[13] The Maginot Line was the line of defence built between 1927 and 1936 along the north-eastern border of France and Germany to prevent German attack.
[14] The Siegfried Line was the line of defence built between 1938 and 1940 along the western border of Germany. It was destroyed by the Allies in 1944-5.
[15] These final two words appear in English in the notebook.
On L.:[16] It must be him because he is a crook. And in the times we are living in, a crook is worth more than an honest man.
[16] This initial undoubtedly refers to Laval. (Editor)
Captivity-keep it simple. Tell what happens to people and that's all.
Today, 24 April, a little calm for the first time in a very long time, convince yourself that the sequences in Storm, if I may say so, must be, are a masterpiece. Work on it tirelessly.
Corte is one of those writers whose usefulness will become glaringly obvious in the years following the defeat; he has no equal when it comes to finding euphemisms to guard against disagreeable realities. E.g.: the French army was not beaten back, it withdrew! If people kiss the Germans' boots it is because they have a sense of reality. Having a communal spirit means hoarding food supplies for the exclusive use of the few.
I think I should replace the strawberries with forget-me-nots. It seems impossible to bring cherry trees in blossom and ripe strawberries together in the same season.
Find a way to link Lucile to Storm. When the Michauds stop to rest one night during their journey, this oasis and the breakfast and everything that must seem so wonderful-the porcelain cups, the dewy roses in thick bouquets on the table (roses with black centres), the coffee pot giving off bluish steam etc.
Send up the so-called writers. E.g. A. C, the A. R. who wrote an article "Is the Tristesse d'Olympio[17] a masterpiece?" No one has ever sent up certain so-called writers like A. B. etc. (there is honour among thieves).
[17] Famous Romantic poem by Victor Hugo.
To sum up, chapters already finished by 13 May 1942:
(1) Arrival (2) Madeleine (3) Madeleine and her husband (4) vespers (5) the house (6) the Germans in the village (7) the private school (8) the garden and the Viscountess's visit (9) the kitchen (10) departure of Mme Angellier. First look at the Perrins' garden (11) the day it rains.
TO DO:
(12) the German ill (13) the Maie woods (14) the Perrin ladies (15) the Perrins' garden (16) Madeleine's family (17) the Viscountess and Benoît (18) the denunciation? (19) the night (20) the catastrophe at Benoît's place (21) Madeleine at Lucile's house (22) the celebration at the lake (23) the de[parture].
Still to do: 12, half of 13, 16, 17, and the rest.
Madeleine at Lucile's house-Lucile in Mme Angellier's room-Lucile and the German-celebration at the lake-the departure.
FOR CAPTIVITY FOR THE CONCENTRATION CAMP THE BLASPHEMY OF THE BAPTISED JEWS "MAY GOD FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES AS WE FORGIVE YOU YOURS"-Obviously, martyrs would not have said that.
To do it well, need to make 5 parts:
1 Storm
2 Dolce
3 Captivity
4 Battles?
5 Peace?
General title: Storm or Storms and the first part could be called Shipwreck.
In spite of everything, the thing that links all these people together is our times, solely our times. Is that really enough? I mean: is this link sufficiently felt?
Therefore Benoît, after having killed (or trying to kill) Bonnet (for I still have to decide if it might not be better to let him live for the future), Benoît escapes; he first hides in the Maie woods, then, since Madeleine is afraid of being followed when she goes to bring him food, at Lucile's house. Finally, in Paris, at the Michauds' where Lucile sends him. Pursued, he escapes in time, but the Gestapo search the Michauds' house, find notes made by Jean-Marie for a future book, think they are political tracts and arrest him. He meets Hubert there [in prison] who had got himself arrested for some stupidity or other. Hubert would have no trouble getting out, because his powerful family who are total collaborators can pull strings, but out of childishness, his taste for adventure stories etc., he prefers risking his life by escaping with Jean-Marie. Benoît and his friends help them. Later, much later, because in the meantime Jean-Marie and Lucile have to fall in love, they escape and flee France. That should end Captivity and as I've already said:
– Benoît… Communist
– Jean-Marie… Middle class
Jean-Marie dies heroically. But how? And what is heroism these days? Parallel to this death, must show the death of the German in Russia, the two full of sorrowful nobility.
Adagio: Must rediscover all these musical terms (presto, prestissimo, adagio, andante, con amore, etc.)
Music: Adagio from Op. 106, that immense poem of solitude-the twentieth variation on the theme of Diabelli, the sphinx with the dark eyebrows who contemplates the abyss-the Benedictus of the Missa Solemnis and the final scenes of Parsifal.
He [Hubert] gets out: those who truly love each other are Lucile and Jean-Marie. What should I do with Hubert? Vague plan: Benoît escapes after killing Bonnet. He's hidden at Lucile's. After the Germans leave, Lucile is afraid to have him stay in the village and suddenly thinks of the Michauds.
On the other hand, I want J. Marie and Hubert to be thrown in jail by the Germans for different reasons. That way it would be possible to have the German die afterwards. Lucile could think of going to him to save J. Marie? All this is very vague. Think about it.
On the one hand, I would like a kind of general idea. On the other… Tolstoy, for example, with one idea spoils everything. Must have people, human reactions, and that's all…
Let's make do with important businessmen and famous writers. After all, they are the real kings.
For Dolce, a woman of honour can admit without shame "these unexpected emotions that reason can tame," as Pauline would say (Corneille).
2 June 1942. Never forget that the war will be over and that the entire historical side will fade away. Try to create as much as possible: things, debates… that will interest people in 1952 or 2052. Reread Tolstoy. Inimitable descriptions but not historical. Insist on that. For example in Dolce, the Germans in the village. In Captivity, Jacqueline's First Communion and Ariette Corail's party.
2 June 1942. Starting to worry about the shape this novel will have when finished! Consider that I haven't yet finished the second part, and I see the third? But that the fourth and fifth are in limbo and what limbo! It's really in the lap of the gods since it depends on what happens. And the gods could find it amusing to wait a hundred or even a thousand years, as the saying goes[18]: and I'll be far away. But the gods wouldn't do that to me. I'm also counting a lot on the prophecy of Nostradamus.
[18] Undoubtedly a reference to the German statement that the Third Reich would last a thousand years.
1944-Oh, God![19]
[19] These words appear in English in the notebook.
While waiting to see the shape… or rather I should say the rhythm: the rhythm in the cinematic sense… how the parts relate to each other. Storm, Dolce, gentleness and tragedy. Captivity? Something muffled, stifled, as vicious as possible. After that I don't know.
What's important-the relationship between different parts of the work. If I had a better knowledge of music, I suppose that would help me. Since I don't know music, then what is called rhythm in films. All in all, make sure to have variety on one hand and harmony on the other. In the cinema, a film must have unity, tone, a style. E.g.: those street scenes in American films where you always have skyscrapers, where you can sense the hot, muffled, muggy atmosphere of New York. So unity for the film as a whole but variety between the parts. Pursuit-people in love-laughter, tears etc. It's this type of rhythm I want to achieve.
Now for a more basic question and one to which I cannot find an answer: won't people forget the heroes from one book to the next? It is to avoid this problem that I would like to create one large volume of 1,000 pages rather than a work made up of several volumes.
3 July 1942. Definitely,[20] unless things drag on and get worse as they go! But please let it be over one way or the other!
[20] Refers to previous paragraph regarding one large volume.
Only need four movements. In the third, Captivity, collective destiny and personal destiny are strongly linked. In the fourth, whatever the result may be! (I UNDERSTAND WHAT I MEAN!), personal destiny is extricated from the other. On one side, the fate of the nation, on the other, Jean-Marie and Lucile, their love, the German's music etc.
Now, here is what I pictured:
1 Benoît is killed in a revolution or fight or an attempt at resisting, according to what seems realistic.
2 Corte. I think this might be good. Corte was very afraid of the Bolsheviks. He is extremely collaborationist but, following an attack on one of his friends or out of wounded pride, he gets the idea that the Germans are finished. He wants to commit himself to the extreme left! He first thinks of Jules Blanc, but after seeing him, he finds him [illegible word in Russian], he turns resolutely to a young activist group, that has formed… [unfinished sentence].
For Captivity:
Begin with: Corte, Jules Blanc visiting Corte.