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Herman Wouk

Herman Wouk

Writing

Biography

Herman Wouk (/woʊk/ WOHK; May 27, 1915 – May 17, 2019) was an American author best known for historical fiction such as The Caine Mutiny (1951) for which he won the Pulitzer Prize in fiction. His other major works include The Winds of War and War and Remembrance, historical novels about World War II, and non-fiction such as This Is My God, an 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 cherished 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 described him as an American Tolstoy.

Known For

The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial

Adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name by Herman Wouk, The Caine Mutiny was brought to the stage of the Beijing People's Art Theatre in 1988, translated by Ying Ruocheng and directed by Charlton Heston. A play sustained entirely by dialogue, it is hailed as a model of "drama defined by speech". Powerful actors including Feng Yuanzheng, Wu Gang, Wang Gang and Wang Lei portray the heated verbal battles of the court-martial aboard the USS Caine. The film adaptation leverages the shift from stage space to cinematic perspective to present an intense confrontation waged with language as its weapon. Amid the trial, the complexity of human nature and the limits of truth are gradually laid bare, with a distinctive dramatic tension bursting forth beyond the stage.

The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial

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