Herman Wouk Says He's A Happy Gent At 100

"Herman Wouk has written a lot of well loved novels like The Winds of War, War and Remembrance and The Caine Mutiny, which won him a Pulitzer Prize. But his latest achievment is a rare one — Wouk reached a milestone that few of us will ever see: the age of 100."

"Many years ago, a well known biographer approached Wouk about writing his life story. He gave her access to his journals, but after reading them, 'she said, your literary career would be wonderful material and I'd love to do it,' Wouk recalls. 'But there is a spiritual journey running through your volumes which only you can do.'"

"Now, Wouk has written that story. He calls it Sailor and Fiddler — the sailor representing his life as a writer, the fiddler his spiritual side. Growing up in the Bronx, Wouk knew he wanted to be a writer, but Judaism was always important to him as well. He loved Mark Twain and Alexandre Dumas, and he also fondly remembers listening to his father read the stories of Sholem Aleichem on Friday nights."