View source for James Clavell

[[File:Tanka-tsuba-p1010068 Rama 300.jpg|thumb|I write ''short'' [[stories]]. They may appear big in size, but when you consider it, they're four or five novels in one.]]
'''[[w:James Clavell|James Clavell]]''' (born '''Charles Edmund Dumaresq Clavell'''; [[10 October]] [[1924]] – [[7 September]] [[1994]]) was an [[Australian]] [[World War II]] veteran and [[w:Prisoner of War|POW]], who became a novelist, screenwriter and director.

:See also:
:: [[The Fly (1958 film)|'''''The Fly''''' (1958 film)]]
:: [[Shōgun (novel)|'''''Shōgun''''' (1975)]]
[[File:Allied prisoners of war after the liberation of Changi Prison, Singapore - c. 1945.jpg|thumb|[[w:Changi Prison|Changi]] became my [[university]] instead of my [[prison]]. … Among the inmates there were experts in all walks of [[life]] — the high and the low roads.]]
== Quotes ==

* '''Now the [[sun]] touched the horizon and the man reined in his [[horse]] tiredly, glad that the [[time]] for [[prayer]] had come.'''
** ''[[w:Whirlwind (novel)|Whirlwind]]'' (1986) 

* Changi became my [[university]] instead of my [[prison]]. … Among the inmates there were experts in all walks of [[life]] — the high and the low roads. '''I studied and absorbed everything I could from [[physics]] to counterfeiting, but most of all I learned the art of surviving.'''
** As quoted in [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D03E4D61138F93BA3575AC0A962958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all "James Clavell, Best-Selling Storyteller of Far Eastern Epics, Is Dead at 69" by William Grimes in ''The New York Times'' (8 September 1994)]

===  ''[[w:The Fly (1958 film)|The Fly]]'' (1958) ===
{{main|The Fly (1958 film)}}
:<small>Clavell's first screenplay, based on the 1957 short story by [[w:George Langelaan|George Langelaan]]</small>
[[File:CL0024+17.jpg|thumb|The more I [[Knowledge|know]], the more sure I am I know so little. The [[Eternity|eternal]] [[paradox]].]]
[[File:SpiderWeb.jpg|thumb|The search for the [[truth]] is the most important [[work]] in the whole [[world]] — and the most [[dangerous]].]]

* '''I can transport matter — anything — at the speed of [[light]], perfectly.''' Of course this is only a crude beginning, but I've stumbled on the most important discovery since man sawed off the end of a tree trunk and found the wheel. The disintegrator-integrator will change life as we know it. Think what it means. Anything, even humans, will go through one of these devices. No need for cars or railways or airplanes, even spaceships. We'll set up matter-receiving stations throughout the [[world]], and later the [[universe]]. There'll never be famine. Surpluses can be sent instantaneously at almost no cost, anywhere. [[Humanity]] need never want or fear again. I'm a very fortunate man, Hélène.
** André Delambre ([[w:David Hedison|David Hedison]]) to his wife Hélène

* '''[[God]] gives us [[intelligence]] to uncover the [[wonders]] of [[nature]]. Without the [[gift]], nothing is possible.'''
** André Delambre

* '''I get so scared sometimes. The suddenness of our age! Electronics, rockets, earth satellites, supersonic flight, and now this.''' It's not so much who invents them. It's the [[fact]] they exist. … Everything's going so fast, I'm just not ready to take it all in. It's, it's all so quick
** Hélène Delambre

* '''The more I [[Knowledge|know]], the more sure I am I know so little. The [[Eternity|eternal]] [[paradox]].'''
** André Delambre

* '''The search for the [[truth]] is the most important work in the whole [[world]] — and the most [[dangerous]].'''
** François Delambre ([[w:Vincent Price|Vincent Price]]) to André's son, Philippe.

* '''Help! Help me! Please help me! Help me!'''
** The human-headed fly, as the spider approaches it.

=== ''[[w:King Rat (1962 novel)|King Rat]]'' (1962) ===
<!-- [[File:POW chapel at Changi Prison.jpg|thumb|]] -->
[[File:Beheading of Leonard George Siffleet restored.jpg|thumb|For Those Who Were There And Are Not…]]
[[File:Surrender Singapore.jpg|thumb|These men too were criminals. Their [[crime]] was vast. They had lost a [[war]]. And they had [[lived]].]]

* '''For Those Who Were There <Br> And Are Not.<Br>For Those Who Were There And Are <Br> For Him. But Most, <Br> For Her.'''
** Dedication

* '''[[w:Changi Prison|Changi]] was set like a pearl on the eastern tip of Singapore Island, iridescent under the bowl of tropical [[skies]].''' It stood on a slight rise and around it was a belt of green, and farther off the green gave way to the blue-green seas and the seas to infinity of horizon. <br> '''Closer, Changi lost its [[beauty]] and became what it was — an obscene forbidding [[prison]].''' Cellblocks surrounded by sun-baked courtyards surrounded by towering walls. <br> Inside the walls, inside the cellblocks, story on story, were cells for two thousand prisoners at capacity. Now, in the cells and in the passageways and in every nook and cranny lived some eight thousand men. ...<br> '''These men too were criminals. Their [[crime]] was vast. They had lost a [[war]]. And they had lived.'''
** Prologue

* '''I'm going to get that bloody bastard if I [[die]] in the attempt.'''
** Part 1, Ch. 1, Lt. Grey, First line of the story.

* '''Grey was not alone in his [[hatred]]. The whole of Changi hated King.''' They hated him for his muscular body, the clear glow in his blue eyes. In the twilight world of the half alive there were no fat or well-built or round or smooth or fair-built or thick-built men. There were only faces dominated by eyes and set on bodies that were skin over sinews and bones. No difference between them but age and face and height. And in all this world, only the King ate like a man, smoked like a man, slept like a man, dreamed like a man and looked like a man.
** Part 1, Ch. 1

* '''When you have an enemy it is wise to know his ways. The King knew as much about Grey as any man could know about another.'''
** Part 1, Ch. 1

=== ''[[w:Shōgun (novel)|Shōgun]]'' (1975) ===
{{main|Shōgun}}
[[File:Estampe-p1000686.jpg |thumb| To think [[good]] [[thoughts]] … requires [[effort]]. This is one of the things that [[discipline]] — [[training]] — is about.]]
[[File:Mount Fuji from Lake Kawaguchi.jpg|thumb| What are [[clouds]], but an excuse for the [[sky]]? What is [[life]], but an [[escape]] from [[death]]?]] 

* All his life he had heard legends told among pilots and sailormen about the incredible riches of Portugal's secret empire in the East, how they had by now converted the heathens to Catholicism and so held them in bondage, where gold was as cheap as pig iron, and emeralds, rubies, diamonds, and sapphires as plentiful as pebbles on a beach. <br> If the Catholic part's true, he told himself, perhaps the rest is too.
** Ch. 1

* '''To think bad thoughts is really the easiest thing in the world. If you leave your mind to itself it will spiral down into ever-increasing unhappiness. To think good thoughts, however, requires effort. This is one of the things that discipline — training — is about.'''
** Ch. 5

*There are no "mitigating circumstances" when it comes to rebellion against a sovereign lord.
** Ch. 11, Yoshi Toranaga, to which John Blackthorne responds: "Unless you win."

* What are clouds, but an excuse for the [[sky]]? What is life, but an escape from death?
** Yabu-san's death poem after being ordered to commit [[w:seppuku|seppuku]].

* First she studied her husband's flower arrangement. He had chosen the blossom of a single white wild rose and put a single pearl of water on the green leaf, and set it on red stones. Autumn is coming, he was suggesting with the flower, talking through the flower, do not weep for the time of fall, the time of dying when the earth begins to sleep; enjoy the time of beginning again and experience the glorious cool of the autumn air on this summer evening...soon the tear will vanish and the rose, only the stones will remain — soon you and I will vanish and only the stones will remain.
** Ch. 43

* '''Only by living at the edge of [[death]] can you understand the indescribable [[joy]] of [[life]].'''
** Ch. 56

=== ''[[w:Noble House|Noble House]]'' (1981) ===
[[File:POW chapel at Changi Prison.jpg|thumb|What [[Fear|frightens]] you, doesn't frighten me, what frightens me, you'd [[Laughter|laugh]] at.]]

* So much [[wealth]] and so much [[power]], Armstrong thought, yet with a little [[luck]], we can bring you down like [[w:Humpty-Dumpty|Humpty-Dumpty]]...

* "'''Changi changed everyone, changed [[values]] permanently. For instance, it gave you a dullness about [[death]] — we saw too much of it to have the same sort of meaning to outsiders, to normal [[people]].''' We are a generation of dinosaurs, we the few who survived. I suppose anyone who goes to [[war]], any war, sees [[life]] with different eyes if they end up in one piece." <br> What did you see?" <br>"A lot of bull that's worshipped as the be-all and end-all of existence. '''So much of 'normal, civilized' life is bull that you can't imagine. … What [[Fear|frightens]] you, doesn't frighten me, what frightens me, you'd [[Laughter|laugh]] at.'''"

=== ''[[w:The Children's Story|The Children's Story]]'' (1982) ===
:<small>[https://archive.org/details/thechildrensstory_201608 ''The Children's Story'' (18 February 1982)], wrttten and directed by James Clavell, based on his 1963 short story. · [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRrQQYB6Nd4 YouTube video] (with Introduction by [[Peter Ustinov]])</small>
[[File:Dorothea Lange pledge of allegiance.jpg|thumb|Just a moment, [[children]] — what does "pledge" mean?]]
[[File:Nikolaj Alexandrowitsch Jaroschenko 002.jpg|thumb|Your [[Father|daddy]] had to go back to [[school]] a little. He had some ''strange'' [[thoughts]] — and he wanted other grown-ups to [[believe]] them. It's not right for others to believe ''[[wrong]]'' thoughts, is it?]]
[[File:Coalition of the Willing, To Power.svg|thumb|I'm going to [[work]] hard not to have ''any'' wrong thoughts!]]

* '''Just a [[moment]], [[children]] — what does "pledge" mean?'''
** "Teacher" (played by Jame's Clavell's daughter [[w:Michaela Clavell|Michaela Clavell]], credited as Michaela Ross).

* Your old [[teacher]] never explained anything to you? I don't think that was very [[good]]. Not to explain. You can always ask me anything. That's what a ''real'' teacher should do. 
** "Teacher"

* '''It is a very pretty [[flag]]. … I wish I could have a piece of it.''' I know! If it's so important, I think we should all have a piece of it. Don't you? … Now we should decide — who should be allowed to cut the first piece off!
** "Teacher"

* I want a [[star]]!
** Child

* Your [[Father|daddy]] had to go back to [[school]] a little. He had some ''strange'' [[thoughts]] — and he wanted other grown-ups to [[believe]] them. It's not right for others to believe ''[[wrong]]'' thoughts, is it?
** "Teacher" to Johnny

* Perhaps my [[Mother|mommy]] should go back to school. Perhaps she should.
** Child

* '''[[God]] [[Blessings|bless]] mommy and daddy, and ''please'' can we have some ''candy''.'''
** "Teacher" leading the class in prayer.

* Maybe we didn't [[pray]] hard enough. Perhaps we should kneel down like is done in [[church]]. '''Perhaps were using the wrong [[name]]. Instead of [[God]], let's say "Our [[Leader]]." Let's pray to our leader for candy!''' Let's pray extra specially hard, and don't open your [[eyes]] until I say.
** "Teacher"

* '''I'm going to pray to our leader every time!'''
** Child

* I put the candy on the desk. So you know, it doesn't matter who you shut your eyes and pray to — to [[God]], or anyone, even our leader — no one will ''ever'' give you anything. Only another human being … only I, or someone like me, can give you things. Praying to God or anyone for something is a waste of [[time]].
** "Teacher"

* Because Johnny was especially clever I think we should make him monitor for the whole week. Don't you?
** "Teacher"

* '''I'm going to [[work]] hard not to have ''any'' wrong thoughts!'''
** Child

{{center/s}} <hr width=50%> {{center/e}} 

* '''I asked all kinds of [[people]] of every age, "You know the 'I pledge allegiance…'" but before I could finish, at once they would all parrot it, the words almost always equally blurred.''' In every case discovered that not one teacher, ever — or anyone — had ever explained the words to any one of them. '''Everyone just had to learn it to say it. The Children's Story came into being that day. It was then that I realized how completely vulnerable my child's mind was — any mind for that matter — under controlled circumstances.''' Normally I write and rewrite and re-rewrite, but this [[story]] came quickly — almost by itself. Barely three words were changed. '''It pleases me greatly because it keeps asking me questions …''' Questions like what's the use of "I pledge allegiance" without [[understanding]]? Like why is it so easy to divert thoughts and implant others? Like what is freedom and why is it so hard to explain? The Children's Story keeps asking me all sorts of questions I cannot answer. Perhaps you can — then your children will…
** Afterword to his short story "[[w:The Children's Story|The Children's Story]]" (1963)

=== Interview with Don Swaim (1986) ===
[[File:Tomoe Gozen.jpg |thumb|[[All]] [[stories]] have a [[beginning]], a middle and an [[ending]], and if they're any [[good]], the ending is a beginning.]]
:<small>Interview with [[w:Don Swaim|Don Swaim]] of CBS Radio (11 November 1986) · [https://web.archive.org/web/20150604012303/http://wiredforbooks.org/jamesclavell/ MP3 at ''Internet Archive'']</small>

* '''I was a teenager when that [referring to WW2] started and of course [[wars]] are fought by teenagers. Do you realize that? They really should be fought by the [[politicians]] and the old people who start these wars.'''

* '''[[w:Changi Prison|Changi]] for me — of course it's easy to be [[Wisdom|wise]] after the event, and to discuss it cleverly after the event — was about as near as you can get to being [[Death|dead]] and still be alive.'''
** On his experience as a POW in Changi Prison on Singapore, which became the subject of his novel ''[[w:King Rat (1962 novel)|King Rat]]''

* '''I write ''short'' [[stories]]. They may appear big in size, but when you consider it, they're four or five novels in one.''' … In return for picking up one of my [[books]], I'm trying to give them [[value]] for their [[money]]. … the goal of writing any book is to create the illusion that what you are reading is [[reality]] and you're part of it.

* '''All stories have a [[beginning]], a middle and an [[ending]], and if they're any good, the ending is a beginning.'''

== Quotes about Clavell ==
[[File:Nikko Toshogu Outer Torii M3032.jpg|thumb|''[[w:Shōgun (novel)|Shogun]]'' is irresistible … [[People]], [[customs]], settings, [[needs]] and [[desires]] all become so enveloping you forget who and where you are. ~ Webster Schott]]

*one of my favorite books-and I emphasize the word book here because I'm not talking about the movie-is The Godfather...Oh, yes, a book like Shogun. 
**1996 interview in ''Conversations with [[Octavia Butler]]''

* '''Although historians sometimes disputed the historical accuracy of Mr. Clavell's novels, no one doubted his gifts as a storyteller, or his ability to draw the reader into a faraway time and place.'''
** [[w:William Grimes (journalist)|William Grimes]] in [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D03E4D61138F93BA3575AC0A962958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all "James Clavell, Best-Selling Storyteller of Far Eastern Epics, Is Dead at 69" in ''The New York Times'' (8 September 1994)]

* '''''[[w:Shōgun (novel)|Shogun]]'' is irresistible… I can't remember when a novel has seized my mind like this one…''' It's almost impossible not to continue to read ''Shogun'' once having opened it. Yet it is not only something that you read — you live it … possessed by the Englishman Blackthorne, the Japanese lord Toranaga and medieval Japan … '''People, customs, settings, needs and desires all become so enveloping you forget who and where you are.'''
** Webster Schott in ''The New York Times Book Review'', quoted in ''The New York Times''  obituary (8 September 1994)

== External links ==
{{wikipedia}}
* [http://www.nndb.com/people/189/000025114/ Profile at NNDB]
*{{imdb name|id=0165412|name=James Clavell}}
* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D03E4D61138F93BA3575AC0A962958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all Obituary at ''The New York Times'' (8 September 1994)]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150604012303/http://wiredforbooks.org/jamesclavell/ Interview with Don Swaim, ''CBS Radio'' (11 November 1986) - MP3 at ''Internet Archive'']
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5RywSAHDZc CBC interviw : "Author James Clavell on writing Shōgun and The Fly: CBC Archives" at YouTube] 
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mx-byE_3SOs "Inspirational Writers: James Clavell" (10 February 2019)]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clavell, James}}
[[Category:Historical novelists]]
[[Category:Screenwriters from the United States]]
[[Category:Film directors from the United States]]
[[Category:Film directors from Australia]]
[[Category:Novelists from Australia]]
[[Category:Novelists from the United States]]
[[Category:People from Sydney]]
[[Category:1924 births]]
[[Category:1994 deaths]]
[[Category:Objectivists]]