美国作家赫尔曼·沃克的长篇小说《战争风云》,是七十年代风靡美国的名著。在我国,《战争风云》的中译本于一九七九年四月出版之后,影响很大,是解放以来三十多年中我国销售最广、最快和影响最大的美国当代小说。《战争风云》在中国受到如此欢迎,使美国出版界感到十分惊讶,连作者本人也感到意外。赫尔曼·沃克在我国读者中间,是个比较陌生的名字。其实,他早已是颇负盛名的老作家了。美国文化界权威人士、名记者、名作家白修德认为:“目前美国只有四个小说家可以说是技巧精通的头流作家。”其中第三个就是赫尔曼·沃克。由此可见他在美国文坛上的声望和地 American writer Herman Walker’s novel “war situation”, is the seventies swept the United States. In our country, after the Chinese translation of “War Situation” was published in April 1979, it has a great impact. It is the most contemporary, most influential American novel in the past 30 years since liberation. The so-called “war situation” was so welcomed in China that the United States publishing industry was very surprised. Even the author himself was surprised. Herman Walker is a rather strange name among our readers. In fact, he is already quite a famous old writer. Whitehead, author and famous writer of American cultural circles, said: “At present, there are only four novelists in the United States who are skilled writers.” The third one is Herman Walker. This shows his popularity in the American literary world