Werfel, Franz

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Deserves to be required reading
Stirs and pervades the human spirit with great emotion
Fictional-but
Is this "genocide" akin to religious fanaticism?
Powerful and Moving.

The Forty Days of Musa Dagh
Franz Werfel
Manufacturer: Carroll & Graf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Zabelle

ASIN: 0786711388

Book Description

This stirring, poignant novel, based on real historical events that made of actual people true heroes, unfolds the tragedy that befell the Armenian people in the dark year of 1915. The Great War is raging through Europe, and in the ancient, mountainous lands southwest of the Caspian Sea the Turks have begun systematically to exterminate their Christian subjects. Unable to deny his birthright or his people, one man, Gabriel Bagradian—born an Armenian, educated in Paris, married to a Frenchwoman, and an officer doing his duty as a Turkish subject in the Ottoman army—will strive to resist death at the hands of his blood enemy by leading 5,000 Armenian villagers to the top of Musa Dagh, "the mountain of Moses." There, for forty days, in the face of almost certain death, they will suffer the siege of a Turkish army hell-bent on genocide. A passionate warning against the dangers of racism and scapegoating, and prefiguring the ethnic horrors of World War II, this important novel from the early 1930s remains the only significant treatment, in fiction or nonfiction, of the first genocide in the twentieth century's long series of inhumanities.

Customer Reviews:

Deserves to be required reading.......2006-12-04

The Forty Days of Musa Dagh is an historical fiction drama set in WWI Turkey. During the war, the Turkish government imposes a policy of forced relocation on Armenian Christians living within its borders. Refusing to leave, the residents of several villages at the foot of Musa Dagh (Moses Mountain) decide to stay and fight. They take refuge on the mountain, constructing a fortress with their meager resources. The band of ordinary citizens courageously holds out for forty days, sucessfully holding off the better equipped, better trained and vastly larger Turkish army. Want to know how it ends? Read the book!

The book is clearly written, and translates well from the original German. The imagery is vivid and I really cared about the characters. Although the book is long, there are few lulls. It's been over 18 months since I've read this book, and I still find myself thinking about it and I remember a surprising amount of it; it's that memorable!

I was amazed that I had not even heard of this book before reading it. The Armenian genocide in Turkey was barely mentioned in my college history classes. It is a shame that such a well-written book about such a large atrocity (1.5 million people died) is so obscure. Of course, there is some controversy regarding the historical accuracy of this book and of the Armenian genocide in general, but the consensus is that, except for the names and minor details, the book is accurate. Do your homework and make up your own mind.

Stirs and pervades the human spirit with great emotion.......2006-01-20

How do I begin describing this book? this marvelous novel penned by an Austrian writer who was not indebted to the Armenian people and owed them nothing. How do I describe and compress this eight-hundred page long book into a miniscule summary?

The truth of the matter is, is that words alone cannot describe Franz Werfel's "The Forty Days of Musa Dagh". It is too grand a story that should, rather, be read by everyone and experienced to the greatest extent possible in the human spirit. The novel revolves around the life and culture of the Armenian people in a Western region of Syria in 1915. The Ottoman Empire, lead by the Young Turkish leadership have enacted the state-wide policy of genocide against the Armenians. Sensing the impending the danger, the 4,000 people of this region are forced to take shelter on the towering and biblical mountain of Musa Dagh. With a Turkish military force encircling the mountain, it is up to the Armenians to defend their way of life or die and vanish into history.

I do not wish to impede on others' reviews and assert my position on whether or not they are correct, it is their opinions after all; however, those who gave this book a one star rating did it out of malice and contempt over what they see as a misrepresentation of their country's history. Rather they looked at what the book was professing about and instead of placing what they thought of a well-written novel, they placed their version of the events of 1915.

It is of no matter, it is up to the reader to gain an understanding from what the reviewer provides. Werfel composes a beaufiful note which instills the reader's spirt with much more than words, it gives them hope, it gives them proof that perhaps there are happy and positive stories that stem from tragedies. Werfel couldn't have done it any better.

Fictional-but.......2004-09-14

Yes, the book is fictional, but based on a real incident. The survivors were taken by the French warships to Lebanon and started an Armenian village there. As to one reviewers questions as to what happened to the Turks in Armenia, they are still the majority there, along with Kurds. Turkish Armenia has no Armenians, they are all gone. The modern country of Armenia was part of the Russian empire at the time of the massacres. It was predominately Armenian in population and escaped the massacres. As to the extent of the destruction, we will never know just how many were killed. However, I do feel that Turkey from 1915 through 1922 was one of the first modern examples of ethnic cleansing, with a determined effort to rid the country of all non-Turkish elements. Western Asia Minor had been Greek for better than 3000 years (Symrna, Miletus, Laodicea, Ephesus, etc). It is not today. The land around Mt. Ararat and Lake Van had been mostly Armenian for 3000 years. It is not today. The Black Sea coast had been mostly Greek for 2500 years. It is not today. Yes, the Greeks did invade Turkey in an attempt to take advantage of the country's defeat in WWI. They were thrown back in a great show of courage and patriotism. But the aftermath must also be examined. Yes, there were Armenians who wanted to succeed and form an independent state. But the aftermath must also be examined.
We are talking of things that happened almost 100 years ago. I do not feel that the Turkish people today have guilt for the actions that were taken then. I like Turkey and the Turks I have met. But historical facts do not disappear by denying them.
We all have an obligation to face up to the unpleasant facts of history. Only when all of us say "Never again" to any genocidal action will genocide cease to exist.

Is this "genocide" akin to religious fanaticism?.......2004-08-06

If this book is fictional as even the people who are crazy about it admit, then how could they take it as historic fact? The degree of emotionalism involved by the Armenian reviewers here is phenomenal. It's almost as though this supposed genocide is a religious experience, and the truth needs to be damned.

An Ara Belian (Feb. 4, 2004) is upset at the revelations of another reviewer, whose essay made a lot of sense to me. He counts on stories by relatives as his evidence... but nobody is arguing Armenians did not suffer. The point is, everyone suffered during those tragic times. Didn't Armenians kill Turks in large numbers, that we never hear about? (Why are there no Turks in Armenia, when once the Turks were the majority?)

The point is whether a governmental extermination policy was in effect; this is the unproven part of genocide theory, and emotionalism is an unfair substitute for history.
All the "documented evidence, witnesses and memoirs of the genocide" prove is that ugliness occurred during what was a state of war. That's why none of it was admissible as actual evidence when the British attempted to try the Turks for massacre crimes at the end of WWI.

Taking the moral high road by claiming numbers don't matter is awfully ingenuous of Belian when propagandists make sure to tell us numbers do matter... the higher the number, the greater the sympathy value. That's why false numbers as 1.5 million have been created. Instead of saying he was made to "fume and filled ...with anger," why doesn't Mr. Belian THINK? Approach this subject coolly, rationally and without emotion? Instead of acting like a religious zealot who doesn't care about reason and common sense?

Powerful and Moving........2004-08-02

The Forty Days of Musa Dagh is a very human novel written on an epic scale. It is at once the struggle of a "foreign" man to hold together his family, and the valient attempt of a people to survive. It is unfortunate that so many people have attacked this book to advance their political agenda of blurring history. "Martyr" is a word that is unfortunately abused today, however, in Forty Days one truly understands the broad scope and sacred purpose of that word. This is a book of wonderful contradictions: profound loss replaced by hope for the future; despair replaced by courage. Truly moving.

Average customer rating:

Masterful and moving
I recommend this book to *you.*
Franz Werfel's Reflections on Two Moments of Grace
makes surprisingly good reading
A Timeless Story

The Song of Bernadette
Franz Werfel
Manufacturer: Ignatius Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Song of Bernadette
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Our Lady of Fatima

ASIN: 1586171712

Book Description

This is the famous and highly acclaimed classic work that tells the true story surrounding the miraculous visions of St. Bernadette Soubirous at Lourdes, France in 1858. Werfel, a highly respected literary writer who was an outspoken anti-Nazi from Vienna, became a Jewish refugee who barely escaped death from the Nazis in 1940, and wrote this moving story to fulfill a promise he made to God. Thus the story of how this book about a miracle came to be written is in itself something of a miracle.

As he and his wife were hiding out in the little village of Loudres while trying to escape to freedom in the USA during WWII, Werfel felt the Nazi noose tightening around them and realizing that they might well be caught and executed, he made a promise to God to write about the "song of Bernadette" that he had been deeply inspired by during their clandestine stay in Lourdes.

An amazing aspect of this powerful portrayal of a Catholic saint and an essentially Catholic story is that Werfel was a rather secular Jew, and yet he was so deeply impressed by both Bernadette and the happenings at Lourdes, that his writing has a profound sense of Catholicism's sacramental imagination about the world.

Customer Reviews:

Masterful and moving.......2007-03-02

This book should be THE standard for religious fiction. Rarely have I read a book in which the subject is so excellently handled. The story is interesting and very moving, without being melodramatic. It begins with Bernadette in a sort of wide focus. The narrator does not make the claim that Bernadette's visions are authentic,but rather allows the story itself to slowly show the truth of the situation. As the plot progresses, the focus narrows, and we see just who and what Bernadette really is. By the end of the book, we, the reader are convinced (without being forced) that Bernadette is an authentic visionary of the Blessed Virgin. This is probably the finest novel that I have ever read, and I am a prolific and avid reader. One caveat- the historical details in this book are not 100% accurate. If one wants to find a more historically accurate account of Saint Bernadette, read Bernadette Speaks, which is also a brilliant book.

I recommend this book to *you.*.......2004-08-18

My title of this review, "I recommend this book to *you*" may seem rather bold; after all, I don't know who may or may not come along and read this review.

But I stand by that title. Whoever you are, gentle reader, I recommend this book to you. It is one of those universal classics that powerfully, skillfully, and with thoroughgoing integrity, addresses a truly universal phenomenon: the encounter of mortal, corporeal, limited human beings with the numinous.

That's something we all share, no matter our language or religion. One day we are walking along, leading our workaday lives, and -- something happens. Something that just does not fit in what we can conceive of as real. We have a dream, we see, however fleetingly, a ghost, we know something we should not have known.

How do we respond? What is the proper response?

A related question: Human suffering. Why? What is God *thinking*? Or, isn't human suffering proof that there is no God?

Franz Werfel's "Song of Bernadette" takes up these questions, questions that every sentient creature must ponder at least once in his or her lifetime. And Werfel does a bang-up job.

Werfel himself was no stranger to either phenomenon. He knew suffering, and he knew the numinous. He had previously written of the Armenian genocide. He was a Jew escaping from Hitler when he, inspired by a trip to Lourdes in his escape, undertook to complete a vow and write something that would honor what he experienced there.

I was wary of this book. Mindful of the Jennifer Jones - Vincent Price movie (what a combo), I expected a spongy, pious, icky book. Boy, was I wrong.

From the start, the reader realizes that no matter what else he is, Werfel was an excellent writer. Born in Prague, he was a peer of Franz Kafka and had an established reputation before he began "Song," having been voted the most popular author in the German language in 1926, and having won the Grillparzer Prize, the Schiller Prize, and the Czechoslovakian State Prize, among others.

One of Werfel's great gifts is that he doesn't try to sell you anything that you don't want to buy. He uses his literary skill to recreate a humble peasant's life for you, to drag you into a grim dwelling where an ordinary peasant girl is doing her chores, and coughing asthmatically. Believe me; this is not a child you feel any temptation to worship. She could be anyone, anyone. From these particulars, Werfel creates a universal tale.

Now, the tough part. Werfel, of course, is writing about GOD. That topic that makes people get crazy with each other. And he's writing about a miracle, an event that, by its definition, defies human belief.

I'll be frank. I'm a lifelong Catholic. And *I* find Bernadette Soubirous' story hard to believe. Were I sick, I would not seek healing at Lourdes; I'd go to a medical doctor.

This is where Werfel's skill as a writer really shines. He does not even attempt to describe the miracles in a believable way. Rather, he describes the *reactions* of observers in a way that I found completely believable. I believe that average people, when confronted with the numinous, would react exactly as the characters in Werfel's book are described as reacting.

Werfel never converted to Catholicism. After reading his masterful book, I, a Catholic, have more questions than answers about what really happened - and about what really continues to happen - at Lourdes. Indeed, those not at all Catholic, but interested in the power of the mind to heal the body, have included Lourdes on their research itineraries.

It was Werfel who first gave me pause about Bernadette, and about Lourdes. Without having read his book, I think I would have dismissed Bernadette, had I given her any thought at all, as a hoaxer, or as someone with some mental disability. Isn't that how we usually respond when confronted with the numinous, but at a distance? Werfel provides us with portraits of people who respond exactly that way, and others who have to handle the numinous when confronted with it at first hand. The contrasts are wonderfully drawn, as are the occasional conversions.

As Werfel so wonderfully says, "for those who believe, no explanation is necessary; for those who do not believe, no explanation is possible."

We all, at some moment or another, wrestle with ourselves to discover on what side of that line we take our stand. At such moments, we could do worse than pick up Werfel's "Song of Bernadette."

Franz Werfel's Reflections on Two Moments of Grace.......2002-05-06

The Jewish author Franz Werfel wrote this novel after stopping at Lourdes on his way out of Nazi-occupied Europe. Impressed by what he observed at the famous shrine, he vowed that if he ever reached "the saving shores of America", he would do his best to "sing the song of Bernadette". As his wish was granted, his vow was honored. Interestingly, during the course of the novel, published at a time of extreme religious intolerance in Europe, we learn that Protestants as well as Jews also make pilgrimages to Lourdes.
The story is about the life of Bernadette Soubirous, an asthmatic fourteen-year-old peasant girl whose family have fallen on hard times. Noteworthy is the fact that Bernadette's mother, Louise, had a gift for healing the sick as other women of the Saint's matrilineal line.
The first apparition takes place on February 11, 1858 after her father has a lamentable day doing menial labor, and she, her sister, Marie, and friend, Jeanne Abadie are sent to collect firewood for their home. The ailing Bernadette stays on one side of the freezing pond water to prevent her asthma from becoming worse while the other go ahead, and in a frightening, tense moment, she is greeted by a pixie-like lady with a white veil,a white gown, dark hair, blue eyes, and a blue sash with a gold rose on each foot who smiles consistently.
In the days and weeks that follow, Bernadette's friends and foes align themselves either in her favor or against her. But miracles in the grotto take place when a blinded stonecutter and an ailing infant are among the first to be healed by water from the spring that the Lady told Bernadette to dig. However, moments of vindication for Bernadette come slowly. Eventually, she even wins the approval of the Empress Eugenie, who dispatches her son's governess to get some of the water to help heal him.
With the words "I am the Immaculate Conception", the Apparition of 1858 also answered the issue about how the Mother of Christ had to be conceived without sin at a time when the Catholic Church had begun to discuss that topic at length.
The Lady promises Bernadette that she will not be granted happiness in this life, but only in the next. Indeed, the story follows Bernadette through the 13 years she spent in the Convent of Nevers (where her incorrupt remains are on display to this day), being tormented by a jealous nun, and helping to nurse soldiers during the Franco-Prussian War. The ailing soldiers called for her more than any other nurse.
After dealing with many ailments and tragedies(her mother died shortly after she entered the convent in 1866), Bernadette, who never loses her sense of humour through it all, dies of tuberculosis at the age of 35 in 1879. She was canonized in 1933 and is one of the favorite modern Saints of the Catholic Church.
When Franz Werfel's own story becomes intertwined with Bernadette's, we realize that we are presented with two stories about moments of grace; that of a humble peasant girl's priviledge of seeing the Mother of God face to face, and of a non-Christian's finding solace in the Visionary's native village, and ultimately escaping his persecutors.
Werfel, in fulfillment of his vow to write about the young Seeress if his own mortal life was saved from the Nazis, has done Bernadette great justice, exposing more people to her life story in an entertaining and engaging way.

makes surprisingly good reading.......2002-01-16

Catholic or not, you may be amazed at this story of the eccentric teenage girl who unwittingly initiates a spiritual movement. She's only doing what her vision of "the Lady" tells her to do, from eating dirt to putting her face into thorns.
It is a difficult but well-crafted novel. I read the Ludwig Lewisohn translation from the original (there may be others).

While Bernadette and her family suffer harrassment from the authorities, they are supported by the people of the community, who wish so badly to believe in a miracle. I enjoyed the scene where, secretly and after dark, the workmen construct a basin to contain the trickle of water discovered by Bernadette. It miraculously is a flowing spring!

I also like the image of the crowds mimicking Bernadette's every movement as she follows "the Lady's" sometimes irrational instructions each morning. The people so desire to believe that Bernadette's actions have meaning, when the reader suspects that it is all just product of mental illness. Good historical reading.

A Timeless Story.......2001-04-21

I am almost finished listening to the Audible format of this book, and am transported by its graceful and profound simplicity. The narrator is excellent, skillfully taking on the roles of her narrated characters. Her characterization of Bernadette is one of innocence and wide-eyed truthfulness, but she is just as equal to giving hard crustiness and slimy hypocrisy to Bernadettes detractors. To Catholics, this book will be an inspiration. And to those who have been or are planning to visit Lourdes, it will explain the very un-subtle commercial atmosphere of the town, so unlike Bernadette would have wished.

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The Forty Days of Musa Dagh
Franz Werfel
Manufacturer: Viking Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000J0KIHQ

Verdi. Roman der Oper. ( Gesammelte Werke in Einzelbänden).

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Verdi. Roman der Oper. ( Gesammelte Werke in Einzelbänden).
Franz Werfel
Manufacturer: Fischer (Tb.), Frankfurt
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 3596294568

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The Song of Bernadette
Franz Werfel
Manufacturer: The Viking Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000DCNXDG

Product Description

When Franz Werfel, like so many of his fellow artists, was escaping from Europe, he paused for a few anxious weeks in the old French city of Lourdes. There he decided that if his journey was safely completed he would write, as an offering of thanks, a novel based on the life of Bernadette Soubirous. Werfel is now in California, and the vow as been magnificantly fulfilled.

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Star of the Unborn.
Franz. Werfel
Manufacturer: Bantam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: 0553079158

Product Description

A fabulous journey through a world 100,000 years from our own, where mankind's deepest aspirations have been fuflfilled.

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Star of the unborn,
Franz Werfel
Manufacturer: Viking Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0007DQM3O

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Star of The Unborn
FRANZ WERFEL
Manufacturer: Bantam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000GTHZQM

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Cella; Or The Survivors
Franz Werfel
Manufacturer: Henry Holt
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000INA95A

Operation Sippacik, The Secret Woman, One Life, The Song of Bernadette, The Shattered Dream (Readers Digest Condensed Books, Vol 3-1970)

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Operation Sippacik, The Secret Woman, One Life, The Song of Bernadette, The Shattered Dream (Readers Digest Condensed Books, Vol 3-1970)
Victoria Holt, Christiaan Barnard and Curtis Bill Pepper, Franz Werfel, Gene Smith Rumer Godden
Manufacturer: Readers Digest Association Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000HB2B5E

Product Description

Five stories condensed into one volume.

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