Journey Not to End

Product Description Described as "a principal part of a longer work in progress," the first section of Paul Herr's only published novel, Journey Not to End, appeared in the Autumn 1959 issue of Chicago Review. The full novel was originally published in 1961 by Bernard Geis Associates and released as a paperback the following year by Signet Books.The novel relates the experiences of an unnamed protagonist, beginning with his escape from a displaced-persons camp in Europe at the end of World War II, followed by years of aimless travel on various freighters, and eventually leading to a chance encounter with a high-ranking Mexican military official who convinces him to help organize shipments of arms to Cuban revolutionaries attempting to overthrow the Batista dictatorship. As the novel progresses, the protagonist discovers his talents as a writer, and seeks to replace his existential fatalism with real purpose in life and an ever-elusive inner peace. About the Author Paul Edward Herr (1920-1980) was a Midwestern writer whose style was often compared to that of Albert Camus. His first novel, Journey Not to End, was heralded as a literary triumph in 1961, and was translated into many languages following its release. During his years in Chicago in the 1950s and early '60s, Herr was part of a talented circle of writers which included Nelson Algren, Saul Bellow, and Studs Terkel, among others. He was also a frequent correspondent with German/American political theorist Hannah Arendt during that time. While pursuing his career as a writer, Herr worked in advertising and was a freelance editor. He also taught English literature at the University of Southern California and the University of Indiana for several years, specializing in James Joyce and other modernists. His second novel, The Amnesiacs, was never published, although chapters from it were published in The Chicago Review and other literary magazines. Paul Herr was the father of three children, two of whom are writers, including Natalia Rachel Singer, author of Scraping by in the Big Eighties, and Mira Bartok, author of The Memory Palace. Paul Herr died in New Orleans in 1980.