Book: Jérôme Garcin redoes the history of letters under the Occupation

The Occupation continues to raise waves in terms of culture. There were of course big ones in 1945, with the purge committees. Then things picked up again in the 1970s, when France stopped pushing the most grating matters under the carpet like cumbersome dust. I remember the montage film “Singing under the Occupation” by André Halimi, released in 1976. The revelations have never stopped since, with all the erasures that this implies. The new owners of the Château de l’Aile, in Vevey, removed the plaque recalling that the building had been inhabited after the war by an exiled Paul Morand. As if that were enough to erase history…

Words and actions

Historians have therefore examined literature such as the fine arts, haute couture or cinema under the Occupation. Jérôme Garcin returns today to the first with “Des mots et des acts”, the former being able, according to him, to lead to the latter. I was expecting a large painting in the form of a fresco. These are in reality short chapters devoted to authors that few people read except Céline, whose recent publication of unpublished works is at the origin of this sort of correction in the face of rampant revisionism. Jacques Decoeur, Jean Guéhenno, Jean Paulhan, Ramon Fernandez, Jacques Chardonne and even François Mauriac have now fallen by the wayside. These days, an infusion only occurs when registering for school programs. Jérôme Garcin may want to make Jean Prévost his idol and his martyr by devoting three chapters to him. It would take more to rekindle the flame, as long as the fire could start again.

Throughout this short work, Jérôme Garcin distributes his good and bad points, the latter proving much more abundant. The collaboration proved intense in the field of letters. There was “the train of shame”, bringing authors to Nazi Germany, just like those of film stars or painters. Grasset Editions had a lot of trouble rebuilding their virginity after the conflict. Some, like Cocteau, flitted around too much in social cocktails. Was there a need for “a France in mourning”, as some have said, forgetting that five years under black veils is still a long time? Jérôme Garcin does not specify this. The former model child of the grandes écoles no less sets himself up as a judge, while the situation appears much more comfortable seen from 2024.

Additional information

Very well written, solidly documented, the book is easy to read. However, this is simply additional information. For the great summary on the subject, I would therefore refer to “The War of the Writers, 1940-1953” by Gisèle Sapino, published in 1999 by Fayard. Unfortunately, the work does not seem to me to have been republished. Today we prefer to read “The Barman of the Ritz” by Philippe Collin from the same period. It must be said that it is much more glamorous. Would you like a finger of champagne again?

Practical

“Words and actions, Belles-lettres sous l’Occupation”, by Jérôme Garcin, Editions Gallimard, 168 pages.

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Born in 1948, Etienne Dumont studied in Geneva which were of little use to him. Latin, Greek, law. A failed lawyer, he turned to journalism. Most often in the cultural sections, he worked from March 1974 to May 2013 at the “Tribune de Genève”, starting by talking about cinema. Then came fine arts and books. Other than that, as you can see, nothing to report.More info

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