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Eyewitness: A Personal Account of a Tumultuous Decade 1937-1946
In 1938, when Vienna was “a sea of Swastika flags,” Payne became involved in an abortive plot to kill Hitler.
Theodore Dreiser is seen in a condition of moral and physical decline; he talked interminably about the women in his life.
The German poet Ernst Toller warns Payne never to believe any report of his suicide; later, when Payne reads of the poet’s death by his own hand, he knows that Toller was murdered.
Nehru is described as “a scholarly chess player who would not hesitate to sacrifice pawns, rooks, knights, and bishops to checkmate the adversary” — and a chillingly cold portrait takes form.
In 1939, Payne covered the Spanish Civil War as a correspondent for the London News Chronicle.
Shortly after that, he left for Singapore, where he was a camouflage and armaments officer when the great British warships Repulse and Prince of Wales were sunk.
Just before the fall of Singapore, he went to China and spent five years there while the Nationalists, Communists, and Japanese fought for possession of the country. In China, Mao kept Payne waiting for three days in the caves of Yenan, and when they finally met, they talked long into the night about politics, the war and poetry among other subjects. He also met Chiang Kai-shek, Marshal Feng Yu-hsiang, General George C. Marshall and Joseph Needham at whose suggestion and persuasion he went to teach at Lienda University where his book The White Pony was conceived and born.
And finally, present in India just before the creation of Pakistan, he visited the implacable Muhammad Ali Jinnah, leader of the Muslims, on the day when Jinnah ordered what was to be one of the greatest massacres in modern history.
Such are a few of the highlights in this narrative of a decade in Robert Payne’s life. Eyewitness recalls much more, however: refugee-filled Paris, Switzerland and Barcelona; German, Austrian, French and Russian Jewish emigrees; novelists, poets, playwrights, artists - a dazzling panorama of people and events that affected (and, in some cases, still affect) the lives of us all.
Based on notes and diaries, Robert Payne has illuminated the march of civilization through eyewitness accounts of some of the most tumultuous events of the twentieth century.
Robert Payne (1911-1983) was the author of many notable works, including The Rise and Fall of Stalin, The Life and Death of Lenin and The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler. Born in England, he was a constant world traveller, a keen observer, but always the biographer, historian, novelist, poet and translator.
Theodore Dreiser is seen in a condition of moral and physical decline; he talked interminably about the women in his life.
The German poet Ernst Toller warns Payne never to believe any report of his suicide; later, when Payne reads of the poet’s death by his own hand, he knows that Toller was murdered.
Nehru is described as “a scholarly chess player who would not hesitate to sacrifice pawns, rooks, knights, and bishops to checkmate the adversary” — and a chillingly cold portrait takes form.
In 1939, Payne covered the Spanish Civil War as a correspondent for the London News Chronicle.
Shortly after that, he left for Singapore, where he was a camouflage and armaments officer when the great British warships Repulse and Prince of Wales were sunk.
Just before the fall of Singapore, he went to China and spent five years there while the Nationalists, Communists, and Japanese fought for possession of the country. In China, Mao kept Payne waiting for three days in the caves of Yenan, and when they finally met, they talked long into the night about politics, the war and poetry among other subjects. He also met Chiang Kai-shek, Marshal Feng Yu-hsiang, General George C. Marshall and Joseph Needham at whose suggestion and persuasion he went to teach at Lienda University where his book The White Pony was conceived and born.
And finally, present in India just before the creation of Pakistan, he visited the implacable Muhammad Ali Jinnah, leader of the Muslims, on the day when Jinnah ordered what was to be one of the greatest massacres in modern history.
Such are a few of the highlights in this narrative of a decade in Robert Payne’s life. Eyewitness recalls much more, however: refugee-filled Paris, Switzerland and Barcelona; German, Austrian, French and Russian Jewish emigrees; novelists, poets, playwrights, artists - a dazzling panorama of people and events that affected (and, in some cases, still affect) the lives of us all.
Based on notes and diaries, Robert Payne has illuminated the march of civilization through eyewitness accounts of some of the most tumultuous events of the twentieth century.
Robert Payne (1911-1983) was the author of many notable works, including The Rise and Fall of Stalin, The Life and Death of Lenin and The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler. Born in England, he was a constant world traveller, a keen observer, but always the biographer, historian, novelist, poet and translator.
465 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1972
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About the author
Robert Payne
339 books36 followersPierre Stephen Robert Payne was born December 4, 1911, in Saltash, County of Cornwall, England, the son of Stephen Payne, a naval architect, and Mireille Louise Antonia (Dorey) Payne, a native of France. Payne was the eldest of three brothers. His middle brother was Alan (Marcel Alan), and his youngest brother was Tony, who died at the age of seven.
Payne went to St. Paul's School, London. He attended the Diocesan College, Rondebosch, South Africa, 1929-30; the University of Capetown, 1928-1930; Liverpool University, 1933-35; the University of Munich, summer, 1937, and the Sorbonne, in Paris, 1938.
Payne first followed his father into shipbuilding, working as a shipwright's apprentice at Cammell, Laird's Shipbuilding Company, Birkendhead, 1931-33. He also worked for the Inland Revenue as an Assistant Inspector of Taxes in Guilford in 1936. In 1937-38 he traveled in Europe and, while in Munich, met Adolf Hitler through Rudolf Hess, an incident which Payne vividly describes in his book Eyewitness. In 1938 Payne covered the Civil War in Spain for the London News Chronicle, an experience that resulted in two books, A Young Man Looks at Europe and The Song of the Peasant.
From 1939 to 1941 Payne worked as a shipwright at the Singapore Naval Base and in 1941 he became an armament officer and chief camouflage officer for British Army Intelligence there. In December, 1941, he was sent to Chungking, China, to serve as Cultural Attaché at the British Embassy.
In January, 1942, he covered the battle of Changsha for the London Times, and from 1942 to 1943 he taught English literature at Fuhtan University, near Chungking. Then, persuaded by Joseph Needham, he went to Kunming and taught poetry and naval architecture at Lienta University from 1943 to 1946. The universities of Peking, Tsinghua, and Nankai had converged in Kunming to form the University at Lienta. It was there that Payne, together with Chinese scholars and poets, compiled and co-translated The White Pony.
In China Payne met General George C. Marshall, Chiang Kai-shek, and Mao Tse-tung, who was elusive and living in the caves of Yenan, all of whom later became subjects for his biographies. From his time in China also came the autobiographical volumes Forever China and China Awake, and the historical novels Love and Peace and The Lovers.
From China, Payne briefly visited India in the summer, 1946, which resulted in a love for Indian art. Throughout his life, Payne retained a love for all forms of oriental art.
He came to the United States in the winter of 1946 and lived in Los Angeles, California, until he became Professor of English and Author-in-Residence at Alabama College, Montevallo, 1949-54. He was the founding editor of Montevallo Review, whose contributors included poets Charles Olson and Muriel Rukeyser. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1953.
In Spring, 1949, Payne visited Persia with the Asia Institute Expedition. He received an M.A. degree from the Asia Institute in 1951.
In 1954 Payne moved to New York City, where he lived the rest of his life, interrupted once or twice a year by travel to the Middle East, the Far East, and Europe, mostly to gather material for his books, but also to visit his mother and father in England. His very close literary relationship with his father is documented in the hundreds of highly personal and informative letters which they exchanged.
In 1942, Payne married Rose Hsiung, daughter of Hsiung Hse-ling, a former prime minister of China. They divorced in 1952. In 1981, he married Sheila Lalwani, originally from India.
Over a period of forty-seven years Payne had more than 110 books published. He wrote his first novella, Adventures of Sylvia, Queen of Denmark and China, when he was seven years old. Payne's first publication was a translation of Iiuri Olesha's Envy, published by Virginia and Leonard Woolf's Hogarth Press in 1936. A year later, T.S. Eliot published his novel The War in the Marshes under
Payne went to St. Paul's School, London. He attended the Diocesan College, Rondebosch, South Africa, 1929-30; the University of Capetown, 1928-1930; Liverpool University, 1933-35; the University of Munich, summer, 1937, and the Sorbonne, in Paris, 1938.
Payne first followed his father into shipbuilding, working as a shipwright's apprentice at Cammell, Laird's Shipbuilding Company, Birkendhead, 1931-33. He also worked for the Inland Revenue as an Assistant Inspector of Taxes in Guilford in 1936. In 1937-38 he traveled in Europe and, while in Munich, met Adolf Hitler through Rudolf Hess, an incident which Payne vividly describes in his book Eyewitness. In 1938 Payne covered the Civil War in Spain for the London News Chronicle, an experience that resulted in two books, A Young Man Looks at Europe and The Song of the Peasant.
From 1939 to 1941 Payne worked as a shipwright at the Singapore Naval Base and in 1941 he became an armament officer and chief camouflage officer for British Army Intelligence there. In December, 1941, he was sent to Chungking, China, to serve as Cultural Attaché at the British Embassy.
In January, 1942, he covered the battle of Changsha for the London Times, and from 1942 to 1943 he taught English literature at Fuhtan University, near Chungking. Then, persuaded by Joseph Needham, he went to Kunming and taught poetry and naval architecture at Lienta University from 1943 to 1946. The universities of Peking, Tsinghua, and Nankai had converged in Kunming to form the University at Lienta. It was there that Payne, together with Chinese scholars and poets, compiled and co-translated The White Pony.
In China Payne met General George C. Marshall, Chiang Kai-shek, and Mao Tse-tung, who was elusive and living in the caves of Yenan, all of whom later became subjects for his biographies. From his time in China also came the autobiographical volumes Forever China and China Awake, and the historical novels Love and Peace and The Lovers.
From China, Payne briefly visited India in the summer, 1946, which resulted in a love for Indian art. Throughout his life, Payne retained a love for all forms of oriental art.
He came to the United States in the winter of 1946 and lived in Los Angeles, California, until he became Professor of English and Author-in-Residence at Alabama College, Montevallo, 1949-54. He was the founding editor of Montevallo Review, whose contributors included poets Charles Olson and Muriel Rukeyser. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1953.
In Spring, 1949, Payne visited Persia with the Asia Institute Expedition. He received an M.A. degree from the Asia Institute in 1951.
In 1954 Payne moved to New York City, where he lived the rest of his life, interrupted once or twice a year by travel to the Middle East, the Far East, and Europe, mostly to gather material for his books, but also to visit his mother and father in England. His very close literary relationship with his father is documented in the hundreds of highly personal and informative letters which they exchanged.
In 1942, Payne married Rose Hsiung, daughter of Hsiung Hse-ling, a former prime minister of China. They divorced in 1952. In 1981, he married Sheila Lalwani, originally from India.
Over a period of forty-seven years Payne had more than 110 books published. He wrote his first novella, Adventures of Sylvia, Queen of Denmark and China, when he was seven years old. Payne's first publication was a translation of Iiuri Olesha's Envy, published by Virginia and Leonard Woolf's Hogarth Press in 1936. A year later, T.S. Eliot published his novel The War in the Marshes under
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 22, 2009
I personally met Robert Payne in 1974, two years after this book had been published, and worked with him creating illustrations for a work of his in progress. At the time I vaguely knew that he was an author of several historical biographies: of Hitler, Lenin, Mao, and Andre Malraux. I had no clue of his colorful life and background. The existence of this book at the time was unknown to me, and when I did find it, it sat on my shelf for years before I opened it. Now I regret not having been able to hear more from the late Mr. Payne of his fascinating life. As a restless young man from a fairly well-connected British family (his father was a noted naval architect), he was provided with the financing and connections for a "wanderjahr" abroad in 1937. It turned into a decade of amazing adventures and encounters with remarkable men. To his credit, Payne did not exaggerate his importance in any of the events to which he was at best tangential. He was fortunate enough, though a brash young man, to briefly meet world shakers and travel to pivotal locales. He was introduced to Hitler in Vienna, traveled to Vienna during the Anschluss, wheedled press credentials to be a correspondent in the Spanish Civil War, met artists and writers in Paris, and spent five years in China during the world war, where he met and interviewed Nationalist and Communist figures, including Madame Sun Yat-Sen, Chu Teh, and Mao Tse-Tung. The book closes on his travels through India shortly before the creation of Pakistan and his disturbing conversations with Nehru and Muhammad Jinnah. Sprinkled throughout are his observations on life styles and characters everywhere he went.
I suspect this is not an easy book to locate anymore, and while it's hardly a totally reliable historical source, it's fascinating and entertaining as one man's first-hand testimony. I enjoyed the trip and Payne's wry observations and opinions about everything and anything.
I suspect this is not an easy book to locate anymore, and while it's hardly a totally reliable historical source, it's fascinating and entertaining as one man's first-hand testimony. I enjoyed the trip and Payne's wry observations and opinions about everything and anything.
March 10, 2018
Yes, Robert Payne was present for a surprising number of significant historical events. He saw the Spanish Civil War, the Nazi takeover of Austria, the Japanese Conquest of Singapore, the Indian Partition riots, etc. And he met famous or infamous men ranging from Adolf Hitler to George Marshall, Mao Tse-tung to Theodore Dreiser. But it's a keyhole view of history being presented here so don't look for "the big picture." Given the author's undeniable skill with the written word, his talent for depicting scenery and people, reading this book is like looking through a box of photographs from long ago. Individual subjects are captured in telling detail but the broader backdrops must often be left to one's own imagination. Just like the reader will also need to overlook the author's references to his Green Dragon guardian throughout the narrative :-(
March 3, 2018
Fascinating
A personal window on history. A grand panorama. Extremely interesting in view of what happened in the years that followed.
A personal window on history. A grand panorama. Extremely interesting in view of what happened in the years that followed.
March 2, 2020
Can not praise this memoir high enough. Robert Payne's experiences of the 'turbulent decade' from 1937- 19486 are so well written, individualistic and unique-quite an achievement for someone recording historical events which are extremely well documented and studied. But the reader feels that they are learning something new. The author was in Vienna just as the Germans took control and the Anschlus began, ended up on the fringes of a plot to assassinate Hitler and helps to get an Austrian Communist over the border. He spent time in Paris amongst the vibrant artistic scene and sees the Spanish Civil War and his time in the doomed Spanish Republic. And gets near to the fighting. Robert Payne manages to write about his experiences from a very personal angle, not from any political dogmatism
His World War 2 coverage was superb, staying in Singapore , and then travelling to China just before the capitulation. Robert Payne already had a fascination with Chinese culture, tradition and language. Also manages to interview Chairman Mao and his Kuomintang opponents. And finally gets to India must before independence.
Sympathetic reporting, sensitive to the culture and custom where he was visiting. Robert Payne showed that he had the ability to talk to charismatic figures, but never just to toady to them. He also displayed a great knowledge of art and literature, especially poetry. Most impressed with this work.
His World War 2 coverage was superb, staying in Singapore , and then travelling to China just before the capitulation. Robert Payne already had a fascination with Chinese culture, tradition and language. Also manages to interview Chairman Mao and his Kuomintang opponents. And finally gets to India must before independence.
Sympathetic reporting, sensitive to the culture and custom where he was visiting. Robert Payne showed that he had the ability to talk to charismatic figures, but never just to toady to them. He also displayed a great knowledge of art and literature, especially poetry. Most impressed with this work.
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February 19, 2018I don't think I have ever read a book that had so many spelling errors.
Completely unacceptable.
How it ever passed a proof reader ,or maybe there was none!!
Completely unacceptable.
How it ever passed a proof reader ,or maybe there was none!!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews