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The Twenty-Fifth Hour
- GenresFiction
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1949
2 people are currently reading
51 people want to read
About the author
Constantin Virgil Gheorghiu
75 books399 followersConstantin Virgil Gheorghiu (September 15, 1916 in Războieni, Romania – June 22, 1992 in Paris, France) was a Romanian writer, best known for his 1949 novel, The 25th Hour.
Virgil Gheorghiu was born in Valea Albă, a village in Războieni Commune, Neamţ County, in Romania. His father was an Orthodox priest in Petricani. A top student, he attended high school in Chişinău from 1928 to June 1936, after which he studied philosophy and theology at the University of Bucharest and at the Heidelberg University.
He traveled and stayed in Saudi Arabia to learn the Arabic language and the Arab culture, before writing the biography of prophet Mohammed. The book was translated from Romanian to French and to Persian in Iran and in Urdu in Pakistan. Unfortunately, this book was never translated into English. Its Hindi translation is being printed in India and expected to be available by Jan. 2020, with the Hindi title saying "A prophet you do not know".
Between 1942 and 1943, during the regime of General Ion Antonescu, he served in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania as an embassy secretary. He went into exile when Soviet troops entered Romania in 1944. Arrested at the end of World War II by American troops, he eventually settled in France in 1948. A year later, he published the novel Ora 25 (in French: La vingt-cinquième heure; in English: The Twenty-Fifth Hour), written during his captivity.
Gheorghiu was ordained a priest of the Romanian Orthodox Church in Paris on May 23, 1963. In 1966, Patriarch Justinian awarded him the cross of the Romanian Patriarchate for his liturgical and literary activities.
Virgil Gheorghiu was born in Valea Albă, a village in Războieni Commune, Neamţ County, in Romania. His father was an Orthodox priest in Petricani. A top student, he attended high school in Chişinău from 1928 to June 1936, after which he studied philosophy and theology at the University of Bucharest and at the Heidelberg University.
He traveled and stayed in Saudi Arabia to learn the Arabic language and the Arab culture, before writing the biography of prophet Mohammed. The book was translated from Romanian to French and to Persian in Iran and in Urdu in Pakistan. Unfortunately, this book was never translated into English. Its Hindi translation is being printed in India and expected to be available by Jan. 2020, with the Hindi title saying "A prophet you do not know".
Between 1942 and 1943, during the regime of General Ion Antonescu, he served in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania as an embassy secretary. He went into exile when Soviet troops entered Romania in 1944. Arrested at the end of World War II by American troops, he eventually settled in France in 1948. A year later, he published the novel Ora 25 (in French: La vingt-cinquième heure; in English: The Twenty-Fifth Hour), written during his captivity.
Gheorghiu was ordained a priest of the Romanian Orthodox Church in Paris on May 23, 1963. In 1966, Patriarch Justinian awarded him the cross of the Romanian Patriarchate for his liturgical and literary activities.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 7, 2019
One of the best books ever written in the history of mankind. I feel bad to see it intentionally buried under 3rd grade books with a similar title.
May 10, 2022
Hard to believe that this book is out of print outside of France and Romania.
March 18, 2020
It astounds me that a book of this caliber has been out of print for decades. And that, though apparently widely read and well known in post war Europe, it is now more or less unheard of.
I read my first yellow-paged, falling-apart copy of this when I was digging through my father's chaotic bookshelves as a high school student. I had never read a novel of ideas. I had no idea what a novel of ideas was. I had never heard the phrase novel of ideas. So I had no way of contextualizing the lightning storm of thoughts that reading this book set off in my brain.
Another reviewer on this site has summarized the book well, so I won't bother trying to redo that. But I'll make the following observations after having read this for the second time (35+ years after the first reading):
The first 30 pages or so are clunky and, I'm just going to go ahead and say it: cliche-ridden and just plain poor. (And there is a misogyny in the first 1/4 of the book that, though it may be attributed to characters whom the author is not necessarily condoning, is nonetheless problematic.) When I powered through those early pages on this read through, I imagined giving the book a 3/5 rating on here and saying something like: sort of woodenly and awkwardly realized, but still worth the read for the great and unexpected ideas. But the book just got better and better as it went. And though there are the occasional passages later in the book that are like the first 30 (having to do with when a certain character is portrayed in certain types of situations), the novel turns into a fascinating look at a broad range of characters in the extraordinary circumstances that war has placed them in.
This novel has the only instance I've ever seen of characters' dialogue containing footnoted quotations from philosophers and religious thinkers. Wild!
This novel is fueled by the idea that it is being written by one of the characters in the book. And, especially in the early chapters, when sections end with that novelist character talking about the novel he is writing and you realize that it is the novel you're in the midst of reading: that is a very effective device for heightening interest and just plain waking the reader up and saying: PAY ATTENTION!
I gave this 4 stars, though the very best parts deserve 5. Maybe 80% of this novel deserves 5/5. But there are places where the writing is bad. It is dated due not only to its un-examined portrayal of misogyny, but its (not nearly complete) domination by male point of view.
If you can find a copy of this book, it is definitely worth reading.
I read my first yellow-paged, falling-apart copy of this when I was digging through my father's chaotic bookshelves as a high school student. I had never read a novel of ideas. I had no idea what a novel of ideas was. I had never heard the phrase novel of ideas. So I had no way of contextualizing the lightning storm of thoughts that reading this book set off in my brain.
Another reviewer on this site has summarized the book well, so I won't bother trying to redo that. But I'll make the following observations after having read this for the second time (35+ years after the first reading):
The first 30 pages or so are clunky and, I'm just going to go ahead and say it: cliche-ridden and just plain poor. (And there is a misogyny in the first 1/4 of the book that, though it may be attributed to characters whom the author is not necessarily condoning, is nonetheless problematic.) When I powered through those early pages on this read through, I imagined giving the book a 3/5 rating on here and saying something like: sort of woodenly and awkwardly realized, but still worth the read for the great and unexpected ideas. But the book just got better and better as it went. And though there are the occasional passages later in the book that are like the first 30 (having to do with when a certain character is portrayed in certain types of situations), the novel turns into a fascinating look at a broad range of characters in the extraordinary circumstances that war has placed them in.
This novel has the only instance I've ever seen of characters' dialogue containing footnoted quotations from philosophers and religious thinkers. Wild!
This novel is fueled by the idea that it is being written by one of the characters in the book. And, especially in the early chapters, when sections end with that novelist character talking about the novel he is writing and you realize that it is the novel you're in the midst of reading: that is a very effective device for heightening interest and just plain waking the reader up and saying: PAY ATTENTION!
I gave this 4 stars, though the very best parts deserve 5. Maybe 80% of this novel deserves 5/5. But there are places where the writing is bad. It is dated due not only to its un-examined portrayal of misogyny, but its (not nearly complete) domination by male point of view.
If you can find a copy of this book, it is definitely worth reading.
March 3, 2019
This is a deep and dark novel. It talks about Europe in one of its darkest periods in the 20th century, the second world war. It goes deeper than the "white hats/ black hats" or "we are the good guys and they were the bad guys" duality to condemn the materialistic industrialized approach of the whole western civilization.
-- spoiler alert , don't read past this point --
The novel starts in Romania in a small village. The main character, a simple farmer, found himself in a labor camp due to false report from the village policeman whom craved the peasants wife. The camp was meant for the Jews so everyone assumed he was a jew. through a series of events he found himself in a Hungarian prison, where he was treated as a Romanian spy. A German work camp, where he was treated as a Hungarian slave worker. in the end he found himself in an American prisoners of war camp. Through that you find the message of commendation of all parties that reduced the man into an index card, a category without any sense of individuality.
The novel is simple in it's style, it can be even made into a play as most of it is a dialogue between the characters. Hardly any involvement with the outside world. It is touching and deep in its exposure of human suffering. It will definately make me write a check to Amnesty International more often!
-- spoiler alert , don't read past this point --
The novel starts in Romania in a small village. The main character, a simple farmer, found himself in a labor camp due to false report from the village policeman whom craved the peasants wife. The camp was meant for the Jews so everyone assumed he was a jew. through a series of events he found himself in a Hungarian prison, where he was treated as a Romanian spy. A German work camp, where he was treated as a Hungarian slave worker. in the end he found himself in an American prisoners of war camp. Through that you find the message of commendation of all parties that reduced the man into an index card, a category without any sense of individuality.
The novel is simple in it's style, it can be even made into a play as most of it is a dialogue between the characters. Hardly any involvement with the outside world. It is touching and deep in its exposure of human suffering. It will definately make me write a check to Amnesty International more often!
June 30, 2024
This is such a sad tale of life for peasants in Romania during and after WWII, entering into Russian occupation. It is also a reflection on the march of modernity and modern philosophical thought, as well as the loss of true freedom and individuality. So many quotable passages. The last third of the book reminds me of Gulag Archipelago with Traian taking on Solzhenitsyn's role of narrator. The lives of these people were horrific. Beautiful and heart crushing all at the same time.
January 29, 2021
A stunning narrative about life and death during the moment Communists highjacked power in Romania, after WW2
October 4, 2025
Um dos melhores livros que já li.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews