''Williwaw'' is the
debut novel of
Gore Vidal, written when he was 19 and first mate of a U.S. Army supply ship stationed in the
Aleutian Islands. The story combines war drama, maritime adventure and a murder plot. The book was first published in 1946 in the United States by
E.P. Dutton
E. P. Dutton was an American book publishing company. It was founded as a book retailer in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1852 by Edward Payson Dutton. Since 1986, it has been an imprint of Penguin Group.
Creator
Edward Payson Dutton (January 4, ...
.
Williwaw
In meteorology, a williwaw (archaic spelling williwau) is a sudden blast of wind descending from a mountainous coast to the sea. The word is of unknown origin, but was earliest used by British seamen in the 19th century. The usage appears for wind ...
is the term, widely thought to be
Native American in origin, for a sudden, violent
Katabatic wind common to the Aleutian Islands.
Plot summary
The story is set on a U.S. ship in the
Arctic waters around the Aleutians in the
Pacific Ocean in the middle of the local storm season during World War II. The nervousness and tension of the crew and a handful of passengers at the approach of the williwaw is stretched to breaking point when the Chief Engineer, Duval, falls overboard in suspicious circumstances.
See also
*
Typhoon (novel)
''Typhoon'' is a short novel by Joseph Conrad, begun in 1899 and serialized in ''Pall Mall Magazine'' in January–March 1902. Its first book publication was in New York by Putnam in 1902; it was also published in Britain in ''Typhoon and Othe ...
References
*http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10790039-williwaw
*http://www.thereadingroom.com/books/details/williwaw-gore-vidal/771670
*http://www.weatheronline.co.uk/reports/wind/The-Williwaw.htm
External links
1946 American novels
Novels by Gore Vidal
American war novels
E. P. Dutton books
Novels set in the Pacific Ocean
Novels set during World War II
1946 debut novels
{{1940s-WWII-novel-stub