Historical Fiction · WarmNineteen linked stories of American servicemen on Pacific islands
Tales of the South Pacific
Nineteen linked stories of American servicemen in the Pacific, on which the musical South Pacific was based
Michener's first book is a collection of nineteen interrelated stories, set in the Coral Sea and the Solomon Islands between 1942 and early 1944. They follow interactions between American servicemembers and the colonial, immigrant and Indigenous residents of Pacific islands, and most of the action takes place on shore. Recurring characters include Tony Fry, Bus Adams and Luther Billis, and an invasion called Alligator links several stories.
More about this book
Who
Recurring characters include Tony Fry, Bus Adams and Luther Billis. Several stories are told by an unnamed Commander.
World
The Coral Sea and the Solomon Islands during World War II, based on Michener's time at the Espiritu Santo naval base in the New Hebrides.
What makes it different
It is a set of linked stories rather than a single novel, and its success led the Pulitzer Advisory Committee in 1948 to expand the prize to cover short-story collections. It won the Pulitzer Prize in 1948, and Rodgers and Hammerstein's 1949 musical South Pacific loosely drew on it.
Feel
Easy and varied, a story collection that reads like a series of sketches.
Page count and cover shown for: Selected edition
Behind the book
The book's success led the Pulitzer Advisory Committee in 1948 to expand the prize to cover short-story collections, renaming it the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- Tales of the South PacificWikipedia