James A. Michener - The Wanderer
Born:
February 3, 1907;
Doylestown, PA
Died:
October 16, 1997;
Austin, TX
One of America's most popular and prolific writers, James A. Michener's novels were as epic as his own life, averaging 900 pages each and selling 75 million copies.
And it was through his writing that many post-war Americans had their eyes opened to lands of enchantment and mystery faraway from home.
Growing up as an orphan in a poverty-stricken household, Michener never knew his real parents or even his birth date. This seemingly rootlesness no doubt provided the impetus for Michener to explore the world far and wide.
While in his teens, he left home by boxcar and worked a variety of odd jobs throughout the country, visiting all but three States in the Union by age 20.
In his autobiography The World is My Home, he remarked, "Those were years of wonder and enchantment...some of the best years I would know. I kept meeting American citizens of all levels who took me into their cars, their confidence and often their homes."
But it was his travels with the Navy during WWII in the South Pacific and Solomon Islands that would prompt him to begin recording his journeys.
His observations of island culture and life there became the basis for his first novel, Tales of the South Pacific. Released in 1947, the book was a huge commercial and critical success, winning the Pulitzer Prize for fiction the next year. Just a few years later, Rodgers and Hammerstein created a musical from it, South Pacific.
So taken was Michener by South Pacific culture that he settled in Honolulu in 1949. Spurred by the success of his first book, he released two more novels during the next decade centered in Polynesia, Return to Paradise and Hawaii.
(Musician Martin Denny credited the latter novel with inspiring much of his "Exotica" music. In 1962, Michener wrote the liner notes for Denny's Hypnotique album.)
To top it off, Michener would even create a Polynesia-themed TV show, Adventures in Paradise (1959-1962), whose protagonist sails the South Pacific in search of adventure while escorting various travelers along the way.
Without a doubt, James A. Michener was America's most widely read author on Polynesia during its heyday, and played a huge role in stirring the dreams and imaginations of Americans in search of a Lost Paradise.