Herman Wouk

American Jewish author. Born in New York, he graduated from Columbia University and became a scriptwriter. During World War II, he served on a minesweeper as a naval officer on the Pacific front. After that, he devoted himself to writing. After Aurora Dawn (1947), a satire on the advertising industry, and The Town Boy (1948), a sympathetic portrayal of children set in 1920s New York, he became famous with Mutiny on the Caine (1951), which was highly praised. Based on his experiences in the navy, this is a story about the mutiny of the crew of a minesweeping destroyer against an incompetent and paranoid captain. It became a best-seller, won the Pulitzer Prize, and the author's own dramatization, Court-Martial on the Caine (1954), was also well received. After "Marjorie Morningstar" (1955), which depicts a Jewish girl from New York who dreams of a career in showbiz, until she marries and settles down, "Youngblood Hawk" (1962), which deals with the success and downfall of a young Southern writer, and "Don't Stop the Carnival" (1965), a comedy set in a tourist spot in the Caribbean, she turned her attention to historical novels based on meticulous research. Her epic "The Storm of War" (1971) and "War and Memory" (1978), which depict World War II and feature historical figures with a naval officer as the protagonist, became bestsellers and were made into television movies. Other works include "Inside and Outside" (1985), which traces the history of a Jewish American family, and "Hope" (1993) and "Glory" (1994), which depict the founding of the State of Israel with a Jewish family at the center. His other plays include The Rebel (1949), Slattery's Hurricane (1956), a novelization of a movie script, and the science fiction novel The Lomography Report (1968), which he wrote in 1949 and published 19 years later. His critical works include The Way of Nature (1957), This Is My God (1959), in which he talks about Judaism as a believer, and The Will to Live - This Is the Tradition of Mankind (2001).

[Kenji Inoue]

"The Town Child" translated by Furukawa Yuri (1954, Shinshichosha) ▽ "Marjorie's Brief Youth" translated by Okubo Yasuo (1958, Shinchosha) ▽ "A Will Found on the Moon - A Lomocom Report" translated by Kijima Hajime and Araki Noriko (1976, Sojusha) ▽ "Talking about Judaism" translated by Shimano Nobuhiro (1990, Miltos) ▽ "The Sky of Betrayal" translated by Asada Kei (Tokuma Bunko) ▽ "The Cain Mutiny" translated by Shinjo Tetsuo, 3 volumes (Hayakawa Bunko) ▽ "The Storm of War" translated by Kunitaka Chuji, 5 volumes (Hayakawa Bunko)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

アメリカのユダヤ系作家。ニューヨークに生まれ、コロンビア大学卒業後、放送台本作家となる。第二次世界大戦中、海軍士官として掃海艇に乗り組み、太平洋戦線で勤務した。その後、創作に専念。広告業界を風刺した『オーロラの夜明け』（1947）、1920年代のニューヨークを舞台に、共感をもって子供を描いた『町の子』（1948）ののち、『ケイン号の反乱』（1951）が激賛され、有名になった。これは海軍での体験をもとに、無能な偏執狂の艦長に対する掃海駆逐艦乗組員の反乱の顛末(てんまつ)を描いたもので、ベストセラーになり、ピュリッツァー賞を受賞、作者自身が劇化した『ケイン号反乱の軍法会議』（1954）も好評を博した。芸能界を夢みるニューヨークのユダヤ娘が結婚して落ち着くまでを描いた『マージョリー・モーニングスター』（1955）、南部の若い作家の成功と堕落を扱った『ヤングブラッド・ホーク』（1962）、カリブ海の観光地を舞台にしたコメディ『カーニバルを止めるな』（1965）以後、綿密な調査をふまえた歴史小説に関心が移り、海軍士官を主人公に、豊富な資料を生かし、歴史的人物を登場させ、第二次世界大戦を描いた大作『戦争の嵐(あらし)』（1971）と『戦争と記憶』（1978）はベストセラーとなり、テレビ映画化された。ユダヤ系アメリカ人一家の歴史をたどる『内と外』（1985）、ユダヤ人一家を中心にイスラエル共和国建国を描いた『希望』（1993）と『栄光』（1994）などがある。そのほか、戯曲には『反逆者』（1949）、映画台本を小説化した『スラッタリーのハリケーン』（1956）、1949年に書き、19年後に発表した空想科学小説『ロモコメ報告書』（1968）など。評論は『自然のあり方』（1957）、信者としてユダヤ教を語った『これぞわが神』（1959）、『生き抜く意志――これぞ人類の伝承』（2001）がある。

［井上謙治］

『古川百合訳『町の子』（1954・新思潮社）』▽『大久保康雄訳『マージョリーの短き青春』（1958・新潮社）』▽『木島始・荒木のり子訳『月で発見された遺書――ロモコメ報告書』（1976・創樹社）』▽『島野信宏訳『ユダヤ教を語る』（1990・ミルトス）』▽『浅田圭訳『裏切りの空』（徳間文庫）』▽『新庄哲夫訳『ケイン号の叛乱』3冊（ハヤカワ文庫）』▽『邦高忠二訳『戦争の嵐』5冊（ハヤカワ文庫）』

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