My choir's concert is tonight, but if I'm not too tired when I get home, I'm going to watch 1998's animated feature, Prince of Egypt to commemorate the occasion (because it'll be 'way too late to put on The Ten Commandments). Here's a clip of the film:
Today marks the end of the Jewish celebration of Passover, and it was completely coincidental that I was reviewing Suite Francaise during its observance. As I was reading about Irene Nemirovsky and contemplating the horrors of the Holocaust, I couldn't help but reflect on how the vile evil of anti-semitism keeps springing up like a particularly virulent and noxious weed. This week, even, a British Labour M.P. had to be suspended for poisonous facebook posts saying something to the effect that all Jews should be forcibly removed from Israel. It is astonishing to me that after all this time, and all that has occurred, this medieval thinking not only survives, but is actually nurtured in some circles. Fortunately, as Isaac in Walter Scott's Ivanhoe says about his people, "We are like the herb which flourisheth most when trampled upon." Indeed. And long may they flourish. My choir's concert is tonight, but if I'm not too tired when I get home, I'm going to watch 1998's animated feature, Prince of Egypt to commemorate the occasion (because it'll be 'way too late to put on The Ten Commandments). Here's a clip of the film:
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"Study history, study history. In history lies all the secrets of statecraft." - Winston Churchill Last night, my weekly choir practice was changed to another venue due to an event occurring at the church where we regularly meet. Since there was no point in going home between work and practice, I headed downtown and got a bite to eat, but still had some time to kill, so popped into a nearby used goods store to peruse their book section. And I made a great find! Sitting on the shelf of history books was a complete four volume set of Winston Churchill's A History of the English Speaking Peoples. Not only was the set complete, it was unopened, still in its original shrink wrap... and it was $4.99! Needless to say, I quickly snatched it up before some other lurking history buff saw it. I've always wanted to read these books, which cover the history of Britain from the Roman invasion of 55 BC to World War I, and now I own them. I want to hurry through the other books I'm reading so that I can get started on volume one: The Birth of Britain... it really doesn't take much to make me happy.
To understate the case, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope was a bit of a hit when it was released in 1977. I missed the initial craze, and if memory serves, first saw this film on T.V., then later on VHS. As a child, I had a great time watching it with the family as it was an exciting combination of lightsaber duels, blaster shootouts, and spaceship dogfights. What else could a kid want in a movie? Naturally, as time went by, my tastes changed and until a few months ago, I hadn't seen A New Hope in years. Watching it again after so long gave me a chance to assess it as an adult, and deliberate on its strengths and weaknesses. Note: this is a review of the original version; I've never seen the updated cuts. So, let's start with the positives, of which there are quite a few. To begin with, it's exactly what I loved as a child: a fun, exciting, good guys vs. bad guys shoot 'em up. This is, and always will be, a great "popcorn" flick. Also, whatever failings George Lucas has- and there are many- he did really well casting this movie. Mark Hamill is convincing as the young, immature Luke Skywalker who is frustrated- and occasionally whiny- about being stuck on the family farm when he dreams of being in space. Carrie Fischer holds her own as the gun-toting Princess Leia despite the unfortunate hairdo, and Alec Guinness lends some class to the production as Obi-Wan Kenobi (although he apparently despised the experience). But these three on their own couldn't carry the film... too much goody-goodness to keep interest up. There are, in my opinion, two characters who are responsible for the success of Star Wars. The first of these is Harrison Ford's Han Solo: smuggler, cynic, and all-around rogue. He balances out Luke's wide-eyed enthusiasm, Leia's fervent idealism, and Kenobi's nobility with his outsized, "me first" personality. Solo is neither idealistic nor noble, and the only enthusiasm he has is for his own self interest. He is the salt to counteract the overabundance of sweet that we have from the other main characters. The other character who contributes greatly to the success of Star Wars is Darth Vader. A movie can rise- or fall- on the strength of its villain. From the moment near the start of the film, when the Sith Lord comes striding down the hall of the conquered rebel ship, to the ominous strains of John Williams' amazing score, it is obvious that Vader is a baddie to be reckoned with. This impression is reinforced moments later when, in James Earl Jones' deep menacing tones, he questions the ship's captain, crushing his windpipe when the man refuses to tell him what he wants to know. From the start, we know that Vader is evil, ruthless, and powerful: a great villain. There are, of course, a few things that don't work so well in my opinion, most of them involving the inconsistency of "The Force". As I said in an earlier post, the force has never held a lot of interest for me, other than as a plot device. I'm more interested in characters and their stories. But the force suffers from the same problem that the Prime Directive does in Star Trek... it's frequently what the plot needs it to be, rather than abiding by earlier rules or statements made about it. Let's ignore everything said about it in the prequels... in fact, let's just ignore the prequels altogether. We're told in A New Hope that the lightsaber is a more elegant weapon from a more civilized age. Then, in the cantina scene, Kenobi uses it to hack a guy's arm off when he hassles Luke. I'm not complaining- it's a great scene- but how is this more elegant or civilized than shooting him would be? And since the "good side" of the force is supposed to be used for defense only, wouldn't it have been less violent (and less attention getting) to just mind-choke the guy into submission, rather than maim him in the middle of the crowded eatery? Which brings me to the scene which has always irritated me: the death of Obi-Wan Kenobi. What an anticlimactic letdown. It would be one thing if aging, rusty Ben Kenobi couldn't beat mechanically rebuilt Vader, but he doesn't even try. He engages in a few half-hearted parries with Vader, then turns his lightsaber off and lets his old apprentice kill him. What the dickens?! He was more ruthless with the drunk in the cantina than he is with Darth Vader, scourge of the galaxy. And it's not as though Luke and the others had already escaped- they hadn't even made it onto the ship yet. Wouldn't it have made more sense to keep fighting Vader, to keep him distracted, and maybe have the chance to kill him? How is a disembodied voice going to be more helpful than the actual physical presence of a skilled and experienced fighter? This is silly and senseless- even more so when you consider the upcoming battle against the Death Star. Just think how much help Kenobi, a Jedi Knight experienced general from the Clone Wars, could have been in this attack. But instead he settles for being an invisible cheerleader for Luke. Again, this would be acceptable if he had been legitimately defeated by Vader, but he let himself be killed. How does this make any sense? Kenobi tells Vader that if he kills him, he'll become unbelievably powerful, but when are we ever given any proof of this, at any point in the trilogy? I personally think this was a waste of his character. In conclusion, I'd say that Star Wars: A New Hope is a successful adventure film, which provides a fun ride from start to finish. It also successfully introduces characters who are left with lots of room to grow and develop in the next movies. It's not a perfect film; in my opinion it suffers from an unclear vision of what the force is supposed to be, and therefore from an uneven application of it. While it's not a movie I would ever choose to put on and watch when alone, I still harbour a nostalgic affection for it, and had a great time in January watching it with a crowd of friends and family. And I look forward to watching it with some of my young nephews and nieces when they see it for the first time- I'm sure they'll enjoy it as much as I did as a child. Related Posts: Suite Francaise, the World War II era novel by Irene Nemirovsky, is a difficult one to critique, mostly due to the fact that it's an unfinished work. As mentioned in my summary of the book, Nemirovsky meant to write a series of five novellas, but she died in a concentration camp having completed only two: Storm in June and Sweet. So I don't mean it as a criticism when I say that Suite Francaise doesn't have much of a plot, but merely as a statement of fact. The book is mostly a series of vignettes about various people and their experiences during the Nazi invasion of France, and with a few exceptions, each remains unconnected from the others. We can assume that a lot of these disparate story lines were going to intersect at some point in the three unwritten novellas and, indeed, Nemirovsky's brief outline for the third one, Captivity, has some of the different characters meeting up. Unfortunately, these were never written due to her death at the hands of the Nazis. In addition, we know that the two works we do have are not finished products; Irene's notebook contained jotted notes to herself about changes she planned to make to parts that she was dissatisfied with... changes she never got to make. In a way, Suite Francaise is a metaphor for the tragedy and outrage of the Holocaust: so many lives cut short, unfinished... so much human potential lost. The first novella Storm In June details the fear, confusion, and chaos which occurred when the Nazis marched into Paris. A good deal of the citizens fled the city, taking what they could carry and heading into the countryside. There is a marked realism to these scenes, because Nemirovsky was writing about what she had observed and experienced. She and her family had been part of the exodus of panicked citizens leaving Paris to find refuge in a rural area so she knew what went on and how people reacted. This is the true value of Suite Francaise: it is fiction about this time and place written by someone who was actually there. Unfortunately, this fictional account doesn't reflect well on the Parisian escapees, many of whom behave deplorably. To be fair, people are seldom at their best when they are afraid, tired, hungry, and desperate. And it's only natural that people would be concerned with the welfare of themselves and their families over the welfare of complete strangers. But the behaviour of some of these people when the veneer of civilization is stripped away is truly awful. Perhaps the best example of this is the character Charles Langelet, a collector of beautiful works of art who betrays and steals from other people on the road not out of desperation to save family or even himself, but to preserve his treasures. Of course, not everyone behaves dishonorably; the Michauds, who are arguably in a worse position than a lot of the other characters, never victimize others to improve their own situation. Rather, they stoically get by, drawing strength from each other. They are a welcome change from many of the other characters. What I find very interesting in Nemirovsky's work is her detailing the various thoughts and emotions of the French people as they are facing the defeat and occupation of their country. There are people who are in denial, unable to believe that this is actually happening, and who pin their hopes to the last desperate stand of the French army- which is in complete disarray- despite the obvious fact that they have no chance. There are those who are heartbroken over the loss of their country and, in the case of the veterans of the last war, embittered that after all their sacrifices in W.W. I, France has now been so swiftly and utterly defeated. There are those who totally give way to fear and panic, those who are grimly resigned and, worst of all, those who are already planning to appease and/or collaborate with their conquerors. In Soft, Nemirovsky writes about the early days of the German occupation, now centering on the rural town of Bussy. It is a time of false peace, where the French people are under the control of the Germans, but are not yet being subjected to brutality- unless of course, they're Jewish, or otherwise objectionable. Or disobey any of the Nazi regulations, in which case they'll be executed. The prevailing attitude of most of the French seems to be that the occupation is unpleasant, but that if they keep their heads down, they'll be alright. To be sure, there are those who are resentful because members of their families have been taken as prisoners of war, but as the young German soldiers live in their community and become a familiar presence- as well as consumers- even many of these people soften and seem willing to differentiate between the soldiers and their government. I must say, I find these attitudes much more difficult to understand than the ones in Storm In June. In Bussy, the people, at first fiercely resentful, slowly begin to tolerate the presence of the German soldiers, and then familiarity breeds acceptance and in some cases, even liking. The shopkeepers excuse their cooperation by charging the Nazis more for their goods, telling themselves that they're doing their part by fleecing the young soldiers. As if making higher profits was a form of resistance. In addition, there are those who collaborate with the Germans in order to escape a lot of the strictures and rationing that their conquerors have imposed. Some are so resentful of their neighbours that they inform on them to the Nazis. And then there are the women. Nemirovsky also details how many of the young French women took up with the German soldiers. It's clear some of them did so for gain, but Nemirovsky also wrote of the many who did so merely because the Germans were the only young men left there, all the French ones either dead, P.O.W.s, or scattered after the army's defeat. Irene predicted cynically that, following the war, a polite fiction would spring up to hide this shameful behaviour, and that the French people would eventually manage to convince themselves that they had put up a fierce resistance against the Germans. She was remarkably prescient. This isn't to say that none of the French resisted, because many did... but a lot did not, especially in the early days of the war. I don't mean to sound completely judgmental; I've been considering how terrible it would be to have your country invaded and conquered by an enemy nation. I can well imagine people doing things- either by force, or in desperation- that they never dreamed they would ever do. However, I do know one thing about myself: no matter what happened, I would never forget for a minute that they were the enemy, would never voluntarily lift a finger to aid them in any way, and would certainly not fraternize with them for any reason. This is why I had a hard time identifying with the main character in Dolce, Lucille. It's of no matter that her husband, now a prisoner of war, was neglectful and unfaithful; she still has no business allowing herself to develop feelings for the German commander billeted in her house. And it is a matter of allowing oneself: people can say all they want that they can't help themselves, but the truth is that we all have free will, and we can choose to do the right thing, or the wrong one. In this case, Lucille and Bruno are both married- to other people- and he's a Nazi. I don't see the moral dilemma here. The truth is, I sympathized more with Lucille's mother-in-law though I'm pretty sure that wasn't the intention. Yes, she's an unpleasant person who is blind to her son's failings and exaggerates her daughter-in-law's, but look at what she has to deal with. Her son has been taken prisoner by the Nazis, who then force the townspeople to billet German soldiers in their homes. The enemy commander is living in her son's house, using her son's things, and trying to cozy up to her son's wife. How could she be expected to react? The wonder of it is that she didn't poison the man's soup, or something (not that I'm advocating that as an acceptable means of ridding oneself of unwanted guests). But it's a relief when Lucille comes to her senses and realizes that she owes her loyalty, if not to her husband, at least to her country. To sum up, Suite Francaise is not a perfectly plotted novel, for the simple fact that it is an unfinished work. It's also not a very pleasant read, as it is a fictional account of one of the darkest times in the history of France. It is, however, a very important work, as it was written contemporary to the events it describes, and though fiction, draws on the real-life events which were occurring. In addition, it provides a detailed and very realistic examination of human nature, and the effects which an event such as the German occupation can have on it... most being dark and ugly, admittedly. There is one more reason why Suite Francaise is an important book: it allows us to hear the words and thoughts of Irene Nemirovsky although she has been gone for so many years. The Nazis wanted to destroy all Jews everywhere, to wipe them and their influence from the earth. They failed, but murdered millions in their ghastly attempt, and caused a war in which millions more died to stop them. We owe it to these slain to preserve as much as we can of their words, their thoughts and dreams, so that we can truly remember them for who they were, and mourn the loss of what they could have been. Related Posts: Star Wars IV: A New Hope was, despite its titular number, the first Star Wars movie made. It was written and directed by George Lucas and released in 1977. It was, to state the obvious, a big hit. The science fiction film's plot revolves around the fight of the Rebel Alliance against the Galactic Empire, which is presided over by Emperor Palpatine and his right hand man, Darth Vader. Princess Leia of Alderaan, one of the leaders in the rebellion, is in possession of the stolen schematics of the Empire's ultimate weapon: the Death Star. When her ship is captured by Darth Vader, she loads the plans into R2D2, a droid who then leaves the intercepted ship in an escape pod along with C3PO, the fussy interpreter droid. The pod lands on the nearby planet of Tatooine. Meanwhile, Leia is taken into custody by Darth Vader and tortured to try to get her to tell where the plans are. On Tatooine, the two droids are picked up by the Jawas, local scavengers who sell them to Owen Lars and his nephew Luke Skywalker to work on their farm. While cleaning R2D2, Luke stumbles across part of Princess Leia's message and wants to see the whole thing, but R2D2 says it is a message for Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Luke wonders if he means old Ben Kenobi, a hermit who lives in the dunes. While he is having supper with his aunt and uncle, and arguing with them about leaving to go to the Academy, R2D2 runs- or rather, rolls- off to try to find Kenobi. The following morning, Luke and C3PO go in search of the recalcitrant little droid, tracking him into the wilderness, where they are attacked by Tuskan Raiders and rescued by Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi. Kenobi watches the message from Princess Leia imploring him for help, and reveals to Luke that he is a Jedi Knight, able to wield the power of the "Force". He also informs Luke that his father, Anakin Skywalker, wasn't employed as a navigator on a freighter as his Uncle Owen had told him, but was actually a Jedi Knight as well. Luke asks what happened to him, and Obi-Wan tells him that a former apprentice- Darth Vader- succumbed to the dark side of the force and murdered Anakin. He also gives Luke his father's lightsaber, the weapon of a Jedi. Meanwhile, the Imperial forces have deduced that the plans may have been put on the missing escape pod and trace it to Tatooine, where they find evidence of there being droids on board. The troops go looking for them. Kenobi asks Luke to come with him to Alderaan; Luke refuses, but offers the old man a lift to Mos Eisley, where he can get a transport. On the way there, they come across the Jawas who had sold C3PO and R2D2. They've been killed by the Imperial soldiers. Fearing that they may have revealed who bought the droids, Luke rushes home to find the farm in ruins, and his uncle and aunt dead. Returning to Kenobi, Luke tells him that he wants to go with him, learn the ways of the force, and become a Jedi like his father. At Mos Eisley, Kenobi has a couple of opportunities to demonstrate his skill with the force. They also meet the smuggler Han Solo and his sidekick Chewbacca, and arrange to travel with them to Alderaan. Tracked down by the Imperial troops, they have to blast their way out of the port and escape into hyperspace. During the trip, Kenobi tutors Luke in the use of the force, and teaches him to use the lightsaber. Meanwhile on the Death Star, Princess Leia is informed that, if she doesn't reveal the location of the rebel base, her home planet of Alderaan will be destroyed. She capitulates and gives them a location, but they go ahead with the destruction of Alderaan. It later turns out that Leia gave them a false location for the base. When the Millennium Falcon arrives at Aderaan- or rather, where Alderaan should be- all that's left is debris. They end up being caught in a tractor beam from the Death Star and the ship is seized. They conceal themselves in one of Solo's hidden compartments he uses for smuggling, then sneak out onto the Death Star. Obi-Wan separates from the rest in order to shut down the shields so they can escape. While he's gone, R2D2 finds out that Princess Leia is on board and scheduled to be executed. Luke talks Solo into helping to rescue her, promising a reward. Although their rescue is inept and alerts everyone to their presence, they do manage to free her and try to make their way to the ship. Darth Vader senses the presence of Obi-Wan Kenobi and goes in search of him. He finds him, although not until after Kenobi shuts down the shields. They engage in a lightsaber duel while the others make a run for the ship. Luke calls to Kenobi, and when he sees them reach the ship Obi-Wan turns off his lightsaber and allows Vader to kill him. His body disappears and Luke hears his voice urging him to run. On board the Millennium Falcon, they manage to escape the Death Star and engage in a dogfight with some tie fighters. They win the fight and then head for the hidden rebel stronghold, but are being tracked. In a hastily called conference, the schematics of the Death Star are examined and a weakness is discovered: an exhaust port which is vulnerable to weapons fire. The rebel leadership plan an attack focused on trying to reach this access point. The attack must be immediately implemented, because the Empire has located the base. Luke is given an X-wing fighter to join the battle, and is disappointed when Han gets his reward and leaves, saying this isn't his fight. The battle at first goes badly for the rebels and their casualties are high. In the end, it is only Luke and a couple other fighters who make it to the trench where the exhaust port is located. Darth Vader goes out in his fighter to take out these X-wings but struggles to hit Luke's, remarking that "the force is strong with this one." In the midst of the firefight, Luke hears Obi-Wan's voice telling him to trust the force. Luke turns off his targeting computer and goes on his instincts. Just then, Darth Vader gets him fixed in his sights and is about to fire on him when he is hit from above in a surprise attack. It's the Millennium Falcon, because Han Solo has reconsidered and returned. Vader's ship spins out of control, hurtling off into space and Luke fires on the Death Star, hitting the target. As they fly clear, the Empire's ultimate weapon blows up. It's a great victory for the rebellion, and Luke and Han are decorated for their actions during the battle. Related Posts:Where Did It Come From? To "give someone the cold shoulder" is to treat them in an unfriendly way, or ignore them and make them feel unwelcome, sometimes for reasons that the person in question doesn't understand. But where did this particular English expression come from? The most commonly accepted explanation for this idiom's origin is traced back to a way people in early Scotland had for dealing with unwanted guests. Apparently, if one had an uninvited guest, or one who had overstayed his welcome, at dinner you would serve him an inferior, unappetizing, and poorly cooked cut of meat (typically mutton) the "cold shoulder". This would subtly- or not- let this person know that his presence was not desired and his comforts were not going to be seen to with any degree of care. There is also another possible- and more literal- origin of this phrase. In the 19th century, women working in kitchens used to be responsible for carrying in blocks of ice. While doing so, they would not stop to talk to anyone, since doing so would cause them to get a cold shoulder. Whichever of these two origin stories is the actual one, the idiom eventually entered the vernacular. The first known usage of the phrase in literature is in Walter Scott's 1816 novel The Antiquary: "Ye may mind that the Countess's dislike did na gang farther at first than just shewing o' the cauld shouther- at least it wasna seen fartha; but at the lang run it brak out into such downright violence that Miss Neville was even fain to seek refuge at Knockwinnock Castle with Sir Arthur's leddy, wha (God sain her) was then wi' the living." Related Posts: Suite Francaise is a book written by Irene Nemirovsky during the Nazi occupation of France in W.W. II. It was lent to me by a coworker, who recommended the novel highly but advised me not to watch the movie of it, stating that it was a terrible adaptation. Accordingly, this is a description of the book, though I did check out Rotten Tomatoes and the film version didn't get horrible reviews... it's at about 75%. Still, I probably won't bother to seek it out. Irene Nemirovsky was a Russian Jew whose family had fled Kiev during the Russian Revolution in 1917. They eventually settled in Paris, where Irene attended university and began her writing career. In 1926 she married a banker, Michael Epstein, and they had two daughters. Her writing career also took off, and two of her novels, David Golder and Le Bal were made into movies during the 1930's. With the start of W.W. II, however, things went downhill fast. When the Germans invaded France, Nemirovsky could no longer get published and her husband lost his position at the bank due to their Jewish heritage. As the Germans entered Paris, Irene and her family fled to a country village to live. This didn't save them; in 1942, Nemirovsky was arrested for being "a person of Jewish descent" and sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp. She died there of typhus a month later. A few months after that, her husband was arrested and also taken to Auschwitz where he was immediately sent to the gas chambers. Fortunately, their two daughters managed to escape the country, taking with them a notebook belonging to their mother. Assuming it to be a journal, the girls never read it, thinking it would be too painful. However, in the 1990's the older daughter, Denise, decided to donate her mother's papers to a French archive and determined to read the notebook before sending it away. To her surprise, it turned out to contain an unfinished work of fiction written by Irene in the two year period between the Nazi occupation of France and her arrest. Denise had it published in France where it became a bestseller. Suite Francaise was originally supposed to be a series of five novellas: the two published ones, Tempete en Juin (Storm in June) and Dolce (Sweet), and three unwritten ones: Captivite (Captivity), which Nemirovsky had written an outline for, and the last two for which she had only written titles, Batailles (Battles), and La Paix (Peace). "Storm in June" is a fictionalized account of what happened when the German army occupied France and were marching into Paris. It follows the stories of several sets of characters trying to flee the city; some encounter each other, but most never meet. There are the Pericands, a wealthy family which is trying to make its way to Nimes, where they have property. They make it out of Paris, but things go very wrong as they lose the elderly M. Pericand in the frantic confusion, and one of their sons, Hubert, runs away to join the army in a last ditch- and vain- effort to hold off the Germans. The French army is utterly routed, and Hubert is presumed either dead or a prisoner of war. Their other son, Phillipe, is a priest who has been charged with evacuating a group of orphans out of Paris, an excursion which ends tragically as it becomes evident that the Germans are not the only danger in the countryside. There is also Charles Langelet, an art collector who tries to flee with his greatest treasures, and is uncaring about anything or anyone else. We also follow the narrative of Gabriel Corte, a well-known writer who is making his way to Vichy with his mistress. Maurice and Jeanne Michaud are a married couple who both work at a bank. With the Germans fast approaching Paris, they are promised transport to Tours by their employer, who ends up abandoning them at the last minute. They attempt to make their way on their own, but are unsuccessful and must return to Paris, uncertain of their future, but thankful to still be together. Their greatest worry is for their son, Jean-Marie, who was in the French army, and hasn't been heard from since their defeat. As it turns out, he was wounded in the fight with the German army, and is being hidden and nursed back to health on a farm near the small town of Bussy. He is eventually able to contact his parents and reunite with them in Paris. In "Dolce", the narrative switches to the little town of Bussy during its occupation by the Germans. At this time, the occupation seems more or less non-violent and peaceful, but this is a facade. The Germans do whatever they want, including billeting their officers in private homes, and warn the French citizens that disobedience to their edicts is punishable by death. The main character in this novella is Lucille Angellier, who lives in Bussy with her resentful mother-in-law. Her husband, who was unfaithful and neglectful, is now a prisoner of war. The German commander, Bruno von Falk, is billeted in their house, and Lucille gradually finds herself falling in love with him. At the same time, the townspeople are torn between treating the seemingly amiable German soldiers as the enemy, or as slightly uncomfortable guests. Meanwhile, on a nearby farm, Madeleine Sabarie (who had previously nursed Jean-Marie Michaud back to health) has had the German interpreter, Bonnet, billeted at their home, and he is attempting to flirt with her. Her husband Benoit, who is an escaped P.O.W., is extremely jealous, and when he is caught poaching and is arrested, he struggles free and shoots Bonnet dead. These two narratives now intersect, as Madeleine goes to Lucille and asks for help for her husband... it's assumed no one will search the house where the German commander is living. Lucille hides Benoit in an unused room in their house, and this deception drives a wedge between her and Bruno, although he is never aware of what she's doing. "Dolce" draws to a close in 1941, when the occupying troops in Bussy receive orders to join the force headed to the Eastern Front for the invasion of the Soviet Union. Lucille asks Bruno for a travel voucher and a fuel coupon, lying about why she needs them. He gives them to her, and after he leaves she uses it to drive Benoit to another hiding place. This is where "Dolce" ends: the third, unwritten novella was to have picked up from this point. Tragically, it was never completed. Related Posts: |
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