Beiträge von Kimberley Reeman

I just wanted to add that Stockdale was based on a real person. After the war Douglas was a police officer in London. "Stockdale" was a night watchman in one of the buildings on Douglas's beat, and used to make Douglas a cup of tea. They would talk and Stockdale would tell Douglas stories about his life as a prize fighter. He even had the damaged vocal cords and the whispering voice.

Thank you all for your questions, and the offer to translate.

Stockdale dies because that was how it happened. When we write, the story takes life and the characters become very real to us. Sometimes, like life, some one dies. In this case, it was Stockdale's time. Douglas sensed that as he wrote. It adds realism to our books when art reflects life and is true to life.

The Pride and the Anguish, like all of Douglas's books, is based on fact, and many ships and smaller boats, fishing boats, even canoes, escaped or tried to escape from Singapore before or after the surrender to the Japanese. Some ships did make it to safety in Australia or to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). He would have based Porcupine's escape and the camouflage details on fact.

As for incompetent and unscrupulous superior officers, Douglas portrayed a wide range of people, good and bad, officers and men. He knew the bad and the good. The damage a bad officer could do. The love and courage a good officer could inspire in his men. He used his own experience, and he used the stories told to him by others. He always enjoyed hearing other people's stories and loved to talk to them and hear from his readers.