The Officers' Camp

By Giampiero Carocci

Book Overview

Finalist, 1998 PEN Center West Award for Translation

Historian Giampiero Carocci's only novel is the story of Caro, a young Florentine officer, and his companions from the time of their capture by the Germans in 1943 until their release from a work camp almost two years later. Captured and transported to Germany, their lives seem dreamlike, and nothing stands out, except when someone is killed or disappears, or starves to death. As the months of imprisonment mount and the officers are moved farther away from Italy--and into smaller and more horrific camps--they are reduced to shells of humanity, their hope preserved only by discussions of food and the swapping of elaborate "recipes."

Compared in its mastery and impact with the work of Primo Levi, The Officers Camp was inexplicably overlooked among the accounts of Italian experience in World War Two. This edition is the first available in English.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0810160269
• ISBN13: 9780810160262
• Release Date: June 1997
• Publisher: Marlboro Press
• Length: 217 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Stunning! A prose masterpiece, sparse, gripping, insightful

What a gift to be given at this time when the world seems deflowered of content and caring. With disarming candor and directness, Mr.Carocci's memoir of the Italian military internship by the German Army breathes the moment and the passage from the darkness to the light, all the while maintaining wit and humanity. The sense and sensibility of Mr. George Hochfield's translation feels perfect, capturing both the prose style and soul of this most gifted writer. For the English speaking reader, it enlightens those times as it crafts a mini masterpiece. The work stands by itself, with or without the support of known World War II context. I recommend this to anyone interested in first rate literature.