Mass for Arras

By Andrzej Szczypiorski and Richard Lourie

Book Overview

At the core of this novel is the true fifteenth-century tragedy of, first, plague and hunger and, later, the brutal persecution of Jews and witches in the small French town of Arras. A Mass for Arras explores the personal and political consequences of fear, fanaticism, and fascism in the story of Jan, a young member of the intelligentsia. Arrogantly pious and full of revolutionary zeal, Jan wholeheartedly participates in the torments inflicted on the "outsiders" in the name of moral and political righteousness. Yet when faced with escalating violence and, ultimately, his own downfall, he must choose between sincere commitment to the isolated village that adopted him and horror at a society gone mad. A Mass for Arras addresses themes of freedom and responsibility, individualism and conformity, and memory and loss. It is a moving account of a young man's coming-of-age in a time of disease and death, a profound political allegory of life in an emergent totalitarian state, a chilling indictment of government-sponsored repression and societal complicity, and a cautionary tale about the tendency of history to repeat itself, whether in fifteenth-century France, postwar Poland, or somewhere still closer to our own time and place.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802134025
• ISBN13: 9780802134028
• Release Date: September 1994
• Publisher: Grove Press
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Meditation on freedom and community

A Mass for Arras is a quiet book that sneaks up and mesmerizes you. For the first few pages I anticipated a heavy, philsophical book. A few more pages and I was hooked. Yes, the book is "philosophical" but in the manner of a great novel - it shows concretely how changing beliefs effect daily life. The book reconstructs history in a believable manner while clearly critizing the contemporary world - a book that works on many levels. Add it to your must read list.