|
Herman Wouk (; born May 27, 1915) is an American author whose best-selling 1951 novel ''The Caine Mutiny'' won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. His other works include the highly acclaimed ''The Winds of War'' and ''War and Remembrance'', historical novels about World War II, and non-fiction such as ''This Is My God'', a popular explanation of Judaism from a Modern Orthodox perspective written for Jewish and non-Jewish audiences. His books have been translated into 27 languages. ''The Washington Post'' called Wouk, who cherishes his privacy, “the reclusive dean of American historical novelists.”〔 Historians, novelists, publishers, and critics who gathered at the Library of Congress in 1995 to mark Wouk's 80th birthday likened him to "an American Tolstoy." Wouk's latest book, an autobiographical memoir entitled ''Sailor and Fiddler: Reflections of a 100-Year-Old Author'', is being released in 2015 to mark his 100th birthday. ==Early life== Herman Wouk was born in The Bronx, the second of three children born to Esther (née Levine) and Abraham Isaac Wouk, Jewish emigrants from what is today Belarus. His father toiled for many years to raise the family out of poverty before opening a successful laundry service.〔Sean Callery, ''(Victor Wouk: The Father of the Hybrid Car )'', Crabtree Publishing Company, 2009. p. 7〕 At the age of 13, his maternal grandfather, Mendel Leib Levine, came from Minsk to live with them and took charge of his grandson's Jewish education. Frustrated by the amount of time he was expected to study the Talmud, Wouk's father told him that "if I were on my deathbed, and I had breath to say one more thing to you, I would say 'Study the Talmud.'" Eventually Wouk took this advice to heart. After a brief period as a young adult during which he lived a secular lifestyle, he returned to religious practice. Judaism would become integral to both his personal life and his career.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.biography.com/people/herman-wouk-20631823 )〕 He would later say that his grandfather and the United States Navy were the two most important influences on his life. After his childhood and adolescence in the Bronx and a high school diploma from the original Townsend Harris High School in Manhattan, he earned a B.A. at the age of 19 from Columbia University in 1934, where he was a member of the Pi Lambda Phi fraternity〔Membership Directory, 2010, Pi Lambda Phi Inc.〕 and served as editor of the university's humor magazine, ''Columbia Jester'', and wrote two of its annual variety shows.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.enotes.com/topics/herman-wouk )〕 Soon thereafter, he became a radio dramatist, working in David Freedman's "Joke Factory" and later with Fred Allen for five years and then, in 1941, for the United States government, writing radio spots to sell war bonds. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Herman Wouk」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|