''Return to Paradise'' (
1951
Events
January
* January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950).
* January 9 – The Government of the United ...
) is a collection of short stories written by American author
James A. Michener
James Albert Michener ( or ; February 3, 1907 – October 16, 1997) was an American writer. He wrote more than 40 books, most of which were long, fictional family sagas covering the lives of many generations in particular geographic locales and ...
. The collection is a sequel to the
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made ...
-winning book ''
Tales of the South Pacific
''Tales of the South Pacific'' is a Pulitzer Prize-winning collection of sequentially related short stories by James A. Michener about the Pacific campaign in World War II. The stories are based on observations and anecdotes he collected while s ...
'', the collection that launched his career in 1947. In ''Return to Paradise'', Michener revisits the islands and cultures of the South Pacific in the late 1940s, combining factual descriptions and tales set in such exotic places as Tahiti, Fiji, New Zealand, and Australia.
Contents
*The Mighty Ocean
*The Atoll
*Mr. Morgan
*Polynesia
*Povenaa's Daughter
*Fiji
*The Mynah Birds
*Guadalcanal
*The Story
*Espiritu Santo
*The Good Life
*New Zealand
*Until They Sail
*Australia
*The Jungle
*New Guinea
*The Fossickers
*Rabaul
*What I Learned
Reception
Orville Prescott of ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' wrote that all eight stories were "intelligent, competent, professional. But none of them can compare with the dozen or so best in 'Tales of the South Pacific.' To repeat an earlier success has always been one of the most difficult of literary tasks. Mr. Michener hasn't been able to bring it off."
A. J. Liebling of ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'' wrote that Michener "has had to assume a number of expert roles, including those of anthropologist, linguist, historian, gastronome, economist, and expert on colonial administration, but he's handled this Hydra-headed assignment modestly and in an easy-going and sometimes distinguished style. His fictional pieces, however, seem to have been tossed off without any long period of incubation, and the points they make, while undoubtedly estimable, are arrived at in fairly obvious ways."
Film adaptations
The story "Mr. Morgan" from ''Return to Paradise'' was made into a
film of the same name in 1953 by
United Artists
United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the stu ...
. Starring
Gary Cooper
Gary Cooper (born Frank James Cooper; May 7, 1901May 13, 1961) was an American actor known for his strong, quiet screen persona and understated acting style. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice and had a further three nominations, a ...
and
Roberta Haynes
Roberta Haynes (born Roberta Arline Schack; August 19, 1927 – April 4, 2019) was an American actress who was active from 1947 until 1989.
Early life
She was born Roberta Arline Schack in Wichita Falls, Texas on August 19, 1927, to Willia ...
, it was directed by
Mark Robson, who also brought ''
The Bridges at Toko-Ri'', another Michener book, to
screen one year later.
The story "Until They Sail" was filmed in 1957 as ''
Until They Sail'' with
Paul Newman
Paul Leonard Newman (January 26, 1925 – September 26, 2008) was an American actor, film director, race car driver, philanthropist, and entrepreneur. He was the recipient of numerous awards, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, three ...
and
Jean Simmons
Jean Merilyn Simmons, (31 January 1929 – 22 January 2010) was a British actress and singer. One of J. Arthur Rank's "well-spoken young starlets", she appeared predominantly in films, beginning with those made in Great Britain during and aft ...
and was directed by
Robert Wise
Robert Earl Wise (September 10, 1914 – September 14, 2005) was an American film director, producer, and editor. He won the Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Picture for his musical films ''West Side Story'' (1961) and ''The Sound of ...
.
References
1951 short story collections
Short story collections by James A. Michener
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