What do you think?
Rate this book
La guerre blanche
Le narrateur, un provincial « monté » de ses Ardennes natales à Paris, rêve de faire carrière dans les lettres. L'ébauche de son premier roman raconte la passion malheureuse qu'éprouve un adolescent pour un escarpin de simili cuir, découvert par hasard dans un pré, et dont il cherche idéalement à chausser la dame de ses pensées. Notre apprenti-auteur aura bien du mal à développer son sujet, en butte comme il l'est aux agressions de la grande ville; la promiscuité de son logement, le bruit et l'agitation de la rue, le tapage de ses voisins; sans compter les besognes auxquelles il lui faut sacrifier pour vivre, celle notamment de dactylographier les manuscrits de ses futurs confrères, ce qui le plonge dans un abîme de perplexité. Comment échapper aux fléaux de l'urbanisme tentaculaire, retrouver le silence et la contemplation indispensables au travail de l'esprit? Revenu dans son village, notre homme s'aperçoit que le machinisme l'y a déjà rejoint et que la Guerre blanche des engins industriels, si elle ne fait pas couler le sang, est aussi meurtrière à la campagne qu'à la ville. Existe-t-il, ailleurs que dans l'imagination des écrivains, ce lieu mythique où règnent la paix et l'harmonie?
183 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 1982
1 person want to read
About the author
Conrad Detrez
17 books2 followersConrad Detrez (1937-1985) was a Belgian (from 1982 on French) journalist, diplomat and novelist.
Abandoning his theological studies at the Catholic University of Leuven (Louvain), Belgium, Detrez traveled to Brazil at age 25 and, while teaching French literature there, became involved in revolutionary politics. Deported by the Brazilian authorities, he went to Algeria and Portugal before settling in Paris in 1978. He became a French citizen in 1982.
Detrez’s first published works were translations of Brazilian authors and revolutionary essays. As his political disillusionment grew, he turned to autobiographical fiction. Ludo (1974) is a fictional account of his World War II childhood, and Les Plumes du coq (1975) treats the 1951 abdication of the Belgian king Leopold III. Detrez’s most celebrated novel is L’Herbe à brûler (1978; A Weed for Burning), in which he recounts with carnivalesque glee the fatal return of his disillusioned protagonist—who has wandered for years in South America—to a Europe sapped of its revolutionary zeal. Criticism of leftist intelligentsia continued to be a theme in Detrez’s later work. He also published one book of poetry, Le Mâle Apôtre (1982), and his novel La Ceinture de feu (1984), about a French scientist in war-torn Nicaragua, was translated into English as Zone of Fire.
Abandoning his theological studies at the Catholic University of Leuven (Louvain), Belgium, Detrez traveled to Brazil at age 25 and, while teaching French literature there, became involved in revolutionary politics. Deported by the Brazilian authorities, he went to Algeria and Portugal before settling in Paris in 1978. He became a French citizen in 1982.
Detrez’s first published works were translations of Brazilian authors and revolutionary essays. As his political disillusionment grew, he turned to autobiographical fiction. Ludo (1974) is a fictional account of his World War II childhood, and Les Plumes du coq (1975) treats the 1951 abdication of the Belgian king Leopold III. Detrez’s most celebrated novel is L’Herbe à brûler (1978; A Weed for Burning), in which he recounts with carnivalesque glee the fatal return of his disillusioned protagonist—who has wandered for years in South America—to a Europe sapped of its revolutionary zeal. Criticism of leftist intelligentsia continued to be a theme in Detrez’s later work. He also published one book of poetry, Le Mâle Apôtre (1982), and his novel La Ceinture de feu (1984), about a French scientist in war-torn Nicaragua, was translated into English as Zone of Fire.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
No one has reviewed this book yet.