Then a contrast: Lucile perhaps at the Michauds'.
Then: the Péricands.
As many meetings as possible but not historical, rather the masses, social events or battles in the streets or something like that!
Arrival
Morning
Departure
These three episodes must be stressed even more. The movement of the masses must give the book its worth.
In the fourth part, I only know the death of the German in Russia.
Yes, to do it well, should have five parts of 200 pages each. A 1,000-page book. Ah, God![21]
[21] These words appear in English in the notebook.
Remark. The theft of Corte's dinner by the proletarians must have, for the future, a great influence. Normally, Corte should become extremely pro-Nazi, but I could also if I want, if I need to, do it in such a way that he says to himself: "There's no point kidding myself; that's where the future lies, the future belongs to this brutal force which stole my food from me. Two possible positions then: fight against it or, the opposite, from now on be a leader of the movement. Let himself be carried along by the wave, but on the front line? Even better, try to lead it? The official writer of the party. The great man of the Party, ha, ha, ha!" even more so since Germany is on good terms with the USSR and will come to tolerate it more and more. As long as the war lasts, this in fact will be madness on the part of Germany etc. Later on, it will be different… But later on people will see. They'll fly to the aid of the strongest.
Could someone like Corte have such cynical ideas? Of course, at certain times. When he's been drinking or after making love his favourite way, a way that a mere mortal could barely begin to understand, and even if he did understand, it would cause only amazement and panic. The difficulty here is, as ever, the practical side of things. A newspaper, a kind of radio. Freedom, the Germans secretly paying him a subsidy.[22] We'll see.
[22] "Some of the most notorious figures of the occupation were the Frenchmen who led political groups or published newspapers in Paris in return for the high life of the occupied capital and, in many cases, direct subsidies from the German Embassy (Robert O. Paxton, Vichy France, p. 49).
All action is a battle, the only business is peace.[23]
[23] These words appear in English in the notebook.
The pattern, is it less[24] a wheel than a wave that rises and falls, and sometimes on its crest appears a seagull, sometimes the Spirit of Evil and sometimes a dead rat. Accurately reality, our reality (there's nothing to be proud about there!).
[24] These words appear in English in the notebook.
The rhythm must be here in the movements of the masses, everywhere where the crowds appear in the first volume, the exodus, the refugees, the arrival of the Germans in the village.
In Dolce: the arrival of the Germans, but it must be re-examined, the morning, the departure. In Captivity, the First Communion, a demonstration (the one that happened on 11 November '41), a fight? We'll see. I haven't got there yet and I'll approach it realistically.
If I show people who "influence" events, that would be unacceptable. If I show people act, that is certainly more realistic, but at the expense of keeping it interesting. Nevertheless, must limit myself to that.
It's quite fair (though banal, but let's admire and embrace banality), what Percy says-that the historical scenes are the best (see War and Peace), the ones that are seen from the perspective of the characters. I tried to do the same thing in Storm, but in Dolce, everything to do with the Germans, all that can and must be separate.
What would be good all in all (but is it doable?) is to always show the advance of the German army in the scenes not seen from the perspective of the characters. It would therefore be necessary to begin Storm with an image of people rushing around in France.
Difficult.
I think that what gives War and Peace the expansion Forster[25] talks about, is quite simply the fact that in Tolstoy's mind, War and Peace is only the first volume that was to be followed by The Decembrists, but what he did unconsciously (perhaps, for naturally I really don't know, I'm imagining), in the end what he did consciously or unconsciously is very important to do in a book like Storm etc., even if certain characters are wrapped up, the book itself must give the impression of only being one episode… which is really what is happening in our times, as in all times of course.
[25] "Music, though it does not employ human beings, though it is governed by intricate laws, nevertheless does offer in its final expression a type of beauty which fiction might achieve in its own way. Expansion. That is the idea the novelist must cling to. Not completion. Not rounding off but opening out. When the symphony is over we feel that the notes and tunes composing it have been liberated, they have found in the rhythm of the whole their individual freedom. Cannot the novel be like that? Is not there something of it in War and Peace?" (E. M. Forster, Aspects of the Novel, Penguin, 2000, pp. 149-50).
22 June 1942. I discovered, a while ago, a technique that has been really useful to me-the indirect method. On absolutely every occasion when I encounter a problem in how to deal with something, this method saves me, gives freshness and strength to the entire story. I use it in Dolce every time Mme Angellier is in a scene. But this method of showing something that I haven't used systematically is open to infinite development.
1 July 1942. Find this for Captivity:
By unifying, always simplifying the book (in its entirety) must result in a struggle between individual destiny and collective destiny. Must not take sides.
My option: England 's style of government by the middle classes, unfortunately impossible, at least wishes to be revived, for in the end its essence is immutable; but it definitely will not happen until after I die: therefore left with two types of socialism. Neither of them appeals to me but there are the facts![26] One of them rejects me, therefore… the other… But that is out of the question. As a writer, I must state the problem correctly.
[26] These words appear in English in the notebook.
The struggle between the two destinies, this happens each time there is an upheaval, it's not logical; it's instinctive; I think a good part of oneself dies when this happens, but not all of oneself. Salvation, in general, is when the time allocated to us is longer than the time allocated to a crisis. Contrary to what is believed, what is general passes, the whole remains, collective destiny is shorter than the destiny of the simple individual (that's not exactly right. It's a different timescale: we are only interested in the upheavals; the upheavals, either they kill us, or we last longer than them).
To get back to my subject: At first, J. Marie has a thoughtful and detached attitude towards this great number of defeats. Naturally, he would like France to have its revenge but he realises that this is not a goal because whoever speaks of revenge speaks of hatred and vengeance, eternal war, and the Christian is upset by the idea of hell and eternal punishment; he is upset at this idea that there will always be someone stronger and someone weaker; he therefore looks to unification… What he desires, what he yearns for, is harmony and peace. And collaborationism as it is currently practised disgusts him, and on the other hand he sees communism, which suits Benoît but not him. Therefore he tries to live as if the great, urgent, collective question isn't being asked, as if he only has to solve his own personal problems. But then he learns that Lucile has loved and perhaps still loves a German. He immediately takes sides, for the abstraction has suddenly been transformed into hatred. He hates a German and, because of him, through him, he hates or thinks he hates, which is the same thing, a way of thinking. In reality, what happens is that he forgets his own destiny and confuses it with someone else's destiny. For practical purposes, by the end of Captivity, Lucile and J. Marie are in love with each other; this love is sad, unrequited, undeclared, completely conflicted! J. Marie runs away to fight the Germans-if that is still possible by the end of 1942!
The fourth part must be the return, if not the triumph of the chapter when J. Marie appears. Never forget that the public likes having the life of the "wealthy" described to them.
To sum up: struggle between personal destiny and collective destiny. To finish, stress Lucile and Jean-Marie's love and stress eternal life. The German's musical masterpiece. There must also be a reminder of Philippe. Which all in all would correspond to my deepest conviction. What lives on:
1 Our humble day-to-day lives
2 Art
3 God
Maie woods: 11 July 1942. The pine trees all around me. I am sitting on my blue cardigan in the middle of an ocean of leaves, wet and rotting from last night's storm as if I were on a raft, my legs tucked under me! In my bag, I have put Volume II of Anna Karenina, the diary of K. M. and an orange. My friends the bumblebees, delightful insects, seem pleased with themselves and their buzzing is profound and grave. I like low, serious tones on voices and in nature. The shrill "chirp, chirp" of the small birds in the trees grates on me… In a moment or so I will try to find the hidden lake.
Captivity:
1 Corte's reaction.
2 Assassination attempt by Benoît's friends which horrifies Corte.
3 Corte learns something from the talkative Hubert…