Earth and Fire (English and German Edition) - Hardcover

Bienek, Horst

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0689119925 ISBN 13: 9780689119927

Publisher: Atheneum, 1988

Synopsis

The traumas and courage of those who stay and those who flee as the Russians invade upper Silesia in 1945 are conveyed in a poignant tale

About this title

Language Notes:

Text: English, German (translation)

From Publishers Weekly:

In Manheim's fluent translation, Bienek concludes the Gleiwitz Suite, his acclaimed account of WW II, from the perspective of the inhabitants of the German-Polish border region of Upper Silesia during the months prior to Germany's capitulation in 1945. The wide and briskly differentiated spectrum of characters is initially difficult to follow, but two families emerge to form the axis on which the action turns: the middle-class Piorteks, who decide to flee the advancing Russians in the direction of the less-feared Americans; and the Ossadniks, who resolve to remain. Bienek masterfully evokes the ominous lull before a storm by means of the mundanity and ostensible calm of the townspeople as they sustain a painfully naive optimism. When the Nazi Party bosses flee, however, leaving the small fry to the Russians' vengeance, civic restraints evaporate, revealing the poverty of spirit of some, the generosity of others. The violence of occupation draws the book together with subtle, emotional power, resulting in a resonant chronicle of an era whose painful heritage still lingers.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Atheneum
• Publication date: 1988
• ISBN 10: 0689119925
• ISBN 13: 9780689119927
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 257