The dark of the lagoon

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The Dark of the Lagoon is an adventure novel by Jack Higgins , the original edition of which was first published in 1959 under the title Sad Wind from the Sea under his real name Harry Patterson . The first German translation was carried out in 1986 by Goldmann Verlag in the translation from English by Hermann Völkel .

content

The novel is set in Macau in 1953 . The adventurer and occasional smuggler Mark Hagen has lost the last of his money in a gambling den and harbor bar, and his ship has been confiscated by the authorities. Despite all adversities, he got the chance to get back on his feet financially. In the adventure now presented to him, he has to take risks completely. Ironically, within a swamp area of ​​the People's Republic of China, there are one hundred gold bars in the hull of a wreck at the bottom of a lagoon in the area of ​​the River Kwai . Other characters from the criminal demi-world are also chasing after the treasure. They are not squeamish when choosing their methods. In the course of the search and rescue, Mark Hagen rescues a beautiful 18-year-old Eurasian girl from the hands of a brutal Chinese gang and is also able to save the gold treasure for himself.

background

By publishing the novel, Higgins aroused the interest of Paul Scott , who would later win the Booker Prize for Staying on . Scott agreed to work as a literary agent for Higgins and enabled him to continue publishing with Hutchinson , who first paid Higgins an advance of £ 75 . Over the next ten years, Higgins wrote two to three thrillers or adventure novels under various pseudonyms such as Hugh Marlowe and Martin Fallon , since publishers suggested to him that the readership would only tolerate one novel by an author in a year. Higgins agreed because at the time, despite his admiration for authors like Ernest Hemingway , he saw himself as very materialistic and wanted to indulge his family and himself with the first cautious luxury. His first purchase from the larger author's fee was a minivan for his wife so that they could drive their children to school and to training.

classification

In the 1960s, Higgins wrote a variety of adventure novels and thrillers modeled on The Darkness of the Lagoon with strong villains and even stronger heroes, but a fairly simple character drawing and plot. It wasn't until the end of this decade that the writer moved from the pulp fiction level to a more serious level, according to critics . Or, as Higgins himself put it, "semi-seriously", since literary critics don't like an author who, in their opinion, sells too many books. On the one hand, he benefited from his mature experience and the fact that the thriller genre - particularly prominently occupied by Alistair MacLean - was flourishing, and on the other hand, one of his old teachers encouraged him to improve his writing style. He made the decisive change as a writer with the publication of East of Desolation , which he published as the first work under his name and which was positively received by the public and critics alike.

output

English

  • Harry Patterson: Sad Wind from the Sea. John Long Ltd., London 1959.
  • Jack Higgins: Sad Wind from the Sea. 50th Anniversary edition (Reissue) Harper, London 2009. ISBN 978-0-00-727422-2 .

German

  • Jack Higgins: The Darkness of the Lagoon. Translated from English by Hermann Völkel, Goldmann, Munich 1986, ISBN 3-442-08378-8 .
  • Jack Higgins: The Darkness of the Lagoon. Approved, unabridged special edition by Goldmann Verlag, Hebel, Darmstadt 1993, ISBN 3-87179-165-2 .
  • Jack Higgins: The Darkness of the Lagoon. Approved, unabridged special edition by Goldmann Verlag, Pavillon-Verlag, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-453-16912-3 .
  • Jack Higgins: The Darkness of the Lagoon. Heyne Verlag, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-453-16912-3 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ List of Jack Higgins' works under his pseudonym Harry Patterson . On: The Internet Book Database of Fiction . Accessed November 23, 2012.
  2. ↑ Sad Wind from the Sea. On: Unofficial Jack Higgins Homepage . Accessed November 23, 2012.
  3. ↑ a b c John Grace: A life in writing: Jack Higgins. "My goal was to write books that made money". In: The Guardian . July 31, 2010. Accessed November 23, 2012.
  4. ↑ Illustration of a facsimile of the dust jacket of the first edition from 1959  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . On: www.facsimiledustjackets.com. Accessed November 23, 2012.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.facsimiledustjackets.com