Vingt ans et un jour, édition originale

Translated from the Spanish by Serge Mestre.

"Almost autobiographical like most of Jorge Semprun's books, the action of Twenty Years and One Day is set in 1956, shortly after the great student demonstrations against Franco's regime. The title Twenty Years and a Day represents the punishment that Franco's justice system reserved for the political leaders of the clandestine opposition. Jorge Semprun paints the portrait of a country still traumatized by the terrible civil war that has left a lasting impression on it, but which also likes to think about the future and a possible reconciliation. Stories and anecdotes mingle and intertwine - as often with Semprun - around a surprising central story, both romantic and theatrical, where appearances are not to be trusted, especially with a narrator who "steps forward in disguise". It is the summer of 1956 in Spain and a North American historian named Michael Leidson arrives in the country to research the Civil War. This does not offer anything very original but everything is not going to go as planned. To his great surprise, this man with his outsider's gaze, even though he speaks the language well, is going to find himself in the grip of some very strange events. At the Maestranza, a large estate in the region, he naively thought he was witnessing a twenty-year-old ritual: since 1936, the year that marks the murder of the young man who was to inherit this rich estate by peasants, this large family has had the scenes of his death replayed every year. But this time, this kind of atonement ceremony is not as usual: Michael Leidson will attend the burial of one of the victim's killers and, what's more, one of his best childhood friends".

ORIGINAL EDITION on publishing paper.