At 102, Epic Novelist Herman Wouk Looks Back On A Life Well Lived
Herman Wouk in Israel in 1987, shooting ‘War And Remembrance.’ Image by Getty
By Ari Feldman July 3, 2017
For Herman Wouk, who turned 102 in May, the “main task” of his life has been using his novels to teach readers about history.
“To, so far as I could, fix down in literature what happened in World War II and the Holocaust,” he told CBS Sunday Morning. “That was my main task.”
Wouk, who was born in the Bronx, got his start as a comedy writer. He credits his Navy service with transforming his writing style and interests. His 1951 Pulitzer Prize-winning “The Caine Mutiny” grew out of his experiences as a Navy officer.
One of Wouk’s most famous novels, “War and Remembrance,” the centerpiece of a trilogy about World War II, was set partially in Auschwitz. The TV miniseries based on the novel, which Wouk also wrote, was shot on location at Auschwitz-Birkenau — the first commercial movie to film there.
Wouk, who published his latest novel in 2012, still writes in his diary every day.
Contact Ari Feldman at [email protected] or on Twitter @aefeldman.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
