Love and Terror

by William Herrick

Now available as a New Directions paperbook, Love and Terror, William Herrick’s second novel with ND, both reflects and anticipates today’s headlines. Terrorist kidnappings, hijackings, and dramatic rescues all form a part of the plot, but Herrick’s interest lies less in tension-filled heroics than in the human cost of flawed idealism. Through the notebook of the principal terrorist, Viktor X, the complex characters of Viktor and Gabriele, for whom love and terrorism are intertwined and inseparable, are revealed. And in a series of interviews with a nameless reporter, the lives of three disillusioned revolutionaries––”the old ones,” now hostages to a new brand of revolution––gradually and movingly unfold. In his earlier Shadows and Wolves (New Directions, 1980), Herrick showed us the possibility of human solutions that transcend politics. In Love and Terror he shows us why any ideology, inflexibly adhered to, makes such solutions necessary.

Genres: Fiction, Literature

250 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 1981

Reviews

[ANDREW CATALDO · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written. Terrorism enthusiasts, you will not be let down!

[Kris Carter · Rating 5 out of 5]

William Herrick’s Love and Terror is one of those rare, nearly vanished novels that feels less like a forgotten book and more like a buried artifact - dangerous, intimate, and startlingly alive.

Long out of print and frustratingly difficult to find, it has quietly earned a devoted cult readership, and after reading it, that devotion makes perfect sense. Originally published by New Directions Publishing in 1981, this is precisely the kind of novel that deserves to be brought back into circulation.

Side note - I searched this out and found an obviously hand-scanned, library copy in lieu of a physical book. You can get a copy here: https://oceanofpdf.com/authors/willia...

Herrick captures the late 1960s and early 1970s with unnerving clarity: a world shaped by political extremism, ideological seduction, revolutionary romanticism, and the unresolved wreckage of World War II. This is a novel steeped in the emotional and political geography of its time - terrorism and idealism, radical youth movements, Germans still haunted (or corrupted) by Nazism, the Israeli-Arab conflict, and the psychic aftershocks of fascism lingering across Europe. Herrick understands not only the mechanics of rebellion, but its allure: how righteous anger becomes intoxicating, how disillusionment hardens into violence, and how young people can be swept into movements that feel morally urgent, even when they are headed somewhere darker.

What makes Love and Terror so compelling is that Herrick never flattens history into ideology. He writes with sympathy, but never naïveté. He understands the seduction of radical conviction without romanticizing its consequences. The novel is deeply human in this way - less interested in slogans than in the emotional conditions that make people susceptible to them: alienation, idealism, guilt, grief, and the desperate need to believe in something larger than oneself.

It is also beautifully written. Herrick’s prose is lean, intelligent, and emotionally precise. This is not a long novel, but it carries enormous weight. It is reflective without becoming sentimental, political without becoming didactic, and deeply relevant without ever feeling like it is trying to “speak” to the present. And yet it does. That may be what makes the book feel so quietly unsettling now: its understanding that every generation produces its own anger, its own moral theater, its own hunger for rupture.

Love and Terror is a short novel, but a potent one - elegant, incisive, and disturbingly resonant. It deserves far more readers than obscurity has allowed it. Five stars, without hesitation.

[Hunter · Rating 5 out of 5]

First of all, an extremely hard book to get your hands on. I had to do an interlibrary loan through my university to get a copy. Overall, a very moving story that filled me in on a lot of the political geography of the early to mid 20th century that I didn't really grasp or was not taught in school. I actually think that despite its content (or rather BECAUSE of its content) this book should be taught in schools. Every person who fights for a cause utilizing some sort of violence will be labeled a terrorist. It is important to know when a cause is worth fighting for and when a cause is truly hollow. It is also important to recognize when the cause or figurehead you have pledged your allegiance to no longer aligns with your values. Love and Terror is such a complex novel. The "Old Ones"(the three revolutionaries of the previous era) fought their whole lives for the sake of socialism and a new, more equitable world order- infiltrating the Nazi party, tending to the wounded, organizing revolution- and were rewarded with nothing, due fully or in part to being Jewish. As the Socialist Party turns its back on them, so too do they turn their backs on the cause. They head to Israel, the only place they believe they have left, despite knowing how against their morals and everything they have fought for it is to live in a settler-colonial state. They live in relative peace until the pivotal hijacking by the "Young Ones": 20-30-something-year-olds who have only ever lived upper class existences in a post-WWII post-Hitler & Stalin world. Viktor and Gabrielle are sparked to join the Cause of revolution after learning that their fathers were involved in the Nazi Party. The young ones spiral further and further down a hole of violence and anarchy with their comrades that once had a purpose but by the end becomes muddled. They understand the geopolitical problems that plague 60s-70s Europe, like fascism, misuse of power, colonialism and yearn for a new world order. They rebel against the bourgeoisie and wish to take it down by any means. Their pivotal act involves taking hostages and making demands of the Israeli and other international governments. The fallout you will have to read for yourself (if you can find a copy). Every single person in this story can be considered a terrorist, a revolutionary, and a lover. Every human has convictions, has dreams, has love. What you do with these things and how far you take it is up to you.

[Mario · Rating 5 out of 5]

William Herrick wrote some of the most moving, psychologically thrilling, and politically charged fiction in a career that spans four decades. He fought in the Spanish Civil War, hoboed across the country, organized Black sharecroppers in the South, was a communist party member, and left the communist party. Was shot in the Spanish Civil War and witnessed firsthand the Stalinist assassinations of anarchist fighters. And he is virtually unknown.

His body of work is inspired by his experiences in the Spanish Civil War. Hermanos (1969) follows the lives of three young revolutionaries as they transform from idealist revolutionaries to cold-blooded killers. Shadows and Wolves (1980) deals with Spain’s transition from dictatorship to democracy and centers on the relationship between a fascist general and his revolutionary son. Love and Terror (1981) shifts its setting to Germany but, at its heart, centers on three aging veterans of the Spanish Civil War and a group of young German revolutionaries. Finally, Kill Memory (1983), an elderly veteran of Spain who struggles to come to terms with her revolutionary actions and guilt.

Of the four, Love and Terror is his magnum opus. Inspired by the actions of the German Red Army Faction, asks the question if one can be motivated by love and still commit acts of violence. The protagonists, to varying degrees, must reconcile the apparent contradiction and wrestle with which lines to cross. That tension is often played out in the character’s erotic relationships. While other authors have dealt with similar themes, what sets Herrick apart is his comfort with that tension. He doesn’t unilaterally denounce violence, nor does he deny the political necessity of violence. Instead, the question is how the characters internalize the violence in the aftermath of revolutionary violence. Love and Terror was published by New Directions in 1982 and is difficult to locate, and that is truly a shame. It is long overdue for a re-issue. Follow me on instagram at @thewellreadfamily

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Are love and violence compatible? This is the central question at the heart of this somewhat obscure book. It doesn’t offer easy answers, but if one is a revolutionary, it would seem to suggest not. At least not anything lasting, but rather brief fiery love affairs that burn themselves out, with individuals living for an ideology rather than their full humanity.

The main protagonists, Viktor and Gabriele occasionally dream of a life together outside their terror organization, but neither one can give up the cause—they are fully committed to their revolution. I’d say this was tragic, but these were pretty unlikable people so I wasn’t really invested in them or their relationship. Also, the beginning of the book was a bit spoilery (I guess the technical term is foreshadowing, but I think spoilery is more accurate in this instance; the foreshadowing was more heavy-handed than the subtlety that literary device usually suggests.).

It was a thought-provoking book that is hard to say I truly enjoyed, but I do think some readers might find the journey worth taking, if they can procure a copy (libraries/ILL are probably your best bet). But this is certainly not a book for most people.

[Tommy]

First time I’ve done an interlibrary loan because the book is so hard to get a hold of.

Going to think more about how I feel about the book. Might reread it before my ILL expires.