book of books - The Roads to Freedom trilogy

There are several famous trilogies in literature with Lord of the Rings being the most well known, but whether it is Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast or Jean-Paul Sartre's The Roads to Freedom the ability to use three volumes to build up characters makes the trilogy a special form in literature.

Sartre uses the political background of the turbulent 1930s in France as the background to all three of the books. There are other examples of French literature, Gustave Flaubert’s A Sentimental Education springs to mind, where characters develop over a backdrop of political upheaval.

Where the Roads to Freedom is different from perhaps using lesser know historical events is that most readers would know what happened in the Second World War and see the defeat of France on the horizon long before any of the characters in the books would.

Quick overview

The Age of Reason
Mathieu discovers that his mistress Marcelle is pregnant so they agree on an abortion but it involves him finding 4,000 francs and in his chase for the funds he asks a rich friend Daniel, who refuses him, as well as his brother Jacques who asks him to recognise he needs to grow up and accept that he is old enough to have the age of reason. Part of the reason Mathieu does not want the child is because he has spent most of his 34 years searching for freedom and it would compromise that. Also he is harbouring some sort of fantasy love with Ivich a sister of one of his pupils Bruno. She is an odd girl who fails her exams and faces the prospect of having to go back home. In the meantime Marcelle, encouraged by Daniel who has been seeing her secretly for a long time, admits she would like to keep the baby. Daniel hopes to trap Mathieu and end his friend’s freedom. But Mathieu goes as a far as stealing from Boris’s older girlfriend Lola the money and that brings it to a head and as Marcelle refuses her long standing lover Daniel steps into the breach and agrees to marry her. Denied of love or family Mathieu seems to suddenly realise that the freedom he believed was at risk was something unattainable and as a result of this realisation accepts he must be at the age of reason.

The Reprieve
The book starts with the politicians surrounding British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain waiting for an audience with Hitler to try and defuse the rising tension about the German leader’s territorial claims in Czechoslovakia. Meanwhile the diplomatic process grips the French because they have an agreement with Czechoslovakia to come to its aid if it is attacked. The narrative follows the course of the week that led up to the Munich agreement, where in an effort to maintain peace in Europe the Czech’s were betrayed by their British and French allies. Over the course of the week the French reservists, including Mathieu (the main character from the first book) are called up and the book holds up a mirror not just to national uncertainty but also that of a handful of characters ranging from those determined to fight and die (Boris) to those at the other end of the spectrum arguing for peace (Philippe). In the end nothing is resolved and although the French people believe war has been averted those in transit to join up with the army or prepare for loss and pain are still left in a partial limbo.

Iron in the Soul
The book is split into two halves with the first concentrating on Mathieu and the second on Brunet the communist activist who tried to get Mathieu to join the party in the first part of the trilogy The Age of Reason. The story starts with France defeated by the Nazi’s but because it has not yet signed the armistice the fighting continues. The soldiers in the reserve line, including Mathieu, are humiliated at not being given the chance to prove their worth against the Germans. Finally as the approaching enemy gets closer to the village where Mathieu is he decides to fight and is left on top of a church the lone gunman as the enemy wipes out the rest of the resistance.

Then the second part takes up the story of what happened to those that were taken prisoner with Brunet being picked up with thousands of others and marched into an abandoned barracks before finally being put on trains that took them to uncertainly – probably Germany. In a desperate attempt to feel that he is doing something – just like Mathieu felt – Brunet decides to try and stir up political action against not just the Germans but also the padres in the camp. He half manages to get himself noticed but fails to make any difference on his own and it is only at the end when the German’s shoot an escaping prisoner that the hate he hoped to stir rises to the surface.

Does the trilogy work?
The Reprieve is the most difficult of the three to read and so that can have the effect of being a slight hiccup on the journey but overall the three books do work. On a historical level the political tension increases from the first volume where the communist party is mentioned but the emphasis is much more on the individual not the nation. But in The Reprieve the sense of events being dictated from elsewhere could not be more underlined with the week leading up to the Munich agreement impacting everybody in the story. Then finally with the Germans invading the question of an individual response returns because a national one has broken down.

Over the course of the three books following the lead character Mathieu there is an opportunity to see a man get to the stage where he understands what life is all about overcoming a youthful yearning for a sense of illusionary freedom. Then he does his duty and mobilises and finally takes a bullet not so much for his country, which he knows is already defeated, but as some sort of release. It is not a suicide but is not too far removed. Other characters also go on journey’s of self discovery with Odette realising she no longer loves Mathieu’s brother Jacques, Daniel facing up to his losing battle to control his homosexuality and Brunet trying to carve out a role for himself as a communist alternative.

Because it is a trilogy it helps chart those journeys of development and as long as the reader can get through The Reprieve the story of Mathieu can be told until the end.

Should it be read?
It is a challenge reading these books because of the style, which is not just one that steers away from traditional happy endings and character development paths, and also because of the numerous unanswered questions that Sartre leaves for you to ponder on. Sartre avoids the traditional behaviour of tying up all the loose ends and telling the reader what happens to people so you end up not knowing what happens to the vast majority of characters that are introduced to The Reprieve. Does that matter? Not if the point is to illustrate the transitory nature of war and the confusion that ensues when chaos is all around. But from a straight forward reading perspective it can make life difficult. For those who love history there is also the added bonus of enjoying a series of books that paint a picture of the impact of the political and then military confusion on normal French people and that is something you would struggle to get from a history book.

Versions read – all Penguin Paperbacks

book of books - Iron in the Soul

If you think about the overall title of the triology – The Roads to Freedom – you instantly start to think about the yoke of occupation and the yearning that the French must have had to be rid nog the Germans.

But while these books touch on that the final part of the trilogy is as much about individual freedom as it is to do with the collective freedom of a nation. It focuses on two main characters, although most of those who have featured in the other two books do pop up.

Plot summary
The books is split into two halves with the first concentrating on Mathieu and the second on Brunet the communist activist who tried to get Mathieu to join the party in the first part of the trilogy The Age of Reason. The story starts with France defeated by the Nazi’s but because it has not yet signed the armistice the fighting continues. The soldiers in the reserve line, including Mathieu, are humiliated at not being given the chance to prove their worth against the Germans. Finally as the approaching enemy gets closer to the village where Mathieu is he decides to fight and is left on top of a church the lone gunman as the enemy wipes out the rest of the resistance.

Then the second part takes up the story of what happened to those that were taken prisoner with Brunet being picked up with thousands of others and marched into an abandoned barracks before finally being put on trains that took them to uncertainly – probably Germany. In a desperate attempt to feel that he is doing something – just like Mathieu felt – Brunet decides to try and stir up political action against not just the Germans but also the padres in the camp. He half manages to get himself noticed but fails to make any difference on his own and it is only at the end when the German’s shoot an escaping prisoner that the hate he hoped to stir rises to the surface.

Is it well written?
You feel the sense of hopelessness, shame and anger that those who have lost a conflict inevitably fell. But what it made worse is that unlike the 1914 generation they lost without having a chance to fight.

“They had counted on this war to make men of them, to give them their rights as heads of families, their share of glory as war veterans. It was to have been for them a solemn initiation, a means of freeing them from the crippling shackles of that Great war, that World war, which had stifled their youth with memories of splendour. This war of theirs was to have been greater and still more world-wide. By firing on the Jerries they were to have accomplished the ritual massacre of their fathers which marks the entry of each generation into life. But as things turned out they fired on nobody, indulged in no massacre. The whole thing had gone wrong.”

You identify with the restlessness that both Mathieu and Brunet fell and because the other characters – Daniel, Odette and Boris – are used to expand that feeling across France it is easy to sense a little bit what it means to be invaded and defeated. It is also the end of the journey for Mathieu who graduated from a seeker of freedom to the age of reason and then to a stage of realisation that it almost did not matter what he did because it was all an illusion. On the other hand Brunet continued to believe, even when the truth stared him in the face, that there was a chance he could make a difference.

Should it be read?
Of the three books this is much easier to read than the second, The Reprieve, but while it is easier to digest in terms of style – there are chapter breaks etc – the constant uncertainty, restlessness and depression does have an impact on you. That is a positive because it shows the book is working but it is not a read for people who like happy endings. It’s not really a read for people who like endings with you never finding out what became of Mathieu, if Marcelle ever had a child or what became of some of the other secondary characters. But it deserves to be read for the simple reason that it is rare to get a series of books that chart the mental search of an individual for something as elusive and idealistic as freedom.

Summary
With France defeated and the Germans closing in the search for freedom ends with guns blazing for Mathieu while for others it carries on with limited success

Version read – Penguin paperback

A review of the trilogy will follow tomorrow...

Iron in the Soul - post VI

The book ends with the prinsoners discovering the same feeling as Mathieu that despite the speed of the French collapse this is war and underneath the different uniforms and language there is the potential for real hatred.

“They had counted on this war to make men of them, to give them their rights as heads of families, their share of glory as war veterans. It was to have been for them a solemn initiation, a means of freeing them from the crippling shackles of that Great war, that World war, which had stifled their youth with memories of splendour. This war of theirs was to have been greater and still more world-wide. By firing on the Jerries they were to have accomplished the ritual massacre of their fathers which marks the entry of each generation into life. But as things turned out they fired on nobody, indulged in no massacre. The whole thing had gone wrong.”

Bullet points between pages 318 - 349

* Brunet struggles to get through to people and the Germans are in total control of their fate even commanding time making everyone move an hour forward to Berlin time so the German empire can all be in synch

* Visitors are allowed to enter the barracks and one of the men is a veteran of the first world war and the tension in the air that he will condemn them evaporates after he tells them it was not their fault and refers to them as “poor lads”

* One officer escapes and in his rage at the other prisoners, who threaten to turn him in if they discover where he is hiding, Brunet boasts that he is also going to try to escape and dares them to also grass on him

* He obviously doesn’t because the scene shifts with them all in rail carriages being moved to Nancy and all the time Brunet either tempts others with the idea of jumping off or considers it himself then they hear from a bystander they are going to Germany

* The prisoners start to relax after the points change gives them the impression that they are going deeper into France and not towards Germany but they ask some Germans on the embankment where they are heading and are told that they are indeed going to Germany

* That leads to the rest of the men starting to panic and the printer that Brunet fears will try to escape jumps out of the train and is shot at by the Germans as he tries to get back into the train

* For the first time they realise the hatred that is directed towards them and the sense of war is made clear to them with Brunet benefiting from the anger but also a sense of reality and the futility of their position becoming clear

A full review will follow shortly…

Iron in the Soul - post V

As the pages start to run out you start to realise that maybe the first part of the book was about the futility of fighting the Germans and has seen the end of Mathieu and the second part is going to be about Brunet and his similar battle to accept the obvious that France is not ready for a communist uprising, partly because the Soviets clearly don't care about them.

Bullet points between pages 272 - 318

* Brunet almost falls by the wayside because of starvation but he manages to last long enough for the food to arrive and save him from dying and ten he starts to try and recruit a group to undermine not just the Germans but also the priests

* But the Germans are clearly in control and Brunet can talk all he likes about the need for agitation and controlling those around him but it makes no difference to the conditions in the barracks and as Brunet starts to get paranoid with cleanliness all he manages to di is alienate those around him

* He ends up having a confrontation with Schneider, who has been one of his constant friends, and despite being given numerous home truths Brunet still believes that t is not his fault but those of the French people

More tomorrow...

Iron in the soul - post IV

You know a book has you hooked when you can’t wait to find out what happens to a character. The end of part one ends with you not knowing whether Mathieu is alive or dead and you race onto part two to try and find out but so far no answer is forthcoming.

This book has also worked on an inspirational level with the old flames of non-fiction flickering and turning to a history book, I have pulled down Julian Jackson’s The Fall of France – The Nazi Invasion of 1940 off the bookshelf and plan to read that straight after Sartre because there is a growing desire to clarify just how the French army was overrun so quickly.

Bullet points between pages 190 – 272

* Mathieu and the troops that are prepared to fight prepare the village for a defence against the Germans with armed soldiers posted in various buildings including the school house, town hall and up on the church roof – where Mathieu is waiting

* Up on the church roof there is a tension that is broken with the arrival of the Germans and after what feels like an hour Mathieu who has claimed his first victim of the war is told that only three minutes have elapsed

* The battle with the clock becomes an obsession for Mathieu as the minutes slowly tick by and the school and town hall are overrun with only him left firing any resistance he concentrates on just holding out for 15 minutes and he does that and then part one ends

* Part two starts with Brunet, the communist leader being picked up by the Germans and added to a winding mass of prisoners who are finally marched to a town and dumped in the courtyard of an old barracks

* But after five days on the run and in captivity Brunet has not eaten and his strength is ebbing away as is his health and although he plans to build some sort of cell and mount some political resistance it become clear he might not have the strength

More tomorrow…

book of books - The Reprieve

When you commit to reading a trilogy you know that unless something unforeseen happens you are going to see it through to the end and the decision to read the second book was nowhere near as important as the move made to read the first.

But Jean-Paul Sartre does his best with The Reprieve to make you wonder if it is worth sticking with the Roads to Freedom trilogy. Written in a way that is difficult to follow, populated with numerous characters and dispensing with some of the page furniture and breaks – chapters, asterisks and spaces - that would make it slightly easier to follow makes this a harder book to stick with. But, and it is an important but, if the aim of the writing is to transmit the sense of fear, panic and confusion that existed in the run up to the second world war, then it succeeds.

Plot summary
The book starts with the politicians surrounding British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain waiting for an audience with Hitler to try and defuse the rising tension about the German leader’s territorial claims in Czechoslovakia. Meanwhile the diplomatic process grips the French because they have an agreement with Czechoslovakia to come to its aid if it is attacked. The narrative follows the course of the week that led up to the Munich agreement, where in an effort to maintain peace in Europe the Czech’s were betrayed by their British and French allies. Over the course of the week the French reservists, including Mathieu (the main character from the first book) are called up and the book holds up a mirror not just to national uncertainty but also that of a handful of characters ranging from those determined to fight and die (Boris) to those at the other end of the spectrum arguing for peace (Philippe). In the end nothing is resolved and although the French people believe war has been averted those in transit to join up with the army or prepare for loss and pain are still left in a partial limbo.

Is it well written?
As already mentioned this is a difficult book to get through because a description of one character in a situation will run straight into another. The reader has to work very hard to concentrate and stick with the numerous characters as well as the political developments happening in the background. It works well as an almost metaphorical description of the confusion of war but as a narrative is perhaps in some places unnecessarily confusing. One work colleague admitted that he had started the book then given up on it. That is the risk that Sartre takes because the third book Iron in the Soul has a different feel again more similar to The Age of Reason.

Should it be read?
If you are reading the trilogy then obviously missing this out would detract by in an odd way it would be possible to skip it because it concerns one week and the main characters are reintroduced in the third volume. But it is a reminder that the fears of Hitler were causing disturbances well before he started to advance with troops and tanks across the French border. It is also a good illustration of how the prospect of an impending conflict or major event can cause people to react differently. Another book that reminds you of the myriad of responses is The Plague by Albert Camus and the sense they both have in common is of people being trapped. The Reprieve is about the claw back from war and the reprieve the main characters and the country has from bloodshed but as the French Prime Minister mutters at the end of the book it is nothing of the sort and just delays the war. The challenge constantly to the reader is how they would react, and this is picked up even more in the final volume. Would you be a coward? Rally to the flag and support your allies? Or view the potential conflict as something that you might be able to make personal gain out of? From start to finish the reader is challenged on every level to stick with the book, empathise with the confusion and suffering and constantly wonder just how they would have reacted.

Summary
War is postponed by in the week waiting for the reprieve the country and the people display a number of reactions that cover most parts of the spectrum, including the fatalist existentialist one you would expect from a Sartre novel.

Version read – Penguin Modern Classics paperback

Iron in the Soul - post III

The question being asked of you as a reader is what would you do if the country you were fighting for was defeated without giving you the chance to at least feel that you had tried to defend her. Mathieu and his fellow soldiers are all asking themselves that question while others who are not in uniform still face the difficult matter of deciding on their own ability to sucumb to cowardice.

The book is written in an easier style with diary dates forming chapters and breaks in paragraphs as a way of indicating when there is a shift in character, mood or location.

Bullet points between pages 112 - 190

* Mathieu is caught between a rock and a hard place finding himself shunned by his fellow soldiers because they view him as an intellectual and somehow better than them and no matter what he does he cannot fit in and even when he tries to get drunk he is unable to match the excesses of the other troops

* All the time the Germans are getting closer and although the troops have somehow gone into denial about the moment they will face the enemy and concentrate just on the idea of peace and stop thinking of fighting almost completely

* Back in Paris Daniel meets Phillipe - talk about a small world - and is instanly captivated by the young man who is considering suicide but then allows himself to be taken back to Daniel's flat and spoken to in a way that the older man hopes will lead to a seduction and a relationship that might have some depth to it

* Back in the village Mathieu and the troops are disturbed to see a nearby village burning and then a squad of fighters enters the village and challenges anyone to join them and fight off the Germans when they do finally arrive

The number of questions are growing with the most obvious being - what happened to Marcelle? Has Boris fled to England and what will happen to Mathiue when the Germans do finally arrive? More tomorrow...

Iron in the Soul - post II

There is a real sense of futility as the rumours spread of the defeat and the armistice being signed. Now with 100 pages gone all of the main characters have been reintroduced with the exception of Marcelle and you wonder how she is getting on with Mathieu’s child. War seems to have damaged people and put their lives in perspective and has also had an impact on Paris itself, which is beautifully described:

“It was Sunday. For the past three days it had been Sunday. The whole week now, in Paris, consisted of one day, a ready-made, colourless sort of day, rather stiffer than usual, rather more synthetic, over-marked by silence, and already filled by a secretly working rot.”

Bullet points between pages 57 – 112

* Boris is injured in a hospital and given the chance to fly to England and escape before the Germans arrive but he explains that he needs to ask Lola first and then goes off to meet with his sister

* It is then revealed that Ivich is not only married to the man she ran to when she thought war was coming in Paris but had a miscarriage and has aged a great deal and as a result of her experiences has drifted almost completely away from her brother

* Daniel is in Paris and almost enjoying the state the city finds itself in and then he spots the Germans, the first time they have appeared in the story in the flesh, and he realises just how many enemy military are in the deserted capital

* Mathieu and the troops wait to hear what is going on and get mixed messages about the signing of an armistice and as a result feel as if they have failed because they have not had a chance to fight

* But then they drift back to camp with the feeling that they might after all get a chance to prove they can fight only to discover they are being abandoned by their officers and left to fend for themselves

“No one likes us, no one: the civilians blame us for not defending them, our wives have got no pride in us, our offices have left us in the lurch, the villagers hate us, the Jerries are advancing through the darkness.”

More tomorrow…

Iron in the Soul - post I

After the difficult reading experience of The Reprieve this is a more conventional style sticking with a character for a chapter, the diary date that Sartre uses, and giving them the room to think that was absent in the rush to war that was in the second book.

Things start in an odd position because you know that at the end of The Reprieve Sartre has a choice to start Iron in the Soul either just before the Nazi attack on France, which might have been tempting for tension. However he starts not in France but New York and starts with Paris having fallen. That’s why you know this is going to be an interesting read because from page one none of the easy options have been taken.

Bullet points between pages 1 – 57

* The story starts with Gomez in New York looking for a break from the heat and the struggle to get money but he seems to be being looked after and he is offered a job as an art critics based on his experience as a painter

* Gomez hears that Paris has fallen but because of his experience in the Spanish Civil War he feels no sympathy and even when he sits down and has a drink with a French man in a bar he still feels nothing

* Meanwhile Sarah his wife and son Pablo are struggling to escape from the Germans and are mixed up with other refugees and the picture that is painted of life in France is incredibly hard

* Then the time moves on and the story picks up with Mathieu with seven other troops lying in a field waiting to find out where they are going next in the retreat from the oncoming enemy

* Mathieu and his colleagues sum up the sense of the frustration in the defeat with some not caring, others regretting the death of their troops and all worried about what will happen next to them

More tomorrow…

The Reprieve - post VI

The book comes to an end with the mixture of different stories being told in succession carrying onto the last page. The difference compared to the beginning is that by now you see the method in the madness and the juxtaposition between events with a brilliant contrast between Ivich being violated by her lover and Czechoslovakia being let down by France and England.

There is also a mixture of relief and disappointment when it appears that the Munich agreement has heralded peace and not war. Half of the characters are still being mobilized when the announcement is made and the book ends with a feeling of limbo.

Bullet points between pages 348 – 377

* Everyone is waiting for a statement by the French leader Daladier that most expect will be an announcement of war and it is with a sense of resignation that some of the major characters make decisions that they could regret with Ivich giving herself to a man and Boris joining up for three years

* However as the announcement arrives Daladier explains that he is flying the next day to see Hitler with Chamberlain and so he has nothing to announce - a move that starts to dispel some of the tension

* Mathieu sits on a train going towards the barracks and planes fly overhead leading some aboard to believe that they are German and war has been declared but when they arrive at the station they are told the news from Munich

* The French and British faced with war to defend Czechoslovakia back down and let their ally down and in a scene of anger and disappointment the Czech government understands it is on its own

* Back in Prague the news is met with anger but in France there are crowds waiting to meet Daladier as he flies back into the capital celebrating what they believe is a peaceful end to the confrontation with Hitler

“Daladier stood on the top step, and looked at them dumfounded. Then he turned to Leger and said between his teeth:
‘The blind fools!’”

A review will follow in the next couple of days…

The Reprieve - post V

Just as it seems like war is inevitable it looks like Hitler might back down but the wheels are in motion and the characters move to take up their places in the event of a war. In a flood the old characters come back to the centre of the story and Mathieu gets more attention than he has nearly all of the book and Ivich reappears and Boris and Daniel share their thoughts with the wrong audience.

Bullet points between pages 288 – 348

* Mathieu returns to his Paris flat and cannot sleep sp heads out to visit some old haunts and take a mental picture of the city for what he expects could be the last time but before heads out his landlady hands him a letter from Daniel which he pockets rather than reads

* Boris confides to Lola that he is not sure if he will be frightened by war and that concerns him but she only thinks of herself so he resolves to join up and put an end to his doubts and heads for the recruitment office

* Philippe the pacifist is noticed in a bar with the prostitute he picked up by the secretary of the pacifist editor the boy has fallen under the influence of and so she resolves to follow him and watches as Philippe is beaten up for calling an end to the war

* Mathieu pretends to be a policeman and steps into save Philippe and then helps the secretary Irene put him into a cab but she stops and asks for his help because the young man is trying to escape

* They take him to her flat and put him to bed and then in the most emotionally intense scene yet Mathieu and Irene share the night together and although when they wake Philippe is gone she agrees to see him off at the station that night when he leaves

* Ivich meanwhile has just about had enough of being cut off in the country and after her father welcomes the German aggression and comments that soon they will be able to return to Russia she storms out and heads for Paris

* Once back in the capital she heads for Mathieu’s flat and he meets her and tells her she can stay there but he seems to have gone past the point of having any thoughts for her of love and lust and leaves her to go to the station and there he says goodbye to Irene

* Philippe goes to the police and tries to get himself made a martyr for peace but all they do is phone his father and ask him to come and pick him up

The final thirty pages will come at some point this weekend…

The Reprieve - post IV

The war continues to loom large and as France reacts to its pledges with Czechoslovakia and as a result calls up its reservists the tension spreads far and wide. Almost no one is left untouched by the feeling of apprehension with bar owners questioning when to shut up shop and relationships between men, women and parents and children getting seperated.

Bullet points between pages 180 - 285

* Lola and Boris find themselves in an emptying hotel as guests fearful of war head home and leave the two together with Boris being particularly loving towards Lola because he has decided that the relationship will all be over in a year

* Using a butterfly approach the story lingers on Charles and the rest of the evacuated hospital patients as they get loaded onto a train and head away from an area that is going to be on the front line

* On the way Charles makes friends with a woman lying next to him and he starts to struggle when he needs to carry out natural functions and keeps his pride intact not wanting to use the bed pan in front of her

* On the political stage the French are on their way to see the British government and the Czechs again make a plea for resistance against Germany commenting that they refuse to be enslaved by another country

* Gomez heads off to see Mathieu who has yet to report to the army but most of the other characters are in transit heading to their respective singing on points and Boris is still stuck in his thinking about age and wondering what the war will cost him in terms of missed opportunities and lifespan

* Boris works out how many omelettes he will eat and drinks he will consume before being killed believing that he was born to die young in war

* The evening is dominated by Hitler making a speech in which he harangues the Czech government and calls for rights for Germans living outside the mother country and ends up giving an ultimatum that unless the Czech’s back down it will be war

* All of the characters listen, except Phillipe who has been kept in a room by a prostitute he slept with and the crescendo of the speech is reflected in the reactions of different characters among them Mathieu who is finally on his way to report for duty

More tomorrow…

The Reprieve - post III

If you imagine something like War & Peace but with all of the characters talking all at once you get a flavour of what Sartre seems to have aimed at trying to do. You get several pages where the story starts to focus on one character and develops then almost like channel hopping the story skips rapidly across several locations.

Although it remains a real task to concentrate and there is always a temptation to try to filter out who you think you have to invest in emotionally on the character front and although that is starting to come a bit clearer Sartre keeps throwing more people into the mix.

Bullet points between pages 110 – 180

* Daniel is fighting with himself to suppress his homosexuality but you get the sense it might well be a battle he loses because the marriage to Marcelle doesn’t seem to be doing him any good

* Several characters start their transit as a result of the call-up with Hannequin leaving his wife at the station after boarding a train; Maurice who spends a final night with his partner Zezette; and Pierre who is travelling back from Africa to Marseille infatuated with a singer come prostitute

* Philippe a young man under the influence of a pacifist runs away from home and pays to get false documents that will allow him to escape to Switzerland and before he goes he gets a bitter taste of the true feelings of the workers he has idealised

* Gros-Louis searches for friendship in Marseille and ends up being mugged for his trouble then when he manages to talk to someone about work he is told that he has to go an report for duty otherwise will be classed as a deserter

Meanwhile there has not been much about Mathieu or some of the other mainstays from The Age of Reason and with all of these numerous storylines running alongside each other it will be interesting to see how they develop with some - Philippe and Maurice - actually crossing over and meeting each other.

More tomorrow…

The Reprieve - post II

The tension starts to mount as the Czech government mobilises its forces, a move that Hitler takes as evidence of provocation, and across France army reservists are called up shaking those who thought it might never happen out of their slumbers. But for some it is not enough and the French are still cowards, whereas for others it is all too much, particularly those who fought in the First World War. The lucky ones die before they realise that conflict has failed to secure peace.

“…and in that one moment – war – war that Pierre dreaded, Boris accepted, and Daniel welcomed, would enter clad in steel, the great stand-up war, the white men’s crazy war.”

Bullet points between pages 50 - 110

* As Chamberlain waits to meet with Hitler the Czech government takes decisive action and mobilizes its forces against the threat of German aggression - a move that Hitler implies proves his point about the aggression towards the Sudetenland German community

* The characters in that country welcome the move but a similar attempt to mobilize reserves in France is greeted with a more mixed outcome with some of the characters feeling numb – Mathieu - and others are scared

* Mathieu is waiting for a visit from Gomez who has been serving with the army in Spain and receives a letter from Boris who is enjoying a holiday with Lola before he has to set off and report for duty

* Elsewhere men are getting ready to say farewell to loved ones and head off to report and Sartre manages to convey a mood of anticipation and fear from numerous characters all in a confusingly short space of time

* A nurse sits with an old first world war solider who has died before discovering his efforts in 1914 to secure peace were to no avail, while others who experienced that conflict get ready for separation, mutilation and even death

More tomorrow…

The Reprieve - Post I

Over lunch today the question came up about favourite books and films and I said that a recent DVD of a French film called Hidden (La Cache) had really left you wondering what the moral was. There are books that make the reader work as well and as the wine went round it was hard to come up with an example. However on boarding the train afterwards to head home it became obvious that based on the first chunk of reading that Jean-Paul Sartre’s second in the Roads to Freedom trilogy, The Reprieve, is going to be one of those books.

Where other writers might insert an asterisk or page break Sartre moves from one scenario to another with such fluidity you almost fail to realise the location has changed until someone you have never heard of starts talking. The blurb on the dust jacket describes the style in these terms: “Cutting incisively from one scene to another…” It leaves you desperate for a friendly face from the first book but even then there has been a gap and things have moved on with almost no explanation. This has been hard work today.

Bullet points from pages 1 – 50

* Things start with two things being established – that everyone is waiting to see what Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain manages to get out of Hitler at Munich and that France is expected to play a role helping the Czechs if the outcome is bad

* Characters in presumably German occupied border areas wait tensely to see what will happen with Milan Hlinka protecting his family behind closed doors and the diplomats receiving news that Hitler is postponing Chamberlain’s audience

* Quickly a host of characters are introduced with a man and a nurse involved in an affair in a hospital that faces being moved because in the event of a war it would be on the front line, a man who has come to Marseille to seek a better life and communists in Paris readying for the conflict

* There is a glimpse of familiar ground with Mathieu on holiday with his brother’s wife Odette at her villa and they talk about the war as he makes sand pies and thinks about Ivich who he has been writing to

* Then there is more confusion with the subject of everyone the prospect of war before another familiar couple – Daniel and Marcelle – appear and you discover they are married but she has not yet had Mathieu’s child

* Everyone is looking for signs of war and finding them in different things with Mathieu experiencing it in the heat of the desert, the diplomats starting to realise it is in the way Hitler treats Chamberlain and for those already in the firing line by stones being hurled and intimidation

More tomorrow…

book of books - The Age of Reason

This book covers two days in the life of Mathieu Delarue a professor in philosophy at the Sorbonne. But in those two days Jean-Paul Sartre manages to pack in a huge amount around the main story of the pregnancy of Mathieu’s mistress. On top of the individual concerns of the characters there is a shadow cast by the changing situation in Europe with one mention of the possibility of war.

This book really feels like the first part in a trilogy because there are plenty of places for the characters to go at the end and of course war is looming, which will change everything.

Plot summary
Mathieu discovers that his mistress Marcelle is pregnant so they agree on an abortion but it involves him finding 4,000 francs and in his chase for the funds he asks a rich friend Daniel, who refuses him, as well as his brother Jacques who asks him to recognise he needs to grow up and accept that he is old enough to have the age of reason. Part of the reason Mathieu does not want the child is because he has spent most of his 34 years searching for freedom and it would compromise that. Also he is harbouring some sort of fantasy love with Ivich a sister of one of his pupils Bruno. She is an odd girl who fails her exams and faces the prospect of having to go back home. In the meantime Marcelle, encouraged by Daniel who has been seeing her secretly for a long time, admits she would like to keep the baby. Daniel hopes to trap Mathieu and end his friend’s freedom. But Mathieu goes as a far as stealing from Boris’s older girlfriend Lola the money and that brings it to a head and as Marcelle refuses her long standing lover Daniel steps into the breach and agrees to marry her. Denied of love or family Mathieu seems to suddenly realise that the freedom he believed was at risk was something unattainable and as a result of this realisation accepts he must be at the age of reason.

Is it well written?
It is much easier to read than Nausea because there is much more of a story here and the chase for the abortion money gives it a momentum. The introspective philosophical moments are kept much more as a constant background theme that surface now and again. What makes it enjoyable is that there are characters that like Daniel and Lola who despise Mathieu providing the reader with a couple of outlets for letting off steam with the professor. Throughout the book the theme is age with Mathieu at 34 and Lola a bit older both feeling like they are on death’s door. The age of reason is not just about recognising personal development but you suspect there is a link to the fate of France, which was still indulging in the play politics Mathieu displays when asked if he will become a communist.

Should it be read?
To provide a glimpse into how little people cared about the world and the developments on the political stage it is worth comparing with Goodbye to Berlin where the Germans experienced an equally slow dawn. Despite the strong story, rounded characterisation and pace there are still going to be plenty of people put off by the name Sartre but this is an easier read than Nausea and even through it is a trilogy there is not a compunction on the reader to carry onto The Reprieve and Iron in the Soul. For those that enjoy history there is the added attraction here of getting an insight into the almost ignorant bliss that still existed in Paris as late as 1938.

Summary
Facing an unwanted pregnancy a professor runs around Paris trying to raise the money for an abortion but once he has it he loses his mistress and realises he was never free anyway

Version read – Penguin paperback

The Age of Reason - post V

There is something quite disturbing about the character of Daniel who wants to destroy Mathieu’s freedom so much that he will sacrifice his own happiness in order to do so. It reminds me of a couple of people I know that fall into the category of ‘control freaks’ but you would hope no one would be prepared to concentrate their hatred on you like Daniel does on Mathieu.

The first part of the trilogy ends with things nicely set up for part two with you wondering just what will become of the leading characters. Things are left with Mathieu, Marcelle, Boris, Ivich, Lola and Daniel all in midstream.

Bullet points between pages 250 - 300

* Having taken Ivich back to his flat to try and console her after she failed her exams he is interrupted in trying to convince her to stay in Paris by Sarah who gives him an update on the abortionist

* Mathieu spills the beans to Ivich and then they part on bad terms because she is angry and refers to him as already thinking as a married man after he confesses he will have to marry Marcelle

* Things cut back to Daniel who is leaving the apartment after a homosexual encounter and in his rage with himself plans to go home and cut off his penis with a shaving blade but fails to do it and instead realises as he sips whisky in a bar that Mathieu will be meeting Marcelle

* On the way to see his mistress Mathieu steals 4,000 francs from Lola and then shows them to Marcelle who suddenly realises he is so keen to get rid of the baby he would steal to make that happen

* They argue and force each other to say that they don’t love each other anymore and then Mathieu leaves and finds Ivich in his flat and this is a critical second encounter where he angers her and ruins any chances of the relationship developing

* Lola bursts in and asks where Boris is accusing her boyfriend of the theft of 4,000 francs and she doesn’t believe it when Mathieu admits stealing the money and it is only resolved when Daniel walks in and hands the money back

* Daniel then tells Mathieu that he is going to marry Marcelle and they are going to have the baby but then follows that bombshell up with an admission that he is a homosexual – both bits of news are designed to anger Mathieu and they succeed in doing so

* But as Daniel leaves and Mathieu is left to his freedom he realises that he is nowhere near freedom and the last words are a confirmation that he has reached the age of reason

A review will follow shortly…

The Age of Reason - post IV

There is a pace change with the book as things start to move towards a conclusion in some of the plot areas. There is a great moment when watching Boris and Ivich together Mathieu realises that it is not so great being young and perhaps the age of reason is not only negative but something positive if it distances you from immaturity.

Bullet points between pages 176 - 250

* The group of Boris, Ivich, Lola and Mathieu are at the night club and there is a row between Lola and Boris inspired by the young man's quest to get some money for his professor and it ends with them seperating with no one having enjoyed themselves too much

* The next morning the brother and sister meet Mathieu and Botis is convinced that Lola has overdosed on cocaine and sends Mathieu back to her flat to get hos love letters but as Mathieu is moving around the apartment Lola wakes and asks him to tell Boris to come back but the young man says that she is dead for him and has been disturbed by the idea of death and age an idea that disturbs Mathieu

* As a result of a telegram Mathieu meets up with Daniel and his friend reveals that he has been meeting Marcelle and leaves the question of whether or not she wants an abortion in the air but his mixing backfires slightly because far from being angry Mathieu is bemused and surprised and leaves him questioning what the nature of his relationship is

* But before he can go and meet with Marcelle he gets a telegram from Ivich telling him that she has failed her exams and will be pushed out of Paris by her parents so worried that she might do something dangerous

* Mathieu sets off to find her and finds her in a bar and takes her home but mixed in with lust there is a great deal of feeling about her immaturity

Final pages will be read tomorrow...

Age of Reason - post III

Things didn’t quite go according to plan yesterday and a business lunch that started at 1pm ended at somewhere around the 9.30pm mark. Good company and very pleasant red wine meant that not only did I fail to be in a position to read anything on the train home but after I managed to convince my wife making me sleep in the garage was a bad idea I had to crawl upstairs and leave the blog alone.

Of course I could have mentioned Sartre and my sense of a search for freedom but I sense Sartre might not have had a wife like mine.

Bullet points between pages 134 – 176

* After discovering the Daniel is involved with boys and seems to be a man that walks on a thin line between trying to control and suppress his desires and actually carrying them out the focus falls back on Marcelle

* Daniel visits her and explains that he know she is pregnant and then because of a hatred and jealously of his outlook on life and freedom Daniel manages to pull out of Marcelle the desire to keep the baby

* Daniel’s plan is to force Mathieu into a marriage he does not want and that seems to be going very well as she allows him to become a go between with Mathieu and herself and you sense that Mathieu does have some idea of this sort of impending decision because he keeps muttering to himself about marriage and the age of reason

Will he be forced into fatherhood and marriage? Reading starts again on Monday…

The Age of Reason - post II

Sartre uses each chapter as a platform to introduce characters and then take the story on so Mathieu remains on his hunt for money to pay for the abortion but you are introduced to his rich friend, brother and sister-in-law and an old friend who has become a communist party recruiter exploiting the Spanish Civil War and the fears about Nazi Germany.

Bullet points between pages 70 – 134

* Having sent Sarah off on her mission to find out the cost of getting her Jewish surgeon contact to perform the abortion Mathieu meets up with Ivich in a café and awaits the call, which informs him that the cost will be, 4,000 francs

* There are only a couple of people who could provide that sort of money and so Mathieu makes a mental note to visit them after taking Ivich to see some Gauguin pictures but on the way he kisses her in the taxi and fears that he has spoilt the friendship for ever

* Before he gets there to ask for the money Daniel is described as a good looking confident man who is on his way to drown his three cats but when he gets to the river he has second thoughts and takes them back home

* Although he planned to keep the reason why he wanted the money secret Mathieu blurts out that Marcelle is pregnant not just to Daniel, who turns down his request for money, but also to his brother Jacques who also refuses to help him out with a loan

* His brother challenges Mathieu’s philosophy on life and accuses him of murder but also not following the freedom to surprise everyone and marry Marcelle and he outlines is belief to his brother that now is the age of reason

“You have attained the age of reason, Mathieu, you have attained the age of reason, or you ought to have done so”

* From those bad meetings Mathieu heads home to be met by Boris who invites him to a night club and then his old friend Brunet who tries to get him to join the communist party and then gives up on him when Mathieu refuses

* Meanwhile Daniel is off for his secret meeting with Marcelle but stops in a fair that seems to be a notorious hang out for men looking for rent boys and there meets one of his old conquests (not totally clear) who badgers him for money

More tomorrow…