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Charlotte
Charlotte Salomon is born into a family stricken by suicide and a country at war – but there is something exceptional about her. She has a gift, a talent for painting. And she has a great love, for a brilliant, eccentric musician.
But just as she is coming in to her own as an artist, death is coming to control her country. The Nazis have come to power and, a Jew in Berlin, her life is narrowing – she is kept from her art, torn from her love and her family, chased from her country. And still she is not safe, not from the madness that has hunted her family, or the one gripping Europe . . .
Charlotte is a heart-breaking true story – inspiring, unflinching, awful, hopeful – of a life filled with curiosity, animated by genius and cut short by hatred. A beautifully, lucidly told memorial, it has become an international sensation.
But just as she is coming in to her own as an artist, death is coming to control her country. The Nazis have come to power and, a Jew in Berlin, her life is narrowing – she is kept from her art, torn from her love and her family, chased from her country. And still she is not safe, not from the madness that has hunted her family, or the one gripping Europe . . .
Charlotte is a heart-breaking true story – inspiring, unflinching, awful, hopeful – of a life filled with curiosity, animated by genius and cut short by hatred. A beautifully, lucidly told memorial, it has become an international sensation.
Hardcover
First published July 3, 2014
433 people are currently reading
9836 people want to read
About the author
David Foenkinos
60 books2,139 followersDavid Foenkinos is a French novelist, playwright, screenwriter and director who studied both literature and music in Paris.
His novel La délicatesse is a bestseller in France. A film based on the book was released in December 2011, with Audrey Tautou as the main character. His novels have appeared in over forty languages, and in 2014 he was awarded the Prix Renaudot for his novel Charlotte.
Growing up in a home with few books and often absent parents, David Foenkinos read and wrote little during his childhood. At 16, he required emergency surgery as a result of a rare pleural infection and spent several months recuperating in hospital, where he began to devour books, learning to paint and play the guitar. From this experience, he says, he kept a drive for life, a force that he wanted to convey through his books.
He studied literature at the Sorbonne and music in a jazz school, eventually becoming a guitar teacher. In the evenings, he was a waiter in a restaurant. After unsuccessfully trying to set up a music group, he turned his hand to writing.
After a handful of failed manuscripts, he found his style, and his first novel Inversion de l'idiotie: de l'influence de deux Polonais (“Inversion of idiocy: influenced by two Poles”), though refused by many other publishers, was published by Gallimard in 2002; the book earned him the François-Mauriac literary prize, awarded by the Académie Française.
David Foenkinos is the brother of director Stéphane Foenkinos.
His novel La délicatesse is a bestseller in France. A film based on the book was released in December 2011, with Audrey Tautou as the main character. His novels have appeared in over forty languages, and in 2014 he was awarded the Prix Renaudot for his novel Charlotte.
Growing up in a home with few books and often absent parents, David Foenkinos read and wrote little during his childhood. At 16, he required emergency surgery as a result of a rare pleural infection and spent several months recuperating in hospital, where he began to devour books, learning to paint and play the guitar. From this experience, he says, he kept a drive for life, a force that he wanted to convey through his books.
He studied literature at the Sorbonne and music in a jazz school, eventually becoming a guitar teacher. In the evenings, he was a waiter in a restaurant. After unsuccessfully trying to set up a music group, he turned his hand to writing.
After a handful of failed manuscripts, he found his style, and his first novel Inversion de l'idiotie: de l'influence de deux Polonais (“Inversion of idiocy: influenced by two Poles”), though refused by many other publishers, was published by Gallimard in 2002; the book earned him the François-Mauriac literary prize, awarded by the Académie Française.
David Foenkinos is the brother of director Stéphane Foenkinos.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,749 reviews
May 1, 2017
I had never heard of this German/Jewish artist before picking up this book, but I have since looked her up and find her paintings fascinating. This is written in the prose style, a style I fell in love with after reading Brown Girl Dreaming, and it tells the story of this young woman and her family. She was born in Berlin, but her family thinks they are getting her to safety by sending her to France, which of course was safe only for a while.
The author inserts himself in the story, telling the reader how and why he became fascinated with Charlotte and also the places he visited trying to reconstruct some of her life. That he admired her greatly one can tell by his writing which is full of intelligent observations and fascination with what she managed to create in such a short time. Charlotte's family was a family marred by suicides, and Charlotte herself was prone to dark moods, thoughts. So often these characteristics go with creativity, sad but true. A good blending of history, her experiences trying to survive the Nazi purge, and the personal and professional details of her life.
So another rather difficult read but brings attention to a young artist whose life was cut way to short, who lived a hard life during a difficult period in history but still managed to leave an enduring legacy in her art.
A link to some of her artwork https://images.search.yahoo.com/yhs/s...
The author inserts himself in the story, telling the reader how and why he became fascinated with Charlotte and also the places he visited trying to reconstruct some of her life. That he admired her greatly one can tell by his writing which is full of intelligent observations and fascination with what she managed to create in such a short time. Charlotte's family was a family marred by suicides, and Charlotte herself was prone to dark moods, thoughts. So often these characteristics go with creativity, sad but true. A good blending of history, her experiences trying to survive the Nazi purge, and the personal and professional details of her life.
So another rather difficult read but brings attention to a young artist whose life was cut way to short, who lived a hard life during a difficult period in history but still managed to leave an enduring legacy in her art.
A link to some of her artwork https://images.search.yahoo.com/yhs/s...
December 28, 2023
contrairement à la grosse déception qui était Vers la beauté, Charlotte me surprend par sa douceur et son réalisme poigant. j'aime beaucoup l'approche sensible de l'auteur par rapport à cette tragédie, qui, en incluant ses démarches de recherche dans le livres, a construit un portrait vivant de charlotte salomon, ainsi lui rendant justice à celle qui n'en a connu point dans sa vie.
September 18, 2017
A verse novel of two obsessions. The first, is Foenkinos's subject, Charlotte Salomon, a Jewish painter who died pregnant in Auschwitz, having spent the last couple of years of her life in relative solitude obsessively, maniacally, painting images of her and her family's life. I just reread a collection: Charlotte: A Diary in Pictures, including 80 of such paintings. When I first read it I became obsessed about her obsession, but could not find her other collection (until recently), Life? or Theatre? a collection which in part focuses on her family history of suicide, seven of eight women. I bought a biography of Salomon recently but had trouble getting into it. The tone wasn't right for my experience of the subject. It lacked the passion (and obsession) of her life as I experienced it.
The second obsession is of a novelist, Foenkinos, who had experienced Salomon's work, and couldn't stop thinking of her. For years he couldn't find the form to encapsulate his experience of her life, but finally hit on the verse novel form, where he himself features as a novelist trying to give tribute to her life and work. I can't speak to the translation, but I have read glowing reviews of the original, and I found that some of the verse in English unfortunately came off flatter than I had expected. The novel as biography is fascinating because her life is fascinating, but the biographical rendering of her life is sometimes rather straightforward. But the form in general was original and useful in capturing what many of us experience in encountering her life and work. Her story is sort of quietly, sadly mesmerizing. And why is there so much joy in her work?! That's an inspiring part of her story, and (of course) its endorsement--its celebration!--of art in the performance of a life.
When Salomon knew the Nazis were closing on her, she bundled her life work--more than a thousand paintings!--and put it in the safekeeping of a friend, who kept it until after the war. If this is the first you have heard of Salomon, I encourage you to read her work and this novel. You may yourself be obsessed as Foenkinos and I have been.
The second obsession is of a novelist, Foenkinos, who had experienced Salomon's work, and couldn't stop thinking of her. For years he couldn't find the form to encapsulate his experience of her life, but finally hit on the verse novel form, where he himself features as a novelist trying to give tribute to her life and work. I can't speak to the translation, but I have read glowing reviews of the original, and I found that some of the verse in English unfortunately came off flatter than I had expected. The novel as biography is fascinating because her life is fascinating, but the biographical rendering of her life is sometimes rather straightforward. But the form in general was original and useful in capturing what many of us experience in encountering her life and work. Her story is sort of quietly, sadly mesmerizing. And why is there so much joy in her work?! That's an inspiring part of her story, and (of course) its endorsement--its celebration!--of art in the performance of a life.
When Salomon knew the Nazis were closing on her, she bundled her life work--more than a thousand paintings!--and put it in the safekeeping of a friend, who kept it until after the war. If this is the first you have heard of Salomon, I encourage you to read her work and this novel. You may yourself be obsessed as Foenkinos and I have been.
June 19, 2023
4,5
Quizá lo mas sorprendente de esta novela es la forma en la que está escrita, parece poesía, pero es prosa, una prosa directa, sin enredarse y no por ello pierde el sentido. Algo que es digno de admirar.
Esta novela es la historia de Charlotte Salomon, persona que yo desconocía por completo pero que después de leer esta novela te dan ganas de seguir conociendo más sobre su vida. Una historia dura, e interesante, una pintora judío-alemana que mataron en Auschwitz, estando embarazada, a los 26 años.
El autor narra su vida, la narra a través de sus ojos, desde fuera, y va alternando partes de la vida de Charlotte con el proceso de documentación para poder contarnos esta maravillosa historia.
Es verdad que lo que mas destaca en la vida de Charlotte es la cantidad de drama que tiene en su vida, desde el principio, todo lo relacionado con su familia, y por el momento histórico en el que está contado. Pero Foenkinos destaca como para ella, la pintura la ayudo a todo, a luchar por algo, a pintar y mostrar lo que estaba viviendo la sociedad.
Un libro que impacta, y un autor que como sabéis para mi es referente, que escribe corto pero bonito, que escribe corto pero bien, al grano, con historias que impactan. No es de mis favoritas pero ocupa un puesto muy alto de todas las que ya he leído de él.
Quizá lo mas sorprendente de esta novela es la forma en la que está escrita, parece poesía, pero es prosa, una prosa directa, sin enredarse y no por ello pierde el sentido. Algo que es digno de admirar.
Esta novela es la historia de Charlotte Salomon, persona que yo desconocía por completo pero que después de leer esta novela te dan ganas de seguir conociendo más sobre su vida. Una historia dura, e interesante, una pintora judío-alemana que mataron en Auschwitz, estando embarazada, a los 26 años.
El autor narra su vida, la narra a través de sus ojos, desde fuera, y va alternando partes de la vida de Charlotte con el proceso de documentación para poder contarnos esta maravillosa historia.
Es verdad que lo que mas destaca en la vida de Charlotte es la cantidad de drama que tiene en su vida, desde el principio, todo lo relacionado con su familia, y por el momento histórico en el que está contado. Pero Foenkinos destaca como para ella, la pintura la ayudo a todo, a luchar por algo, a pintar y mostrar lo que estaba viviendo la sociedad.
Un libro que impacta, y un autor que como sabéis para mi es referente, que escribe corto pero bonito, que escribe corto pero bien, al grano, con historias que impactan. No es de mis favoritas pero ocupa un puesto muy alto de todas las que ya he leído de él.
July 16, 2017
David Foenkinos et moi, on est fâchés depuis ma lecture de La Délicatesse. Certains passages de ce livre m'ont tellement hérissée que je m'en rappelle encore, notamment un paragraphe sur la douceur de la moquette, une sorte d'agglomérat de déclarations à l'eau de rose sur les pieds nus qui foulent la moquette, et de petites phrases interrogatives doucereuses, genre : "Mais qui donc avait inventé la moquette ?"
Franchement ça a le don de m'exaspérer. J'imagine encore la voix du narrateur, comme un mec un peu niais, qui aurait décidé de passer sa journée à te susurrer des lieux communs à l'oreille.
Alors je peux comprendre le succès d'un tel livre, mais pour moi, il n'y a absolument rien à en retirer. Le vide littéraire, le style complaisant.
Retour aujourd'hui de David Foenkinos dans mes étagères, avec Charlotte, sorte de biographie romancée de la peintre allemande Charlotte Salomon.
La vie de Charlotte commence dans la noirceur, avec un passé familial empreint de mort et de mystères. Elle se poursuit dans l'Allemagne, à l'heure de la naissance du fascisme, elle se construit malgré les lois antisémites, malgré le futur qu'elle s'obscurcit. Charlotte peint, et part en France, à l'abri des nazis - jusqu'à ce qu'ils la rattrapent.
Au fil des pages se dessine le portrait d'une femme attachante, au destin perturbé, une femme qui a su transformer la tragédie de sa vie en formes et en couleurs. L'oeuvre de Charlotte culmine dans "Vie ? Ou Théâtre ?", suite de dessins illustrés de textes, racontant l'histoire de sa vie. Et en gros, David Foenkinos raconte "Vie ? Ou Théâtre ?", de Charlotte Salomon, en entrecoupant le récit du récit de Charlotte de considérations sur son propre regard sur Charlotte.
La découverte de Charlotte Salomon - sa vie, son oeuvre, son théâtre ? - est ce que je retirerais d'essentiel de cette lecture ; pourtant, je ne comprends vraiment pas l'intérêt du gigantesque commentaire des mots de Charlotte sur elle-même, entrepris par Foenkinos. Dans "Vie ? Ou Théâtre ?", Charlotte raconte sa vie, mais la transforme, la fantasme. Or, Foenkinos ne prend aucun parti par rapport à ce récit originel : il raconte exactement ce qu'il a lu. Il ne prend pas l'aspect biographique, qui tendrait vers une objectivité ; il ne souligne pas non plus l'aspect fantaisiste, à relier aux formes de la peinture de Charlotte, qu'il décrit d'ailleurs assez peu. Il raconte juste "Vie ? Ou Théâtre ?" Alors, au-delà de la découverte de Charlotte qu'il donne à ses lecteurs, quel est l'intérêt du roman ? En quoi serait-il plus intéressant qu'un simple article à propos de Charlotte Salomon ?
Les quelques passages dans lesquels Foenkinos évoque sa passion pour Charlotte, sa quête, sur les traces de la jeune femme, son obsession des plaques commémoratives, ont des accents de vérité, mais pas assez pour justifier l'immense paraphrase que demeure ce livre.
J'ajouterait que, pour un roman sur une peintre, la peinture tient véritablement très peu de place dans l'ouvrage. En fait, on peut lire le bouquin en entier, et toujours n'avoir qu'une vague idée de l'univers de Charlotte Salomon, tant ses œuvres (et même ses premiers dessins) sont évoqués de manière vague.
Enfin, je voulais juste rappeler que passer à la ligne après chaque point ne fait pas un style.
Pas plus que ça ne fait de la poésie.
C'est juste une forme faite pour interpeller.
Fait de phrases averbales, il interpelle le lecteur non averti, et pourrait même avoir l'air vaguement intello.
Mais ça ne rend pas le texte plus intelligent en réalité, pas plus que si tu avais rajouté des lunettes sur la face de quelqu'un.
C'est juste une illusion.
En fait j'ai l'impression que ce passage à la ligne obsessif vient rattraper la tendance de l'auteur aux phrases brèves et niaises, qui m'avaient déjà agacée dans la Délicatesse.
En tout cas, les lecteurs aiment ça, et s'extasient, et en redemandent.
Ils ont créé un véritable auteur à bestsellers.
Objectivement, Charlotte est meilleur que les autres livres de Foenkinos que j'ai eu l'occasion de lire, mais calmons-nous, ce n'est pas non plus le chef d'oeuvre que certains nous décrivent.
"Mais qui donc a inventé Foenkinos ?"
Franchement ça a le don de m'exaspérer. J'imagine encore la voix du narrateur, comme un mec un peu niais, qui aurait décidé de passer sa journée à te susurrer des lieux communs à l'oreille.
Alors je peux comprendre le succès d'un tel livre, mais pour moi, il n'y a absolument rien à en retirer. Le vide littéraire, le style complaisant.
Retour aujourd'hui de David Foenkinos dans mes étagères, avec Charlotte, sorte de biographie romancée de la peintre allemande Charlotte Salomon.
La vie de Charlotte commence dans la noirceur, avec un passé familial empreint de mort et de mystères. Elle se poursuit dans l'Allemagne, à l'heure de la naissance du fascisme, elle se construit malgré les lois antisémites, malgré le futur qu'elle s'obscurcit. Charlotte peint, et part en France, à l'abri des nazis - jusqu'à ce qu'ils la rattrapent.
Au fil des pages se dessine le portrait d'une femme attachante, au destin perturbé, une femme qui a su transformer la tragédie de sa vie en formes et en couleurs. L'oeuvre de Charlotte culmine dans "Vie ? Ou Théâtre ?", suite de dessins illustrés de textes, racontant l'histoire de sa vie. Et en gros, David Foenkinos raconte "Vie ? Ou Théâtre ?", de Charlotte Salomon, en entrecoupant le récit du récit de Charlotte de considérations sur son propre regard sur Charlotte.
La découverte de Charlotte Salomon - sa vie, son oeuvre, son théâtre ? - est ce que je retirerais d'essentiel de cette lecture ; pourtant, je ne comprends vraiment pas l'intérêt du gigantesque commentaire des mots de Charlotte sur elle-même, entrepris par Foenkinos. Dans "Vie ? Ou Théâtre ?", Charlotte raconte sa vie, mais la transforme, la fantasme. Or, Foenkinos ne prend aucun parti par rapport à ce récit originel : il raconte exactement ce qu'il a lu. Il ne prend pas l'aspect biographique, qui tendrait vers une objectivité ; il ne souligne pas non plus l'aspect fantaisiste, à relier aux formes de la peinture de Charlotte, qu'il décrit d'ailleurs assez peu. Il raconte juste "Vie ? Ou Théâtre ?" Alors, au-delà de la découverte de Charlotte qu'il donne à ses lecteurs, quel est l'intérêt du roman ? En quoi serait-il plus intéressant qu'un simple article à propos de Charlotte Salomon ?
Les quelques passages dans lesquels Foenkinos évoque sa passion pour Charlotte, sa quête, sur les traces de la jeune femme, son obsession des plaques commémoratives, ont des accents de vérité, mais pas assez pour justifier l'immense paraphrase que demeure ce livre.
J'ajouterait que, pour un roman sur une peintre, la peinture tient véritablement très peu de place dans l'ouvrage. En fait, on peut lire le bouquin en entier, et toujours n'avoir qu'une vague idée de l'univers de Charlotte Salomon, tant ses œuvres (et même ses premiers dessins) sont évoqués de manière vague.
Enfin, je voulais juste rappeler que passer à la ligne après chaque point ne fait pas un style.
Pas plus que ça ne fait de la poésie.
C'est juste une forme faite pour interpeller.
Fait de phrases averbales, il interpelle le lecteur non averti, et pourrait même avoir l'air vaguement intello.
Mais ça ne rend pas le texte plus intelligent en réalité, pas plus que si tu avais rajouté des lunettes sur la face de quelqu'un.
C'est juste une illusion.
En fait j'ai l'impression que ce passage à la ligne obsessif vient rattraper la tendance de l'auteur aux phrases brèves et niaises, qui m'avaient déjà agacée dans la Délicatesse.
En tout cas, les lecteurs aiment ça, et s'extasient, et en redemandent.
Ils ont créé un véritable auteur à bestsellers.
Objectivement, Charlotte est meilleur que les autres livres de Foenkinos que j'ai eu l'occasion de lire, mais calmons-nous, ce n'est pas non plus le chef d'oeuvre que certains nous décrivent.
"Mais qui donc a inventé Foenkinos ?"
March 17, 2017
I received this in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. Thank you to the author, David Foenkinos, and the publisher, Cannongate Books, for this opportunity.
This book is a gripping portrait of an exceptional painter and young woman who suffered an early and tragic demise. Charlotte Salomon was gassed along with six million Jews, who were murdered at the hands of the nazis. She was just twenty-six when her life was tragically ended, and pregnant with her first child. Before this, she was a renowned painter, most famed for her series of autobiographical paintings, titled 'Life? Or Theatre?'. This is the biography of her life.
I believe this is my first experience of reading an entire novel written in verse and it wasn't nearly as daunting as I had anticipated it to be. The writing was clear, direct and hardly read like prose at all. The truncated sentence length and the abundance of clear, white space around the lines helped with this. Both also made this feel like a very fast read. I liked this style of narrative, although I was expecting something different. I'm not sure what, exactly. I think I assume poetic writing must also be flowery writing and this did not adhere to that style, at all, and yet still managed to be beautiful in places.
Despite this being a poignant and haunting piece, especially towards the end, I did not interact with the entirety of it, as I would have liked to. I knew nothing of this painter's life, before reading this, and suffered a little because of it. The central portion started to feel a little too extended and, therefore, dull. I also found myself thrown from the original tale with the intrusion of the author's voice. Whilst full of interesting insights, I found these jarred with the emotion of the piece and I felt plucked from something wonderful and transported back to the regular world. They felt like intrusions rather than necessary commentary.
In all, this was a very moving piece and one I hope to come back to when I have gathered more information on the incredible life of an extraordinary woman.
This book is a gripping portrait of an exceptional painter and young woman who suffered an early and tragic demise. Charlotte Salomon was gassed along with six million Jews, who were murdered at the hands of the nazis. She was just twenty-six when her life was tragically ended, and pregnant with her first child. Before this, she was a renowned painter, most famed for her series of autobiographical paintings, titled 'Life? Or Theatre?'. This is the biography of her life.
I believe this is my first experience of reading an entire novel written in verse and it wasn't nearly as daunting as I had anticipated it to be. The writing was clear, direct and hardly read like prose at all. The truncated sentence length and the abundance of clear, white space around the lines helped with this. Both also made this feel like a very fast read. I liked this style of narrative, although I was expecting something different. I'm not sure what, exactly. I think I assume poetic writing must also be flowery writing and this did not adhere to that style, at all, and yet still managed to be beautiful in places.
Despite this being a poignant and haunting piece, especially towards the end, I did not interact with the entirety of it, as I would have liked to. I knew nothing of this painter's life, before reading this, and suffered a little because of it. The central portion started to feel a little too extended and, therefore, dull. I also found myself thrown from the original tale with the intrusion of the author's voice. Whilst full of interesting insights, I found these jarred with the emotion of the piece and I felt plucked from something wonderful and transported back to the regular world. They felt like intrusions rather than necessary commentary.
In all, this was a very moving piece and one I hope to come back to when I have gathered more information on the incredible life of an extraordinary woman.
June 2, 2022
نویسنده دربارهی فرم عجیب رمان(هر جمله در یک سطر) میگوید: بارها نوشتم تقلا کردم بعد رهایش کردم. نمیتوانستم دوجمله را پشت هم بنویسم. سر هر نقطه متوقف میشدم... حس میکردم برای نفس تازه کردن باید به سطر بعد بروم
ما هم مانند نویسنده میان بسیاری جملات نیاز به تنفس و بازیابی نیرو داریم. حماقت یک انسان و یک ایده چگونه میتواند سادهترین حقوق یک انسان را از نقض کند. و شارلوت تنها یکی از میلیونها آسیبدیده است
انگار زندگی غریب و سخت شارلوت بر فرم نویسنده و تجربهی مخاطب نیز اثر میگذارد. کتاب با جملات دقیق و موجز روایت میشود. هر جمله یک گام در داستان است و هیچ زیادهگویی وجود ندارد. و راستش هیچ نیازی هم نیست. داستان آشنایی و ازدواج مادر و پدر شارلوت در دو صفحه و چهل جمله روایت میشود. انگار که زمان نیست و فقط باید سرفصلهای زندگی شارلوت را مرور کنیم. و همین فرم عجیبوغریب کتاب به همراه زبان شاعرانه و لطیف فوئنکیس که در کتاب خاطرات نیز از آن استفاده کرد خوانش کتاب را متفاوت و جذاب میکند. هر دو کتاب از روانترین کتابهایی بوده که اخیرا خواندهام. فوئنکیس بعد از خوانش یک اتوبیوگرافی و از دل آن همچین ادبیاتی را خلق کرده و این کاریست که از یک نویسندهی ویژه برمیآید
شارلوت مقابل فروپاشی مادرش بردبار است
به افسردگی مادرش خو گرفته است
آیا شخصیت هنرمند اینطور شکل میگیرد؟
به لطف خوگرفتن به دیوانگی دیگران؟
ص۲۸
در نامهای مینویسد
من همهی شخصیتهای نمایشنامهام بودم
آموختم همه راهها را بروم
بنابراین به خودم بدل شدم
ص۲۸۰
ما هم مانند نویسنده میان بسیاری جملات نیاز به تنفس و بازیابی نیرو داریم. حماقت یک انسان و یک ایده چگونه میتواند سادهترین حقوق یک انسان را از نقض کند. و شارلوت تنها یکی از میلیونها آسیبدیده است
انگار زندگی غریب و سخت شارلوت بر فرم نویسنده و تجربهی مخاطب نیز اثر میگذارد. کتاب با جملات دقیق و موجز روایت میشود. هر جمله یک گام در داستان است و هیچ زیادهگویی وجود ندارد. و راستش هیچ نیازی هم نیست. داستان آشنایی و ازدواج مادر و پدر شارلوت در دو صفحه و چهل جمله روایت میشود. انگار که زمان نیست و فقط باید سرفصلهای زندگی شارلوت را مرور کنیم. و همین فرم عجیبوغریب کتاب به همراه زبان شاعرانه و لطیف فوئنکیس که در کتاب خاطرات نیز از آن استفاده کرد خوانش کتاب را متفاوت و جذاب میکند. هر دو کتاب از روانترین کتابهایی بوده که اخیرا خواندهام. فوئنکیس بعد از خوانش یک اتوبیوگرافی و از دل آن همچین ادبیاتی را خلق کرده و این کاریست که از یک نویسندهی ویژه برمیآید
شارلوت مقابل فروپاشی مادرش بردبار است
به افسردگی مادرش خو گرفته است
آیا شخصیت هنرمند اینطور شکل میگیرد؟
به لطف خوگرفتن به دیوانگی دیگران؟
ص۲۸
در نامهای مینویسد
من همهی شخصیتهای نمایشنامهام بودم
آموختم همه راهها را بروم
بنابراین به خودم بدل شدم
ص۲۸۰
August 21, 2021
Romanas - biografija apie jauną, talentingą vokiečių dailininkę, žydaitę Charlotte Salomon. 26-ių ir besilaukianti kūdikio, ji buvo nužudyta koncentracijos stovykloje. David Foenkinos, prancūzų autorius, šią knygą rašė remdamasis Charlottės autobiografiniu kūriniu "Life? or Theatre?"
Šis romanas - keistas ir kitoks. Pavarčius, atrodo, jog parašytas kaip poema. Tačiau pradėjus skaityti, supranti, kad autorius tiesiog kiekvieną sakinį pradeda iš naujos eilutės, taip lyg ir sudarydamas odės įspūdį. Nežinau, gal prancūzų kalba tekstas dar ir ritmą turi? Sakiniai trumpi, sausi, kapoti, skūpūs būdvardžių, labiau konstatuojantys faktus. Pačiame romane jis, beje, aprašo tokio pasakojimo dėstymo priežastį. Aprašo ir savo kelionių, renkant medžiagą šiai knygai, istoriją.
Romano forma iš pradžių mane kiek erzino, bet vėliau virto į susižavėjimą. Mano galva, būtent toks šios knygos pavidalas labai tiko tokiai sunkiai papasakojamai istorijai.
'For years, I took notes.
I pored over her work incessantly.
I quoted or mentioned Charlotte in several of my novels.
I tried to write this book so many times.
But how?
Should I be present?
Should I fictionalize her story?
What form should my obsession take?
I began, I tried, then I gave up.
I couldn't manage to string two sentences together.
At every point, I felt blocked.
Impossible to go on.
It was a physical sensation, an oppression.
I felt the need to move to the next line in order to breathe.
So, I realized that I had to write it like this.'
Apie Charlottę sužinojau skaitant Marijos Stepanovos knygą "Памяти памяти".
Prisitempiau Charlottės reprodukcijų albumų, kuriuos vartyt buvo labai nelengva. Buvau pradėjusi nuoširdžiai skaityt ir žiūrėt jos piešinių su tekstais autobiografiją "Life? or Theatre?", tačiau neištvėriau ir grąžinau albumą į biblioteką. Gal dar sugrįšiu prie jo. Panaršius po bibliotekos katalogą, atradau šį romaną. Tai viena iš tragiškiausių mano skaitytų ar girdėtų tikrų šeimos/giminės istorijų. Charlottės šeimoje iš motinos pusės buvo žudomasi...na tikrai, į kairę ir į dešinę. O dar šeimai teko lemtis gyvent Holokausto metu.
Charlottės mama, kuri taip ir nesugebėjo įveikti patirtos traumos po sesers Charlotte (dukros vardą ji išrinko sesers garbei) savižudybės, pati nusižudė.
'She's already a...
Actually, what is the word for someone who has lost a sister?
There is no word. Sometimes the dictionary says nothing.
Frightened by pain like her.' (16 psl.)
Charlottę augino pamotė, garsi prieškario Vokietijos dainininkė Paula Lindberg. Paula labai mylėjo podukrą ir kiek galėdama stengėsi ją apsaugoti nuo Charlotės šeimą persekiojančios lemties. Net nebeleido jai lankytis pas senelius, nusiuntė grasinanti laišką močiutei, kad neleis jiems užkrėsti anūkės nusižudymo "virusu". Tačiau prasidėjęs antrasis pasaulinis karas diktavo savo taisykles. Charlottė buvo išsiųsta pas senelius į Prancūziją. Ten ji sužinojo visą kraupią savo šeimos savižudybių istoriją, kai tuo pat metu nusižudė jos močiutė, kuri mane turėjusi "savižudžio geną".
'A few years passed, strangely happy.
But the black march began again.
Her brother's only daughter committed suicide.
And then it was her father's turn, and then her aunt's.
So there would never be any escape.
The morbid atavism was too powerful.
The roots of a family tree gnawed at by evil.
And yet she never would have thought her own daughters contaminated.
Nothing suggested it during their happy childhood.
They ran all over the place.
Jumped, danced, laughed.
It was unthinkable.
Charlotte, then Franziska.' (45 psl.)
Plate 8.
Senelio psichinė sveikata sutriko po žmonos savižudybės ir priverstinio išvežimo į žydų stovyklą Italijoje. Charlottei teko prižiūrėti jį ir iškęsti jo beprotybės priepolius. Senelis siūlo anūkei: 'Seriously, what are you waiting for?
You may as well go ahead and kill yourself too!' (156 psl.)
Plate 23. CHARLOTTE "You know, Grandpa, I have a feeling the world has to be put together again."
GRANDFATHER "Oh, go ahead and kill yourself and put an end to all this babble!"
Apie Charlottės prosenelę:
'There was your grandmother's mother.
She tried to kill herself every day.
Every day, yes, for eight years!
And then, there was her brother.' [...] (145 psl.)
Pačią Charlottę apima depresija, ji ilgisi mylimojo likusio Vokietijoje... Kūryba jai tampa išsigelbėjimu iš vis slogesnių jausmų ir minčių. Jai norisi (iš)pasakoti tiek savo išgyvenimų, tiek šeimos, o ir pagaliau laikmečio istoriją.
'On the way back, she breathes deeply.
This day marks the birth of her work LIFE? OR THEATER?
As she walks, she thinks about images from her past.
To survive, she must paint her story.
That is the only way out.
She repeats this again and again.
She must bring the dead back to life.' [...] (169 psl.)
Plate 24. Life or Theather?
'She is going to paint her memories like a novel.
The drawings will be accompanied by long texts.
It is a story that will be read as well as looked at.
To paint and to write.
This combination is a way of expressing herself entirely.
Or let us say totally.
It is a world.' (170 psl.)
Paskutiniaisiais gyvenimo metais Charlotte sutinka Alexander Nagler, taip pat pabėgusį nuo nacių į Prancūziją. Iš pradžių užsimezgusi trapi draugystė ('a friend I don't know what to do with') perauga į meilę. Meilę, kuriai nelemta trukti ilgai. Kaimynams įskundus, Charlotte suimama. Norėdamas būti su ja, Alexander prisipažįsta esantis žydas. Neužilgo jie abu (Charlotte besilaukdama kūdikio) bus nužudyti Osvencime.
Charlotte su seneliais.
Šis romanas - keistas ir kitoks. Pavarčius, atrodo, jog parašytas kaip poema. Tačiau pradėjus skaityti, supranti, kad autorius tiesiog kiekvieną sakinį pradeda iš naujos eilutės, taip lyg ir sudarydamas odės įspūdį. Nežinau, gal prancūzų kalba tekstas dar ir ritmą turi? Sakiniai trumpi, sausi, kapoti, skūpūs būdvardžių, labiau konstatuojantys faktus. Pačiame romane jis, beje, aprašo tokio pasakojimo dėstymo priežastį. Aprašo ir savo kelionių, renkant medžiagą šiai knygai, istoriją.
Romano forma iš pradžių mane kiek erzino, bet vėliau virto į susižavėjimą. Mano galva, būtent toks šios knygos pavidalas labai tiko tokiai sunkiai papasakojamai istorijai.
'For years, I took notes.
I pored over her work incessantly.
I quoted or mentioned Charlotte in several of my novels.
I tried to write this book so many times.
But how?
Should I be present?
Should I fictionalize her story?
What form should my obsession take?
I began, I tried, then I gave up.
I couldn't manage to string two sentences together.
At every point, I felt blocked.
Impossible to go on.
It was a physical sensation, an oppression.
I felt the need to move to the next line in order to breathe.
So, I realized that I had to write it like this.'
Apie Charlottę sužinojau skaitant Marijos Stepanovos knygą "Памяти памяти".
Prisitempiau Charlottės reprodukcijų albumų, kuriuos vartyt buvo labai nelengva. Buvau pradėjusi nuoširdžiai skaityt ir žiūrėt jos piešinių su tekstais autobiografiją "Life? or Theatre?", tačiau neištvėriau ir grąžinau albumą į biblioteką. Gal dar sugrįšiu prie jo. Panaršius po bibliotekos katalogą, atradau šį romaną. Tai viena iš tragiškiausių mano skaitytų ar girdėtų tikrų šeimos/giminės istorijų. Charlottės šeimoje iš motinos pusės buvo žudomasi...na tikrai, į kairę ir į dešinę. O dar šeimai teko lemtis gyvent Holokausto metu.
Charlottės mama, kuri taip ir nesugebėjo įveikti patirtos traumos po sesers Charlotte (dukros vardą ji išrinko sesers garbei) savižudybės, pati nusižudė.
'She's already a...
Actually, what is the word for someone who has lost a sister?
There is no word. Sometimes the dictionary says nothing.
Frightened by pain like her.' (16 psl.)
Charlottę augino pamotė, garsi prieškario Vokietijos dainininkė Paula Lindberg. Paula labai mylėjo podukrą ir kiek galėdama stengėsi ją apsaugoti nuo Charlotės šeimą persekiojančios lemties. Net nebeleido jai lankytis pas senelius, nusiuntė grasinanti laišką močiutei, kad neleis jiems užkrėsti anūkės nusižudymo "virusu". Tačiau prasidėjęs antrasis pasaulinis karas diktavo savo taisykles. Charlottė buvo išsiųsta pas senelius į Prancūziją. Ten ji sužinojo visą kraupią savo šeimos savižudybių istoriją, kai tuo pat metu nusižudė jos močiutė, kuri mane turėjusi "savižudžio geną".
'A few years passed, strangely happy.
But the black march began again.
Her brother's only daughter committed suicide.
And then it was her father's turn, and then her aunt's.
So there would never be any escape.
The morbid atavism was too powerful.
The roots of a family tree gnawed at by evil.
And yet she never would have thought her own daughters contaminated.
Nothing suggested it during their happy childhood.
They ran all over the place.
Jumped, danced, laughed.
It was unthinkable.
Charlotte, then Franziska.' (45 psl.)
Plate 8.
Senelio psichinė sveikata sutriko po žmonos savižudybės ir priverstinio išvežimo į žydų stovyklą Italijoje. Charlottei teko prižiūrėti jį ir iškęsti jo beprotybės priepolius. Senelis siūlo anūkei: 'Seriously, what are you waiting for?
You may as well go ahead and kill yourself too!' (156 psl.)
Plate 23. CHARLOTTE "You know, Grandpa, I have a feeling the world has to be put together again."
GRANDFATHER "Oh, go ahead and kill yourself and put an end to all this babble!"
Apie Charlottės prosenelę:
'There was your grandmother's mother.
She tried to kill herself every day.
Every day, yes, for eight years!
And then, there was her brother.' [...] (145 psl.)
Pačią Charlottę apima depresija, ji ilgisi mylimojo likusio Vokietijoje... Kūryba jai tampa išsigelbėjimu iš vis slogesnių jausmų ir minčių. Jai norisi (iš)pasakoti tiek savo išgyvenimų, tiek šeimos, o ir pagaliau laikmečio istoriją.
'On the way back, she breathes deeply.
This day marks the birth of her work LIFE? OR THEATER?
As she walks, she thinks about images from her past.
To survive, she must paint her story.
That is the only way out.
She repeats this again and again.
She must bring the dead back to life.' [...] (169 psl.)
Plate 24. Life or Theather?
'She is going to paint her memories like a novel.
The drawings will be accompanied by long texts.
It is a story that will be read as well as looked at.
To paint and to write.
This combination is a way of expressing herself entirely.
Or let us say totally.
It is a world.' (170 psl.)
Paskutiniaisiais gyvenimo metais Charlotte sutinka Alexander Nagler, taip pat pabėgusį nuo nacių į Prancūziją. Iš pradžių užsimezgusi trapi draugystė ('a friend I don't know what to do with') perauga į meilę. Meilę, kuriai nelemta trukti ilgai. Kaimynams įskundus, Charlotte suimama. Norėdamas būti su ja, Alexander prisipažįsta esantis žydas. Neužilgo jie abu (Charlotte besilaukdama kūdikio) bus nužudyti Osvencime.
Charlotte su seneliais.
September 18, 2021
Изключително въздействащ роман! Стилът на Давид Фоенкинос е особено поетичен и на мен страшно много ми хареса. Изреченията са кратки и емоционално натоварени. Всяко започва на нов ред, почти като в стихотворение.
Факта, че Шарлот е реално съществуваща личност прави романа особено тъжен и трагичен.
Живота на художничката Шарлот Саломон е белязан от трагедии. В семейството и има история на много самоубийства, собствената и майка не прави изключение.
Във всяка дума на автора си личи колко много е впечатлен от съдбата на Шарлот. На няколко места дори самият той влиза в повествованието.
Както много пъти съм писала не харесвам и не обичам да чета книги за лагерите, но тази е много различна (макар да не съм чела много) - първо Шарлот попада в лагер едва в последните 10 страници, но най-важното е, че фокусът пада върху всичко, което евреите преживяват от началото на управлението на Хитлер. Психическият тормоз, забраните, невъзможността да практикуват професиите си. Цяло чудо е, че Шарлот бива приета да учи в Берлинската художествена Академия, тъй като един от професорите е силно впечатлен от таланта и.
Много силно препоръчвам романът! Няма да ви остави безучастни. А аз ще чета още от Давид Фоенкинос!
Факта, че Шарлот е реално съществуваща личност прави романа особено тъжен и трагичен.
Живота на художничката Шарлот Саломон е белязан от трагедии. В семейството и има история на много самоубийства, собствената и майка не прави изключение.
Във всяка дума на автора си личи колко много е впечатлен от съдбата на Шарлот. На няколко места дори самият той влиза в повествованието.
Както много пъти съм писала не харесвам и не обичам да чета книги за лагерите, но тази е много различна (макар да не съм чела много) - първо Шарлот попада в лагер едва в последните 10 страници, но най-важното е, че фокусът пада върху всичко, което евреите преживяват от началото на управлението на Хитлер. Психическият тормоз, забраните, невъзможността да практикуват професиите си. Цяло чудо е, че Шарлот бива приета да учи в Берлинската художествена Академия, тъй като един от професорите е силно впечатлен от таланта и.
Много силно препоръчвам романът! Няма да ви остави безучастни. А аз ще чета още от Давид Фоенкинос!
May 10, 2018
O carte de o mare sensibilitate şi frumuseţe. O frumuseţe simplă şi delicată, ca şi cum autorul ar fi vrut să ridice uşor, cu doar două degete, vălul de tragism care acoperă viaţa unui geniu. Şi apoi, la fel de uşor, să îl coboare la loc. Pentru a lăsa totul netulburat.
A kiss from a rose on a grave...
A kiss from a rose on a grave...
July 31, 2015
Me acerco por primera vez a Foenquinos a través de su visión de Charlotte Salomón. Al abrir el libro primera sorpresa. Está lleno de puntos y aparte. Son micro frases componiendo una narración. Me cuesta empezar a leerlo. Leo despacio, parando en cada momento. Y entiendo que un libro así debe estar escrito así.
Pocas veces cierro un libro sabiendo que se queda para siempre, pero... Charlotte se queda. Se queda conmigo por un millón de motivos: su estructura, la historia que nos relata, la brevedad de la novela pese a lo mucho que cuenta, sus mil y una frases, sus dos mil momentos, sus vivencias, su capacidad para hacerme buscar mas y mas sobre Charlotte Salomón.
Foenkinos hace una novela como pocas he leído, de esas que te gustaría que quedasen encerradas en los libros de literatura para que lo disfruten millones de personas. Ojalá.
Pocas veces cierro un libro sabiendo que se queda para siempre, pero... Charlotte se queda. Se queda conmigo por un millón de motivos: su estructura, la historia que nos relata, la brevedad de la novela pese a lo mucho que cuenta, sus mil y una frases, sus dos mil momentos, sus vivencias, su capacidad para hacerme buscar mas y mas sobre Charlotte Salomón.
Foenkinos hace una novela como pocas he leído, de esas que te gustaría que quedasen encerradas en los libros de literatura para que lo disfruten millones de personas. Ojalá.
December 2, 2018
David Foenkinos viết cuốn tiểu thuyết này dựa trên tác phẩm tự truyện "Cuộc đời? hay Sân khấu?" của nữ họa sĩ người Đức gốc Do Thái Charlotte Solomon – người đã bị sát hại khi đang mang thai bởi bàn tay ghê tởm của Đức Quốc xã vào những năm Thế Chiến 2. Tác giả trình bày nội dung cuốn sách này như một cách phản ánh cảm xúc của anh khi lần đầu tiên nhìn thấy tranh của Charlotte Solomon – những bức tranh mang phong cách hội họa đã lấy đi hơi thở của tác giả. Và vì thế, cuốn tiểu thuyết mà không hẳn là tiểu thuyết được trình bày như những vần thơ, với những câu văn xuống dòng liên tục, để cho các từ ngữ “có không gian để thở”, như lời tác giả nói. Ai không quen đọc sẽ thấy khó mà nhập tâm được vào câu chuyện lúc ban đầu. Riêng mình thì rất hiểu và trân trọng cách viết này của tác giả, vì hơn ai hết, mình hiểu cái cảm giác choáng ngợp đến mức không thể thở nổi khi lần đầu tiên đứng trước một cái gì đó, một ai đó như thể đã hớp hồn mình.
Và bằng tất cả tình yêu, lòng ngưỡng mộ dành cho nữ họa sĩ người Đức mà tên tuổi tưởng chừng đã chìm vào quên lãng, David Foenkinos đã làm sống lại một cuộc đời đầy biến động và đau thương của một tài năng hội họa đã lìa xa trần thế khi chỉ mới 26 tuổi. Cuộc đời ấy bị đánh dấu bởi những cái chết liên hoàn do tự tử (có thể nguyên nhân chính là vì chứng trầm cảm) của những người trong gia đình Charlotte, bao gồm cả mẹ và dì cô – người dì mà từ đó, cô mang cái tên Charlotte. Cuộc đời ấy bị đánh dấu bởi sự ác nghiệt, đến từ ông ngoại Charlotte, người ông dường như đã hóa rồ vì đớn đau sau khi nhìn lần lượt từng người thân yêu của mình ra đi vì tự tử, đến nỗi không còn biết đúng sai là gì, đến nỗi đổ hết mọi bất hạnh lên đầu đứa cháu gái vốn đã chịu quá nhiều tổn thương. Cuộc đời ấy được đánh dấu bởi tình yêu dai dẳng mà Charlotte dành cho Alfred – người thầy luyện giọng cho mẹ kế của mình, tình yêu mãi mãi không thể có một cái kết trọn vẹn.
Và cuộc đời ấy còn bị đánh dấu bởi sự kinh hoàng của cuộc Chiến tranh Thế giới lần thứ 2, của làn sóng bài Do Thái, cuối cùng là chiến dịch giết sạch người Do Thái trên các vùng đất bị Đức Quốc xã chiếm đóng. Mà tính khủng khiếp của chiến tranh, đặc biệt là cuộc Chiến tranh Thế giới lần thứ 2, của Holocaust, của một trong những cuộc diệt chủng đẫm máu nhất trong lịch sử nhân loại, cùng sự tàn ác đến điên loạn của những tên thống chế Đức trực tiếp chỉ huy việc bắt bớ, lùng sục, giết hại người Do Thái thì không cần phải nói nhiều nữa. Không đâu thực sự là một mái nhà yên ổn, và mạng sống con người có thể trong tích tắc bị đặt vào vòng nguy hiểm, thậm chí bị tước đi trong oan nghiệt. Đọc đến đoạn kết, cái hình ảnh Charlotte đang mang thai tháng thứ 5, ôm cái bụng bầu trần truồng bước vào phòng hơi ngạt cùng hàng ngàn những người phụ nữ Do Thái khác đã ám ảnh mình mãi… Thiết nghĩ, nếu như kẻ đã gọi điện chỉ điểm Charlotte là người Do Thái không làm như vậy, thì phải chăng thế giới đã có thể chiêm ngưỡng thêm nhiều tác phẩm hội họa khác đến từ một tài năng tuyệt vời, thì có lẽ đứa bé trong bụng Charlotte đã có cơ hội được cất tiếng khóc chào đời và sống một cuộc đời lẽ ra đã thuộc về nó… Oan nghiệt thay…
Càng đọc nhiều cuốn sách lấy bối cảnh là cuộc Chiến tranh Thế giới lần thứ 2, mình lại càng kinh hãi cụm từ “chiến tranh” đó. Chiến tranh không chỉ đơn giản là một đấu đá, tranh giành, xâm chiếm giữa hai (hay nhiều) chính phủ/nhà cầm quyền/quốc gia/phe phái, mà nó còn là những con người phải rời xa gia đình ra chiến trận, là những mạng sống vô tội lâm vào cảnh không nơi nương tựa hay bỏ mạng vì một tội lỗi không phải do mình gây ra, là những gia đình bị chia cắt, là máu xương vùi lấp không biết bao giờ mới tìm lại được… Mấy bữa xem thời sự, nghe tin Ukraine tuyên bố tình trạng chiến tranh với Nga tại một số vùng mà mình thấy lo lắng giùm cho người dân của họ… Mình không phải là chuyên gia chính trị, nên không biết giữa hai chính phủ có thù hằn gì… Nhưng nếu chiến tranh thực sự nổ ra, thì những người phải gánh chịu hậu quả nặng nề nhất vẫn là người dân mà thôi – những con tốt thí trên bàn cờ của chính phủ…
Câu chuyện của nữ họa sĩ tài hoa Charlotte, cùng những bức tranh mà cô gọi là “cả cuộc đời của mình”, cuộc đời nơi thực tại hòa lẫn vào sân khấu – cái sân khấu phản ánh thực tại và tồn tại trong những tác phẩm của cô, đã thực sự khiến mình phải suy nghĩ rất nhiều. Ngay cả sáng chạy xe trên đường đi làm, trong đầu mình vẫn hiện lên cái hình ảnh đầy ám ảnh, khi Charlotte trần truồng ôm cái bụng bầu 5 tháng bước vào phòng hơi ngạt, đến với cái chết của mình, cái chết khi cuộc đời cô chỉ mới bắt đầu, khi cả tuổi xuân vẫn còn ở trước mắt… Mình rất mong cuốn tiểu thuyết này sẽ được dựng thành phim, và hy vọng nữ diễn viên vào vai Charlotte sẽ nhận được đề cử Oscars Nữ diễn viên chính xuất sắc nhất cho vai diễn của mình…
Và bằng tất cả tình yêu, lòng ngưỡng mộ dành cho nữ họa sĩ người Đức mà tên tuổi tưởng chừng đã chìm vào quên lãng, David Foenkinos đã làm sống lại một cuộc đời đầy biến động và đau thương của một tài năng hội họa đã lìa xa trần thế khi chỉ mới 26 tuổi. Cuộc đời ấy bị đánh dấu bởi những cái chết liên hoàn do tự tử (có thể nguyên nhân chính là vì chứng trầm cảm) của những người trong gia đình Charlotte, bao gồm cả mẹ và dì cô – người dì mà từ đó, cô mang cái tên Charlotte. Cuộc đời ấy bị đánh dấu bởi sự ác nghiệt, đến từ ông ngoại Charlotte, người ông dường như đã hóa rồ vì đớn đau sau khi nhìn lần lượt từng người thân yêu của mình ra đi vì tự tử, đến nỗi không còn biết đúng sai là gì, đến nỗi đổ hết mọi bất hạnh lên đầu đứa cháu gái vốn đã chịu quá nhiều tổn thương. Cuộc đời ấy được đánh dấu bởi tình yêu dai dẳng mà Charlotte dành cho Alfred – người thầy luyện giọng cho mẹ kế của mình, tình yêu mãi mãi không thể có một cái kết trọn vẹn.
Và cuộc đời ấy còn bị đánh dấu bởi sự kinh hoàng của cuộc Chiến tranh Thế giới lần thứ 2, của làn sóng bài Do Thái, cuối cùng là chiến dịch giết sạch người Do Thái trên các vùng đất bị Đức Quốc xã chiếm đóng. Mà tính khủng khiếp của chiến tranh, đặc biệt là cuộc Chiến tranh Thế giới lần thứ 2, của Holocaust, của một trong những cuộc diệt chủng đẫm máu nhất trong lịch sử nhân loại, cùng sự tàn ác đến điên loạn của những tên thống chế Đức trực tiếp chỉ huy việc bắt bớ, lùng sục, giết hại người Do Thái thì không cần phải nói nhiều nữa. Không đâu thực sự là một mái nhà yên ổn, và mạng sống con người có thể trong tích tắc bị đặt vào vòng nguy hiểm, thậm chí bị tước đi trong oan nghiệt. Đọc đến đoạn kết, cái hình ảnh Charlotte đang mang thai tháng thứ 5, ôm cái bụng bầu trần truồng bước vào phòng hơi ngạt cùng hàng ngàn những người phụ nữ Do Thái khác đã ám ảnh mình mãi… Thiết nghĩ, nếu như kẻ đã gọi điện chỉ điểm Charlotte là người Do Thái không làm như vậy, thì phải chăng thế giới đã có thể chiêm ngưỡng thêm nhiều tác phẩm hội họa khác đến từ một tài năng tuyệt vời, thì có lẽ đứa bé trong bụng Charlotte đã có cơ hội được cất tiếng khóc chào đời và sống một cuộc đời lẽ ra đã thuộc về nó… Oan nghiệt thay…
Càng đọc nhiều cuốn sách lấy bối cảnh là cuộc Chiến tranh Thế giới lần thứ 2, mình lại càng kinh hãi cụm từ “chiến tranh” đó. Chiến tranh không chỉ đơn giản là một đấu đá, tranh giành, xâm chiếm giữa hai (hay nhiều) chính phủ/nhà cầm quyền/quốc gia/phe phái, mà nó còn là những con người phải rời xa gia đình ra chiến trận, là những mạng sống vô tội lâm vào cảnh không nơi nương tựa hay bỏ mạng vì một tội lỗi không phải do mình gây ra, là những gia đình bị chia cắt, là máu xương vùi lấp không biết bao giờ mới tìm lại được… Mấy bữa xem thời sự, nghe tin Ukraine tuyên bố tình trạng chiến tranh với Nga tại một số vùng mà mình thấy lo lắng giùm cho người dân của họ… Mình không phải là chuyên gia chính trị, nên không biết giữa hai chính phủ có thù hằn gì… Nhưng nếu chiến tranh thực sự nổ ra, thì những người phải gánh chịu hậu quả nặng nề nhất vẫn là người dân mà thôi – những con tốt thí trên bàn cờ của chính phủ…
Câu chuyện của nữ họa sĩ tài hoa Charlotte, cùng những bức tranh mà cô gọi là “cả cuộc đời của mình”, cuộc đời nơi thực tại hòa lẫn vào sân khấu – cái sân khấu phản ánh thực tại và tồn tại trong những tác phẩm của cô, đã thực sự khiến mình phải suy nghĩ rất nhiều. Ngay cả sáng chạy xe trên đường đi làm, trong đầu mình vẫn hiện lên cái hình ảnh đầy ám ảnh, khi Charlotte trần truồng ôm cái bụng bầu 5 tháng bước vào phòng hơi ngạt, đến với cái chết của mình, cái chết khi cuộc đời cô chỉ mới bắt đầu, khi cả tuổi xuân vẫn còn ở trước mắt… Mình rất mong cuốn tiểu thuyết này sẽ được dựng thành phim, và hy vọng nữ diễn viên vào vai Charlotte sẽ nhận được đề cử Oscars Nữ diễn viên chính xuất sắc nhất cho vai diễn của mình…
February 6, 2022
În cărțulia asta, care are oarecum forma unui poem în proză, David Foenkinos spune povestea lui Charlotte Salomon, artistă germană necunoscută mie pînă de curînd.
Charlotte a sfîrșit la Auschwitz, ca mulți alți evrei, deși destinul ei pare să fi avut o traiectorie tragică chiar independent de acest final. Foenkinos, care se insinuează el însuși în poveste ocazional, nu cade în patetism, cum se întîmplă de multe ori cu genul ăsta de scrieri, a scris simplu și direct un roman ca o scrisoare de dragoste artistului preferat, care l-a obsedat și căruia i-a căutat traiectoria prin Europa.
Mi-a plăcut. Recomand și cred că vreau să mai citesc Foenkinos, ca să nu zic de cartea scrisă chiar de Charlotte, “Leben? oder Theater” ( Viață? sau teatru? ), în care a povestit și ilustrat destinul tragic al familiei ei.
Charlotte a sfîrșit la Auschwitz, ca mulți alți evrei, deși destinul ei pare să fi avut o traiectorie tragică chiar independent de acest final. Foenkinos, care se insinuează el însuși în poveste ocazional, nu cade în patetism, cum se întîmplă de multe ori cu genul ăsta de scrieri, a scris simplu și direct un roman ca o scrisoare de dragoste artistului preferat, care l-a obsedat și căruia i-a căutat traiectoria prin Europa.
Mi-a plăcut. Recomand și cred că vreau să mai citesc Foenkinos, ca să nu zic de cartea scrisă chiar de Charlotte, “Leben? oder Theater” ( Viață? sau teatru? ), în care a povestit și ilustrat destinul tragic al familiei ei.
February 20, 2024
moi : je lis juste un chapitre et j’arrête.
aussi moi : termine le livre les larmes aux yeux en cours
aussi moi : termine le livre les larmes aux yeux en cours
May 6, 2018
What can I say about this book? At first I thought it didn’t download correctly and parts are missing. No was everything there.
I didn’t know about Charlotte Salomon, but I am going to buy her book now.
The style of writing adds an extra to this highly emotion-loaded book. In the end i was starring at my kindle with tears in my eyes.
This book is another example that simplicity and clarity of writing produce more emotion that long complicated filled with adjectives novels (😛)
„Asta e toata viata mea“ / „This is my whole life“ / „Das ist mein ganzes Leben“
I didn’t know about Charlotte Salomon, but I am going to buy her book now.
The style of writing adds an extra to this highly emotion-loaded book. In the end i was starring at my kindle with tears in my eyes.
This book is another example that simplicity and clarity of writing produce more emotion that long complicated filled with adjectives novels (😛)
„Asta e toata viata mea“ / „This is my whole life“ / „Das ist mein ganzes Leben“
March 22, 2025
A work of quiet intensity, a biographical novel that traces the life of the artist Charlotte Salomon - murdered by Nazis at 26 and pregnant - with a tenderness that borders on reverence. Foenkinos adopts a restrained tone, allowing the gravity of Salomon’s story to speak for itself. Salomon’s life, marked by artistic brilliance and unimaginable tragedy “She painted to survive, to outrun the ghosts that trailed her, to make sense of a world unraveling at its seams.”
The story begins in pre-war Berlin, where Charlotte grows up in a family haunted by a history of suicide. Her mother’s death, initially explained as influenza, is later revealed to be self-inflicted, a revelation that haunts Charlotte. Foenkinos writes, “She carried the weight of her mother’s absence like an invisible suitcase, one she would never unpack but would always carry.”
As the Nazis rise to power, her Jewish heritage becomes a target, and she is forced to flee to the south of France. There, in exile, she creates "Life? or Theater?", an extraordinary series of over a thousand gouaches that blend autobiography, theater, and music. Foenkinos captures the urgency of her work: “She painted as if each stroke could hold back the tide of history, as if art could be a shield against oblivion.” Yet, even as she pours herself into her creations, the encroaching horror of the Shoah looms, and the reader is left suspended between hope and dread, knowing the inevitable but clinging to the possibility of escape.
What makes Charlotte essential is its gallant commitment to remembering a life that might otherwise have been erased, illuminating the resilience and creativity that defined her. The book is a meditation on the power of art to preserve what history seeks to destroy. Foenkinos writes, “Her paintings are not relics of the past; they are a bridge to her, to us, to the future.” In an age where the lessons of the Shoah are increasingly distant, cheapened, mutilated and hijacked, Charlotte serves as a reminder of the individual lives lost and the stories that must not be forgotten.
Foenkinos’ decision to write this book feels deeply personal, as though he were compelled to bear witness to Salomon’s life, to ensure that her voice, silenced too soon, continues to speak. Foenkinos, I believe, wrote this book not only to honor Charlotte Salomon but to grapple with his own obsession with her story, a compulsion so intense that he visited every place she lived, as if proximity to her past could unlock her essence.
The central messages of the book, to me, are these: art can be an act of resistance, memory is a moral imperative, and even in the face of unimaginable suffering, the human capacity for creation endures. In an era where the echoes of fascism and anti-Semitism resurface with alarming regularity, are trendy and acceptable, Charlotte serves as a vital reminder of the individual lives obliterated, but also stands proud as a lifeline in the face of despair. This wonderful work conjures our collective conscience, asking us to remember, to reflect, and to resist.
The story begins in pre-war Berlin, where Charlotte grows up in a family haunted by a history of suicide. Her mother’s death, initially explained as influenza, is later revealed to be self-inflicted, a revelation that haunts Charlotte. Foenkinos writes, “She carried the weight of her mother’s absence like an invisible suitcase, one she would never unpack but would always carry.”
As the Nazis rise to power, her Jewish heritage becomes a target, and she is forced to flee to the south of France. There, in exile, she creates "Life? or Theater?", an extraordinary series of over a thousand gouaches that blend autobiography, theater, and music. Foenkinos captures the urgency of her work: “She painted as if each stroke could hold back the tide of history, as if art could be a shield against oblivion.” Yet, even as she pours herself into her creations, the encroaching horror of the Shoah looms, and the reader is left suspended between hope and dread, knowing the inevitable but clinging to the possibility of escape.
What makes Charlotte essential is its gallant commitment to remembering a life that might otherwise have been erased, illuminating the resilience and creativity that defined her. The book is a meditation on the power of art to preserve what history seeks to destroy. Foenkinos writes, “Her paintings are not relics of the past; they are a bridge to her, to us, to the future.” In an age where the lessons of the Shoah are increasingly distant, cheapened, mutilated and hijacked, Charlotte serves as a reminder of the individual lives lost and the stories that must not be forgotten.
Foenkinos’ decision to write this book feels deeply personal, as though he were compelled to bear witness to Salomon’s life, to ensure that her voice, silenced too soon, continues to speak. Foenkinos, I believe, wrote this book not only to honor Charlotte Salomon but to grapple with his own obsession with her story, a compulsion so intense that he visited every place she lived, as if proximity to her past could unlock her essence.
The central messages of the book, to me, are these: art can be an act of resistance, memory is a moral imperative, and even in the face of unimaginable suffering, the human capacity for creation endures. In an era where the echoes of fascism and anti-Semitism resurface with alarming regularity, are trendy and acceptable, Charlotte serves as a vital reminder of the individual lives obliterated, but also stands proud as a lifeline in the face of despair. This wonderful work conjures our collective conscience, asking us to remember, to reflect, and to resist.
August 25, 2020
Resgatei este e-book das prateleiras digitais do meu tablet sem saber que iria voltar às leituras do Holocausto/2GM mais cedo do que tinha programado (eu que queria manter-me afastada delas por muito tempo...).
Nada conhecia da protagonista que dá título à obra; desconhecia que era uma obra de não-ficção. Contudo, fiquei presa à leitura desde a página inicial, ao estilo muito particular e à justificação que o autor dá para ter escrito a obra como a escreveu e à participação de Foenkinos na narrativa.
É um testemunho horrendo, atroz, como são todos os que estão relacionados com o Holocausto. Aos murros no estômago adiciona-se muito emoção e comoção. E OBSESSÃO!
Recomendadíssima para quem é "obcecado/a" pela temática da 2GM, por obras de não ficção e pela arte.
Obrigada, Paulinha, uma vez mais.
Nada conhecia da protagonista que dá título à obra; desconhecia que era uma obra de não-ficção. Contudo, fiquei presa à leitura desde a página inicial, ao estilo muito particular e à justificação que o autor dá para ter escrito a obra como a escreveu e à participação de Foenkinos na narrativa.
É um testemunho horrendo, atroz, como são todos os que estão relacionados com o Holocausto. Aos murros no estômago adiciona-se muito emoção e comoção. E OBSESSÃO!
Recomendadíssima para quem é "obcecado/a" pela temática da 2GM, por obras de não ficção e pela arte.
Obrigada, Paulinha, uma vez mais.
March 26, 2021
Madre del amor hermoso!
Puntuaría con 4,5 pero redondeo a 5 porque me ha impactado en varios sentidos. Y teniendo en cuenta que no soy de biografías y libros de no ficción, valoro muy positivo que me haya gustado tanto:
- Me ha impactado la vida de Charlotte; no sabía quién era y me ha hecho investigar sobre ella y sobre todo, sobre su obra. Que un libro te encienda esa llamita, ya dice mucho
- Y me ha impactado como nos cuenta su historia. Todo en frases cortas, concisas pero a la vez llenas de mensaje. Aunque creo que es tan particular que conectas o no conectas. Lo único malo es que el escritor alterna la narración entre la vida de Charlotte y su propia investigación. Y esos cambios a veces me descolocaba porque no sabía en qué punto estaba.
Puntuaría con 4,5 pero redondeo a 5 porque me ha impactado en varios sentidos. Y teniendo en cuenta que no soy de biografías y libros de no ficción, valoro muy positivo que me haya gustado tanto:
- Me ha impactado la vida de Charlotte; no sabía quién era y me ha hecho investigar sobre ella y sobre todo, sobre su obra. Que un libro te encienda esa llamita, ya dice mucho
- Y me ha impactado como nos cuenta su historia. Todo en frases cortas, concisas pero a la vez llenas de mensaje. Aunque creo que es tan particular que conectas o no conectas. Lo único malo es que el escritor alterna la narración entre la vida de Charlotte y su propia investigación. Y esos cambios a veces me descolocaba porque no sabía en qué punto estaba.
September 20, 2019
Tôi mua cuốn sách này vì phải lòng cái bìa. Tác giả Foenkinos viết cuốn sách này vì phải lòng một bức tranh. Tất cả đều là tác phẩm của Charlotte. Mà tác phẩm của Charlotte, đúng như cô nói, cả nghĩa đen và nghĩa bóng, là cả cuộc đời cô.
Đời cô đã đẹp, dù là cái đẹp tàn bạo, như tranh của cô. Và Foenkinos đã giữ được vẻ đẹp đó bằng những tiếng thở ngắn.
Đời cô đã đẹp, dù là cái đẹp tàn bạo, như tranh của cô. Và Foenkinos đã giữ được vẻ đẹp đó bằng những tiếng thở ngắn.
May 19, 2017
Charlotte isn't easy to write about. What exactly is it? The story is based on fact: the life of German Jewish artist Charlotte Salomon, who was executed at Auschwitz aged 26. But it's clear that many of the scenes here are embellished, at least mildly fictionalised. At various points throughout the book, without breaking the flow of the narrative, Foenkinos talks about the process of writing Charlotte, his own fascination with Salomon, and the places he visited to get a sense of her life. This stitching together of genres and the use of the author's voice recall Laurent Binet's
HHhH
(the two books also share a translator, Sam Taylor). The author calls Charlotte a novel, but that doesn't seem quite right; it is, perhaps, a loose, creative biography.
It's also unusually laid out. Every sentence marks the start of a new line. On the page, it looks like a poem, but it doesn't read like one, although the simple sentences give it a distinctive style – clean and clear. In one of his asides to the reader, Foenkinos explains 'I felt the need to move to the next line in order to breathe. So, I realised that I had to write it like this.' The product of this method is straightforward and very easy to read. Yet the simplicity of the form is in contrast to the story told, which is filled with suffering, from the depression that plagued Salomon's maternal family line (at least five close relatives, including her mother, committed suicide) to her tragic death.
Salomon's autobiographical masterwork was named Leben? oder Theater? – Life? or Theatre? It is a collection of more than seven hundred pieces of art: a series of paintings, forming a narrative designed to be performed as a play, complete with dialogue and instructions for musical accompaniment. Through the work, the artist tells the story of her life and family history, exaggerating and distorting some details, and turning others into outright fantasy. Salomon's stepmother believed her relationship with eccentric musician Alfred Wolfsohn was mostly in the girl's head, while the prolific recurrence of his image in her work points to a deeper involvement. But the real answer is obscure: powerful art overwrites truth, perceived 'truth' is inevitably superimposed over art, and so on.
Charlotte, too, plays with the themes of life and theatre. It is a poignant, self-aware mixture of the two, imagining a way to fill the gaps in this fragmented story. Just as Salomon rewrote her own history, Foenkinos follows in the artist's footsteps, creating biographical fiction in a fitting homage to her magnum opus.
I received an advance review copy of Charlotte from the publisher through NetGalley.
TinyLetter | Twitter | Instagram | Tumblr
It's also unusually laid out. Every sentence marks the start of a new line. On the page, it looks like a poem, but it doesn't read like one, although the simple sentences give it a distinctive style – clean and clear. In one of his asides to the reader, Foenkinos explains 'I felt the need to move to the next line in order to breathe. So, I realised that I had to write it like this.' The product of this method is straightforward and very easy to read. Yet the simplicity of the form is in contrast to the story told, which is filled with suffering, from the depression that plagued Salomon's maternal family line (at least five close relatives, including her mother, committed suicide) to her tragic death.
Salomon's autobiographical masterwork was named Leben? oder Theater? – Life? or Theatre? It is a collection of more than seven hundred pieces of art: a series of paintings, forming a narrative designed to be performed as a play, complete with dialogue and instructions for musical accompaniment. Through the work, the artist tells the story of her life and family history, exaggerating and distorting some details, and turning others into outright fantasy. Salomon's stepmother believed her relationship with eccentric musician Alfred Wolfsohn was mostly in the girl's head, while the prolific recurrence of his image in her work points to a deeper involvement. But the real answer is obscure: powerful art overwrites truth, perceived 'truth' is inevitably superimposed over art, and so on.
Charlotte, too, plays with the themes of life and theatre. It is a poignant, self-aware mixture of the two, imagining a way to fill the gaps in this fragmented story. Just as Salomon rewrote her own history, Foenkinos follows in the artist's footsteps, creating biographical fiction in a fitting homage to her magnum opus.
I received an advance review copy of Charlotte from the publisher through NetGalley.
TinyLetter | Twitter | Instagram | Tumblr
May 4, 2018
Μέχρι και τα μέσα Απρίλη δεν είχα ιδέα για την ύπαρξη αυτού του βιβλίου, ενώ ακόμη και το όνομα του συγγραφέα του μόνο αμυδρά μου φαινόταν γνωστό. Ακόμη κι αν το ήξερα όμως, δύσκολα θα το προσέθετα στα μελλοντικά μου αναγνώσματα· το θέμα του, η ζωή μια Γερμανοεβραίας, άγνωστης σε μένα, ζωγράφου, που έχασε τη ζωή της στο Άουσβιτς, αφενός αγγίζει το ζήτημα του Ολοκαυτώματος που πάντα με ταράζει και το θεωρώ πολύ δύσκολο για να δώσει κάτι σπουδαίο λογοτεχνικά, και αφετέρου ανήκει, επιφανειακά τουλάχιστον, στο είδος της βιογραφίας, που ποτέ δεν με είλκυε ως αναγνώστη.
Το 'φεραν τα πράγματα όμως και μου ζητήθηκε από καλό φίλο να ανοίξω με ένα σχόλιό μου μια συζήτηση με αφορμή το βιβλίο αυτό στη Θεσσαλονίκη, παρουσία της μεταφράστριάς του στα ελληνικά, της Οντέτ Βαρών-Βασσάρ (https://www.facebook.com/events/18625...). Έτσι λοιπόν, το πήρα στα χέρια μου λίγες μέρες πριν, και το ξεκίνησα δοκιμάζοντας μια πολύ ευχάριστη έκπληξη, αφού βρέθηκα μπροστά σε ένα εξαιρετικό βιβλίο, και γι' αυτό οφείλω να ευχαριστήσω τον Δημοσθένη που μου ζήτησε να το σχολιάσω.
Ο Φοενκινός αφηγείται την ιστορία της Σαρλότ Σαλομόν, και μαζί της την ιστορία της οικογένειάς της, της Γερμανίας του Μεσοπολέμου, της κατοχικής Ευρώπης και του Ολοκαυτώματος, επιλέγοντας τη μορφή ενός πεζού κειμένου γραμμένου με μια πρόταση ανά σειρά, αλλάζοντας αράδα κάθε φορά που τελειώνουν οι σύντομες, βιβλικές σχεδόν, φράσεις του. Το αποτέλεσμα είναι, πέρα από κάθε προσδοκία, εντυπωσιακό· η αφήγηση αποκτά έναν γυμνό, χειρουργικό, και ταυτόχρονα βαθιά ποιητικό χαρακτήρα, ξεφεύγοντας με άνεση από τους σκοπέλους του λυρισμού ή -λόγω θέματος- του μελό. Σαν ομότεχνος της ηρωίδας του, ο Φοενκινός περισσότερο σκιτσάρει, παρά αφηγείται, τα γεγονότα, τους ανθρώπους και τις ψυχικές καταστάσεις, αφήνοντας τον αναγνώστη να συμπληρώσει μόνος του τα κενά, ενώ δεν είναι λίγα τα σημεία στα οποία στοχάζεται ο ίδιος πάνω στην τέχνη και τη δημιουργία, στον έρωτα και την ψυχική νόσο, στην οικογένεια και τη μνήμη.
Παράλληλα με την ίδια την ιστορία της Σαρλότ, σε μια σπάνια περίπτωση όπου η αυτοαναφορικότητα δεν είναι ούτε φλύαρη ούτε αυτάρεσκη, ο συγγραφέας μιλά για την ίδια τη διαδικασία συγγραφής του βιβλίου και για τη σχέση του ίδιου με τη ζωγράφο που εκτελέστηκε 30 χρόνια πριν γεννηθεί ο ίδιος. Μια ζωγράφο που αποδίδεται ως άνθρωπος με σάρκα και οστά, αδυναμίες και φόβους, και όχι ως κάποιο μεταρσιωμένο σύμβολο.
Πρόκειται λοιπόν για ένα σπουδαίο βιβλίο, που διαβάζεται μεν γρήγορα, αλλά αφήνει ισχυρό αποτύπωμα στο νου. Ευτύχησε μάλιστα να μεταφραστεί άψογα στα ελληνικά, χωρίς ίχνος γαλλισμών ή ακυρολεξιών. Το συνιστώ ανεπιφύλακτα.
Το 'φεραν τα πράγματα όμως και μου ζητήθηκε από καλό φίλο να ανοίξω με ένα σχόλιό μου μια συζήτηση με αφορμή το βιβλίο αυτό στη Θεσσαλονίκη, παρουσία της μεταφράστριάς του στα ελληνικά, της Οντέτ Βαρών-Βασσάρ (https://www.facebook.com/events/18625...). Έτσι λοιπόν, το πήρα στα χέρια μου λίγες μέρες πριν, και το ξεκίνησα δοκιμάζοντας μια πολύ ευχάριστη έκπληξη, αφού βρέθηκα μπροστά σε ένα εξαιρετικό βιβλίο, και γι' αυτό οφείλω να ευχαριστήσω τον Δημοσθένη που μου ζήτησε να το σχολιάσω.
Ο Φοενκινός αφηγείται την ιστορία της Σαρλότ Σαλομόν, και μαζί της την ιστορία της οικογένειάς της, της Γερμανίας του Μεσοπολέμου, της κατοχικής Ευρώπης και του Ολοκαυτώματος, επιλέγοντας τη μορφή ενός πεζού κειμένου γραμμένου με μια πρόταση ανά σειρά, αλλάζοντας αράδα κάθε φορά που τελειώνουν οι σύντομες, βιβλικές σχεδόν, φράσεις του. Το αποτέλεσμα είναι, πέρα από κάθε προσδοκία, εντυπωσιακό· η αφήγηση αποκτά έναν γυμνό, χειρουργικό, και ταυτόχρονα βαθιά ποιητικό χαρακτήρα, ξεφεύγοντας με άνεση από τους σκοπέλους του λυρισμού ή -λόγω θέματος- του μελό. Σαν ομότεχνος της ηρωίδας του, ο Φοενκινός περισσότερο σκιτσάρει, παρά αφηγείται, τα γεγονότα, τους ανθρώπους και τις ψυχικές καταστάσεις, αφήνοντας τον αναγνώστη να συμπληρώσει μόνος του τα κενά, ενώ δεν είναι λίγα τα σημεία στα οποία στοχάζεται ο ίδιος πάνω στην τέχνη και τη δημιουργία, στον έρωτα και την ψυχική νόσο, στην οικογένεια και τη μνήμη.
Παράλληλα με την ίδια την ιστορία της Σαρλότ, σε μια σπάνια περίπτωση όπου η αυτοαναφορικότητα δεν είναι ούτε φλύαρη ούτε αυτάρεσκη, ο συγγραφέας μιλά για την ίδια τη διαδικασία συγγραφής του βιβλίου και για τη σχέση του ίδιου με τη ζωγράφο που εκτελέστηκε 30 χρόνια πριν γεννηθεί ο ίδιος. Μια ζωγράφο που αποδίδεται ως άνθρωπος με σάρκα και οστά, αδυναμίες και φόβους, και όχι ως κάποιο μεταρσιωμένο σύμβολο.
Πρόκειται λοιπόν για ένα σπουδαίο βιβλίο, που διαβάζεται μεν γρήγορα, αλλά αφήνει ισχυρό αποτύπωμα στο νου. Ευτύχησε μάλιστα να μεταφραστεί άψογα στα ελληνικά, χωρίς ίχνος γαλλισμών ή ακυρολεξιών. Το συνιστώ ανεπιφύλακτα.
April 25, 2022
Comment écrire un avis sur un tel roman ? Comment mettre des mots sur la douceur, la tristesse, la violence de ces maux ?
Ce roman j’en avais peur.
Peur parce que le titre est mon prénom ?
Peur de m’ennuyer ?
Peur de ne pas aimer ?
Peur de trop ressentir ?
Et oui j’ai trop ressenti, tout ressenti… jusqu’à chaque virgule.
C’est un roman qui se lit très vite, de part son format mais aussi par sa fluidité. Par le génie de cet auteur qui dépeint le génie de cette artiste.
Une mise en abîme du génie.
Cette lecture me fait prendre conscience de deux choses capitales ;
Je suis capable d’apprécier autre chose que de la romance.
J’aime les mots. J’aime analyser chaque phrase, chaque vers. J’aime voir les corrélations. Chaque mot est à sa place.
Et ce roman vient de trouver la première dans mon cœur.
Ce roman j’en avais peur.
Peur parce que le titre est mon prénom ?
Peur de m’ennuyer ?
Peur de ne pas aimer ?
Peur de trop ressentir ?
Et oui j’ai trop ressenti, tout ressenti… jusqu’à chaque virgule.
C’est un roman qui se lit très vite, de part son format mais aussi par sa fluidité. Par le génie de cet auteur qui dépeint le génie de cette artiste.
Une mise en abîme du génie.
Cette lecture me fait prendre conscience de deux choses capitales ;
Je suis capable d’apprécier autre chose que de la romance.
J’aime les mots. J’aime analyser chaque phrase, chaque vers. J’aime voir les corrélations. Chaque mot est à sa place.
Et ce roman vient de trouver la première dans mon cœur.
July 17, 2016
Sigo leyendo libros de cinco estrellas, qué feliz me hace eso!
No hay que dejar de leer este libro, además de otra historia de una víctima del terror nazi, también una profundísima reflexión sobre el destino, la depresión, el karma, la familia, el amor, el arte y la desazón, o sea, la vida misma.
Escrito de una forma totalmente distinta a lo que he leído, parece que me cuentan la historia al oído, haciéndose notar el autor de vez en cuando durante su prosa, pero sobre todo, ayudándome a mi a entremezclarme con la historia de la protagonista.
Excelente lectura!
No hay que dejar de leer este libro, además de otra historia de una víctima del terror nazi, también una profundísima reflexión sobre el destino, la depresión, el karma, la familia, el amor, el arte y la desazón, o sea, la vida misma.
Escrito de una forma totalmente distinta a lo que he leído, parece que me cuentan la historia al oído, haciéndose notar el autor de vez en cuando durante su prosa, pero sobre todo, ayudándome a mi a entremezclarme con la historia de la protagonista.
Excelente lectura!
April 15, 2018
Interesantísima la historia de la pintora Charlotte Salomon. Triste, dura y trágica. (¡Quiero saber más!). Lo que no me ha convencido del todo ha sido la forma de contarla de David Foenkinos.
January 20, 2020
In my high school, we were expected to write matriculation projects. This meant a year of researching, coming up with a thesis, and writing a paper. As an art student trying to pick a topic, I was overwhelmed. There are so many fantastic artists out there and I was terrified that I'd pick an artist and then grow tired of them.
Until I saw Charlotte Salomon's work and then I knew, right when I saw her work, I absolutely knew that I could study it forever and ever and never grow tired. Charlotte Salomon is one of my greatest inspirations. She is so brilliant, so different than everyone else, so tragic and yet so powerful.
You study a lot about the Holocaust and know the number six million but I don't think I ever understood the immensity of the tragedy until I learned about Charlotte's life and how she was so so close to killing herself for so long and once she finally overcame it all, she gets killed by Nazis, pregnant and after finally calling herself an artist and making peace with life. It's so so unfair, so horribly cruel, so messed up and even now, it fills me up with fury. Charlotte Salomon should be considered among the great artists, worthy of comparing to Picasso or at least, Egon Schiele and yet, the Holocaust robbed her of the ability to be anything but a Holocaust artist, to reach the level of works that she should have been able to create.
I could rant about this forever (and already did for 90 pages in my matriculation paper) but I should probably get to the book. Foenkinos cares about Charlotte in the same passionate way that I do. He definitely does justice to Charlotte, he truly expresses her and I felt like she would approve of his words.
The format works so well. The writing is clear and every once in a while, there are some really poetic lines which hit hard. I loved how he weaves his own journey into Charlotte's one. We're here with him following her path but we're also right there with her going through it all. In many ways, it's similar to what Charlotte did as the narrator of "Life or Theater?".
I would love to see the sources Foenkinos uses for some of the things he writes. He claims that it comes from "Life or Theater?" but I have to say, from what I know, Charlotte doesn't write anything about her time in the French camp. How does he know that Hannah Arendt was there? Beyond that, I'd love to know what's his evidence for the sexual abuse from her grandfather, that is not something that shows up in her art, as far as I've seen.
And I realize that some of these things might be exaggerated, that one of the best elements of Charlotte's work is that so much of it is still a mystery. Is it life or is it theater? We don't know, we never know and maybe she had a relationship with her stepmother's singing teacher and maybe she didn't. Everything could have happened to Charlotte, just as everything can happen when you're on a stage.
I have to get back to studying but this book reminded me what it felt like to be deeply passionate about art, to spend hours analyzing her work (the last painting in Life or Theater is simply brilliant and I wrote over 5 pages about it alone), to sob in the library because damn, Charlotte Salomon simply can't catch a break, to drag my friend to Berlin so that I could see where Charlotte lived.
What I'm Taking With Me
- So the letter about how she murdered her grandfather was published after I had already written my paper but one of these days, I have to find the time to properly understand what happened there.
- The moment where Charlotte realizes that everyone in her family has committed suicide and that everyone assume that she'll also commit suicide and then she just takes everything and shoves it into her art. It's truly amazing.
- The color use. The composition. The vibrancy of her work, the humor, the anger, the pain, how she manages to tell a story, to mock everyone, to show the absurdity of this life while still being earnest and genuine. I still love this body of work as much as I did years ago.
Until I saw Charlotte Salomon's work and then I knew, right when I saw her work, I absolutely knew that I could study it forever and ever and never grow tired. Charlotte Salomon is one of my greatest inspirations. She is so brilliant, so different than everyone else, so tragic and yet so powerful.
You study a lot about the Holocaust and know the number six million but I don't think I ever understood the immensity of the tragedy until I learned about Charlotte's life and how she was so so close to killing herself for so long and once she finally overcame it all, she gets killed by Nazis, pregnant and after finally calling herself an artist and making peace with life. It's so so unfair, so horribly cruel, so messed up and even now, it fills me up with fury. Charlotte Salomon should be considered among the great artists, worthy of comparing to Picasso or at least, Egon Schiele and yet, the Holocaust robbed her of the ability to be anything but a Holocaust artist, to reach the level of works that she should have been able to create.
I could rant about this forever (and already did for 90 pages in my matriculation paper) but I should probably get to the book. Foenkinos cares about Charlotte in the same passionate way that I do. He definitely does justice to Charlotte, he truly expresses her and I felt like she would approve of his words.
The format works so well. The writing is clear and every once in a while, there are some really poetic lines which hit hard. I loved how he weaves his own journey into Charlotte's one. We're here with him following her path but we're also right there with her going through it all. In many ways, it's similar to what Charlotte did as the narrator of "Life or Theater?".
I would love to see the sources Foenkinos uses for some of the things he writes. He claims that it comes from "Life or Theater?" but I have to say, from what I know, Charlotte doesn't write anything about her time in the French camp. How does he know that Hannah Arendt was there? Beyond that, I'd love to know what's his evidence for the sexual abuse from her grandfather, that is not something that shows up in her art, as far as I've seen.
And I realize that some of these things might be exaggerated, that one of the best elements of Charlotte's work is that so much of it is still a mystery. Is it life or is it theater? We don't know, we never know and maybe she had a relationship with her stepmother's singing teacher and maybe she didn't. Everything could have happened to Charlotte, just as everything can happen when you're on a stage.
I have to get back to studying but this book reminded me what it felt like to be deeply passionate about art, to spend hours analyzing her work (the last painting in Life or Theater is simply brilliant and I wrote over 5 pages about it alone), to sob in the library because damn, Charlotte Salomon simply can't catch a break, to drag my friend to Berlin so that I could see where Charlotte lived.
What I'm Taking With Me
- So the letter about how she murdered her grandfather was published after I had already written my paper but one of these days, I have to find the time to properly understand what happened there.
- The moment where Charlotte realizes that everyone in her family has committed suicide and that everyone assume that she'll also commit suicide and then she just takes everything and shoves it into her art. It's truly amazing.
- The color use. The composition. The vibrancy of her work, the humor, the anger, the pain, how she manages to tell a story, to mock everyone, to show the absurdity of this life while still being earnest and genuine. I still love this body of work as much as I did years ago.
January 17, 2022
¿Sabes esos libros que cuando los acabas no estás bien? Pues eso me ha pasado con ‘Charlotte’, pero no solo al acabarlo, desde la primera página te invade una terrible tensión y congoja. Menos mal que es cortito y se lee en 3-4 horas, y así al menos el sufrimiento no se prolonga demasiado, aunque se que está historia real me acompañará para siempre.
‘Charlotte’ es una suerte de biografía de la pintora Charlotte Salomon, que murió en Auschwitz a los 26 años de edad. Ningún spoiler, dado que aparte de ser historia, se nos cuenta antes de iniciar la narración.
La vida de Charlotte es narrada en clave familiar, conoceremos varias de las generaciones que la precedieron para entender diferentes sucesos que marcarán la vida de Charlotte, fundamentalmente relacionadas con la enfermedad mental por parte de su familia materna. También conoceremos de primera mano el proceso de creación de la obra fundamental de esta pintora ‘¿Vida? ¿o teatro?’.
David Foenkinos, tras una enorme investigación, hace un acercamiento a Charlotte totalmente subjetivo, casi obsesionado y absolutamente maravillado por la figura de esta artista. Así, entre la narración de la vida de la pintora, encontramos pinceladas de su realidad, cómo conoció la obra de Charlotte, anécdotas de su investigación y una explicación al estilo con el que está escrita la novela.
Y es que, el estilo no es algo que pase desapercibido. A primera vista, si solo se da ojeada al libro, puede parecer que estamos ante un poemario porque no hay párrafos. Solo frases de menos de una línea. Pero es prosa, prosa casi lírica eso sí. La fuerza con la que pueden impactar las palabras cobra aquí su máxima dimensión. Algunas oraciones se sienten puñetazos en el estómago. Otras ponen de manifiesto la genialidad del autor, capaz de hacer una precisa descripción de la I Guerra Mundial en dos frases.
Una lectura que te deja sin palabras, imprescindible para quienes os interese la historia europea de la primera mitad del siglo XX. Eso sí, prepárate para una experiencia lectora diferente y muy dura.
[⚠️Trigger warning: suicidio, enfermedad mental, violación.]
Si os animáis a leerla, no os arrepentiréis.
‘Charlotte’ es una suerte de biografía de la pintora Charlotte Salomon, que murió en Auschwitz a los 26 años de edad. Ningún spoiler, dado que aparte de ser historia, se nos cuenta antes de iniciar la narración.
La vida de Charlotte es narrada en clave familiar, conoceremos varias de las generaciones que la precedieron para entender diferentes sucesos que marcarán la vida de Charlotte, fundamentalmente relacionadas con la enfermedad mental por parte de su familia materna. También conoceremos de primera mano el proceso de creación de la obra fundamental de esta pintora ‘¿Vida? ¿o teatro?’.
David Foenkinos, tras una enorme investigación, hace un acercamiento a Charlotte totalmente subjetivo, casi obsesionado y absolutamente maravillado por la figura de esta artista. Así, entre la narración de la vida de la pintora, encontramos pinceladas de su realidad, cómo conoció la obra de Charlotte, anécdotas de su investigación y una explicación al estilo con el que está escrita la novela.
Y es que, el estilo no es algo que pase desapercibido. A primera vista, si solo se da ojeada al libro, puede parecer que estamos ante un poemario porque no hay párrafos. Solo frases de menos de una línea. Pero es prosa, prosa casi lírica eso sí. La fuerza con la que pueden impactar las palabras cobra aquí su máxima dimensión. Algunas oraciones se sienten puñetazos en el estómago. Otras ponen de manifiesto la genialidad del autor, capaz de hacer una precisa descripción de la I Guerra Mundial en dos frases.
Una lectura que te deja sin palabras, imprescindible para quienes os interese la historia europea de la primera mitad del siglo XX. Eso sí, prepárate para una experiencia lectora diferente y muy dura.
[⚠️Trigger warning: suicidio, enfermedad mental, violación.]
Si os animáis a leerla, no os arrepentiréis.
January 27, 2015
Wahoo.
This book totally deserves his price and need to be translate asap!!
That's the word to express how I feel about this book. I read it in one sitting basically.
This book is about a young woman named Charlotte Salomon who was a German Jewish girl born in the wrong time.
This was such a powerful book. Reading about someone's life is absolutely fascinating and even more when this person is part of our History and here it is,a woman who died at the WW2.
The author's writing was absolutely wonderful and fast paced because It was kind of written in verse.
I'm always reading for some non fonction books and this one was just the perfect one.
It deals with Charlotte's curse of a familly and how at the end she escaped it even though she tragically died and was carrying life. Because yes she was pregnant of 4months when this happened.
So much tragedies in her familly with all the suicides on the woman side but even her oncle. And yet,she did not fall for this wave of tragedy she,in one way,survived,dramatically.
Her love for painting was really touching and learning about her life was absolutely thrilling.
Now I really need to buy me a copy of this book because my bestie lent it to me and It sure is one of my non fictonal fav books of 2015!
5/5 stars for sure.
This book totally deserves his price and need to be translate asap!!
That's the word to express how I feel about this book. I read it in one sitting basically.
This book is about a young woman named Charlotte Salomon who was a German Jewish girl born in the wrong time.
This was such a powerful book. Reading about someone's life is absolutely fascinating and even more when this person is part of our History and here it is,a woman who died at the WW2.
The author's writing was absolutely wonderful and fast paced because It was kind of written in verse.
I'm always reading for some non fonction books and this one was just the perfect one.
It deals with Charlotte's curse of a familly and how at the end she escaped it even though she tragically died and was carrying life. Because yes she was pregnant of 4months when this happened.
So much tragedies in her familly with all the suicides on the woman side but even her oncle. And yet,she did not fall for this wave of tragedy she,in one way,survived,dramatically.
Her love for painting was really touching and learning about her life was absolutely thrilling.
Now I really need to buy me a copy of this book because my bestie lent it to me and It sure is one of my non fictonal fav books of 2015!
5/5 stars for sure.
May 9, 2022
Me ha logrado impresionar, tanto por la manera como está escrito, con frases cortas, como por la trama y la forma de contar la historia. Es una novela biográfica de Charlotte Salomon, pintora judía de origen alemán, que fue asesinada, estando embarazada, por los nazis.
Señalaría el excelente trabajo de documentación del autor. El libro es duro, y no obviaré que en algunos momentos he tenido que hacer una pausa para poder seguir leyendo, pero, como siempre digo cuando se trata de este tema: es necesario leer sobre el nazismo para que no vuelva a pasar nunca más algo igual o similar.
Esta novela es una obra indispensable y me ha despertado la curiosidad para seguir indagando sobre la pintora. Por otra parte, también es un bonito homenaje a Charlotte Salomon, y al mismo tiempo, a todos los judíos que solo por el hecho de serlo, sufrieron una vida infernal.
Señalaría el excelente trabajo de documentación del autor. El libro es duro, y no obviaré que en algunos momentos he tenido que hacer una pausa para poder seguir leyendo, pero, como siempre digo cuando se trata de este tema: es necesario leer sobre el nazismo para que no vuelva a pasar nunca más algo igual o similar.
Esta novela es una obra indispensable y me ha despertado la curiosidad para seguir indagando sobre la pintora. Por otra parte, también es un bonito homenaje a Charlotte Salomon, y al mismo tiempo, a todos los judíos que solo por el hecho de serlo, sufrieron una vida infernal.
August 6, 2023
somehow it's way too long.
was kinda put off by the way the author imagined some of the details of her life and by his self inserts... you are simping we get it u are obsessed u can stop telling us u are. not the biggest fan of women's biographies that are written by men and this book has all the reasons i don't fuck with them.
i've seen her art, didn't know anything about her so i did learn things about a woman i knew nothing about so yay me. 3 stars for that.
was kinda put off by the way the author imagined some of the details of her life and by his self inserts... you are simping we get it u are obsessed u can stop telling us u are. not the biggest fan of women's biographies that are written by men and this book has all the reasons i don't fuck with them.
i've seen her art, didn't know anything about her so i did learn things about a woman i knew nothing about so yay me. 3 stars for that.
October 8, 2020
Today, I told my roommate that Charlotte Salomon’s story is my favorite. But what did I mean? I think favorite has a specific connotation attached to it in American English. Our favorite things are usually what bring us the most joy, a delicious glass of wine or a beautiful tree or the embrace of someone we love.
I think, though, that favorite can and should encompass more. The works of art that I’ve come to realize are my favorites make me feel something extraordinary, bring me on a journey through my emotions without abusing them. Most of us interact with visual culture – TV, movies, books, magazines – to attempt to connect with others. I admit that I watch reality TV and obsessively check Twitter to grasp for emotion, to feel something. But watching the histrionics of people we don’t know on a screen can only mimic that journey and feel like a release.
As we look, though, we know at our core that people behind the screen are trying to manipulate our emotions to sell us a worthless bauble or to convince us to continue to scroll, to like/comment/subscribe. We let them capture our attention, but we get back a deeper sense of dread and guilt. We aren’t participating in the journey, we’re told how to feel, to always feel strongly and clearly about right and wrong, up and down. How many times have you stared at the screen, realizing that hours have frittered away but that you’ve learned almost nothing, even as your emotions pass from rage at an awful news story to mirth at a groundhog eating a pizza? After a binge, I sink into a general malaise, burnt out from the overflow of fake sentiment… and then I do it again and again. Why?
We want to genuinely feel for others, but only rarely do we see works of art that allow us to empathize with all our hearts. For me, to empathize means to choose to feel with a person or a group, not at, for, or against them, and to do it freely.
The life and work of Charlotte Salomon, a German Jewish artist and storyteller of singular genius, allows the reader to empathize, to feel with her, without idolizing her. She didn’t paint and write Life? or Theatre , her autobiographical masterpiece of almost 800 gouache paintings, music, and text, to manipulate the reader’s emotions or to show herself or her family from a clear point of view. She locked herself in a hotel room for two years, hiding from the outside world and antisemitism, to tell her story to save herself, to make her own sense of the trauma, depression, and fragments of rapture that make up the first 23 or so years of her life. Experiencing Life? or Theatre? for the first time earlier this year, I felt every page, felt with Charlotte as she told the story of her mother’s suicide, the horrors of Kristallnacht, her love and lust for her stepmother’s singing tutor, her exile in the South of France, her grandparents’ decline, and finally her decision to save her own life by telling her own story, her own way.
Life? or Theatre? is true literature, a story that helps us understand how we feel and how we live. It’s the honest life of a young woman wrestling with her relationships with her family, friends, and the world around her. Rage, melancholy, joy, frustration, Charlotte’s story – and David Foenkinos’ elegiac rendering of it – makes us feel without feeling used.
Following Charlotte’s journey through Life? or Theatre? and Foenkinos’ voyage through his own feelings as he searches for Charlotte is a challenge to be present in the past, to look deeply at words and pictures, to see.
I think, though, that favorite can and should encompass more. The works of art that I’ve come to realize are my favorites make me feel something extraordinary, bring me on a journey through my emotions without abusing them. Most of us interact with visual culture – TV, movies, books, magazines – to attempt to connect with others. I admit that I watch reality TV and obsessively check Twitter to grasp for emotion, to feel something. But watching the histrionics of people we don’t know on a screen can only mimic that journey and feel like a release.
As we look, though, we know at our core that people behind the screen are trying to manipulate our emotions to sell us a worthless bauble or to convince us to continue to scroll, to like/comment/subscribe. We let them capture our attention, but we get back a deeper sense of dread and guilt. We aren’t participating in the journey, we’re told how to feel, to always feel strongly and clearly about right and wrong, up and down. How many times have you stared at the screen, realizing that hours have frittered away but that you’ve learned almost nothing, even as your emotions pass from rage at an awful news story to mirth at a groundhog eating a pizza? After a binge, I sink into a general malaise, burnt out from the overflow of fake sentiment… and then I do it again and again. Why?
We want to genuinely feel for others, but only rarely do we see works of art that allow us to empathize with all our hearts. For me, to empathize means to choose to feel with a person or a group, not at, for, or against them, and to do it freely.
The life and work of Charlotte Salomon, a German Jewish artist and storyteller of singular genius, allows the reader to empathize, to feel with her, without idolizing her. She didn’t paint and write Life? or Theatre , her autobiographical masterpiece of almost 800 gouache paintings, music, and text, to manipulate the reader’s emotions or to show herself or her family from a clear point of view. She locked herself in a hotel room for two years, hiding from the outside world and antisemitism, to tell her story to save herself, to make her own sense of the trauma, depression, and fragments of rapture that make up the first 23 or so years of her life. Experiencing Life? or Theatre? for the first time earlier this year, I felt every page, felt with Charlotte as she told the story of her mother’s suicide, the horrors of Kristallnacht, her love and lust for her stepmother’s singing tutor, her exile in the South of France, her grandparents’ decline, and finally her decision to save her own life by telling her own story, her own way.
Life? or Theatre? is true literature, a story that helps us understand how we feel and how we live. It’s the honest life of a young woman wrestling with her relationships with her family, friends, and the world around her. Rage, melancholy, joy, frustration, Charlotte’s story – and David Foenkinos’ elegiac rendering of it – makes us feel without feeling used.
Following Charlotte’s journey through Life? or Theatre? and Foenkinos’ voyage through his own feelings as he searches for Charlotte is a challenge to be present in the past, to look deeply at words and pictures, to see.
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