Herman Wouk: The Novelist as Social Historian

Making extensive use of Wouks personal papers and manuscripts as well as personal interviews with him, Beichmans focus is on the social and literary qualities of Wouks work. In particular, he examines eight one of his three plays; and two moral tracts on Judaism. Wouk has written four more novels, including his latest, A Hole in Texas, his twelfth. Beichman portrays Wouk as one of the few living novelists concerned with virtue, and sees his work as against the mainstream of contemporary American novelists. These, he argues, have eschewed such elements of the traditional novel as invention, coincidences, surprises, suspense, and a moral perspective more presumed than examined.