Novel
From Here to Eternity
James Jones · 1951
Synopsis
Hawaii, 1941. Robert E. Lee Prewitt, a career soldier from Kentucky, a bugler and former boxer, leaves the bugle corps after seeing another bugler promoted in his place, and joins an infantry company at Schofield Barracks. His new captain, Holmes, wants him to box for the regimental team. Prewitt refuses: he once blinded a sparring partner. The company's non-commissioned officers and boxers then set upon him. The first sergeant, Milton Warden, becomes the lover of Karen, the captain's wife, and Maggio, Prewitt's friend, is sent to the military prison.
Context
The book was written from 1946 to about 1950, its author being housed and supported in Robinson by Lowney and Harry Handy. Scribner forced him to remove some of the swearing and the scenes evoking homosexuality; the full text appeared only in 2011, as an e-book. It is the first part of a trilogy: The Thin Red Line (1962) follows soldiers on this Pacific island, and Whistle (1978, posthumous) wounded men brought back to an American hospital.
Who it is for
A long novel with many characters, covering nearly a year in the life of a garrison. The only French translation, from 1952, is credited as a translation and adaptation.
Prizes and reception
National Book Award 1952, and a film by Fred Zinnemann, in 1953, that won eight Oscars.
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The pages consulted to check this page.