Herman Wouk Biography and List of Works

American bestseller writer who in his work deals with moral dilemmas and the Jewish experience. Wouk's epic war novels have been tremendously popular. Several of them have been filmed, including The Caine Mutiny (1951). Wouk's two-volume historical novel set in World War II, The Winds of War (1971) and War and Remembrance (1978), also gained success as a television mini-series. The large novel could be called an American War and Peace, which sets individual values, actions, and fates against a panoramic, all-embracing picture of the world.

"Rhoda asked questions about the Jews, as Pug Henry mixed more martinis. Tollever assured her that the newspaper stories were exaggerated. The worst thing had been the so-called Chrystal Night when Nazi toughs smashed department store windows and set fire to some synagogues. Even that the Jews had brought on themselves, by murdering a German embassy official in Paris. As an embassy official himself, Tollever said, he took rather a dim view of that!"
(from The Winds of War)

Herman Wouk was born in New York into a family of Jewish immigrants from Russia. He entered Columbia University, New York where he edited the college humour magazine. After completing an A.B. degree at Columbia University, he became a radio scriptwriter, working with Fred Allen from 1936. In 1941 he briefly served for the U.S. government, producing radio broadcasts to sell war bonds. He then joined the United States Navy and served in the Pacific. Later Wouk credited this period of his life as a major part of his education. "I learned about machinery, I learned how men behaved under pressure, and I learned about Americans." Wouk began his first novel during his off-duty hours at sea. His first ship was the destroyer-minesweeper Zane. His last posting was second command of the U.S.S. Southard, a ship of the same type. In 1945 he married Betty Sarah Brown; they had three sons.

From 1946 Wouk worked as a full-time writer. He was a visiting professor at Yeshiva University, New York, in 1958-58, and scholar-in-residence at the Aspen Institute, Colorado, in 1973-74. From 1961 to 1969 he was a Trustee of the College of the Virgin Islands, and in 1969-71 he was a member of the Board of Directors of Washington National Symphony. In 1974-75 he was a member of the Board of Directors of Kennedy Centre Productions.

Wouk made his debut as a novelist with Aurora Dawn (1947), a satire about the New York advertising business, which was inspired by a wave of post-WWII experimentation. It was followed by City Boy (1948), the partly autobiographical story of a Bronx boy.

The Caine Mutiny was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1952. The book was made into a hit Broadway play starring Henry Fonda and a film starring Humphrey Bogart. The novel centres upon the events leading up to and following a mutiny onboard a minesweeper captained by an incompetent and cowardly tyrant. The main character is Willie Keith, a rich New Yorker, who comes of age as he witnesses the events that take place abroad the USS Caine. But the work is best known for its portrayal of the neurotic Captain Queeg, who suffers from acute paranoia, incompetence, and cowardice. "There are four ways of doing things on board my ship. The right way, the wrong way, the navy way, and my way. If they do things my way, we'll get along." Queeg becomes obsessed with petty infractions and even conducts a full-scale investigation to determine who pilfered a quart of strawberries.

Lieutenant Tom Keefer, the villain of the novel, persuades loyal Lieutenant Steve Maryk to take over command of the ship. In the ensuing court-martial Keefer testifies that he always though Queeg was in full control of his faculties. Maryk's legal defender, Lieutenant Greenwald, does not support the mutiny, yet he still believes Maryk acted according to his best judgment. The unstable Queeg eventually breaks down completely while undergoing interrogation. "Ah, but the strawberries! That's where I had them. They laughed and made jokes, but I provided beyond the shadow of a doubt, and with geometric logic, that a duplicate key to the wardroom icebox did exist. And I'd have produced that key if they hadn't pulled the Caine out of action. I know now they were out to protect some fellow officer." Although the jury acquits Maryk, the verdict is deliberately ambiguous. The deposed Captain Queeg, once considered a hero, but who is know suffering from the crippling psychological effects of combat, is suddenly seen in the novel's resolution as a tragic figure.

Humphrey Bogart had wanted to play Captain Queeg from the moment he had read Wouk's original novel. The untypical role is one of his greatest, and the scene in which he gives evidence, ball bearings in hand remains one of the most memorable moments in the movies. However, Edward Dmytryk's direction is stagy - one never feels that the men are actually on a ship in mid-ocean.

Marjorie Morningstar (1955) was considered reactionary by some critics. The story depicts a New York Jewish girl who has great ambition but ends up a suburban housewife. Marjorie rebels against the confining middle-class values of her family but her dream of being an actress ends in failure. She ultimately abandons her illusions and marries a conventional man, accepting social conformity. In Youngblood Hawke (1962) Wouk depicts the obsession of a writer caught in the intrigue of the publishing world. The work is based on the life of the American writer Thomas Wolfe. This Is My God (1959) introduced the reader to Jewish orthodoxy.

"Life was a colourful painful pageant to her, in which right and wrong were wobbly yardsticks. Values and morals varied with time and place. Sweeping righteous views, like Victor Henry's Christian morality and Rule's militant socialism, tended to cause much hell and to cramp what little happiness there was to be had. So she thought."
(from War and Remembrance)

The Winds of War (1971) is a large canvas that encompasses the relationship between actions of individuals and the events leading up to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour. The story focuses on the various members of the Henry family, famous for its naval heroes, who finds itself in the centre of the conflict. The patriarch of the family is Captain Victor "Pug" Henry, military man, scholar, translator, and advisor to Franklin Roosevelt and other statesmen. Robert Mitchum portrayed him in the ABC miniseries - Ali McGraw played the role of Natalie Jastrow, Henry's daughter-in-law. Wouk wrote the screenplay for the production. War and Remembrance (1978) concluded the story and attempts to explain the causes and implications of the war.

"Discount my partiality, but my report is that so far ''The Winds of War'' is looking good. The films of ''The Caine Mutiny'' and ''Marjorie Morningstar'' always seemed to me mere thin skims of the story lines, and I never did see a meager Hollywood caper called ''Youngblood Hawk,'' vaguely based on my 800-page novel. So it was that I opted for television, with its much broader time limits, for ''The Winds of War.'' Sixteen hours!"
(Herman Wouk in The New York Times, June 14, 1981)

Inside, Outside (1985) is story about a Jewish presidential advisor, Israel David Goodkind, a tax lawyer. It moves from the early 1900s to the 1970s and looks at the importance of religious roots to American Jews. President Nixon, a side character, is portrayed in an ironic light, when he shows some interest in Talmud. "The President has a quick and able mind, though not everybody gives him that, not by a long shot. His face lit up. He shot me a sharp glance and said in his most nearly natural voice, 'And you really understand this stuff?' 'Well, I scratch the surface, Mr. President. I come from a rabbinic family.'" Goodkind also writes Nixon's Watergate speech. The Hope (1993), a plunge into Israeli life in its early years, began another epic story. It portrays the first two turbulent decades the followed Israel's birth. The 1948 war of independence, the 1956 Suez war, and the 1967 Six Day War are seen through the lives of three families, mixing fictional characters with real-life figures. The protagonist is Zev Barak, a soldier who can quote Shakespeare. Barak's military career reflects the wars. In the sequel, The Glory (1994), Wouk continues the story from the late 1960s to the bombing of Iraq's nuclear reactor in 1981.

Wouk's books have been translated into some 30 languages. His novels display narrative skill, satire, and humour. They are meticulously researched and have won admiration for their historical accuracy. Wouk has received several awards, including a Pulitzer Prize (1952), Columbia University Medal of Excellence (1952) Hamilton medal (1980); American Academy of Achievement Golden Plate award (1986), Washingtonian award (1986), U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation award (1987), Kazetnik award (1990). He has also received several honorary degrees from American and Israeli universities.

For further reading: The Historical Novel: A Celebration of the Achievements of Herman Wouk, ed. by Barbara A. Paulson (1999); World Authors 1900-1950, ed. by Martin Seymour-Smith and Andrew C. Kimmens (1996, vol. 4); Herman Wouk by Laurence W. Mazzeno (1994); Herman Wouk: The Novelist as Social Historian by Arnold Beichman (1984) - See also: Leon Uris's Exodus

The Man in the Trench Coat, (1941)