Diary of the Dark Years, 1940-1944

Collaboration, Resistance, and Daily Life in Occupied Paris

Nonfiction, History, France, Military, World War II, Biography & Memoir, Historical
Cover of the book Diary of the Dark Years, 1940-1944 by David Ball, Jean Guéhenno, Oxford University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: David Ball, Jean Guéhenno ISBN: 9780199970926
Publisher: Oxford University Press Publication: May 28, 2014
Imprint: Oxford University Press Language: English
Author: David Ball, Jean Guéhenno
ISBN: 9780199970926
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Publication: May 28, 2014
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Language: English

Winner of the French-American Foundation Translation Prize for Nonfiction Jean Guéhenno's Diary of the Dark Years, 1940-1945 is the most oft-quoted piece of testimony on life in occupied France. A sharply observed record of day-to-day life under Nazi rule in Paris and a bitter commentary on literary life in those years, it has also been called "a remarkable essay on courage and cowardice" (Caroline Moorehead, Wall Street Journal). Here, David Ball provides not only the first English-translation of this important historical document, but also the first ever annotated, corrected edition. Guéhenno was a well-known political and cultural critic, left-wing but not communist, and uncompromisingly anti-fascist. Unlike most French writers during the Occupation, he refused to pen a word for a publishing industry under Nazi control. He expressed his intellectual, moral, and emotional resistance in this diary: his shame at the Vichy government's collaboration with Nazi Germany, his contempt for its falsely patriotic reactionary ideology, his outrage at its anti-Semitism and its vilification of the Republic it had abolished, his horror at its increasingly savage repression and his disgust with his fellow intellectuals who kept on blithely writing about art and culture as if the Occupation did not exist - not to mention those who praised their new masters in prose and poetry. Also a teacher of French literature, he constantly observed the young people he taught, sometimes saddened by their conformism but always passionately trying to inspire them with the values of the French cultural tradition he loved. Guéhenno's diary often includes his own reflections on the great texts he is teaching, instilling them with special meaning in the context of the Occupation. Complete with meticulous notes and a biographical index, Ball's edition of Guéhenno's epic diary offers readers a deeper understanding not only of the diarist's cultural allusions, but also of the dramatic, historic events through which he lived.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Winner of the French-American Foundation Translation Prize for Nonfiction Jean Guéhenno's Diary of the Dark Years, 1940-1945 is the most oft-quoted piece of testimony on life in occupied France. A sharply observed record of day-to-day life under Nazi rule in Paris and a bitter commentary on literary life in those years, it has also been called "a remarkable essay on courage and cowardice" (Caroline Moorehead, Wall Street Journal). Here, David Ball provides not only the first English-translation of this important historical document, but also the first ever annotated, corrected edition. Guéhenno was a well-known political and cultural critic, left-wing but not communist, and uncompromisingly anti-fascist. Unlike most French writers during the Occupation, he refused to pen a word for a publishing industry under Nazi control. He expressed his intellectual, moral, and emotional resistance in this diary: his shame at the Vichy government's collaboration with Nazi Germany, his contempt for its falsely patriotic reactionary ideology, his outrage at its anti-Semitism and its vilification of the Republic it had abolished, his horror at its increasingly savage repression and his disgust with his fellow intellectuals who kept on blithely writing about art and culture as if the Occupation did not exist - not to mention those who praised their new masters in prose and poetry. Also a teacher of French literature, he constantly observed the young people he taught, sometimes saddened by their conformism but always passionately trying to inspire them with the values of the French cultural tradition he loved. Guéhenno's diary often includes his own reflections on the great texts he is teaching, instilling them with special meaning in the context of the Occupation. Complete with meticulous notes and a biographical index, Ball's edition of Guéhenno's epic diary offers readers a deeper understanding not only of the diarist's cultural allusions, but also of the dramatic, historic events through which he lived.

More books from Oxford University Press

Cover of the book How to Fix Copyright by David Ball, Jean Guéhenno
Cover of the book The Other One Percent by David Ball, Jean Guéhenno
Cover of the book Laughing Fit to Kill by David Ball, Jean Guéhenno
Cover of the book Was Huck Black? by David Ball, Jean Guéhenno
Cover of the book Sloth by David Ball, Jean Guéhenno
Cover of the book All the Facts by David Ball, Jean Guéhenno
Cover of the book Augustine's Early Theology of Image by David Ball, Jean Guéhenno
Cover of the book The Cultural Nature of Human Development by David Ball, Jean Guéhenno
Cover of the book Bound to Empire : The United States and the Philippines by David Ball, Jean Guéhenno
Cover of the book Teaching with Vitality by David Ball, Jean Guéhenno
Cover of the book Lilienfeld's Foundations of Epidemiology by David Ball, Jean Guéhenno
Cover of the book Cyber War Will Not Take Place by David Ball, Jean Guéhenno
Cover of the book Modern Hungers by David Ball, Jean Guéhenno
Cover of the book Rethinking World Politics by David Ball, Jean Guéhenno
Cover of the book Emotion, Restraint, and Community in Ancient Rome by David Ball, Jean Guéhenno
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy