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Les Nuits De Fastov: Récit
Fastov est un gros bourg d’Ukraine, que l’Armée Rouge vient de libérer. Nous sommes en novembre 1943. À quelques verstes de là, un détachement allemand s’installe sur une butte boisée. La guerre est mouvante, il n’y a plus de Front, les chars soviétiques submergent la plaine, mais semblent oublier le groupe Stolzenberg. Là-haut sur la butte, le drame se noue. Les comparses sont tous là : Allemands, Alsaciens et Kachoubes, non-gradés, caporaux, sergents, un adjudant, un lieutenant, un capitaine. Les protagonistes, eux, sont ailleurs. Ce qui se passe devant Fastov, n’est pour eux qu’une petite péripétie entre mille. Que Bamberg assassine une femme ukrainienne, que François condamne ce même Bramberg à la mort : de quel poids cela pèse-t-il dans cette conflagration ? Qui se soucie de quelques incorporés de force alsaciens, dont le seul espoir consiste à survivre à tout prix ? Qui se soucie d’un socialiste allemand, qui ne sait plus où est son devoir ? Qui se soucie d’un Kachoube alingue, tout juste bon à être abattu comme un grand bœuf ? Trois Alsaciens devant Fastov : François, Théo et René. Le premier est blessé, le deuxième est tué, le troisième déserte. Là, devant Fastov, en trois jours et trois nuits, s’évoque le destin tragique d’une province française, arrachée à la patrie par la défaite de 40. C’est un récit poignant et cruel, qui révèle un écrivain alsacien de grand talent dont on parlera : André Weckmann.
175 pages, Unknown Binding
First published January 1, 2004
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October 16, 2007
This Alsatian author is not yet as famous as he should be, or rather, he is far from having as many readers as deserved.
Weckmann, who lives in his native Alsace, writes in French, German, and the Alsatian dialect. Among his many literary tastes, it might be significant to point out Frédéric Mistral, the 20-th century Provençal poet.
"Les Nuits", a novel, tells the story of a young Alsatian forced to fight in the German army during the 2d World War...or rather, that of the lazy days that precede battle on the Russian front. It is also about being far from home, on the wrong side, as well as about surviving the final and overall disaster.
Weckmann is a poet, and his prose is poetic. Some parts of the novel will come back to you in a dream, or later on, weeks, or months, or years later, in a fugitive moment which will remind you of the fat fields he regrets as his lost home, or maybe it will be the music of a tank's grinding trip through the night.
I'd like to say more, but my laptop's turning into a microwave oven, so I'll edit this some more later on, and that'll be it for now. I highly recommend this book !
Weckmann, who lives in his native Alsace, writes in French, German, and the Alsatian dialect. Among his many literary tastes, it might be significant to point out Frédéric Mistral, the 20-th century Provençal poet.
"Les Nuits", a novel, tells the story of a young Alsatian forced to fight in the German army during the 2d World War...or rather, that of the lazy days that precede battle on the Russian front. It is also about being far from home, on the wrong side, as well as about surviving the final and overall disaster.
Weckmann is a poet, and his prose is poetic. Some parts of the novel will come back to you in a dream, or later on, weeks, or months, or years later, in a fugitive moment which will remind you of the fat fields he regrets as his lost home, or maybe it will be the music of a tank's grinding trip through the night.
I'd like to say more, but my laptop's turning into a microwave oven, so I'll edit this some more later on, and that'll be it for now. I highly recommend this book !
Displaying 1 of 1 review