Suite française

Suite française, Irène Némirovsky, Paris, Éditions Denoël, 2004

L’histoire la plus forte, la plus intense, la plus personnelle, de toute la trajectoire de l’écrivaine d’origine ukrainienne, est, sans doute, ce roman. Il est publié après sa mort et il est sauvé grâce à l’action de ses filles qui ont survécu à leurs parents. Le roman est clairement autobiographique ; Némirovsky parle de la France qui est occupée par l’armée allemande et qui devient un pays sans liberté. Les juifs, comme elle même perdent leur possibilité de vivre comme les autres et, aussitôt, comme finalement il arrive à l’écrivain, peuvent mourir.

Le roman est construit comme un vrai miroir de la société français du moment. Différentes familles offrent différents points de vue sur la nouvelle situation créée avec l’arrivée de l’occupation nazie : les Péricand, une famille de haute classe  ; l’écrivain Gabriel Corte ; Charles Langelet ; Hubert (avec une trajectoire similaire à celle d’Adrià Guinart, le héro de Mercè Rodoreda à Quanta, quanta guerra…) ; les Michaud, entre autres. Némirovsky travallait beaucoup dans les dernièrs temps  ; malgré tout, elle n’a pas la sécurité de pouvoir publier de son vivant: « Cher ami… pensez à moi. J’ai beaucoup écrit. Je suppose que ce seront des œuvres posthumes, mais ça fait passer le temps. » (Irène Némirovsky à Albin Michel, éd., 11.07.1942 ; page 26).

C’est la valeur de cette pièce littéraire au panorama des lettres européennes du XX siècle, comme Myriam Anissimov disait en Préface : « une œuvre violente, une fresque extraordinairement lucide, une photo prise sur le vif de la France et des Français : routes de l’exode, villages envahis par des femmes et des enfants épuisés, affamés, luttant pour obtenir la possibilité de dormir sur une simple chaise dans le couloir d’une auberge de campagne » (page 28). C’est une œuvre réalisée avec beaucoup de sentiments, « la rage au cœur » (page 42), devant de la réalité, « la guerre est perdue ? » (page 49). Et le sens de l’impuissance : « c’est une jungle, nous sommes pris dans une jungle… » (page 123).

La surprise devant l’invasion allemande est complète. Le parallèle avec la Première Guerre Mondiale né au début de l’histoire : « c’était étrange de voir à quel point les souvenirs de l’autre guerre étaient vivants ici. » (page 203). Les français ne savaient pas comment réagir devant une situation qui les avaient débordés complètement ; les protagonistes de l’histoire montrent leur contradictions, communes à toute la société : « Nous, nous sommes les moutons bons à tondre. Qu’on m’explique pourquoi ? » (page 267).

Et une conclusion magnifique, superbe : « Les événements graves, heureux ou malheureux ne changent pas l’âme d’un homme mais ils la précisent » (page 271). Finalement, les notes manuscrites de la fin du livre apportent le complément parfait pour mieux comprendre la vision de l’histoire que Némirovsky veut apporter dans sa dernière pièce, peut être, la plus complète, de sa vision du monde et des difficiles situations personnelles qu’elle devait vivre. Une pièce magnifique.

Aurora boreal

Aurora boreal, Asa Larsson, Barcelona, Columna, 2009 (2003)

Com a un dels referents de la nova novel·la policíaca escandinava, el llibre de Larsson no aporta res en especial al gènere. Potser tan sols la magnífica descripció de l’ambient on se situa la història, la població minera del nord de Suècia, Kiruna. Un valor afegit si, com és el nostre cas, hem conegut recentment aquesta ciutat. La nit, el fred, la manca de llum, la solitud dels personatges, l’acció salvatge de l’assassinat inicial; tot això no seria d’igual manera en un altre espai narratiu.

La referència continuada a l’arribada del capvespre, o siga, a la desaparició completa de la llum, provoca en el lector una angoixa contínua davant d’uns esdeveniments on les dones són les autèntiques protagonistes de la novel·la. Rebecka Martinsson, una advocada establerta a Estocolm i que torna a Kiruna per a defensar la Sanna Strandgard, germana de la víctima (en Víctor) i, molt especialment, a inspectora de policia Anna-Maria Mella, l’embaràs de la qual no esdevé un problema per a dur endavant el seu treball en plena igualtat de sexes. Una església de vidre inventada, on conflueixen tres corrents religioses que esdevenen una mena de secta que distorsiona la realitat dels habitants de la Kiruna literària.

A l’igual que en la trilogia de Larsson, les referències als episodis reals de la història actual sueca ofereixen una versemblança i proximitat que atrau encara més el lector que coneix una mica aquella realitat. D’igual manera, l’autora incorpora passatges del passat dels protagonistes, moments de retrospecció, que serveixen per construir psicològicament els personatges i conéixer l’abast de la seua implicació en els conflictes construïts.

Fa mil anys que sóc aquí

Fa mil anys que sóc aquí, Mariolina Venezia, Barcelona, La Campana, 2007 (2006)

La història de cinc generacions de dones ambientada al sud italià ens ofereix un curiós paral·lel amb les històries familiars de la Montserrat Roig a l’Eixample, la Mercè Rodoreda a Sant Gervasi o, a l’altra banda de l’Atlàntic, el Gabriel García Márquez. Es tracta d’un llibre no pretenciós que intenta oferir el retrat directe d’una societat genüina on la cultura i les tradicions guanyen a la llibertat individual de cada protagonista. Tan sols la darrera d’aquestes, Alba, enmig de les transformacions socials i polítiques de la Itàlia (i Europa) de la segona part del segle XX aconsegueix trencar amb el pes de la tradició.

Una novel·la ben escrita, amena, suggerent, amb tocs d’humor dispersos que provoquen la proximitat dels personatges que es queda, al nostre parer, en la mera descripció d’uns retrats prototipitzats de personatges del sud d’Itàlia. Així, les perspectives iniciades en la primera pàgina, per localitzar qui és la veu narrativa, es perden enmig del marasme de persones que centren unes famílies extenses on els noms, sobretot en el cas de les dones, es repeteixen. Cal destacar la desigual referència als fets històrics en els darrers capítols, amb una autora que sembla de sobte preocupada pels esdeveniments de la societat de les darreres dècades amb una localització i ampliació minuciosa de diversos fets que han marcat la recent història italiana i, de retruc, la dels seus personatges: “No és el 1968, és el 1977, no tenim ni passat ni futur, la història ens mata.” (pàg. 290).

The wine of Solitude

The wine of Solitude, Irène Némirovsky, Barcelona, La Magrana, 2009 (1935)

The small jewel of Némirovsky is itself the most autobiographical work. The story of how a family consisting of a Russian-Jewish father and a great bourgeois who takes refuge in Paris after the victory of the Revolution, has many elements which recall the life of the author who at once took French as a literary language. An approach of a continued conflict between daughter and mother Hélène Bella seems to have a personal home in the life of the author and which refers, of course, another text of her , The Dance (1930), where the young Antoinette lived a fierce confrontation with her mother, Mrs. Kampf. Same resource, the same contrast, autobiographical source, which becomes key in designing the uprooting of the protagonist.

In this case, the story of Karol, with Boris and Bella as patriarchs, is the story of disillusionment and the uprooting of wealthy families following the Russian Revolution. All this with a France that gives shelter and where they intend to carry out the very life of excesses that had previously led. The fragility and superficiality of Bella Karol, to the completion of several lovers accepted by the husband, as the young cousin Max, is a good place to object to the vital principles that are reaffirmed in the young Hélène. Hélène is like Valentina by Carles Soldevila or Aloma by Rodoreda. Three novels of the same time trying to reflect the social transformation of the twenties and thirties, in the period of enrichment and political peace between the wars, where young women are parts of the most important changes. We cannot talk about direct influences, but the similarities between the three texts and psychological concretions of its protagonists are obvious. Thus we can find different interventions Hélène rejecting the importance of love, in tune as the stars of Rodoreda Soldevila and did: “They call this love?” (P. 58), “is ugly and stupid, love .. . ‘(p. 185). Similarly, recognition is characteristic of mature performed because of difficult living conditions: “How old you can be twelve years …” (P. 80). And a desire for self-recognition of gender status: “What we liked most was the sense of pride that made him aware of his power as a woman.” (P. 144). Hélène, once the father dies and decides to leave home, in the company of his cat, is on the road by the city of Paris, the Arc of Triomphe, as the descent to Barcelona from the novel mentionedby Rodoreda. This technique to approach the character’s inner self as the realization of interior monologue, which is listed as one of the most innovative and thought-provoking novels of Irène Némirovsky.

The smile of the saints

The smile of the saints, Llor Miquel, Barcelona, Ed. 62, 1947 (1987)

Always a good time to reread readings made during the race. On this occasion, the second part of Laura in the city of Santos (1931) becomes a useful tool to remind the author of the original objectives: portrait reflects a psychological transformation in the context of a realistic space asset. All this is now gone. The author’s will to overcome the conflict that the novel was created with its population of birth, Vic, cause the realization of a story that has attractions for those who have read the earlier book but losing the basic essence of his work. There is social criticism, there is no psychological transformation, just a touch of verisimilitude found in each of the actions of the characters, especially Laura and Muntanyola brothers, Tom and Teresa. Thus we find a protagonist who repents of their previous actions and to recover conjugal life with surprising ease by the hand of her husband and the constant opposition of his sister: “You have to have patience and know-silent” (p. 9) this is the motto of the new Laura. And the goal, marked by the symbol of the city of Comarquinal: “it was time to penetrate closer to the smile of the Saints, which is offered to all men, good and half bad, all children of God.” (P. 32).

The most innovative and interesting is the new historical framework deployed in the novel: the thirties, with the outbreak of the Civil War and the victory of the national side (p. 50). A social and cultural context that demonstrates the ambiguity of the landed classes Catalan within the conflict as a direct criticism of anticlerical excesses (p. 129).

The other plot lines of the first novel takes up or have their defense, as the sudden death of Llibori uncle, with great skill to configure the two novels as a continued without any break.
On the technical discursive note is the increase in orality, particularly in some small fragments that are likely to be located in the inner reported speech of the characters (p. 43). Similarly, and this binds the film version of the first novel, there is an increase of eroticism in the relationship between Laura and Thomas. (P. 47). But a second part of the absolutely essential, is highly unlikely, which leads to expressions of surprise of the same characters as “What about that, Laura?” (P. 154).

Wetlands

Wetlands, Charlotte Roche, Barcelona, Proa, 2009 (2008)

Roche’s novel provides the reader from the cover, as “the most revolutionary book ever written on the body of the woman” no longer a book filled with topics that tries to deceive its receipt from approach rugged situations, bad taste and poor sense erotic. A protagonist of eighteen years, Helen, whose sole aim to bring together parents, to live again, and playing with their piles for this purpose, no longer a pretext for a fast and straightforward narration that the reader gets bored . After fifty pages of descriptions of holes in the body, offering live streams juice and diverse, the monotony reigns in history without history. That is, a superfluous book will be of interest only to those seeking an easy read that can be broken into small pieces, as time stops every day. The story line, so low-not lost, the character does not grow. And an unlikely final short narrative voice that is proud of having passed the maturity, in that, as a woman who already has the majority, can go live with parents who want not.

Men

Isabel-Clara Simó, Men, Alzira, Bromera, 2010

The twenty-two stories of Isabel-Clara Simó have in common with the Twenty-two stories (1958) by Rodoreda the magic number that computes the total of stories included in the volume. However, nothing farther from the goals are the Rodoreda´s stories and Simó, a story full of irony, sarcasm and, ultimately, realistic and often deformed male reality. In Women (1997), the writer dealt with a similar tone, the daily life of women in our society, is now the turn of men. However, there are two precedents in the same author, on the one hand, Angels (2004), ten stories that dealt with sour and out of the topics of children, on the other hand, we want men (A cartoon, 2001) . On this occasion, the title has been more direct: Men. All this because Isabel-Clara Simó continues her brilliant career as a storyteller, one of the genres that developed with greater mastery.

If Men, the author set out her critique vision of social behaviour of man, despite being aware that “I did a caricature, the grotesque and exaggerated, like all caricatures” (p. 10), now in Men , has a practical application. She also explains in the foreword: “If I approached, literarily speaking, has been lovingly, trying to understand them. And sometimes, oh yes, condemning them.” (P. 5). It is evident to those who know the writer’s career, this book we needed. An ironic, humorous, sarcastic, incisive, about half of the company had not always been the centerpiece of the stories of a writer who knows how to portray the everyday one. The author seeks to challenge and reflection, from titles such as “The misfortune of being a man” or “I hate my wife“, the approach of conflict of each story. A crisis that also arise from admiration to the women as “Tattoos”: “My wife has a hairy pussy, very sensual. I love it, but, man, when you’re in a swimsuit depílate we do not see the ridiculous, you and me? “(p. 43). However, the crisis can be resolved in a civilized way “proposed by Carles Soldevila, in works like Civilitzats, tanmateix (1921), in Moment musical (1936) or in the story” A Warning “- as we read in” From your to my “-a title which refers directly to the Pere Calders published in 1984 -.
Everything is relative, even the sex or desire. So, probably unconscious with a reference to a previous story by the same author, “The Pleasure of women”, we read: “The desire female is made up of other ingredients. [...] A woman who wants to wants to feel desired, and as such value. [...] The male desire with anger. It can even be violent, if not attached culture very short. Because yours is a desperate hunger, excruciating. even depraved. ” (P. 77). The story that most insistently refers readers to a previous story the writer is “socks lying on the ground”, an approximation to the reality of the crisis even in the midst of the notions of liberals and release that already were in “Rosina, my darling” Perverse Story (1992), a jewel, no doubt, this story.

Another parallel is found between “I do not like my wife” and “Love Mom” Women (1997), where the complaints are now being produced from the husband who hates his wife and, in part, his son when he was just born : “It was ugly with greed: wrinkled, red, hairy than usual …” (P. 129). Good use is also suggestive of two dogs at the center of the stories “Bobi” and “My dog star” animals which, despite the personal prejudices of the author, already had a prominent role in the story erotic Dogs “Go Direct to the point (2006). And, “The report,” a hilarious vision located in the framework of the objective view of aliens that describe the human condition that we find very suggestive explanation: “In most of the human population, the birth of a small woman called a child, causing them great displeasure “(p. 110).
The book is rich in languages and structures. So there is a rich alternating between the first and third person narrative and with the addition of letters and even interviews, a formal structure that guides a story like “Where we’ll end up?”. The existence of a second person, one you incisive, sarcastic effect increases the volume, so we hear the narrator addressing the poor man and say, however, in public, with people around you, have to say that they are superior in all qualities that have more than us and there is not right, how some unscrupulous abusers. And I have to say, man, whether you believe it or not (especially if you do not believe), if you want to be an outlaw. (P. 13)

In short, this is a great book, a great read, where the prospect of analysis allows us to understand, despite the irony, an open concept, even ambiguous, male sexuality. A wake-up call to coexistence between men and women in our society with the characteristic style, direct and incisive, Isabel-Clara Simó.

The dance