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Indlæser... Captain Conan (1934)af Roger Vercel
   Ingen Der er ingen diskussionstråde på Snak om denne bog.  TimBazzett | Feb 25, 2022 |  ingen anmeldelser | tilføj en anmeldelse
Tilhører ForlagsserienLe livre de poche (0009) Hæderspriser
This is a brutal tale of the exploits of French commandos on the Great War's Bulgarian front. First published in 1934, Vercel's novel was awarded the Prix Goncourt for its unflinching assessment of the toll fierce combat had taken on the youth of France. Largely autobiographical and told from the perspective of a young lieutenant, the book follows the exploits of a French commando unit attacking Bulgarian outposts along the Romanian border. The unit is led by Captain Conan, a haberdasher's son who finds his calling as a fearless killer ready to crawl through barbed wire and slit the throats of his enemies on midnight raids. Conan is loyal only to his men, as all notions of patriotism are lost in place of the fraternity and brutality needed for survival and success in this close combat. Following the Armistice, Conan's unit is redeployed to Bucharest to maintain the peace, but they do more harm than good. The soldiers have become murderers, thieves, and rapists, and Conan himself is charged with injuring his lover's husband. But the victim withdraws the charges, and Conan leaves Bucharest when the French are called to combat Lenin and Trotsky's guerrilla forces along the Ukrainian border. Conan and his men, now facing their former Russian allies, have lost all ideals of honorable battle and are reduced to serving as mindless weapons to be moved about on the field. Conan becomes the hero of his final fight, but Vercel shows us that there is no happy homecoming for a trained killer - only isolation, loneliness, and nostalgia for battles Conan never fully understood. Morgan's introduction to this new edition maps the public reception of Vercel's novel and places the book in the larger context of World War I combat literature. No library descriptions found. |
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 Google Books — Indlæser...GenrerMelvil Decimal System (DDC)843.912Literature French French fiction Modern Period 20th Century 1900-1945LC-klassificeringVurderingGennemsnit: (3.67)
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Norbert's unit is deployed to a position on the Dnestr River, defending against the Russian Red Army, their former Allies, who are now determined to lay claim to Ukrainian territory. (An especially ironic turn of events, given today's real world events more than a hundred years later.) Conan, his men, the deserter and other prisoners are being held in a nearby makeshift prison. A climactic battle between the French and Russians in and around the river reveals further nuances in the meanings of loyalty and brotherhood.
The book's final chapter acts as an epilogue, with its encounter between Norbert and a much-changed Conan several years later. It nearly broke my heart.
The novel succeeds on many levels: for its multidimensional characters, its historical value, and, probably more than anything, as an anti-war statement about how some battle heroes, returned to civilian life, can no longer fit in, and may even become social pariahs. CAPTAIN CONAN deserves a place among war lit classics. Very very highly recommended.
- Tim Bazzett, author of the Cold War memoir, SOLDIER BOY: AT PLAY IN THE ASA (