The Treasure of the Spanish Civil War, Serge Pey, Archipelago Books, 2020, 135 pp (translated from the French by Donald Nicholson-Smith, originally published by Zulma, 2011)
This was another wonderful selection from my Archipelago Books subscription. The author, Serge Pey, is a French writer and poet. His parents fled Spain during the Spanish Civil War only to be interned in a concentration camp in France, due to the defeat of the Spanish republicans.
His book grew out of the stories told him by his exiled compatriots. The imagery and characterizations demonstrate his poetical skills and his political heart. He is for those who oppose oppression and fight for freedom.
He celebrates human resilience in the acts of resistance found in each of these interrelated stories. Children born and raised in the camp, old soldiers of the Spanish republicans, mothers, healers, and even some animals come to life.
The magical infuses many of the incidents. Ghosts and spirits and mystical powers work right beside both brave and desperate humans.
It is the nature of concentration camps to practice brutality but Serge Pey balances atrocity with every possible type of life force in the human spirit.
This sounds like it is well worth the read. It is striking how people can find meaning and beauty in some of the worst places. Throughout history so many people have been put into camps. It is an ongoing human tragedy. .
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments. I like every sentence!
DeleteAnd you have introduced me to yet another writer who was previously unknown to me. I must learn more about him and his work.
ReplyDeleteI must thank Archipelago Books doing all their good work of publishing literature from around the world.
Deletemy knowledge of that period is confined to Orwell and Laurie Lee.. i suppose i should adapt CK's habit and read some reference books about it... sometime, yes... he said, hopefully, but not really expecting anything to happen haha
ReplyDeleteOrwell wrote about the Spanish Civil War? Who is Laurie Lee? I think my favorite novel of that period is The Time of the Doves, by Catalan author Merce Rodoreda https://keepthewisdom.blogspot.com/2017/02/the-time-of-doves.html
Deletehomage to catalonia and.. LL was a british writer who wrote a 3 volume bio, some of which had to do with spain... Merce Rodoreda a name to conjure with! rolls trippingly off the tongue... how was it bookwise? oh, i see the address above... i'll see if i can get it to work...
DeleteThanks. I looked them up. Homage to Catalonia has thousands of reviews on Goodreads! I am abashed.
DeleteIt sounds like a good read. The way you made it sound was beautiful even though the subject matter isn't the most happy of things. But I must say that this author and I have something in common, the fight for freedom.
ReplyDeleteYou and I have the same thing in common.
DeletePowerful. People are so awful to one another, it is a surprise we have made it this far.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sarah. It is a surprise but I also think it is a promise.
DeleteI hope so. And we have to trust and believe that there are better days ahead. There have to be, right?
DeleteHere is how I see it. There are good days and bad days. As long as there are more good than bad, that works out. When there are too many bad days in a short time, I figure I better work on making more good ones.
DeleteSounds powerful: such interrelated stories from within the camp. I have read some about the Spanish Civil War ... but not enough yet ... this one looks like a worthy addition.
ReplyDeleteYes, I found this short book unique among books I have read about that war.
DeleteSounds like a good read.
ReplyDeleteIt was, indeed.
DeleteI'm always intrigued by stories about concentration camps, simply because I can not even TRY to feel what people there felt. It's a big thing here in The Netherlands, even 75 years after WOII. The kids in my classroom always want to know everything about it.
ReplyDeleteDutch TV made a great TV Show for children about the war.
This book totally grabs my attention, even with just the picture on the cover.
That's amazing that the kids want to know about concentration camps. Such a brutal practice but perhaps it is better for the information to be known, so the next generations can think again about doing such things.
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