He started service on the East India Company ship Vagrant Star, which was under the command of third mate, Tyler Brock. The two main characters, Dirk Struan and Tyler Brock were former shipmates but became arch business enemies.Īs a backdrop to the relationship between Struan and Brock, Struan went to sea at the age of seven.
This allowed European and American traders access to the lucrative opium trade. Tai-Pan is set after the end of the First Opium War, won by the Britsh and its seizure of the island of Hong Kong. While most famed as a novelist of the epic Asian saga series, Clavell also authored screenplays for films, including The Fly (1958), The Great Escape (1963), and wrote, produced and directed To Sir, with Love (1967).įor me though, my introduction to James Clavell was Tai-Pan and the unforgettable character, Dirk Struan.Ĭlavell’s genius was to interlace fact with fiction.
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