Michener started out as a Spanish teacher, or so it was reported. When he published "Iberia" I wrote him a nice letter, but got no reply. Perhaps he was too busy. I don't know why he quit teaching. Perhaps he did not like the academic world, which had little use for his highly successful writings. I must look at "Iberia" again to see how I would judge it now.
Ronald Hilton.
Here is what Siegfried Ramler wrote:
James Michener's death evokes memories of his three-year stay in Honolulu while writing "Hawaii" which became a bestseller and the first of many blockbusters which followed. While the historical accuracy and the literary merit of "Hawaii" may be questioned, it is a novel with a remarkable sweep which introduced Hawaii to readers around the world and became the basis for a popular film.
To give flavor and authenticity to the novel he involved himself in Hawaii politics, with particular focus on the Democratic party which had come into power at that time, challenging the dominance of the "Big Five" plantation and business corporations and the Republican establishment. His involvement even gave rise to the speculation that he would run for political office in Hawaii. In fact, when the novel was completed, he left Hawaii with some bitterness. When he tried to buy a house at a beachfront residential area, he was turned down because his wife was Japanese American.
In conversations Michener was humble about his writing. He would tell me that he approached each day at his desk with the frustrations of a college freshman tackling a composition assignment . "If I have any merit as a writer," he would say, "it is the ability to be ruthless in editing my first drafts."
In 1959, a week after Hawaii became a state, I remember driving with Michener and his wife Mari to a Hawaiian feast, a luau, given by descendants of the Hawaiian royal family to mourn the coming of statehood and the passing of an era. There was much crying, singing, dancing and drinking -perfect ingredients for Michener's tales.
Siegfried Ramler
Visiting Fellow
East-West Center
1777 East-West Road
Honolulu, Hawaii 96848
sramler@lava.net
