Think of this ‘digital biography’ as a case study. Can I answer a number of key questions regarding a Dutch prisoner of the Japanese who survived World War II and went on to become a reasonably well known international sportsman, author, filmmaker and even songwriter? Can I do this from my home office? Would it be possible to use my computer, my telephone and the postal service to verify his own account of his life story and to expand our understanding of this man?
Could I specifically answer the following questions:
- Did ‘Cornel Lumiere’ just look after himself while working as the interpreter for Australian prisoners of the Japanese during World War II?
- Did he betray his fellow prisoners to the Kempeitai, the secret Japanese military police?
- Was he even a prisoner of war on the Burma Railway?
- Is he a credible witness who gives us a reasonably accurate portrait of people like Colonel C. G. W. Anderson (Victoria Cross)?
- Was he just a shameless self-promoter or did he have a solid ethical core grounded in reality?
- Who is ‘Cornel Lumiere’, really? What was the familial context of his life and how did this influence him?
- What were the cultural and social factors the shaped Lumiere’s life and lives of his intimates?
To unfold this case study, I will tell you a story. It is about a somewhat mysterious man. More accurately, it is about the construction and reconstruction of this man's identity. But, it is also about me. My own prejudices and predilections will seep through the seams of the narrative. It cannot be helped.
The story is based on my search for this man through the Internet, the power tool of the digital age. This search has taken me around the whole ‘wired’ and, increasingly, ‘wireless’ world. For the most part, I will be using publicly available documents or information that anyone, with a little effort, could have obtained for themselves through the Internet.
However, I will also draw upon four telephone conversations conducted a number of years ago from my home office. One was with Jewel Lumiere, Cornel’s fourth wife. Three conversations were with men who had known ‘Cornel Lumiere’ as Cor Punt in Burma. More recently, additional information was obtained through email exchanges with the relatives of Cornel’s second wife, who referred to her husband as Erik Punt.
So, some very personal details about the lives of others have emerged. What can or should I share? These are difficult ethical questions to answer. How do I strike a balance between privacy and a genuine intellectual quest? When do you cross the line into mere puerile curiosity? What will I discover and potentially expose about myself?
This project began in anger. The anger of another and my own. I am in doubt as to whether this has made for an auspicious beginning. It certainly has prodded me to continue when I might have set the task aside--permanently. No doubt, the anger has clouded judgment at times. But, that is as may be. There is no going back.
The tale will be somewhat long in the telling. The man was long-lived, relatively speaking. If it could be achieved while maintaining his vigor, a long life was his goal. Yet, the very means by which he sought such a goal may have contributed to his death.
