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The African Samurai de Craig Shreve

The African Samurai

Autor Craig Shreve
en Limba Engleză Paperback – aug 2023

Vocea narativă a lui Craig Shreve în The African Samurai reușește ceva rar în ficțiunea istorică: recuperează dintr-o tăcere de secole figura lui Yasuke, un tânăr din Africa de Est capturat și vândut ca mercenar, a cărui existență pare desprinsă din legendă. Structura romanului urmărește un parcurs geografic și spiritual fascinant, de la bordul navelor comerciale portugheze din 1579 până în inima puterii din Kyoto. Reținem modul în care autorul echilibrează brutalitatea războaielor indiene și a sclaviei cu disciplina riguroasă a codului bushido, transformând o biografie fragmentată într-o explorare profundă a identității. Imaginați-vă tensiunea diplomatică și culturală din Shogun, mutată într-un decor de secol XVI unde miza nu este doar supraviețuirea politică, ci dobândirea demnității umane de către un om privit inițial ca o curiozitate exotică. Spre deosebire de The Samurai de Shusaku Endo, unde accentul cade pe ciocnirea credințelor religioase și misiuni diplomatice, The African Samurai se concentrează pe relația de tutelă dintre Yasuke și Oda Nobunaga. În timp ce Nobunaga luptă pentru unificarea Japoniei după un secol de război civil, Yasuke luptă pentru propria libertate. Ritmul este alert, cinematic, alternând momente de introspecție cu scene de luptă viscerale. Comparativ cu debutul său, One Night in Mississippi, unde Shreve investiga trauma rasismului într-un context american, aici autorul extinde aceste teme la o scară globală, istorică, demonstrând că lupta pentru dreptate și recunoaștere este universală și atemporală.

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Specificații

ISBN-13: 9781668002865
ISBN-10: 1668002868
Pagini: 304
Dimensiuni: 149 x 224 x 23 mm
Greutate: 0.36 kg
Editura: Scribner Canada

De ce să citești această carte

Recomandăm această carte pasionaților de istorie japoneză care doresc să descopere o perspectivă inedită asupra epocii Sengoku. Cititorul câștigă o viziune autentică asupra modului în care s-a format Japonia modernă prin ochii primului samurai de origine africană. Este o poveste despre reziliență și transformare, ideală pentru cei care au apreciat densitatea istorică a lui James Clavell, dar caută o voce narativă mai intimă și mai ancorată în realitatea socială a marginalizaților.

Despre autor

Craig Shreve s-a născut și a crescut în North Buxton, Ontario, o comunitate istorică ce a servit drept destinație finală pentru sclavii care evadau din Statele Unite prin „Underground Railroad”. Este descendentul direct al lui Mary Ann Shadd Cary, o celebră activistă anti-sclavie din secolul al XIX-lea, moștenire care îi infuzează scriitura cu o sensibilitate aparte pentru temele libertății și justiției sociale. Absolvent al School for Writers din cadrul Humber College, Shreve a fost semi-finalist al Amazon’s Breakthrough Novel Award. Experiența sa în cercetarea istorică și legătura personală cu istoria aboliționismului îi permit să ofere personajului Yasuke o profunzime psihologică remarcabilă.

Descriere scurtă

Set in late 16th-century Africa, India, Portugal, and Japan, The African Samurai is a powerful historical novel based on the true story of Yasuke, Japan’s first foreign-born samurai and the only samurai of African descent—for readers of Esi Edugyan and Lawrence Hill.

In 1579, a Portuguese trade ship sails into port at Kuchinotsu, Japan, loaded with European wares and weapons. On board is Father Alessandro Valignano, an Italian priest and Jesuit missionary whose authority in central and east Asia is second only to the pope’s. Beside him is his protector, a large and imposing East African man. Taken from his village as a boy, sold as a slave to Portuguese mercenaries, and forced to fight in wars in India, the young but experienced soldier is haunted by memories of his past.

From Kuchinotsu, Father Valignano leads an expedition pushing inland toward the capital city of Kyoto. A riot brings his protector in front of the land’s most powerful warlord, Oda Nobunaga. Nobunaga is preparing a campaign to complete the unification of a nation that’s been torn apart by over one hundred years of civil war. In exchange for permission to build a church, Valignano “gifts” his protector to Nobunaga, and the young East African man is reminded once again that he is less of a human and more of a thing to be traded and sold.

After pledging his allegiance to the Japanese warlord, the two men from vastly different worlds develop a trust and respect for one another. The young soldier is granted the role of samurai, a title that has never been given to a foreigner; he is also given a new name: Yasuke. Not all are happy with Yasuke’s ascension. There are whispers that he may soon be given his own fief, his own servants, his own samurai to command. But all of his dreams hinge on his ability to protect his new lord from threats both military and political, and from enemies both without and within.

A magnificent reconstruction and moving study of a lost historical figure, The African Samurai is an enthralling narrative about the tensions between the East and the West and the making of modern Japan, from which rises the most unlikely hero.

Notă biografică

Craig Shreve was born and raised in North Buxton, Ontario, a small town that has been recognized by the Canadian government as a National Historic Site due to its former status as a popular terminus on the Underground Railroad. He is a descendant of Abraham Doras Shadd, the first Black person in Canada to be elected to public office, and of his daughter Mary Ann Shadd, the pioneering abolitionist, suffragette, and newspaper editor/publisher who was inducted posthumously into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in the United States. Craig is the author of One Night in Mississippi and a graduate of the School for Writers at Humber College. He lives in Toronto, Ontario. Connect with him on Twitter @CG_Shreve.

Descriere

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Longlisted for the 2024 Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize
'Gripping. Fans of Shogun will love it' Conn Iggulden
'Fierce, vivid and richly detailed' Daily Mail
The incredible story, based on real events, of the slave who became a Japanese samurai. In 1579, a Portuguese trade ship sails into port at Kinchotsu, Japan, loaded with European wares and weapons. Also aboard is an East African slave. Taken from his village as a boy, sold to mercenaries and forced to fight in Indian wars that meant nothing to him, he is a young but experienced soldier.
Serving as the protector for a high-ranking Italian priest, the young man joins an expedition pushing inland towards the capital city of Kyoto.
There they meet Oda Nobunaga, the most powerful warlord in Japan, who is preparing a campaign to unify the country after more than a hundred years of civil war. Under the tutelage of Nobunaga, the young African soldier becomes the great warrior Yasuke, Japan's first foreign samurai, and the only one ever of African descent. His preoccupation is not a question of power, as it is for Nobunaga, but one of freedom.
A timeless, epic story, a magnificent reconstruction and moving study of a lost historical figure, and a truly enthralling narrative, thrilling in its dramatization of the making of modern Japan, from which rises the most unlikely of heroes.

Praise for The African Samurai

'Breathtakingly visual with dialogue that's filled with insights and wisdom Written with compassion and an authenticity brought on by painstaking research, Shreve is the rarest of writers: one who can evoke varied emotions in the reader with few words and attention to detail. I experienced sixteenth-century Japan like never before despite being a huge fan of the novels of Eric Van Lustbader and the seminal Shogun by James Clavell. Yet, it is Yasuke's journey that pulls me fully and completely into that world, with a sensitivity that's unparalleled and which will most certainly guarantee The African Samurai's stellar position in the literary space.
'Violent, raw, visceral, incisive and deftly plotted, Shreve has given us a hero we did not know we needed. He has given voice to someone who has been silenced throughout history, and in the process he has offered us (the reader) hope. In Yasuke, we have found a hero as broken as he is brave and as strong as he is flawed.
'A necessary tale that's been masterfully told, and an essential read for lovers of great literature' Femi Kayode, author of Gaslight
'Shreve tells an extraordinary story with dramatic intensity, sensitivity, and consummate imagination. Like all the best historical novels, it feels relevant and even essential to our present moment. Of the many admirable things about this novel, perhaps the greatest is Shreve's feat of breathing life into Yasuke, its central character, and rescuing this remarkable man from obscurity' David Bezmozgis, award-winning author of Immigrant City and The Betrayers
'A complex and deeply moving story . . . that powerfully resonates with our current times. The deftly drawn characters of European, Asian and African origin inhabit a sometimes frightening but ultimately hopeful story due to Shreve's immense skills at illuminating the power of the human spirit' Jeffrey Colvin, award-winning author of Africville