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 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
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