The Bridge over the River Kwai
- The Bridge over the River Kwai
infobox Book |
name = The Bridge over the River Kwai
title_orig = Le Pont de la Rivière Kwai
translator =
image_caption = 2007 paperback edition
author = Pierre Boulle
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = France
language = French
series =
genre = War novel
publisher = Julliard
release_date = 1952
english_release_date = 1954
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages =
isbn = NA
preceded_by =
followed_by =
"The Bridge over the River Kwai" ( _fr. Le Pont de la Rivière Kwai) is a novel by Pierre Boulle, published in French in 1952 and English translation by Xan Fielding in 1954. The story is fictional, but uses the construction of the Burma Railway, in 1942-43, as its historical setting. The novel deals with the plight of World War II Allied prisoners of war forced to build the 415 kilometer (258 mile) railway, by the Imperial Japanese Army. The novel won France's "Prix Ste Beuve" in 1952.
Plot introduction
The story is based on the building in 1943 of one of the railway bridges over the Khwae Yai at a place called Tamarkan five kilometres from the Thai town of Kanchanaburi. This was part of a project to link existing Thai and Burmese railway lines to create a route from Bangkok, Thailand to Rangoon, Burma to support the Japanese occupation of Burma.
About 100,000 conscripted Far east Asian labourers and 16,000 allied prisoners of war died on the whole project of the Burma Railway. Boulle had been a prisoner of the Japanese in Southeast Asia and his story of collaboration was based on his experience of some French officers. However, he chose instead to use British officers in his book.
Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
The novel was made into a film by David Lean in 1957, "The Bridge on the River Kwai."
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