Williwaw (novel)
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''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, ...
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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