Editing James Clavell (section)

==== Imprisoned in Changi ====
Shot in the face,<ref name="Bernstein"/> he was captured in [[Java]] in 1942 and sent to a local Japanese [[prisoner of war camp]]. Later, he was transferred to [[Changi Prison]] in Singapore.<ref name="NY Times obituary">{{cite news |last=Grimes |first=William |author-link=William Grimes (journalist) |date=8 September 1994 |title=James Clavell, Best-Selling Storyteller of Far Eastern Epics, Is Dead at 69 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/09/08/obituaries/james-clavell-best-selling-storyteller-of-far-eastern-epics-is-dead-at-69.html |access-date=26 January 2020 |work=The New York Times}}</ref>

In 1981, Clavell recounted:

<blockquote>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, the most important course of all.<ref name="Bernstein"/></blockquote>

Prisoners were fed a quarter of a pound ({{Convert|0.25|lb|g|-1|disp=output only}}) of rice per day, one egg per week and occasional vegetables. Clavell believed that if atomic bombs had not been dropped on [[Hiroshima and Nagasaki]] he would not have survived the war.<ref name="Bernstein"/>

Clavell did not talk about his wartime experiences with anyone, even his wife, for 15 years after the war. For a time he carried a can of sardines in his pocket at all times and fought an urge to forage for food in rubbish bins. He also experienced bad dreams and a nervous stomach kept him awake at night.<ref name="Bernstein"/>