From the Lists: WWII, DADT, and 1950's Censorship

In my blog introduction I mentioned that I was working my way through the 100 best novels of the 20th century. This list includes some popular novels that eventually became Hollywood movies and some novels included solely for their literary achievements, such as Finnegan's Wake (#77) or Ulysses (#1). Needless to say, some are more enjoyable than others, but I am a determined reader. When possible, I try to read the novels in order from 100 to number one, but sometimes due to availability, I have to skip over a book or two. And, in the interest of time, I am also not re-reading all previously read novels. There are quite a few novels that I consumed when pursuing an English Literature degree.

The middle of the list contains several novels about the the big wars and I just completed #51. The two novels discussed below were both published in 1951 and focus on the war in the Pacific, rather than the war in Europe. For plot summaries of these novels, click on the links below:

#51 The Naked and the Dead / Norman Mailer (c) 1951 (Film by the same name released in 1958)

#62 From Here to Eternity / James Jones (c) 1951 (Film by the same name released 1953)


It has been fairly well reported that war is hell. Based on these two novels, it seems to have been more hellish and at times rather incomprehensible for the enlisted men. As one states in The Naked and the Dead: "Going to war to right a wrong is like going to a whore house to find a cure for the clap."  But no matter the amount of suffering piled onto the characters within these novels, it is their human spirit, and weaknesses, that the authors focus upon, rather than the historic details of war.

From a historical perspective, it is important to remember that the US military was not integrated during WWII. However, the lack of African American characters in these two novels, is more than made up for by the inherent separatism displayed by the characters against anyone outside of their own group identity - Italian, Irish, Jew, Mexican, Polish, Japanese, Hawaiian, rural, urban, illiterate, educated, rich, and poor. Both authors clearly depict the societal divisions that we all recognize, but perhaps no longer express.

During his brief run for the Presidency, General Wesley Clark once said, "There have been gays serving in the military since there has been war." I thought it would be interesting to talk about these two novels in that context - 60 years following their publication - particularly since the Don't Ask, Don't Tell law will soon be repealed.

Both novels address the "gays in the military" issue, but quite differently. The censorship laws of the time prevented the distribution of "profane" material through the mail. (As we all know, there are few things more profane than some good 'ole man-on-man action - hahaha!)  If a novel was considered to be profane, it could not be shipped across state lines and could not be delivered through the mail. Therefore, if an author of this period had any dreams about his novel being a best seller or to be included in the Book of the Month Club (founded 1926), he had to be quite mindful of content and language. Hence Norman Mailer's use of "fug" as an expletive.

Within these two novels the presence of gays in the military are addressed quite differently. Mailer subtly hints at the questionable sexuality of Captain Cummings - the officer in charge of a Pacific island invasion force. The references are limited to the captain's youthful desire to be noticed by an upperclassman in military school, his wife's search for sexual fulfillment from other men, and a two sentence description of an incident in Italy with an "insistent, short, hairy man" during a moment of weakness. While his sexuality is not examined in detail, the captain's need to hide or repress his desires colors all of his personal and professional decisions - including the rather King David-like action of sending his personal aid who rebuffed his friendship to the battle front. This character is obviously doing all he can to repress / hide / deny his desires in order to obtain his military career goals.

On the other hand, Jones dedicates a sizable portion of his 800 page novel to the gay community that gathered in "support" of the troops in Hawaii before the Pearl Harbor attack. This novel repeatedly addresses the symbiotic relationship between some military personnel and their "queers." In the novel, it is an "open secret" among the characters that when straight-identified service members run out of money, they can hang out at a particular bar and get free drinks from their gay admirers. Several characters openly discuss the benefits of having their own queers and of picking up a few dollars between paychecks by allowing themselves to be serviced. There is an affection displayed between these characters and their gays, but on both sides, it is an amused, pet-like relationship. Oddly, there is no moralizing in Jones' discussion of this darker side of military life. Even the suicide of a gay platoon member following a periodic raid by MPs on the bars in which these trysts occurred, is not fully understood by his platoon mates, although they all knew he was a regular part of that community.

I found Jones' approach particularly brave for the time, but his novel focuses on the morally ambiguous and supposedly principled choices made by his deeply flawed characters. Indeed, one of the most iconic movie scenes in American film history re-purposes a line from the novel ("I never knew it could be like this")  that originally followed the rather tawdry seduction scene of the captain's wife by the captain's own staff sergeant.

For different reasons, I highly recommend both of these novels. Jones tends to focus on two morally ambiguous characters who are serving in the Army in Hawaii prior to the Pearl Harbor attack. Mailer's novel is more of a character study of men thrown into a physically difficult situation and how their personal backgrounds affect their actions.

My $1 vintage copy of The Naked and the Dead barely made it....