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J'ai tué suivi de J'ai saigné
Dans J’ai tué (1918) prose poétique vertigineuse, Cendrars relate l’assaut d’une tranchée qui le conduit à poignarder un soldat allemand ; dans J’ai saigné (1938), il raconte la perte de son bras droit et sa convalescence aux côtés des autres blessés de guerre.
Réunies ici en diptyque, deux nouvelles sur la douleur et la perte, la résilience et la guérison.
Blaise Cendrars (1887-1961) est une figure majeure de la littérature de langue française du XXe siècle. Il a parcouru le monde et l’a retranscrit en une langue puissante et novatrice.
Préface de Christine Le Quellec Cottier
Réunies ici en diptyque, deux nouvelles sur la douleur et la perte, la résilience et la guérison.
Blaise Cendrars (1887-1961) est une figure majeure de la littérature de langue française du XXe siècle. Il a parcouru le monde et l’a retranscrit en une langue puissante et novatrice.
Préface de Christine Le Quellec Cottier
112 pages, Pocket Book
First published January 1, 1918
About the author
Blaise Cendrars
288 books284 followersFrédéric Louis Sauser, better known as Blaise Cendrars, was a Swiss novelist and poet naturalized French in 1916. He was a writer of considerable influence in the modernist movement.
His father, an inventor-businessman, was Swiss, his mother Scottish. He spent his childhood in Alexandria, Naples, Brindisi, Neuchâtel, and numerous other places, while accompanying his father, who endlessly pursued business schemes, none successfully.
At the age of fifteen, Cendrars left home to travel in Russia, Persia, China while working as a jewel merchant; several years later, he wrote about this in his poem, Transiberien. He was in Paris before 1910, where he got in touch with several names of Paris' bélle époque: Guillaume Apollinaire, Modigliani, Marc Chagall and many more. Cendrars then traveled to America, where he wrote his first long poem Pâques à New-York. The next year appeared The Transsibérien.
When he came back to France, I World War was started and he joined the French Foreign Legion. He was sent to the front line in the Somme where from mid-December 1914 until February 1915. During the attacks in Champagne in September 1915 that Cendrars lost his right arm. He described this war experience in the books La Main coupée.
After the war he returned to Paris, becaming an important part of the artistic community in Montparnasse. There, among others, used to meet with other writers such as Henry Miller, John Dos Passos and Ernest Hemingway.
During the 1920's he published two long novels, Moravagine and Les Confessions de Dan Yack. Into the 1930’s published a number of “novelized” biographies or volumes of extravagant reporting, such as L’Or, based on the life of John August Sutter, and Rhum, “reportage romance” dealing with the life and trials of Jean Galmont, a misfired Cecil Rhodes of Guiana.
La Belle Epoque was the great age of discovery in arts and letters. Cendrars, very much of the epoch, was sketched by Caruso, painted by Léon Bakst, by Léger, by Modigliani, by Chagall; and in his turn helped discover Negro art, jazz, and the modern music of Les Six. His home base was always Paris, for several years in the Rue de Savoie, later, for many years, in the Avenue Montaigne, and in the country, his little house at Tremblay-sur Mauldre (Seine-et-Oise), though he continued to travel extensively. He worked for a short while in Hollywood in 1936, at the time of the filming of Sutter’s Gold. From 1924 to 1936, went so constantly to South America. This life globertrottering life was pictured in his book Bourlinguer, published in 1948.
Another remarkable works apparead in the 40s were L’Homme Foudroyé (1945), La Main Coupée (1946), Le Lotissement du Ciel (1949), that constitute his best and most important work. His last major work was published in 1957, entitled Trop, C’est Trop.
==========
Sources:
- http://www.theparisreview.org/intervi...
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaise_...
His father, an inventor-businessman, was Swiss, his mother Scottish. He spent his childhood in Alexandria, Naples, Brindisi, Neuchâtel, and numerous other places, while accompanying his father, who endlessly pursued business schemes, none successfully.
At the age of fifteen, Cendrars left home to travel in Russia, Persia, China while working as a jewel merchant; several years later, he wrote about this in his poem, Transiberien. He was in Paris before 1910, where he got in touch with several names of Paris' bélle époque: Guillaume Apollinaire, Modigliani, Marc Chagall and many more. Cendrars then traveled to America, where he wrote his first long poem Pâques à New-York. The next year appeared The Transsibérien.
When he came back to France, I World War was started and he joined the French Foreign Legion. He was sent to the front line in the Somme where from mid-December 1914 until February 1915. During the attacks in Champagne in September 1915 that Cendrars lost his right arm. He described this war experience in the books La Main coupée.
After the war he returned to Paris, becaming an important part of the artistic community in Montparnasse. There, among others, used to meet with other writers such as Henry Miller, John Dos Passos and Ernest Hemingway.
During the 1920's he published two long novels, Moravagine and Les Confessions de Dan Yack. Into the 1930’s published a number of “novelized” biographies or volumes of extravagant reporting, such as L’Or, based on the life of John August Sutter, and Rhum, “reportage romance” dealing with the life and trials of Jean Galmont, a misfired Cecil Rhodes of Guiana.
La Belle Epoque was the great age of discovery in arts and letters. Cendrars, very much of the epoch, was sketched by Caruso, painted by Léon Bakst, by Léger, by Modigliani, by Chagall; and in his turn helped discover Negro art, jazz, and the modern music of Les Six. His home base was always Paris, for several years in the Rue de Savoie, later, for many years, in the Avenue Montaigne, and in the country, his little house at Tremblay-sur Mauldre (Seine-et-Oise), though he continued to travel extensively. He worked for a short while in Hollywood in 1936, at the time of the filming of Sutter’s Gold. From 1924 to 1936, went so constantly to South America. This life globertrottering life was pictured in his book Bourlinguer, published in 1948.
Another remarkable works apparead in the 40s were L’Homme Foudroyé (1945), La Main Coupée (1946), Le Lotissement du Ciel (1949), that constitute his best and most important work. His last major work was published in 1957, entitled Trop, C’est Trop.
==========
Sources:
- http://www.theparisreview.org/intervi...
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaise_...
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 10, 2026
C'était trop beau merci Cendrars. Comme quoi, on peut lire de belles choses sur la guerre sans avoir à lire un antisemite notoire !!!
May 15, 2024
Il primo racconto è stilisticamente molto interessante, con la sua violenza verbale e sintattica. Una raffica di frasi brevi, appuntite come proiettili, o frasi più lunghe ma costruite per accumulo, strabordanti, avvolgenti come la guerra. E poi giochi di parole, immagini originali, dure e spiazzanti per rendere una realtà che ha stravolto e violentato quella sottostante, che ha fatto a pezzi la quotidianità e ne ha rimpastato i frammenti con nuovi significati; significati per cui, giustamente, servivano parole nuove. E Cendrars lo dice chiaramente: in quanto poeta lui ha colto questa nuova realtà, riesce a riportarla, ma anche a muoversi più efficacemente in essa, a uccidere prima dell’altro. L’altro aspetto forte del racconto è la denuncia dell’aspetto inglobante della guerra, che assorbe anche gli spazi interni, lontano dal fronte, dirigendoli però tutti verso di esso. Ogni cosa viene riconvertita alla guerra, un intero mondo, con tutte le sue esistenze, che porta a quel coltello che si conficca nella gola del soldato tedesco. Qui si vede chiaramente l’assurdità di tutte queste risorse, che dovrebbero portare vita e sono invece volte a conferire morte, e di una morte che viene inflitta per vivere.
Il secondo racconto è formalmente meno interessante, in quanto assai più classico. Il contenuto ha una doppia validità: documentare una realtà poco nota, ossia quella della gestione dei feriti nelle retrovie e negli ospedali, e al contempo criticare severamente i quadri decisionali e le persone con un ruolo di comando o d’autorità (dalla feroce parodia del Grande Capo Responsabile del primo racconto la critica qui si espande, giungendo al suo apice con il medico Dufossé), che vengono descritti come distaccati dalla realtà, troppo elevati nei loro paradigmi teorici. Il racconto rimane molto forte nel descrivere le ferite e le sofferenze dei soldati, molto vivido nel ritrarle, ma coinvolge meno del primo.
In ogni caso i due racconti sono complementari e si integrano bene a vicenda, per cui la scelta di raccoglierli in questa pubblicazione è azzeccata. Inoltre trasmettono due tipi diversi di sofferenza: quella mentale (il primo) e quella fisica (il secondo), comunque spesso compresenti.
Il secondo racconto è formalmente meno interessante, in quanto assai più classico. Il contenuto ha una doppia validità: documentare una realtà poco nota, ossia quella della gestione dei feriti nelle retrovie e negli ospedali, e al contempo criticare severamente i quadri decisionali e le persone con un ruolo di comando o d’autorità (dalla feroce parodia del Grande Capo Responsabile del primo racconto la critica qui si espande, giungendo al suo apice con il medico Dufossé), che vengono descritti come distaccati dalla realtà, troppo elevati nei loro paradigmi teorici. Il racconto rimane molto forte nel descrivere le ferite e le sofferenze dei soldati, molto vivido nel ritrarle, ma coinvolge meno del primo.
In ogni caso i due racconti sono complementari e si integrano bene a vicenda, per cui la scelta di raccoglierli in questa pubblicazione è azzeccata. Inoltre trasmettono due tipi diversi di sofferenza: quella mentale (il primo) e quella fisica (il secondo), comunque spesso compresenti.
September 10, 2021
Sferzante, teso, una corda che s’annoda, stretta. Due racconti meravigliosi che sono un campo di battaglia. Ci si sente assediati, come fossimo in trincea. E forse per questo motivo ci si aggrappa alle pagine come alla vita. Capolavoro.
December 8, 2020
Davvero un grande libro, da leggere assolutamente.
March 31, 2021
Ce récit en deux temps, concis et brutal, concentre le pire et le meilleur de l'humanité en guerre. Viscéral et inoubliable.
October 14, 2022
5/5 étoiles
*lu pour l'université*
Une oeuvre d'une puissance indicible
J'ai presque pleuré
*lu pour l'université*
Une oeuvre d'une puissance indicible
J'ai presque pleuré
July 26, 2023
L’envie de hurler est omniprésente, de bout en bout de ce livre si court et pourtant si intense, si dense, si bouleversant… La colère, l’injustice qui grondent et qui finissent par totalement nous absorber, ne sont que les réactions instinctives, primitives, face à la bêtise et à la cruauté humaines. Tant de médiocrité, de violence, de luttes de pouvoir, à la recherche qui d’honneur, qui de médaille de toutes sortes. C’est pathétique. D’une tristesse incommensurable…
J’ai lu quantités d’ouvrages traitants de la guerre. Ces deux textes sont pourtant parfaitement uniques, personnels, d’une profondeur et d’une candeur admirables et tendrement dévastatrices.
Les bruits assourdissants, les silences mortifères, les appels à l’aide, les appels désespérés à la mère restée au loin, bien trop loin pour apporter ses soins et son réconfort. La poussière et la boue dont certains finissent par voir apparaître dans leurs rêves, pour mieux les ensevelir et mettre fin à l’horreur.
C’est trop. Trop d’horreurs pour une seule espèce. Pourquoi ? Comment ? Comment avons-nous pu exceller dans l’abjection avec autant de facilité et de désinvolture ? Il faut se battre pour ton pays qu’ils disent ! Enlever la vie à des inconnus, dont le seul crime est d’habiter dans l’autre pays. On devient dès lors meurtrier, paralysé, traumatisé, amputé, ne rêvant plus désormais que d’être dorloté par la plus douce et la plus gentille des infirmières, et s’endormant en ayant tout oublié.
Ce diptyque que le grand Cendrars nous a offert en témoignant de son expérience tragique au cœur de l’enfer de cette Première Guerre Mondiale, est une meurtrissure sans nom. La puissance avec laquelle est décrite la violence inhérente, les attaques, les blessés, les morts, la peur…
L’ignominie est à son apogée.
L’horreur est indescriptible.
On reste littéralement sans voix et immobile à l’achèvement de cette lecture.
Ces deux magnifiques textes forment un témoignage exceptionnel, inoubliable, inestimable.
J’ai lu quantités d’ouvrages traitants de la guerre. Ces deux textes sont pourtant parfaitement uniques, personnels, d’une profondeur et d’une candeur admirables et tendrement dévastatrices.
Les bruits assourdissants, les silences mortifères, les appels à l’aide, les appels désespérés à la mère restée au loin, bien trop loin pour apporter ses soins et son réconfort. La poussière et la boue dont certains finissent par voir apparaître dans leurs rêves, pour mieux les ensevelir et mettre fin à l’horreur.
C’est trop. Trop d’horreurs pour une seule espèce. Pourquoi ? Comment ? Comment avons-nous pu exceller dans l’abjection avec autant de facilité et de désinvolture ? Il faut se battre pour ton pays qu’ils disent ! Enlever la vie à des inconnus, dont le seul crime est d’habiter dans l’autre pays. On devient dès lors meurtrier, paralysé, traumatisé, amputé, ne rêvant plus désormais que d’être dorloté par la plus douce et la plus gentille des infirmières, et s’endormant en ayant tout oublié.
Ce diptyque que le grand Cendrars nous a offert en témoignant de son expérience tragique au cœur de l’enfer de cette Première Guerre Mondiale, est une meurtrissure sans nom. La puissance avec laquelle est décrite la violence inhérente, les attaques, les blessés, les morts, la peur…
L’ignominie est à son apogée.
L’horreur est indescriptible.
On reste littéralement sans voix et immobile à l’achèvement de cette lecture.
Ces deux magnifiques textes forment un témoignage exceptionnel, inoubliable, inestimable.
January 3, 2023
Ce livre est un livre que j'ai dû lire pour les cours et pourtant je me suis fait séduire par les personnages. La plume de l'auteur était très fluide, et belle. Dans cette autobiographie on a un point de vue du courage des femmes pendant la guerre. J'ai adoré le personnage d'Adrienne, et rien que pour elle je pense que ce livre vaut d'être lu.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews