قصة الكتاب :
Ora 25 is the original title of the famous book by Constantin Virgil Gheorghiu which was originally released in Romanian in 1949 and subsequently translated into English in 1950. It is Gheorghiu’s best-known book and depicts the plight of a poor Romanian farmhand, Johann Moritz, under the German, Soviet and American occupation of his homeland. Gheorghiu himself was arrested by the American troops at the end of World War II, and eventually settled in France in 1948. It was after this time that he published Ora 25 which was written during his years in captivity. The book was not published in Romania until 1991. It was made into a film in 1967.\r\n
\r\nThe novel is unique in the manner in which it introduces several concepts that ring true for modern society and the specific patterns of behavior that characterize it. One of the common concepts being talked about is that of the ‘technical slave’. Even in 1949 Gheorghiu had the ability to foresee how technology and our complete reliance on it could lead to the dehumanization of society and cause people to deal with each other like cold, detached machines. Gheorghiu even introduces the concept of the ‘citizen’ as this half-man half-machine who has the cold, detached demeanor of a machine and the cruelty of man. Another important concept that is introduced in the story is that of ‘classes’ or categories. The book highlights how technical society is driven by a desperate need to classify people in order to make sense of them, rather than view them all as unique individuals. The main category that is referred to in the context of the novel is that of ‘enemies of the state’, a broad term that can loosely include anyone. The protagonist Moritz shifts from one category to another in the novel as events unfold, and always finds himself on the wrong side, to his own misfortune. In his life’s journey of thirteen years that the novel covers in detail, Moritz never really belongs to any of these specified classes but is placed there by the technical society that knows no other way of looking at him. What he represents and stands for is the innocent human being whose only objective was to tend to his daily chores and take care of his family. Moritz epitomizes all good human virtues and yet finds himself at the receiving end of sadistic and absurd cruelties. Another enduring concept in the novel is that of the ‘universality of evil’. The book’s main theme is how the individual always finds himself alone when pitted against the technical society and the state. The 25th Hour is the poetic depiction of the state of things when they go too far and out of control. It is a serious and compelling tale that most readers can connect with. \r\n