- James Norman Hall
Infobox Writer
name = James Norman Hall
imagesize = 210px
caption = Hall in the Lafayette Escadrille, 1917
pseudonym =
birthdate = birth date|1887|4|22|mf=y
birthplace =Colfax, Iowa
deathdate = death date and age|1951|7|5|1887|4|22
deathplace =Tahiti
occupation =Novel ist,memoir ist
nationality = American
period = 1916 - 1951
genre = Adventure fiction
subject = War memoir
movement =
influences =
influenced =
website = http://www.jamesnormanhallhome.pf/indexen.htmlJames Norman Hall (
April 22 ,1887 –July 5 ,1951 ) was an American author best known for thenovel "Mutiny on the Bounty".Biography
He was born in
Colfax, Iowa , where he attended the local school. Hall graduated fromGrinnell College in 1910 and became a social worker inBoston, Massachusetts , while trying to establish himself as a writer and studying for a Master's degree fromHarvard University .Hall was on vacation in the
United Kingdom in the summer of 1914, whenWorld War I began. Posing as a Canadian, he enlisted in theBritish Army , serving in theRoyal Fusiliers as amachine gun ner during theBattle of Loos . He was discharged after his true nationality was discovered, and he returned to the United States and wrote his first book, "Kitchener's Mob" (1916), recounting his wartime experiences.Returning to
France , Hall joined theLafayette Escadrille , a French-American flying corps, before the United States officially entered the war. Hall was awarded theCroix de Guerre with five palms and theMédaille Militaire . When the United States entered the war, Hall was made a Captain in the Army Air Service. There he met another American pilot,Charles Nordhoff . After being shot down, Hall spent the last months of the conflict as a Germanprisoner of war . He was awarded the FrenchLégion d’Honneur and the American Distinguished Service Cross.After the war, Hall spent much of his life on the island of
Tahiti , where he and Nordhoff, who had also moved there, wrote a number of successful adventure books (including the "Bounty" trilogy), many of which were subsequently made into movies. In 1925 Hall married Sarah (Lala) Winchester, who was part-Polynesian. They had two children: thecinematographer Conrad Hall (1926–2003) and Nancy Hall-Rutgers (born 1930).Hall died in Tahiti and is buried on the hillside property just above the modest wooden house he and Lala lived in for many years.
elected works
The "Bounty" trilogy, with Charles Nordhoff
* "
Mutiny on the Bounty " (1932)
* "Men Against the Sea " (1934)
* "Pitcairn's Island" (1934)
* "The Bounty Trilogy " (illustrated byN. C. Wyeth ) (1940)Other works
* "Kitchener's Mob: The Adventures of an American in the British Army" (1916)
* "High Adventure: A Narrative of Air Fighting in France" (1918)
* "Faery Lands of the South Seas" (with Nordhoff) (1920)
* "Mid-Pacific" (1928)
* "Falcons of France" (with Nordhoff) (1929) Nordhoff and Hall's account of their service in the famed Lafayette Escadrille during WWI
* "The Friends" (1939)
* "Doctor Dogbody's Leg" (1940) [cite book | last=Bleiler | first=Everett | authorlink=Everett F. Bleiler | title=The Checklist of Fantastic Literature | location=Chicago | publisher=Shasta Publishers | pages=139 | date=1948]
* "Under a Thatched Roof" (essays) (1942)
* "Lost Island" (1944)
* "The Far Lands" (1950)
* "My Island Home: An Autobiography" (1952)
* "Sing: A Song of Sixpence" in "125 Years of the Atlantic", p. 303-313Notes
External links
* [http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3Ajames%20norman%20hall%20AND%20mediatype%3Atexts Works by James Norman Hall] , at
Internet Archive (scanned books)
* [http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/h#a8797 Works by James Norman Hall] , atProject Gutenberg
* [http://librivox.org/newcatalog/search.php?title=&author=James+Norman+Hall&status=all&action=Search Works by James Norman Hall] , atLibriVox * [http://www.jamesnormanhallhome.pf/indexen.html Hall family website]
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