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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". In publication order, the books are: *''King Rat'' (1962) *''Tai-Pan'' (1966) *''Shōgun'' (1975) *''Noble House'' (1981) *''Whirlwind'' (1986) *''Gai-Jin'' (1993) The books are listed by internal chronology below: *''Shōgun'': set in feudal Japan, 1600 *''Tai-Pan'': set in Hong Kong, 1841 *''Gai-Jin'': set in Japan, 1862 *''King Rat'': set in a Japanese POW camp, Singapore, 1945 *''Noble House'': set in Hong Kong, 1963 *''Whirlwind'': set in Iran, 1979 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 Struans 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. Entitled ''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. 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. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Asian Saga」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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