The Dragon Scroll

Again a book not on the list; I'm halfway through I.J. Parker's The Dragon Scroll (New York: Penguin, 2005). Set in 11th century Japan, Sugawara Akitada, a junior clerk, on an imperial mission, is determined to find out why one region's tax payments keep vanishing.

You can tell a white person who enjoys Japan's past wrote this. I.J. is an English prof at Virginia Univeristy and she's won some awards for her novels. I'm sure she 'researched' the historical context because there are facts woven into the setting of the book. For eg. during the Heian period (794-1185), people thought the world was ending which lead to a rise in Buddhism and religious centers . It's also true that travel around Japan gained popularity in this period. In the book a bunch of monks are suspicious culprits and many pilgrims go to the temple. (Keepin' it concise here)

My complaint is that someone who knows about the history/culture of the Heian period, such as myself, knows that the speech and actions of the characters for 11th century Japan are absurd. They act like westerners with a bit of cultural knowledge who go back in time and try to blend in with the locals. Readers might like it because the book is exotic and unfamiliar but what happens when most of it is wrong? Here then is a cause of people who think they know a country or past but do not.

A problem with knowing history when reading a 'historical novel' is your mind rejects it saying, That's totally off! or No one would ever say that! It's like watching a movie and saying, That whole shot was CG or No one would ever do that in real life. You just have to go with it despite knowing its so fake.

In the end, I.J. Parker is no Agatha Christie but she's no Saul Bellow either and I need something to read tonight.