The Long Voyage (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics) [Paperback]

Jorge Semprun (Author), Richard Seaver (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1997 | Series: Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics

Gasping for breath in a cattle truck occupied by 119 other men, a young Spaniard captured fighting with the French Resistance counts off the days and nights as the train rolls slowly but inexorably toward Buchenwald. On the five seemingly endless days of the journey, he has conversations that send him into daydreams about his childhood or set him fighting Resistance battles over again. He describes the temporary holding prison where the names of distant concentration camps are spoken of in whispers - their individual horrors discussed, rated, contemplated. In chilling detail, the trip with those 119 men - some fearful, some defiant - is evoked, along with his own confusion, anger, and bitter resignation. When at last the fantastic, Wagnerian gates to Buchenwald come into sight, the young Spaniard is left alone to face the camp.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, French (translation) --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

Jorge Semprun, novelist and playwright, was Spain?s Minister of Culture from 1988?1991. He lives in Paris.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Classics (March 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0141180293
• ISBN-13: 978-0141180298
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,090,944 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Journey to the unknown, October 1, 2000

By 

Esther Nebenzahl - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Long Voyage (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics) (Paperback)

Jorge Semprun was born in Spain but has lived most of his life in France. At a young age he joined the communist party and while active at the French resistance was captured by the Nazis. "The Long Voyage" is an autobiographical narrative, concentrating on the author's experience while being transported in a train to Buchenwald. Contrary to most Holocaust literature, this book is not a compilation of horrors and atrocities, but a stream-of consciousness description of a journey to the unknown, when time has ceased to exist, when "past," "present," and "future" all have lost meaning. This is what makes Semprun's narrative so interesting. It is not the logical sequence of events that dictates the narrative, but the mind's attempt to understand and, at the same time, escape reality.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful and moving novel, May 21, 1998

By 

Richard Zimler (Portugal) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Long Voyage (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics) (Paperback)

This is a wonderful and moving novel about a French Resistance fighter of Spanish origin who is captured by the Nazis and sent to Buchenwald. It is brilliantly written, and I would recommend it to anyone intested in good writing, the Holocaust or the human spirit.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The long silence of the lambs, July 16, 2009

By 

Claude Lambert (Savannah, USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Long Voyage (Tusk Ivories) (Paperback)

If members of your family have seen terrible things during any war, Vietnam or Iraq, you know that they do not talk about it. Not for ten or twenty years. It happened to Semprun after WWII: he did not talk about the camps until 1963, and even then, in this beautiful novel full or restraint, he does not talk about Buchenwald: he just describes the long voyage to the camp. It is horrible enough. Semprun is above all a great writer, with strong images and a good sense of composition. This book is about learning "to stay inside yourself",as he says, true to yourself. Semprun is not translated enough. He had an interesting career, as a young communist aristocrat, a resistant,a Minister of the Spanish government, but what is left for us is an incomparable writer.