Manifestos
Who’s ready to rumble?
Henri Barbusse
1873-1935
Barbusse
• French novelist• several novels, including L’enfer (1908), Le couteau entre
mes dents (1921), and a biography of Stalin (1936)• English mother, French father• small-town upbringing, to Paris age 16, then to war• increasingly disenchanted, then pacifist• then Communist for remainder of his life• fights for 17 months in the war 1914-15• invalided out of service for asthma,
dysentery, wounds• writes Le Feu at his desk job 1916
Le Feu (Under Fire)
• published in Dec. 1916• wins Prix Goncourt• trans. into English and
published June 1917• naturalism• realism• journal – documentary
reportage• what claims does this
make? what promises?
Structure
• opens with a broad vision• closes with a broad vision• anecdotes, episodes• what does this do to the events, our experience of them?
• first-hand narrative• again, what contracts, promises, etc. does this make?• p. 155 – swearwords • issue of translation, language, truth, objectivity
• anything else?
Paradigm Shift
• Let’s begin with the title: Le feu – what does that mean?• pp. 6-7• “après moi, le déluge” (Louis XV or Madame de
Pompadour)• fire, smoke, flood, fire, water, ooze, apocalypse
The Bible
The Bible
The Bible
The Bible
Thursday
• Second half Le Feu• so you will want to have read it
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