Silk by Samuel Merwin

Silk
By Samuel Merwin

This is an ancient Penguin, price 1 shilling, reprinted in 1944, with an apology in the front cover about 'wartime production difficulties.' I remember that Granddad loved this book. My friend, Pat, was reading a book by the same title for her book group, so I dug this out of the basement, thinking that we could talk about it together. But when we compared notes, it turned out that she had read a different book with the same title!
The book takes the form of a journal written by a young Chinese man, Jan Po. It is difficult to establish the era and location of the book, as it is set in the time before the west knew how to manufacture silk, and before geographical locations assumed their present names.
I found a biography and critical review of Samuel Merwin, written in 1921, I think before Silk was written, as there is no mention of it. Merwin did indeed go to China, but never followed the entire route of this novel, as far as I could determine. He was doing research on the opium trade and got far off the beaten track, was arrested on suspicion of being a spy, and had several adventures.
Merwin was an American writer and magazine editor of popular fiction, much of it historical. He wrote before there was a demand for accuracy in this genre, and when the only criteria of a good book was that there be lots of adventure.
Silk starts on the Chinese side of some mountains that separate China from the steppes. The young Emperor, who lives in the court at Lo Yang, has received gifts from the Queen of the Yue Che who lives in a place called Balkh, on the other side of the mountains. Whether this was in the Balkans, or on a lake called Balkash in Kazakstan, I was unable to determine. The location, like the ancient story, seems clouded in mist and myth, and is probably not important.
The importance of maintaining the secrecy of the production of silk is a key theme throughout. Should the round-eyed people discover how to produce it themselves, the economy of China, fuelled by the camel caravans that transport it to the west, would be ruined.
Young Jan Po is sent to Balkh to find out information about the queen and her country, and the tale is about his travels and experiences among the Yue Che. The whole tale is filtered through his Chinese view that China is the only civilization in the world, and he is surprised to hear stories about Rome, and even meet some Romans when he is in Balkh.
The adventure becomes a love story. He falls in love with Mosulla, a handmaiden provided to him by the Queens vizier, and at the end, she follows him back to China.
Jan Po receives an education about ways and values different from his Chinese ones. Mosulla does not have her feet bound, and she entrances him with her graceful dancing.
The Queen, who is a descendant of Alexander, is under the malign control of her vizier, the Wa Zir. The Chinese prince turns up incognito, recognized by only Jan Po. Jan Po arranges a rendezvous between them and they fall in love, but it is not to be, because she has her duties in Balkh, and the Prince must go home and rule China.
There is drama when they manage to kill the nasty WaZir, and the Queen is able to resume her rightful throne.
The story has the allure of a fairy tale. It is fun to read and to speculate what life must have been like in those far off times and places. There are unfortunately some nasty lines in it about Jews, which tempered my enjoyment at the time of reading, but now I just remember the good read of a good tale.
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