Comme le temps passe

by Robert Brasillach

***Book In French! ***

Genres: France, French Literature, Literature

318 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1937

About the author

French author and journalist.

Brasillach wrote both fiction and non-fiction. While his fiction dealt with love, life and politics in his era, his non-fiction dealt with a great variety of themes, ranging from drama, great literary figures and contemporary world events. His work in the realm of cinema history was particularly influential.

He became an editor of Je suis partout, a paper led by Pierre Gaxotte.

After the liberation of France in 1944 he was executed following a trial and Charles de Gaulle's express refusal to grant him a pardon. Brasillach was executed for advocating collaborationism, denunciation and incitement to murder.

Reviews

[Kovalsky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Il tempo che fugge, a dispetto del suo titolo - La ruota del tempo, in lingua francese - è un libro che sembra aver fatto della staticità la sua forza più grande. Questo non vuol dire che non ci siano azioni o che non succeda nulla ma nel leggerlo ci si sente immersi in un eterno presente onirico. Non è un libro immediato, arriva un po' più tardi. Letto in età adulta costringe a riavvolgere i nastri della propria ruota del tempo, a pensare ai rimorsi, ai rimpianti, alle occasioni sprecate e a quelle sfruttate male. Un esercizio mnemonico con se stessi e il proprio vissuto.

[Denis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brasillach is one of those French writers who made disastrous choices during WWII (an American book has been written about him and his trial at the end of the war). It's hard to imagine the author of such a wonderfully sensitive, dreamy and romantic novel as this one (whose title means AS TIME GOES BY, or also HOW TIME FLOWS) thinking and writing the horrible things he did later in life. A novel about a love that transcends childhood and adulthood, this is a forgotten masterpiece.

[Esdaile · Rating 5 out of 5]

I do not have time to write long reviews on this website alas, but this book is for me underestimated. The love scene far outweighs anything by DH Lawrence. Brasillach has something of the child about him and had all his life. This book is the yearning for the sunken garden, the hidden domain, the lost earthly paradise, which mankind COULD have made of this our earth. This book is one of my 20 favourite novels of all time.

[Frédéric De · Rating 5 out of 5]

Depuis le paradis terrestre d’Alcudia (Baléares), jusqu’à Paris, on suit René et Florence, qui s’aiment toute leur vie, mais se quittent et se retrouvent. La guerre de 14, le Paris des années 20 et l’histoire du cinéma sont superbement décrits par le style lumineux de Brasillach.
Le plus beau passage est assurément « la nuit de Tolède », scène d’amour entre les 2 époux : « ils sont nus l’un contre l’autre, l’un pesant sur l’autre, nus comme aux premiers jours du monde, dans l’innocence du jardin, pendant qu’au dehors la nuit espagnole rayonne sur la ville, et dans des centaines d’autres chambres sans doute, ici même, et dans des millions d’autres chambres par le monde, d’autres jeunes couples sont à ce même instant de l’immobilité dans le désir. Il caresse ses épaules rondes, il caresse son cou, il courbe le torse un peu plus, et pose ses lèvres sur les siennes. Il s’étonnera toujours de la fraîcheur de la bouche de Florence, comme elle s’étonnera de l’ardeur de sa bouche à lui. »

[axelottvn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Roman de l’enfance, du souvenir et des ombres, Comme le temps passe brille de mille feux dans l’évocation du temps partagé à deux et des périodes sans l’autre. Brasillach fait de ses deux protagonistes l’incarnation même de l’Amour, ou bien pour reprendre ses mots, « deux êtres qui peuvent se chercher, se perdre, se retrouver, sans jamais cesser d’être faits l’un pour l’autre. » Immense roman.

[Queralt · Rating 4 out of 5]

uno de mis autores favoritos

[PATRICE PRIVAT · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incredibly well-written, sensitive and nostalgic; takes you to Brasillach's world, the one he should not feel ashamed of, quite different from his nauseating political views during WWII