
  4. ↑ Noble House
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