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The Cross and the Arrow
Albert Maltz; Introduction by Patrick Chura
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R248
Discovery Miles 2 480
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Ships in 12 - 17 working days
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Despite being decorated with a German Service Cross, Willi Wegler
is inwardly sickened by both Hitler’s genocidal war and the
complicity of his fellow citizens in Third Reich brutalities.
Wracked by guilt, he suddenly betrays his country in a profound
gesture of protest and self-sacrifice: during the course of an air
raid, he fashions an enormous arrow out of hay in an open field,
then ignites it as a flaming signal to direct British bombers to
the site of the factory where he works – an act that cannot fail
to precipitate a series of dramatic events. The Cross and the Arrow
– first published in 1944, during the latter stages of the war it
describes – portrays a man’s struggle to retain his dignity in
defiance of state-sponsored cruelty and explores the role and
responsibility of the individual in the face of tragic global
events. In its examination of an enemy’s complex heroism, it
provides a life-affirming message of humanity’s ultimate capacity
for good.
Poland, January 1945. Two women and four men escape from a Nazi
death march. Each is from a different background and a different
country, but all have endured the horrors of imprisonment in
Auschwitz. They find refuge in an abandoned factory, and suddenly
they realize that they are no longer mere numbers. Even in their
wild euphoria at being free, however, they can have no certainty
about their future. This is a tale of exploding joy within a
hothouse of fear, a tale of human beings erupting into life after
breaking free of the embrace of death – an unusual and moving
tale that cements Albert Maltz’s reputation as a compassionate
observer of character and one of the finest storytellers of his
generation.
As time ticks along with indifference, the inmates of the
Washington District Jail drag on their daily routine behind bars.
Innocent at their birth, these frail creatures who have lost their
way now spend their lives shut out of society, deprived of all
freedom, with little prospect of being readmitted into the human
fold. Each prisoner has a story: some of them are charged with
crimes of assault, murder and manslaughter, others of forgery,
robbery and larceny – others still are not guilty of anything
other than having been born to certain parents at a certain time in
a certain country. A Long Day in a Short Life – Maltz’s first
novel to be published in the UK – is a powerful indictment of the
penal system and a strong reminder about the underlying humanity of
each individual.
This superb collection signals the long overdue return of Albert
Maltz, one of the "Hollywood Ten" blacklisted during the McCarthy
era, to the forefront of American letters. From "Afternoon in the
Jungle" an unforgettable glimpse of the brutalization of poverty to
the gripping adventure of "The Farmer's Dog," Maltz probes deep
into the American consciousness, displaying a keen outrage at the
injustices of poverty, prejudice and oppression. Yet, throughout,
he remains true to a central vision of the essential dignity of
man.
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