Savrola
Savrola. A Tale of the Revolution in Laurania is the title of an adventure novel by Winston Churchill from 1900.
The novel is the only fiction in the literary work of the future British Prime Minister and Nobel Prize winner for literature , which otherwise mainly includes historical and biographical works.
The novel was first published as a serial in Macmillan's Magazine in 1899/1900 , before being published in bulk as a book in 1900.
action
Churchill's novel is set in the fictional state of Laurania, a republic that is unmistakably modeled on the author's English homeland.
As a result of a coup d'etats, the usurper Antonio Molara (anagram of amoral = amoral, immoral) seizes power in the state and establishes an autocratic dictatorship, which he presides over as "President".
The young tribune Savrola (anagram of a salvor = a savior) soon appears as Molara's opponent . The multi-talented Savrola, as eloquent as energetic, as brave as intellectually potent, finally swings himself up to become the leader of the resistance movement, which strives to break the rule of the potentate.
After a series of entanglements, the masses gather around Savrola and instigate an uprising. In order to eliminate his adversary and nip the revolt in the bud, Molara puts his beautiful wife, Lucille, on the rebel leader. Lucille finally gives up her mission - to undermine Savrola's reputation and influence among the people - and takes his side. Both fall in love and work together against Molara. He was last killed in the finale of the revolutionary struggles - when they burned into his palace. The two lovers are happily united with each other. The republic is returning to a time of peace and prosperity.
reception
The majority of contemporary reviews of the work were benevolent. Because of the book, several critics drew parallels between the young politician Churchill - who was then trying to get a seat in parliament - and Benjamin Disraeli , the great British Prime Minister of the 19th century, who had also started his political career with a literary success.
Churchill himself was later rather embarrassed by the work, so that he would rather have it forgotten and repeatedly recommended that his friends refrain from reading it.
For the young Churchill, the book was a positive surprise, especially financially. It earned him the - for the time - enormous sum of seven hundred pounds.
Historians and biographers have often tried to autobiographically "decipher" the opinions, beliefs and values that Churchill's eponymous hero Savrola represents or embodies, in order to obtain conclusions about the thoughts of the young Churchill. Sometimes they even went so far as to read from the work the foundations of Churchill's worldview, to which he remained loyal in his thoughts and actions throughout his life. For example Dietrich Aigner .
The French André Collot made some woodcuts showing scenes from the plot and which appeared in the strictly limited French edition of the book.
Remarks
- ^ Alan Moorehead: Churchill, p. 17.
expenditure
English editions:
- Savrola. A Tale of the Revolution in Laurania, Longmans, London 1900.
- Savrola. A Tale of the Revolution in Laurania, London 1957.
- Savrola. A Tale of the Revolution in Laurania, Cooper, London 1990.
- Savrola. A Tale of the Revolution in Laurania. A Definitive New Edition, 2004. (With an introduction by Patrick Powers and a foreword by James W. Muller)
German editions:
- Savrola. The revolution in Laurania, Hallewag, Bern 1948.