There has been controversy about the authenticity of the author and his account of his WWII experiences. As condemnation always attracts more headlineThere has been controversy about the authenticity of the author and his account of his WWII experiences. As condemnation always attracts more headlines and remains in the memory I think it important to provide a counter blast, the following article:
The Forgotten Soldier: Unmasked Douglas E. Nash Army History, No. 42 (Summer 1997), pp. 12-20 (9 pages)
I've read this novel twice, each time was overwhelming. It is a truly great novel, probably one of the great novels of the twentieth century, certainlI've read this novel twice, each time was overwhelming. It is a truly great novel, probably one of the great novels of the twentieth century, certainly one of the great French novels, it is as horrifyingly anti war as 'All Quiet on the Western Front' but because it is a second world war novel the horror of war is not in battle (though the nightmare guignol gotterdammerung of the closing pages has all the grandeur and pathos that the Nazidom's sordid climax in the Berlin bunker didn't have) but in the perversion of everything, and maybe even the reader. This is a very French novel.
I loved it, it is a novel I really must reread, I would put it with 'The Leopard' by Lampedusa (and a few others) as a novel I would read if I knew I had only months to live (but I do not suggest that Lampedusa and Tournier have anything else in common).
It is essential reading, but even more it is a grand, passionate novel. It reminds me of those great 19th century French novelists like Balzac, Hugo or Zola. They wrote about life in its grandeur and sordidness. Tournier in 'The Etl King' (a better name than the Ogre which I think is judgemental) does the same....more
"Jean Rouaud: Les champs d’honneur (Fields of Glory) Rouaud was only a humble newsvendor when he wrote this memoir-cum-nFrom the site The Modern Novel:
"Jean Rouaud: Les champs d’honneur (Fields of Glory) Rouaud was only a humble newsvendor when he wrote this memoir-cum-novel and not an académicien but he won the Goncourt and went on to fame and fortune. The novel is simple. It harks back to the rural novels of the likes of Giono where rural society and the family are celebrated, rather than derided as modern novels are wont to do. There is not a great deal of plot, simply a superb evocation of the family (going back to World War I). The main characters are the ordinary yet wonderfully eccentric grandfather and the maiden aunt. Grandfather’s strange driving habits, his friendship with the local monk and his wandering off to see some garden, causing the entire village to search for him are just a few of the stories Rouaud treats us to. The aunt’s religious foibles and (of course) implied sexuality get similar loving but witty treatment. It’s not all fun and games as the novel does hearken back to World War I and the losses that the family suffered as a result of the war. But you will remember this novel for its charming evocation of rural France and the family."...more
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