{"title":"Books by Anna Seghers","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9780349010410","title":"The Seventh Cross","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'At once a suspenseful manhunt story and a knowing portrait of the perils of ordinary life in Hitler's Germany, \u003ci\u003eThe Seventh Cross \u003c\/i\u003eis not only an important novel, but an important historical document. This new, unabridged translation is a genuine publishing event' - Joseph Kanon, author of 'The Good German' and 'Leaving Berlin'\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'A masterpiece. Written in the midst of terror, but with such clarity, such acuity; Seghers is a writer of rare insight' RACHEL SEIFFERT author of \u003ci\u003eA Boy in Winter\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSeven prisoners escape from Westhofen concentration camp. Seven crosses are erected in the grounds and the commandant vows to capture the fugitives within a week. Six men are caught quickly, but George Heisler slips through his pursuers' fingers. It becomes a matter of pride to track him down, at whatever cost.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWho can George trust? Who will betray him? The years of fear have changed those he knew best: his brother is now an SS officer; his lover turns him away. Hunted, injured and desperate, time is running out for George, and whoever is caught aiding in his escape will pay with their life.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Seventh Cross\u003c\/i\u003e is one of the most powerful and influential novels of the twentieth century, a tense thriller that helped to alert the world to the grim realities of Nazi Germany.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'It was [Seghers] who taught my generation and anyone who had an ear to listen after that not-to-be-forgotten war to distinguish right from wrong. \u003ci\u003eThe Seventh Cross\u003c\/i\u003e shaped me; it sharpened my vision' GUNTER GRASS\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'\u003cb\u003eA fascinating insight into life in pre-war Nazi Germany just as the horrors of the Nazi regime were beginning to unfold. This is an important novel, as much for its picture of German society as for its insight into the psyche of ordinary people confronting their personal fears and mixed loyalties' SIMON MAWER, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Glass Room\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eThe Seventh Cross,\u003c\/i\u003e Seghers's aim was to write, 'A tale that makes it possible to get to know the many layers of fascist Germany through the fortunes of a single man.' She had four copies of the manuscript: one was destroyed in an air raid; a friend lost the second copy while fleeing the Nazis; another was found by the Gestapo; only the fourth copy survived, which, fortunately, she sent to her publisher in America just before she escaped Nazi-occupied France. Published in 1942, \u003ci\u003eThe Seventh Cross \u003c\/i\u003ewas an immediate bestseller and was the basis for an MGM film starring Spencer Tracy in 1944. It has been translated into more than 40 languages.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMargot Bettauer Dembo's expert new translation makes the complete text of this great political novel available in English for the first time.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56285819535733,"sku":"9780349010410","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780349010410_acf61feb-9710-4025-b257-9f9751535b88.jpg?v=1786014156"},{"product_id":"9780349014708","title":"Transit","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eINTRODUCED BY STUART EVERS: 'A genuine, fully fledged masterpiece of the twentieth century; one that remains just as terrifyingly relevant and truthful in the twenty-first'\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAn existential, political, literary thriller first published in 1944, \u003ci\u003eTransit\u003c\/i\u003e explores the plight of the refugee with extraordinary compassion and insight. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHaving escaped from a Nazi concentration camp in Germany and a work camp in Rouen, the nameless narrator finds himself in the dusty seaport of Marseille. Along the way he was asked to deliver a letter to Weidel, a writer in Paris whom he discovered had killed himself as the Nazis entered the city. Now he is in search of the dead man's wife. He carries Weidel's suitcase, which contains an unfinished novel - and a letter securing Weidel a visa to escape France.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAssuming the name Seidler - though the authorities think he is in fact Weidel - he goes from cafe to cafe looking for Marie, who is in turn anxiously searching for her husband. As Seidler converses with refugees over pizza and wine, their stories gradually break down his ennui, bringing him a deeper awareness of the transitory world they inhabit as they wait and wait for that most precious of possessions: transit papers.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'This novel, completed in 1942, is in my opinion the most beautiful Seghers has written . . . almost flawless' - Heinrich Boll\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56286479516021,"sku":"9780349014708","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780349014708_ff24589c-5b25-4851-a5b1-1c012f011c8c.jpg?v=1786013426"},{"product_id":"9781681375359","title":"The Dead Girls' Class Trip","description":"\u003cb\u003eA new translation of the best and most provocative short stories by the author of \u003ci\u003eTransit\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Seventh Cross\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBest known for the anti-fascist novel \u003ci\u003eThe Seventh Cross\u003c\/i\u003e and the existential thriller \u003ci\u003eTransit\u003c\/i\u003e, Anna Seghers was also a gifted writer of short fiction. The stories she wrote throughout her life reflect her political activism as well as her deep engagement with myth; they are also some of her most formally experimental work. This selection of Seghers’s best stories, written between 1925 and 1965, displays the range of her creativity over the years. It includes her most famous short fiction, such as the autobiographical “The Dead Girls’ Class Trip,” and others, like “Jans Is Going to Die,” that have been translated into English here for the first time. There are psychologically penetrating stories about young men corrupted by desperation and women bound by circumstance, as well as enigmatic tales of bewilderment and enchantment based on myths and legends, like “The Best Tales of Woynok, the Thief,” “The Three Trees,” and “Tales of Artemis.” In her stories, Seghers used the German language in especially unconventional and challenging ways, and Margot Bettauer Dembo’s sensitive and skilled translation preserves this distinction.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56302850507125,"sku":"9781681375359","price":16.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781681375359_beea5347-6eee-42d1-9bbb-c916ee0a8b10.jpg?v=1786024549"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-anna-seghers.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}