Flight to Afar

Flight to Afar (Sansibar oder der letzte Grund) is a 1957 novel by the German writer Alfred Andersch. It was published in English in 1958, translated by Michael Bullock.

Plot
In 1938, a group of people attempt to leave a coastal village in Germany and cross the Baltic Sea to Sweden. There is a boy whose father has died at sea, a Jewess named Judith whose mother committed suicide to help her flee, and a self-doubting communist named Gregor. There is also the expressionist sculpture Studying Monk by Ernst Barlach, which a pastor wishes to smuggle into safety. A fisherman named Knutsen is approached but does not want to be involved in the enterprise. Eventually, Gregor forces Knutsen to bring the sculpture, the boy and Judith with him on his boat, but at the expense of Gregor who is left behind.

Reception
Kirkus Reviews called the book oblique and elusive, and wrote that despite an excellent English translation, it will only appeal to niche readers.

Adaptations
Flight to Afar has been adapted for cinema twice. First as Sansibar (1961), directed by Rainer Wolffhardt, and then as Sansibar oder der letzte Grund (1987), directed by Bernhard Wicki.

It is the basis for the opera Sansibar with libretto by Wolfgang Willaschek and music by Eckehard Mayer. The opera premiered in 1994.