How does one become a writer? This is not the usual topic of one of Pierre Boulle's uncommon and sometimes adventurous memories of war, and yet, if the Malay, Birman,Chinese and Indochinese tribes of the author lead him into the Pétainists prisons of Hanoi, they also convinced him (in an apparently absurd way, although deeply logical) about the main fact he had to accept about himself : become a writer. This is what he has done with his unquestionable talent and the success which came afterward. So, the sources of the river Kwai is a sort of double pilgrimage and, as it is a tradition in Pierre Boulle's work, humour is never missing. "I have tried here to relate as faithfully as I could some of the adventures I had the opportunity to experience in the far east during the last World War : a remote past for Europe, a prehistoric period for south-east Asia when these events took place. But there have always been prehistory lovers. Despite the selfish point of view, which pushes any individual to take a closer look at what he has lived; there is a particular reason that incited me to exhume these memories, written not long after the war, and to give them a title that would evoke one of my novels. Some conscientious investigators have often asked with determination where I had found the inspiration for this book: The bridge over the river Kwai. I have tried for long and this in vain, to elucidate this question, which was as irritating to me as it was to them. Even though the sources of the details were obvious, where did I manage to find the brilliant idea, the base, which is essential according to me? Well, I think I finally figured it out. The base is part of these series of adventures. In an implicit way. It is not noticeable at first sight. Even I had not noticed it at first; I only became aware of it after years of anguished introspection. Fully understanding the mechanisms of the transposition would be tedious. I only give here the story after the novel, asserting that the first contains, in a diffuse state, the material and the spirit of the other. This may, in a better way than explanations, shed some light upon my intuitive conception of the art of writing".
Author
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. Pierre Boulle (20 February 1912 – 30 January 1994) was a French novelist best known for two works, The Bridge over the River Kwai (1952) and Planet of the Apes (1963) that were both made into award-winning films. Boulle was an engineer serving as a secret agent with the Free French in Singapore, when he was captured and subjected to two years' forced labour. He used these experiences in The Bridge over the River Kwai, about the notorious Death Railway, which became an international bestseller. The film by David Lean won many Oscars, and Boulle was credited with writing the screenplay, because its two genuine authors had been blacklisted. His science-fiction novel Planet of the Apes, where intelligent apes gain mastery over humans, was adapted into a series of five award-winning films that spawned magazine versions and popular themed toys.
