He wrote about the publishing world, a fictional Caribbean island and the founding of Israel. In fact, it was the first in a run of ambitious books that included The Winds of War and War and Remembrance, each about a thousand pages long. But it's not yet the war novel I mean to write.' ' 'Unless I'm mistaken, this is a good book. Wouk told NPR, 'When I finished The Caine Mutiny, I wrote in my work journal.

It won a Pulitzer Prize, it was a bestseller and it became a play and a movie. In his off hours, Wouk began to write Aurora Dawn, a novel that got mixed reviews. But after Pearl Harbor, the 26-year-old enlisted in the Navy and served in the Pacific. For five years starting in 1936, Wouk wrote jokes and sketches for the popular radio host Fred Allen. He got his start in writing years earlier, in comedy. The Caine Mutiny was Wouk's most celebrated book, but he had a substantial career both before and after it. Your purchase helps support NPR programming. There's nothing you can do about it, and I'm perfectly content with That was one of the great performances, I think, of his career.'Ĭlose overlay Buy Featured Book Title The Caine Mutiny Subtitle A Novel of World War II Author Herman Wouk

In the book, Wouk described the captain as 'a small man' with 'strands of sandy hair across an almost bald head.' In 2004, the author told NPR, 'Now Captain Queeg is Humphrey Bogart. Humphrey Bogart played Queeg in the film, but he wasn't exactly what Wouk had in mind when he wrote the character. After having a breakdown at sea, the tyrannical Captain Queeg accuses his crew of stealing a quart of strawberries and becomes obsessed with finding the culprit. Many people might remember Wouk for a certain incident involving strawberries in The Caine Mutiny, which became a film in 1954. He died in his sleep Friday at his home in Palm Springs, Calif., at age 103. Wouk was famous for his sprawling World War II novels, including The Winds of War and War and Remembrance, and for his portrayal of Jewish Americans in the novel Marjorie Morningstar. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Herman Wouk has died. Novelist Herman Wouk, pictured here in 1955, wrote about a variety of subjects, including World War II, the publishing world and a fictional Caribbean island.

Winds of war wouk