The Forty Days of Musa Dagh

By Franz Werfel and Vartan Gregorian

The Forty Days of Musa Dagh is Franz Werfel's masterpiece that brought him international acclaim in 1933, drawing the world's attention to the Armenian genocide. This is the story of how the people of several Armenian villages in the mountains along the coast of present-day Turkey and Syria chose not to obey the deportation order of the Turkish government. Instead, they fortified a plateau on the slopes of Musa Dagh—Mount Moses—and repelled Turkish soldiers and military police during the summer of 1915 while holding out hope for the warships of the Allies to save them.

The original English translation by Geoffrey Dunlop has been revised and expanded by translator James Reidel and scholar Violet Lutz. The Dunlop translation, had excised approximately 25% of the original two-volume text to accommodate the Book-of-the-Month club and to streamline the novel for film adaptation. The restoration of these passages and their new translation gives a fuller picture of the extensive inner lives of the characters, especially the hero Gabriel Bagradian, his wife Juliette, their son Stephan—and Iskuhi Tomasian, the damaged, nineteen-year-old Armenian woman whom the older Bagradian loves. What is more apparent now is the personal story that Werfel tells, informed by events and people in his own life, a device he often used in his other novels as well, in which the author, his wife Alma, his stepdaughter Manon Gropius, and others in his circle are reinvented. Reidel has also revised the existing translation to free Werfel's stronger usages from Dunlop's softening of meaning, his effective censoring of the novel in order to fit the mores and commercial contingencies of the mid-1930s.

• Language: English
• Publisher: David R. Godine, Publisher
• Release date: Jan 25, 2012
• ISBN: 9781567925159

Franz Werfel

Franz Viktor Werfel (* 10. September 1890 in Prag; † 26. August 1945 in Beverly Hills) war ein österreichischer Schriftsteller jüdisch-deutschböhmischer Herkunft. Er ging aufgrund der nationalsozialistischen Herrschaft ins Exil und wurde 1941 US-amerikanischer Staatsbürger. Er war ein Wortführer des lyrischen Expressionismus.

Reviews for The Forty Days of Musa Dagh

[thornton37814 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

At over 800 pages, this is not an easy read. It details the relations of the Armenian Christians with the Turks who were now ruling them. They were removed to Musa Dagh (Mountain of Moses) where times were difficult. It details their resistance effort and struggle during this time. My favorite portions were the portions concerning their faith and the portions that related to everyday living. The author made some wonderful descriptions of such things as food and other cultural elements. My unfamiliarity with some of the names made it difficult to read and keep characters straight in my mind as I was reading. I wish I'd spotted the list of characters and the glossary of Armenian and Turkish terms at the end of the novel prior to reading it in its entirety. Perhaps these should have been located in the front of the book!

[drinkingtea_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Good book, really long. I had to read this as part of a history course years ago. Best to read a crappy happy ending romance novel afterwards to keep you from wearing horn rimmed glasses and drinking mixed drinks with cranberry. (yes, I can write a serious review, but the world has already beat me to it)