Tales of the South Pacific
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| Image:TalesoftheSouthPacific1sted.jpg Hardback 1st edition cover | |
| Author | James A. Michener |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Short stories |
| Publisher | Macmillan, New York (1st edition) |
| Publication date | January 28, 1947 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
Tales of the South Pacific is a Pulitzer Prize winning collection of sequentially-related short stories about World War II, written by James A. Michener in 1946. The stories were based on observations and anecdotes he acquired while stationed as a lieutenant commander in the US Navy on the island of Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides Islands (now known as Vanuatu). The skipper of PT-105 met Michener while stationed at the PT boat base on Tulagi in the Solomon Islands.
The stories take place in and surrounding the Coral Sea and the Solomons. Michener gives a first-person voice to several as an unnamed "Commander" performing duties similar to those he performed himself. The stories are interconnected by recurring characters and several loose plot lines (in particular, preparations and execution of a fictitious amphibious invasion code-named "Alligator") but focus on interactions between Americans and a variety of colonial, immigrant and indigenous characters. The chronology of the stories takes place from before the Battle of the Coral Sea in 1942 to early 1944. Although primarily about the U.S. Navy, most of the action is shore-based, and none concerns ships larger than an LCI.
The musical play South Pacific (which opened on Broadway on April 7, 1949), by Rodgers and Hammerstein, was based on these stories. While the coastwatcher in the musical was cast as an American, these were actually a network of Australians and native scouts, some of whom helped save the crew of John F. Kennedy's PT-109. The musical was produced as a feature film in 1958. South Pacific was also followed by a series of movies and TV shows about sailors in the Pacific who were stranded on islands, including the pilot and TV series McHale's Navy, the film PT-109, and Gilligan's Island.
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| Preceded by (Pulitzer Prize for the Novel) All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren | Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 1948 | Succeeded by Guard of Honor by James Gould Cozzens |
Works by James A. Michener | |
|---|---|
| Novels: | The Fires of Spring (1949) • Return to Paradise (1951) • The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1953) • The Floating World (1954) • Sayonara (1954) • The Bridge at Andau (1957) • Hawaii (1959) • Caravans (1963) • The Source (1965) • The Drifters (1971) • Centennial (1974) • Chesapeake (1978) • The Covenant (1980) • Space (1982) • Poland (1983) • Texas (1985) • Legacy (1987) • Alaska (1988) • Caribbean (1989) • Journey (1989) • The Novel (1991) • Mexico (1992) • Recessional (1994) • Matecumbe (2007) |
| Non Fiction: | The Future of the Social Studies (1939) • The Voice of Asia (1951) • Rascals in Paradise (1957) • Report of the Country Chairman (1961) • Iberia (1968) • Presidential Lottery (1969) • The Quality of Life (1970) • Kent State: What Happened and Why (1971) • Sports in America (1976) • About Centennial: Some Notes on the Novel (1978) • United States of America (1982) • Collectors, Forgers - And A Writer: A Memoir (1983) • All We Did Was Fly to the Moon (1985) • Six Days in Havana (1989) • Pilgrimage: A Memoir of Poland and Rome (1990) • The Eagle and The Raven (1990) • My Lost Mexico (1992) • The World is My Home (1992) • Writer's Handbook (1992) • Creatures of the Kingdom (1993) • Literary Reflections (1993) • William Penn (1994) • Ventures in Editing (1995) • Miracle in Seville (1995) • This Noble Land (1996) • A Century of Sonnets (1997) |
| Short story collections: | Tales of the South Pacific (1947) • Selected Writings of James Michener (1978) |
| Film, TV and theatrical adaptations: | South Pacific (musical) (1949) • The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1953) • Sayonara (1957) • South Pacific (film) (1958) • Hawaii (film) (1966) • Centennial (miniseries) (1978) • Space (miniseries) (1985) |
| about Michener: | James A. Michener: A Biography (1985) • James A. Michener: A Bibliography (1996) • Michener: A Writer's Journey (2005) |
