"Yes, it is."
"How do you explain the similarity?"
"I wanted to tell a love story. In order to tell a love story, I needed a woman. In a combat situation, the only possible female characters would be either a native woman or a woman connected with the services. I chose a nurse."
"Why couldn't you just as naturally have chosen a Korean girl?"
"Because this would have brought up the racial matter again, and I wanted to explore that in terms of Sergeant Morley."
"Does the nurse in Catchpole outrank the lieutenant?"
"Yes."
"Does the nurse in your book outrank Lieutenant Cooper?"
"Yes."
"How do you explain this?"
"The nurses in Korea were in a combat situation, and most of them were experienced officers."
"Did you meet any nurses in Korea who had been recently commissioned?"
"No."
"What was the lowest rank you came across?"
"A nurse's rank, do you mean? In Korea?"
"Yes."
"First lieutenant."
"What rank does Jan Reardon in your novel hold?"
"First lieutenant."
"Has she been in the service longer than Lieutenant Cooper?"
"Yes, a full year longer."
"And does this explain her higher rank?"
"Yes."
"It has been alleged in this same Exhibit 5 that the men in the respective squads hate their new commanding officer because someone they liked and respected had been killed by a sniper. Is this so?"
"Yes, but the sniper wasn't my idea. It was Chester Danton's."
"What was the plot development in your original version?"
"The struggle originated with Private Colman. It was strictly a personal struggle between Colman and the lieutenant. Only later did it assume larger proportions that led to the lieutenant's death."
"There had been no previous commanding officer killed by a sniper?"
"No. Besides, in the play the lieutenant is really responsible for the death of one of his men, and the squad's resentment is somewhat justified. In my novel, the major is killed a full month before Cooper even arrives in Korea. The resentment is solely Colman's, the struggle is strictly between the two."
"A struggle for what?"
"For…" Driscoll hesitated. "Survival," he said.
"Which the lieutenant loses?"
"Yes. The lieutenant is killed. What Colman finally does is to kill the lieutenant."
"Is this his plan?"
"Unconsciously, yes."
"Is this not also the plan of Corporal Janus in the play?"
"Yes."
"To murder the lieutenant?"
"Yes."
"How do they differ?"
"One is a melodrama."
"Which one?"
"The play. It is really a play about a murder conspiracy, and the events leading up to that murder and the eventual foiling of it through a series of further related events."
"Do you agree that the theme of Catchpole is 'The Idiocy and Foolish Waste of War'?"
"No, sir."
"What is the theme of Catchpole?"
" 'Crime Does Not Pay.' "
"And what is the theme of The Paper Dragon?"
"It would be difficult to express simply."
"How would you express it?"
"I suppose the theme is that people are capable of… of hurting each other beyond endurance by… by thoughtless and… ill-conceived actions."
"Like war, do you mean?"
"The war is inconsequential, it's only the background. I tried to… you see… the lieutenant knows a deep and very real love for this woman… the nurse… and this is wrecked… their love is destroyed by a single thoughtless act."
"But isn't it true that more than just their love is destroyed?"
"Yes, the… the future they might have had together."
"I'm referring, though, to the actual death of the lieutenant."
"Oh. Yes. But I saw that as symbolic."
"You did not see the nurse's deprivation as symbolic, did you?"
"No, that's real enough. She's lost him."
"Forever," Willow said.
"Yes." Driscoll paused. "Forever."
"But then, there are no winners in your novel, Mr. Driscoll, isn't that so?"
"Yes."
"The whole series of events, in fact, seem pointless by the end of the book."
"Yes."
"Everyone has been involved in a bitter struggle that solves nothing, a paper dragon. Moving on to Plaintiff's Exhibit 7, we are told that the 'female rifle' scene in your novel is based on the pig scene in Mr. Constantine's play. Is it?"
"No, it's not."
"It is alleged that these scenes are similar."
"I don't see how."
"They are both said to be sexual."
"Mr. Constantine's scene is about capturing a pig. My scene is about a woman."
"It's about stripping a rifle, isn't it?"
"No, it's about stripping a woman and taking her to bed."
"It purports to be about a rifle."
"The scene is transparently about a woman, whereas Mr. Constantine's pig scene is clearly a scene about food. There are no sexual allusions in it at all."
"Thank you, Mr. Driscoll," Willow said. "That is all for this witness, your Honor."
He nodded at Driscoll, smiled briefly, turned his back and walked to the defense table. Brackman took his time assembling his notes. Driscoll watched him warily. Constantine whispered something to him just before he rose from the table, and Brackman nodded and then walked toward the front of the courtroom. He pursed his lips, swallowed, looked up at Driscoll, and said, "Mr. Driscoll, if I understand your earlier testimony correctly, you said that you were an art major at the Art Students League and Pratt Institute. When did you enter Pratt?"
"In September of 1947."
"And you went into the Army in June of 1950?"
"Yes."
"Still intending to be an artist?"
"I'm sorry, what?"
"Did you plan on continuing with your art work when you got out of the service?"
"Yes."
"When did you change your mind?"
"I don't know when. I suppose it was a gradual process."
"Starting when?"
"Starting when I was at Pratt, I would imagine."
"And you entered Pratt in September of 1947?"
"Yes."
"A month before Mr. Constantine's play opened on Broadway."
"Yes."
"And that was when you began changing your mind about becoming an artist?"
"Not exactly then."
"Exactly when?"
"I said it was a gradual process."
"Starting in September of 1947?"
"It was a matter of beginning to gauge my own talents. There were a lot of talented people at Pratt. I began looking at my own work in terms of theirs."
"And decided to become a writer?"
"Not until much later."
"Not until when?"
"Sometime before I was discharged from the Army."
"So that when you returned to civilian life, you abandoned your study of art, and decided instead to take courses in writing?"
"Yes."
"You became an English major at N.Y.U.?"
"Yes."
"And I assume you took whatever creative writing courses the school had to offer."
"Yes."
"And that's where you learned to write."
"I don't know where a person learns to write."
"That is, nonetheless, where you had your formal training as a writer?"
"Yes."
"Did you begin writing for gain or profit immediately after you were graduated from N.Y.U.?"
"No."
"When did you begin writing?"
"Not until 1961."
"Four years after you were graduated."