People tend to think that just because I've got Japanese blood in my veins, I can speak, read and write Japanese. Thus, they assume learning Chinese is easy for me. WRONG! The sad thing is that they would probably be right if only I hadn't goofed off so much in Japanese school.
If it's any compensation, I've been picking up some Japanese from James Clavell's Shogun.
OMG, it is so good! I was in the mood for adventure and romance, so I stole the book from the library in my office. I doubt any of my students would be interested in reading a 1200 page novel in English, much less Chinese.
Usually I'm unfairly critical of white authors whose stories are set in non-white lands, and while I do think that Clavell romanticizes Samurai life, I think he does a brilliant job with juxtaposing Japanese and Western brutality, as well as the different values and rituals these cultures uphold as meaningful.
But aside from all the fighting and hacking off of heads, the love story between Blackthorn and Mariko, a poignant part of the plot that is woven so subtly into the rest of the story, is absolutely beautiful....
Yet nothing about their romance makes me wish I could be Mariko. I know I could not endure her world, even for the sake of love. I wonder if that is an indication of the novel's failure... or of its success.
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