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John Hersey

ジョン・リチャード・ハーシー

Jon Hāshī

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1914-06-17 （Tianjin, China）
Died
1993-03-24 （Key West, Florida, U.S.） age 78
Nationality
United States
Languages
English, Chinese (learned in early childhood)
Religion
Protestant
Residence History
Tianjin, China — childhood → Briarcliff Manor, New York — school years → New Haven, Connecticut — Yale University / teaching → Vineyard Haven, Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts — longtime residence → Key West, Florida — winter home (place of death)

Career

Occupations
journalist, novelist, professor (Yale University), reporter, war correspondent
Active Years
1937-1993
Affiliations
Authors League of America, American Academy of Arts and Letters, Yale University (Master of Pierson College; faculty)
Memberships
American Academy of Arts and Letters (member; elected chancellor)
Influenced
Michiko Kakutani, Gene Siskel, Jacob Weisberg

Education

Yale University
Degree: BA
Country: United States
Worked for the Yale Daily News; member of Skull and Bones society
Clare College, Cambridge
Country: United Kingdom
Mellon Fellow for graduate study

Awards

Pulitzer Prize (Fiction)
1945
Work: A Bell for Adano
Organization: Pulitzer Prize committee
Result: 受賞
National Jewish Book Award
1950
Work: The Wall
Organization: Jewish Book Council
Result: 受賞
The Hillman Prize (Journalism)
1950
Work: The Wall
Organization: Sidney Hillman Foundation
Result: 受賞
John Hersey Prize / honors (Yale)
1985
Organization: Yale University
Result: 名誉

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Hiroshima

1946 reportage / non-fiction

A long-form reportage telling the stories of six survivors of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima; originally published almost the entire issue of The New Yorker and had a major impact on public awareness of the bombing's aftermath.

tragedy of warlife and deathhuman resilienceethics of nuclear weapons

A Bell for Adano

1944 novel (postwar fiction)

A novel set in postwar Sicily about an American officer governing an occupied town and his relationship with its inhabitants; themes of humane governance and reconstruction.

war and governancemorality and leadershipcommunity
Adaptations
  • [Film] A Bell for Adano (film) / Henry King (1945)

The Wall

1950 novel (war literature)

A novel composed of war stories seen through soldiers' eyes, including a notable section dealing with the Warsaw Ghetto.

experience of warmemory and testimonyethics

The Algiers Motel Incident

1968 non-fiction

A non-fiction account of a racially motivated shooting by police during the 1967 Detroit riots; examines racial injustice and police violence.

race issuespolice violencesocial justice

The Call

1985 novel

A novel based on the lives of his missionary parents and others of their generation; includes depictions of life in China.

faith and missionfamily historycross-cultural encounter

Blues

1987 fiction / essays

A collection mixing fiction and memoirs reflecting on life on Martha's Vineyard and later years.

memoryplace and everyday lifeaging

Bibliography

  • Men on Bataan, 1942
  • Into the Valley, 1943
  • A Bell for Adano, 1944
  • Hiroshima, 1946
  • The Wall, 1950
  • The Marmot Drive, 1953
  • A Single Pebble, 1956
  • The War Lover, 1959
  • The Child Buyer, 1960
  • Here to Stay, 1963
  • White Lotus, 1965
  • Too Far To Walk, 1966
  • Under the Eye of the Storm, 1967
  • The Algiers Motel Incident, 1968
  • Letter to the Alumni, 1970
  • The Conspiracy, 1972
  • My Petition for More Space, 1974
  • The President, 1975
  • The Walnut Door, 1977
  • Aspects of the Presidency, 1980
  • The Call, 1985
  • Blues, 1987
  • Life Sketches, 1989
  • Fling and Other Stories, 1990
  • Antonietta, 1991
  • Key West Tales, 1994 (posthumous)

Adaptations

  • A Bell for Adano — 1945 film (dir. Henry King)
  • The War Lover — 1962 film adaptation (starring Steve McQueen / citation needed)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
concise, restrained proselong-form reportage using novelistic storytelling techniquesrigorous fact-based reporting
Recurring Motifs
war and its consequencesindividual memory and testimonysocial justice and ethics

Legacy

John Hersey is regarded as one of the important American journalists and writers of the 20th century for works like Hiroshima and his fiction; he also made significant contributions as a teacher at Yale and to journalistic education.

Academic Societies

  • American Academy of Arts and Letters

Archives

  • Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library (John Hersey Papers)

In Popular Culture

  • Honored on the U.S. Postal Service's 2008 stamp series commemorating 20th-century journalists
  • The naming of John Hersey High School in Arlington Heights, Illinois

Quotes

  • At exactly fifteen minutes past eight in the morning on August 6, 1945, Japanese time, at the moment when the atomic bomb flashed above Hiroshima, Miss Toshiko Sasaki, a clerk in the personnel department of the East Asia Tin Works, had just sat down at her place in the plant office and was turning her head to speak to the girl at the next desk.
    Source: Hiroshima, The New Yorker (issue: August 31, 1946) (1946)

Trivia

  • Born in Tianjin, China, and learned Chinese before English as a child.
  • Member of Skull and Bones while at Yale.
  • Was investigated by the FBI in the early 1950s over suspected Communist sympathies.
  • His 'Hiroshima' piece filled most of a single issue of The New Yorker and became a landmark of reportage.
  • Served as Master of Pierson College at Yale and was admired by many students.
  • Donated his bulldog 'Oliver' briefly as Yale's mascot Handsome Dan XI.