![]() It is easy to point out the historical inaccuracies of the novel, but its entertainment value and its understanding of broader historical themes to light led most critics to forgive Clavell's manipulation. More than two decades ago in junior high, I was entranced by this book’s stark samurai sword cover. Clocking in at 428,000 words, this beast of a book was roughly the size of all three Lord of the Rings novels combined. He writes in the oldest and grandest tradition that fiction knows " Common themes in later criticism of Clavell tended to focus on three themes Clavell's brilliant storytelling, the work as a historical novel or fiction, and the work's multiculturalism. My fiction reading for much of this past summer was James Clavell’s 1975 monster of a novel Shogun. He reports the world as he sees peoplein terms of power, control, strength. According to Schott, "Clavell is neither literary psychoanalyst nor philosophizing intellectual. ![]() ![]() An early book review in the New York Times Book Review, by Webster Schott, began "I can't remember when a novel has seized my mind" like Shogun. Critics often responded to Clavell's Shogun with begrudging admiration, as if compelled by the force of the story to take the book seriously. ![]()
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