''From Here to Eternity'' is the
debut novel
A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to p ...
of American author
James Jones, published by
Scribner's
Charles Scribner's Sons, or simply Scribner's or Scribner, is an American publisher based in New York City, known for publishing American authors including Henry James, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Kurt Vonnegut, Marjorie Kinnan Rawli ...
in 1951. Set in 1941, the novel focuses on several members of a
U.S. Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...
infantry
Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and marine i ...
company
A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of people, whether Natural person, natural, Legal person, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common p ...
stationed in Hawaii in the months leading up to the
Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, ju ...
.
It is loosely based on Jones's experiences in the pre-World War II
Hawaiian Division
The Hawaiian Division was a division of the United States Army, dedicated to the defense of Hawaii. This division was named rather than numbered, as were the Philippine, Panama Canal and Americal Divisions. It was first activated under the peacet ...
's
27th Infantry and the unit in which he served, Company E ("The Boxing Company"). Fellow company member
Hal Gould said that while the novel was based on the company, including some depictions of actual persons, the characters are fictional, and the harsh conditions and described events are inventions.
''From Here to Eternity'' won the
National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors.
The Nat ...
[ and was named one of the 100 Best Novels of the 20th century by the ]Modern Library
The Modern Library is an American book publishing imprint and formerly the parent company of Random House. Founded in 1917 by Albert Boni and Horace Liveright as an imprint of their publishing company Boni & Liveright, Modern Library became an ...
Board.[ The book was later made into an ]Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
-winning film
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
starring Burt Lancaster
Burton Stephen Lancaster (November 2, 1913 – October 20, 1994) was an American actor and producer. Initially known for playing tough guys with a tender heart, he went on to achieve success with more complex and challenging roles over a 45-yea ...
, Montgomery Clift
Edward Montgomery Clift (; October 17, 1920 – July 23, 1966) was an American actor. A four-time Academy Award nominee, he was known for his portrayal of "moody, sensitive young men", according to ''The New York Times''.
He is best remembered ...
, Deborah Kerr
Deborah Jane Trimmer CBE (30 September 192116 October 2007), known professionally as Deborah Kerr (), was a British actress. She was nominated six times for the Academy Award for Best Actress.
During her international film career, Kerr won a G ...
, Donna Reed
Donna Reed (born Donna Belle Mullenger; January 27, 1921 – January 14, 1986) was an American actress. Her career spanned more than 40 years, with performances in more than 40 films. She is well known for her portrayal of Mary Hatch Bailey in ...
, Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular ...
, and Ernest Borgnine
Ernest Borgnine (; born Ermes Effron Borgnino; January 24, 1917 – July 8, 2012) was an American actor whose career spanned over six decades. He was noted for his gruff but relaxed voice and gap-toothed Cheshire Cat grin. A popular perfor ...
as well as two television adaptations and a stage musical.
Plot
In February 1941, Private Robert E. Lee Prewitt, nicknamed "Prew", reports to his new posting at G Company, a US Army infantry unit stationed at Schofield Barracks
Schofield Barracks is a United States Army installation and census-designated place (CDP) located in the City and County of Honolulu and in the Wahiawa District of the Hawaiian island of Oahu, Oahu, Hawaii, Hawaii. Schofield Barracks lies adj ...
in Hawaii. Prew is a career soldier (a " thirty-year man") with six years' service, an excellent bugler, and a former boxer. He was transferred from his last unit, a Bugle Corps, with a reduction to the lowest rank after complaining that a less skilled bugler, who was a friend (possibly a romantic partner) of the Chief Bugler, had been made First Bugler over him.
G Company's commanding officer is Captain Dana "Dynamite" Holmes, the regimental boxing coach, who chose Prew for his unit because of Prew's past history as a talented welterweight
Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like Muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify the ...
boxer. Holmes thinks that winning a boxing championship will greatly help his chances for promotion and concentrates on building a strong team, offering incentives such as promotions to men who box well. However, Prew swore off boxing after accidentally blinding his sparring partner and even transferred out of a past regiment to get away from boxing. Prew refuses to box for Holmes' team, resulting in his being given "The Treatment" by his platoon guide Sergeant Galovitch and others. "The Treatment" is a daily hazing
Hazing (American English), initiation, beasting (British English), bastardisation (Australian English), ragging (South Asian English) or deposition refers to any activity expected of someone in joining or participating in a group that humiliates, ...
ritual in which Prew is constantly singled out for extra drill exercises, unwarranted punishments, and undesirable work assignments in hopes of breaking him down through exhaustion. Despite the abuse, Prew stubbornly refuses to change his mind about boxing.
Holmes' First Sergeant Milt Warden is a career soldier, who, as the ranking non-commissioned officer
A non-commissioned officer (NCO) is a military officer who has not pursued a commission. Non-commissioned officers usually earn their position of authority by promotion through the enlisted ranks. (Non-officers, which includes most or all enli ...
, does most of the work of running the company while Captain Holmes is off pursuing either his promotion or women. Warden is both efficient at his job and understanding with the men under him. He comes to respect Prew, and at one point even stays out late getting drunk with him and then makes sure he gets home safely without being disciplined. Warden has also heard that Holmes' beautiful wife, Karen, has slept with a number of other men in his unit and begins an affair with her himself. Warden finds out that Karen's promiscuous behavior is due to her husband's cheating and giving her gonorrhea a few years after their marriage, forcing her to have a hysterectomy
Hysterectomy is the surgical removal of the uterus. It may also involve removal of the cervix, ovaries (oophorectomy), Fallopian tubes (salpingectomy), and other surrounding structures.
Usually performed by a gynecologist, a hysterectomy may b ...
as part of the cure. Karen and Warden fall passionately in love, and Warden continues to see her in secret despite the risk to his career and a possible military prison sentence at Leavenworth if her husband finds out. Holmes realizes that his wife is having an affair but does not suspect that it is with Warden. Karen wants Warden to take a training course to become an officer so she can divorce Holmes and marry Warden, something that Warden feels would be improper on top of his already mixed feelings about officers. Over time, the strain of keeping the relationship secret also begins to put a damper on their feelings.
Prew befriends a new young soldier, Private Angelo Maggio, whose temper and impetuous behavior sometimes get him into trouble. Returning from a drunken night on the town, Prew and Maggio encounter military policemen (MPs), and Maggio fights them. As a result, Maggio is sentenced to a term in the stockade, the local military prison
A military prison is a prison operated by a military. Military prisons are used variously to house prisoners of war, unlawful combatants, those whose freedom is deemed a national security risk by the military or national authorities, and members of ...
. At a local brothel catering to servicemen, Prew meets a beautiful prostitute, Lorene, whose real name turns out to be Alma Schmidt. Lorene is planning to save the money she makes and use it to establish herself in respectable society back in her Oregon
Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...
hometown and eventually marry a man who is so respectable that no one would ever believe she had been a prostitute. Over time, she and Prew fall in love, but she refuses to marry him because she does not think he is respectable enough.
Just before the company's big boxing match, Prew gets into a fight with Private first class Isaac Bloom, one of the boxers, and beats him so badly there is a concern that Bloom can no longer box. However, Bloom boxes and wins his match with a quick knockout. Later, Sergeant Galovitch attacks Prew with a knife while Prew is unarmed. Prew knocks out Sergeant Galovitch but refuses to testify that Galovitch had a knife; as a result, Prew is sentenced to three months in the stockade. While Prew is in the stockade, Bloom, a closet
A closet (especially in North American usage) is an enclosed space, with a door, used for storage, particularly that of clothes. ''Fitted closets'' are built into the walls of the house so that they take up no apparent space in the room. Closet ...
homosexual, commits suicide.
In the stockade, Prew sees prisoners routinely beaten and abused by Staff Sergeant "Fatso" Judson, the prison second-in-command. Prew reconnects with Maggio, who is in the "Number Two" barracks where the hardest and most recalcitrant prisoners are kept. Maggio has undergone repeated beatings and solitary confinement
Solitary confinement is a form of imprisonment in which the inmate lives in a single cell with little or no meaningful contact with other people. A prison may enforce stricter measures to control contraband on a solitary prisoner and use additi ...
in the prison and is now hardened as a result. Prew schemes to be transferred into Number Two by committing an infraction and then being beaten and then spending time in the "Black Hole", a dark solitary confinement cell where prisoners are fed minimal bread and water rations. When he comes out, he is placed in Number Two and forms a camaraderie with the other prisoners there. Maggio finally schemes to get out of the prison and out of the Army altogether by pretending to have gone crazy. He is repeatedly beaten for many days by Judson, who strongly suspects that he is faking and is trying to get him to admit it. Judson fails to get an admission out of Maggio although Maggio manages to get a message back to his friends that he is all right. Maggio is finally given a Section 8 dishonorable discharge, and Prew never sees him again.
Judson interrogates one of the other Number Two prisoners, Blues Berry, and ends up torturing and beating Berry to death in front of his Number Two barracks mates including Prew. Prew vows to kill Judson when he himself is released. Shortly thereafter, Prew is released and returns to Company G, which is much changed. Holmes received a promotion and left the company, and Galovitch was reduced in rank after the knife fight incident. After a few days, Prew goes into town, finds Judson, challenges him to a knife fight and kills him, but Prew sustains severe injuries. He goes AWOL
Desertion is the abandonment of a military duty or Military base, post without permission (a Pass (military), pass, Shore leave, liberty or Leave (U.S. military), leave) and is done with the intention of not returning. This contrasts with u ...
to Alma's house to recover and stays there after he is well even though his relationship with Alma is slowly deteriorating. Prew no longer wishes to make the Army his career but has no other ideas about what he might do, and Alma is making plans to return to Oregon without him. Prew is afraid of imprisonment for killing Judson, but during a clandestine meeting with Warden, he finds out he has not been suspected in the killing. However, Warden tells Prew he might have to serve a month in the Stockade for the time he spent AWOL, causing Prew to go back into hiding at Alma's to avoid returning to the stockade.
The Japanese suddenly attack Pearl Harbor although most of the damage is done at the harbor and Hickam Field Hickam may refer to:
;Surname
*Homer Hickam (born 1943), American author, Vietnam veteran, and a former NASA engineer
** October Sky: The Homer Hickam Story, 1999 American biographical film
*Horace Meek Hickam (1885–1934), pioneer airpower advoca ...
rather than the Schofield Barracks. Prew decides he must return to his unit and says goodbye to Alma forever. On the way back, he is stopped by guards and because he has no identification, they begin to arrest him. Not wanting to go back to the stockade, he runs and is shot dead. Warden comes to identify him and collect his personal effects.
Warden bids a fond farewell to Karen since he will be involved in combat in World War II, and she is returning to the mainland United States. The two are sad to be breaking up but better off for having known and loved each other. On the ship leaving Hawaii, Karen meets a beautiful and elegantly dressed girl, who says that she was an executive secretary on the island and that her fiancé, named Robert E. Lee Prewitt and from "an old Virginia family", was a bomber pilot killed in the attack on Hickam Field who posthumously received the Silver Star
The Silver Star Medal (SSM) is the United States Armed Forces' third-highest military decoration for valor in combat. The Silver Star Medal is awarded primarily to members of the United States Armed Forces for gallantry in action against an e ...
. Karen, told by Warden about Prew, realizes that the girl is the former prostitute, Lorene.
Main characters
* Private Robert E. Lee "Prew" Prewitt – A career soldier with six years' service at 23. After the disintegration of his poor mining family in Kentucky, he was a teenage hobo
A hobo is a migrant worker in the United States. Hoboes, tramps and bums are generally regarded as related, but distinct: a hobo travels and is willing to work; a tramp travels, but avoids work if possible; and a bum neither travels nor works.
E ...
during the Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
before enlisting in the US Army at 17. In the Army, he learned to box and play the bugle.
* First Sergeant Milton Anthony "Milt" Warden – At 34, he has already served in several different countries and is an efficient administrator who takes care of the day-to-day operations of G Company. He is tough but fair and understanding with his enlisted men. He is skeptical about the abilities of commissioned officers. He has an affair with Karen Holmes and falls in love with her.
* Captain Dana "Dynamite" Holmes – The commanding officer of G Company and regimental boxing coach, he hopes to get a promotion and so pushes his men to perform well in boxing and spends time ingratiating himself with his superiors. He leaves Warden to do the actual work of running the company. He is married to Karen but cheats on her and neglects her. He is eventually promoted to Major and transferred out of G Company.
* Karen Holmes – Captain Holmes' beautiful wife, who was forced to have a hysterectomy as treatment for gonorrhea she got from her husband. As a result, her marriage is strained, and she has affairs, including with Stark and Warden with whom she falls in love.
* Lorene/ Alma Schmidt – A beautiful prostitute who came to Hawaii from Oregon, having turned to prostitution after her rich hometown boyfriend dumped her and married someone of a higher social class. She plans to make enough money in Hawaii to establish herself in a higher social class back home and eventually marry a man of impeccable reputation so that no one would ever suspect she had been a prostitute. She falls in love with Prew but will not marry him because of his low social status.
* Private Angelo Maggio – A young, hotheaded and outspoken Italian new recruit, originally from Brooklyn, who becomes Prew's good friend. To supplement his paycheck, he is a paid companion (and sometimes partner in the restored version of the novel) to homosexuals although he appears to be heterosexual. He fights with military police while drunk and is sentenced to the Stockade, where he endures beatings and abuse by "Fatso" Judson before finally getting a Section 8 discharge.
* Private First Class Isaac Bloom – A Jewish infantryman who, unlike Prewitt, joins Captain Holmes' boxing team in hopes of advancing his military career. He gets into fights with both Maggio and Prewitt, and feels that people dislike him for being Jewish, among other things. Later, he is promoted to corporal
Corporal is a military rank in use in some form by many militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. The word is derived from the medieval Italian phrase ("head of a body"). The rank is usually the lowest ranking non ...
, but when he is sent to noncommissioned officer training school, he gets kicked out. He secretly fears that he is homosexual and ends up committing suicide.
* Mess Sergeant Maylon Stark – The company's head cook, he was previously with Capt. Holmes' troop at Fort Bliss
Fort Bliss is a United States Army post in New Mexico and Texas, with its headquarters in El Paso, Texas. Named in honor of William Wallace Smith Bliss, LTC William Bliss (1815–1853), a mathematics professor who was the son-in-law of President ...
, where he had an affair with Karen Holmes. After Stark comes to Hawaii, he accompanies Prew to their first trip to town where he is apparently well acquainted with the "madam" at the New Congress whorehouse, even though he had never been there before. This is an error that has been overlooked for many years and keeps being deleted from the summary. It is not an indictment, merely documentation of something Mr. Jones missed while writing FHTE.
* Sergeant/ Platoon Guide "Old Ike" Galovitch – An older soldier of Yugoslav background who gives Prew "The Treatment" when he refuses to box. He attacks Prew with a knife, causing Prew to fight back with his fists and then be sentenced to the Stockade.
* Staff Sergeant James "Fatso" Judson – The sadistic second-in-command of the Stockade, Judson beats and tortures prisoners for minor infractions or insubordination and kills Blues Berry. Judson is later killed by Prew.
* Jack Malloy – A charismatic prisoner in the Stockade, who was previously a labor organizer and seaman. He eventually escapes and is suspected of killing Judson.
* Blues Berry – Prew and Maggio's friend and fellow prisoner in the Stockade, who is tortured to death by Judson.
Title
The title was inspired indirectly by a line from Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work.
...
's poem " Gentleman Rankers:"
:''Gentlemen-rankers out on a spree,''
:''Damned from here to Eternity,''
:''God ha' mercy on such as we,''
:''Baa! Yah! Bah!''
The phrase "from here to eternity" was incorporated into the "Whiffenpoof Song", sung by junior students of Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
, and it was this usage that directly inspired Jones, as he informed his editor Maxwell Perkins
William Maxwell Evarts "Max" Perkins (September 20, 1884 – June 17, 1947) was an American book editor, best remembered for discovering authors Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, and Thomas Wolfe.
Early life and e ...
.
Context
Three of the central characters are essentially similar in all three of Jones' World War II novels, but their names are altered. ''From Here to Eternity'' features First Sergeant Milton Warden, Private Robert Prewitt, and Mess Sergeant Maylon Stark. ''The Thin Red Line'' (1962), features similar characters named First Sergeant Edward Welsh, Private Robert Witt, and Mess Sergeant Maynard Storm. In ''Whistle
A whistle is an instrument which produces sound from a stream of gas, most commonly air. It may be mouth-operated, or powered by air pressure, steam, or other means. Whistles vary in size from a small slide whistle or nose flute type to a larg ...
'' (1978), analogous characters again reappear named Sergeant Mart Winch, Bobby Prell, and Johnny "Mother" Strange.
Late cuts
In 2009, the author's daughter, Kaylie Jones
Kaylie Jones (born 5 August 1960 in Paris, France) is an American writer, memoirist and novelist.
Biography
Jones is the daughter of National Book Award-winning novelist James Jones (''From Here to Eternity''), and Gloria Jones, a former actr ...
, revealed that her father had been compelled to make a number of pre-publication cuts, removing some expletives and some gay sex
Gay sexual practices are sexual activities involving men who have sex with men (MSM), regardless of their sexual orientation or sexual identity. These practices can include anal sex, non-penetrative sex, and oral sex. Evidence shows that sex betw ...
passages.["Censored gay sex scenes in From Here to Eternity revealed".]
Alison Flood. November 13, 2009. The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
. Retrieved 2009-11-13.
Subtitle: "Daughter of author James Jones discloses details of cuts insisted upon by the novel's original publisher". A new edition of the book with the previously censored passages restored was published by Open Road as an e-book
An ebook (short for electronic book), also known as an e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Alt ...
in May 2011.["Censored gay sex in From Here to Eternity restored for new edition"]
Benedicte Page. April 5, 2011. The Guardian. Retrieved 2012-03-31.
Subtitle: "James Jones's novel, bowdlerised for many years, set to appear for the first time as author intended". It was subsequently released in print in 2013 by Penguin as part of its Modern Classics Collection.
Reception
''From Here to Eternity'' won the third annual U.S. National Book Award in 1952.["National Book Awards – 1952"]
National Book Foundation
The National Book Foundation (NBF) is an American nonprofit organization established, "to raise the cultural appreciation of great writing in America". Established in 1989 by National Book Awards, Inc.,Edwin McDowell. "Book Notes: 'The Joy Luc ...
. Retrieved 2012-03-31.
(With essay by Harold Augenbraum from the Awards 60-year anniversary blog.)
Joan Didion
Joan Didion (; December 5, 1934 – December 23, 2021) was an American writer. Along with Tom Wolfe, Hunter S. Thompson and Gay Talese, she is considered one of the pioneers of New Journalism. Didion's career began in the 1950s after she won an ...
has written many articles and essays praising ''From Here to Eternity'', the most famous of which is "In the Islands", reprinted in ''The White Album
''The Beatles'', also referred to colloquially as the White Album, is the ninth studio album and only double album by the English Rock music, rock band the Beatles, released on 22 November 1968. Featuring a plain white sleeve, the cover conta ...
'' (1979) and in ''Collected Nonfiction'' (2006).
The novel is discussed by Brandon deWilde
Andre Brandon deWilde (April 9, 1942 – July 6, 1972) was an American theater, film, and television actor. Born into a theatrical family in Brooklyn, he debuted on Broadway at the age of seven and became a national phenomenon by the time he comp ...
and a drugstore clerk in Martin Ritt
Martin Ritt (March 2, 1914 – December 8, 1990) was an American director and actor who worked in both film and theater, noted for his socially conscious films.
Some of the films he directed include ''The Long, Hot Summer'' (1958), '' The Black ...
's ''Hud
Hud or HUD may refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Hud'' (1963 film), a 1963 film starring Paul Newman
* ''Hud'' (1986 film), a 1986 Norwegian film
* ''HUD'' (TV program), or ''Heads Up Daily'', a Canadian e-sports television program
Places
* Hud, Fa ...
''.
The novel is number 62 on the Modern Library 100 Best Novels
Modern Library's 100 Best Novels is a 1998 list of the best English-language novels published during the 20th century, as selected by Modern Library from among 400 novels published by Random House, which owns Modern Library.Jessica Woodbury"Back A ...
list.["100 Best Novels"]
Modern Library (Random House). Retrieved 2008-02-06.
Adaptations
Television and film
''From Here to Eternity'' was adapted as a 1953 film of the same name directed by Fred Zinnemann
Alfred ''Fred'' Zinnemann (April 29, 1907 – March 14, 1997) was an Austrian Empire-born American film director. He won four Academy Awards for directing and producing films in various genres, including thrillers, westerns, film noir and play ...
and produced by Buddy Adler
E. Maurice "Buddy" Adler (June 22, 1906 – July 12, 1960) was an American film producer and production head for 20th Century Fox studios.
In 1954, his production of ''From Here to Eternity'' won the Academy Award for Best Picture and in 1956, hi ...
, starring Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr in the famous scene where they embrace and kiss in the surf of the beach.[
It was adapted twice for television as a miniseries of the same name in 1979 and as a series of the same name in 1980.
]
Stage
A musical adaption of the novel opened at the Shaftesbury Theatre
The Shaftesbury Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Shaftesbury Avenue, in the London Borough of Camden. Opened in 1911 as the New Prince's Theatre, it was the last theatre to be built in Shaftesbury Avenue.
History
The theatre was d ...
in London in October 2013.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:From Here To Eternity (Novel)
1951 American novels
American novels adapted into films
Anti-war novels
Charles Scribner's Sons books
National Book Award for Fiction winning works
Novels about boxing
American novels adapted into television shows
Novels set in Hawaii
Novels set in the 1940s
Novels set during World War II
1951 debut novels