Sailor and Fiddler: Reflections of a 100-Year-Old Author
“A sparkling memoir of a well-lived life of literature, fame, and love” (Booklist) by one of America’s most beloved authors, as he looks back over his 100 years.
In this remarkable memoir “full of adventure, wit, color, and detail” (Jewish Journal), Herman Wouk finally reflects on the life experiences that inspired his most enduring novels. With a tone that is “generous and warm” (The Boston Globe), he tells of his days writing for comedian Fred Allen’s radio show, one of the most popular shows in the history of the medium; enlisting in the US Navy during World War II; falling in love with Betty Sarah Brown, the woman who would become his wife (and literary agent) for sixty-three years; writing his Pulitzer Prize–winning novel, The Caine Mutiny; as well as a big hit Broadway play and an equally big Broadway flop; and the surprising inspirations and people behind such masterpieces as The Winds of War, War and Remembrance, Marjorie Morningstar, and Youngblood Hawke.
Written with the wisdom of a “trailblazing centenarian charmer” (Buffalo News) and the wit of someone who began his career as professional comedy writer, Sailor and Fiddler is an unprecedented reflection on writing and faith—“a lovely coda to the career of a man who made American literature a kinder, smarter, better place” (NPR).
In this remarkable memoir “full of adventure, wit, color, and detail” (Jewish Journal), Herman Wouk finally reflects on the life experiences that inspired his most enduring novels. With a tone that is “generous and warm” (The Boston Globe), he tells of his days writing for comedian Fred Allen’s radio show, one of the most popular shows in the history of the medium; enlisting in the US Navy during World War II; falling in love with Betty Sarah Brown, the woman who would become his wife (and literary agent) for sixty-three years; writing his Pulitzer Prize–winning novel, The Caine Mutiny; as well as a big hit Broadway play and an equally big Broadway flop; and the surprising inspirations and people behind such masterpieces as The Winds of War, War and Remembrance, Marjorie Morningstar, and Youngblood Hawke.
Written with the wisdom of a “trailblazing centenarian charmer” (Buffalo News) and the wit of someone who began his career as professional comedy writer, Sailor and Fiddler is an unprecedented reflection on writing and faith—“a lovely coda to the career of a man who made American literature a kinder, smarter, better place” (NPR).
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Community Reviews
Sometimes, a book comes out of nowhere and utterly delights me. I had been reading [b:The Bazaar of Bad Dreams|23512999|The Bazaar of Bad Dreams|Stephen King|https:images.gr-assets.com/books/1468705688s/23512999.jpg|43116154] by [a:Stephen King|3389|Stephen King|https:images.gr-assets.com/authors/1362814142p2/3389.jpg] and one of the stories in that collection was "Herman Wouk Is Still Alive". I happened to own one Wouk book ([b:The Winds of War|21484|The Winds of War (The Henry Family, #1)|Herman Wouk|https:images.gr-assets.com/books/1442187661s/21484.jpg|1936731]) but had not yet read it. The King story, which was written sometime before 2015, led me to Wikipedia to find out when Herman Wouk died. It turns out that he is, as the man said, still alive at 103 as of this writing. I noted that he had a published a brief memoir around his 100th birthday. I picked it up and put it down a few hours later, completely satisfied.
For a man who has lived so long, and written so much, this was almost the perfect coda to his professional life. A short book, he highlights key moments in his writing and personal life that give the book just the right personal touch. I came away from the book with the promise to read [b:The Caine Mutiny|368772|The Caine Mutiny|Herman Wouk|https:images.gr-assets.com/books/1410224968s/368772.jpg|1059565] and to try other Wouk volumes.
For a man who has lived so long, and written so much, this was almost the perfect coda to his professional life. A short book, he highlights key moments in his writing and personal life that give the book just the right personal touch. I came away from the book with the promise to read [b:The Caine Mutiny|368772|The Caine Mutiny|Herman Wouk|https:images.gr-assets.com/books/1410224968s/368772.jpg|1059565] and to try other Wouk volumes.
I am enthralled by Herman Wouk's talent, intelligence, and inspired by the way he has lived and written about Judaism. "This Is My God" and "The Will to Live On" are the best known of his non-fiction books on Judaism, though Jewishness infuses nearly all his fiction, too.
This slim memoir really is a look back on his career, and is not very personal. From that standpoint it is a bit disappointing, but it seems shallow and wrong to diminish the achievement of still being a fluid and wonderful writer at 100 years old!
As a writer myself, I was most interested in the arc of Wouk's career, and a bit heartened when he wrote that when he had the general idea for the huge novel The Winds of War (only the prequel to War and Remembrance) that he had no idea how he would pull together all the characters needed to knit together a compelling story line. His career was a charmed one, with Wouk beginning successfully as a comedy writer for radio and then Hollywood, then segueing into novels and later, non-fiction.
The book is most affecting when writing about the love of his life, his wife, Betty Sarah, who became his agent and who never minced words, telling him exactly what she thought of his work, for good for for revision.
I once wrote Herman Wouk a fan letter after he published "Inside, Outside." I loved that book, which he explains here is autobiographical, and it was both hilarious and moving. I was so thrilled when he wrote me back, a typed note on folded stationery. This is the kind of old school courtesy now lost in the age of emails.
At the end of this book Wouk says he is now "free. . . I have had my say, I have done my work." And no one could have done it better, nor contributed the type of literature that has become so deservedly beloved.
This slim memoir really is a look back on his career, and is not very personal. From that standpoint it is a bit disappointing, but it seems shallow and wrong to diminish the achievement of still being a fluid and wonderful writer at 100 years old!
As a writer myself, I was most interested in the arc of Wouk's career, and a bit heartened when he wrote that when he had the general idea for the huge novel The Winds of War (only the prequel to War and Remembrance) that he had no idea how he would pull together all the characters needed to knit together a compelling story line. His career was a charmed one, with Wouk beginning successfully as a comedy writer for radio and then Hollywood, then segueing into novels and later, non-fiction.
The book is most affecting when writing about the love of his life, his wife, Betty Sarah, who became his agent and who never minced words, telling him exactly what she thought of his work, for good for for revision.
I once wrote Herman Wouk a fan letter after he published "Inside, Outside." I loved that book, which he explains here is autobiographical, and it was both hilarious and moving. I was so thrilled when he wrote me back, a typed note on folded stationery. This is the kind of old school courtesy now lost in the age of emails.
At the end of this book Wouk says he is now "free. . . I have had my say, I have done my work." And no one could have done it better, nor contributed the type of literature that has become so deservedly beloved.
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