Ray Parkin's Wartime Trilogy: Out of the Smoke; Into the Smother; The Sword and the Blossom [Hardcover]

Ray Parkin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1999

Ray Parkin's classic wartime trilogy, originally published in the 1960s, has been out of print for many years. Now eagerly sought after, it will be available for the first time in a single volume.

Out of the Smoke, with an introduction by Laurens van der Post, tells of Ray's experience as Action Chief Quartermaster in HMAS Perth engaging an overwhelming Japanese naval force and being finally sunk by gunfire and torpedoes at midnight.

Into the Smother tells direct from Ray's diary of some fifteen months building the Burma-Siam [Thailand] Railway as a POW with Weary Dunlop under the Imperial Japanese Army.

The Sword and the Blossom tells of the last twelve months of captivity: of transport to Japan in a derelict tramp steamer; of submarine attacks; of weathering typhoons with open hatches; of working in a coal mine under the Inland Sea at Ohama on the shores of Honshu until the advent of the two atomic bombs (one just to the north, the other just to the south) finally freeing POWs.

Ray Parkin is the author of the award winning H.M. Bark Endeavour.

Editorial Reviews

Review

' . . . probably the finest POW writing in English.' -- Max Harris, Australian

'. . . a deeply moving tale of self-imposed discipline and unyielding resolution in the face of the most daunting difficulties . . . If Mr Parkin never writes another word he will have given the world something truly memorable in this humbly told tale about the ship that he loved and the ordeal that he and his comrades underwent after she was lost.' -- Economist, on Out of the Smoke

'. . . his gift of finding a telling and evocative phrase, the skill of his drawings which illustrate the narrative and, above all, his capacity to enter into the feelings of men enduring great privation, put it into a class of its own . . . The two earlier volumes were lifted far above the normal level of such stories by the author's sensitivity to his physical surroundings and his striving to find some underlying meaning behind the suffering and degradation of his experiences. These elements still feature in this continuation of the story, with particular stress on an attempt to understand the complexity of the Japanese character.' -- Times Literary Supplement, on The Sword and the Blossom

'. . . the great virtue of this account, although compiled day by day, is its objectivity: there is no moaning, no self-pity, no trace of morbidness . . . the book is not a mere chronicle of human cruelty and misery, but holds implicitly a commentary on human nature that is relevant outside the camp still.' -- Sunday Times, on Into the Smother

About the Author

Ray Parkin was born in Melbourne in 1910. A omnivorous reader and gifted artist, he largely educated himself and became a fine maritime painter. He spent eighteen years in the Royal Australian Navy, including three years as a prisoner of war of the Japanese during World War 2. After the war he became a waterfront tally clerk and wrote of his wartime experiences in Out of the Smoke, Into the Smother and The Sword and the Blossom, all published to critical acclaim by The Hogarth Press, London, in the 1960s. After his retirement Ray spent many years researching, writing and illustrating his remarkable, award-winning work H. M. Bark Endeavour, published in 1997 by Melbourne University Press. He is now working on his next book.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 972 pages
• Publisher: Melbourne University Publishing (August 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0522848877
• ISBN-13: 978-0522848878
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.7 x 2.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,837,947 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Required reading to understand WWII in the Pacific, November 8, 2003

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Ray Parkin's Wartime Trilogy: Out of the Smoke; Into the Smother; The Sword and the Blossom (Hardcover)

I read these books many years ago and found them moving, perhaps 'The Sword and the Blossom' the most moving. This, the third book, attempts to understand the Japanese character as it was experienced by the POWs. It's not pretty, but it is necessary if you want to try to come to grips with quite a lot of the meanings behind the Pacific theatre of WWII.

Parkin's writing is well-balanced, as pointed out. The brutality, sadism and all the other things can't be hidden. Parkin wrestles with the complexity of the Japanese psyche in the war. The POWs are men in extreme situations. Some may not act as well as they may have liked, but Parkin doesn't judge them: who could? There are quietly heroic acts that just seem 'normal', but Parkin doesn't make a big deal about it.

What shines through is the author's humanity. In spite of the brutality, he can appreciate the people he meets, the world around him (e.g. 'the coruscating sea'), and capture it in his sketches.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A WELL BALANCED HERO, August 8, 2000

By 

Robert Lester (Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ray Parkin's Wartime Trilogy: Out of the Smoke; Into the Smother; The Sword and the Blossom (Hardcover)

The novels were first published in London in the 1960's, the author himself stating it took this long for him to take a balanced view of the things he saw as a sailor during war and as a prisoner of war under the Japanese. His hand drawn pictures in these works were made whilst in Custody under threat of execution if seized.

Before the war, PARKIN was a professional sailor, after the war he studied as a classical artist, and worked on the wharfs of Melbourne as a tally clerk.

This description meets his works, his love of the sea, his artwork throughout the works, his beautiful descriptions, and his exacting detail.

The first novel is of a shipwreck survivor, it doesn't show it, but he is the hero portrait, it is a TRUE story. The second is a diary of his captivity on the Burma railway, and the third of his captivity in Japan, including the dropping of the A-Bomb. 'He states that a newspaper dropped in by air to Japan when he was first released has three momentous events, atomic weapons, jet propulsion and ball point pens'.

His works are not bitter, if anything appreciative of having lived a life less fortunate. Very Australian in it's style and language, it is as moving as any of the recognized greats. I will not wax lyrical about its style further, the editorials above do so far more eloquently than I could.