Behind the Glass

by Robert Merle

Robert Merle's novel looks at a single day on the Nanterre campus of the Sorbonne, Paris' venerable institution. This day was just over a month before the revolutionary events associated with the May Movement (Touraine, 1971) of nineteen sixty-eight. Built in an industrial zone, occupied in previous centuries by vineyards and other fields, after the Second World War the grounds of Nanterre had been populated then abandoned, by various factories and warehouses, as the Parisian urban center pushed office complexes and suburban residential projects into the area. With the rapid expansion of France's university system, the Nanterre campus opened in nineteen sixty-four with nearly four thousand students. By nineteen sixty-eight, that number had swelled to fifteen thousand, and students expected to have twenty-five thousand classmates the following fall. On March twenty-second, a group of about one hundred and fifty students occupied part of the administration building of the Nanterre campus. These students took the date as the name of their movement, and we remember them for the central role that many of them played in the dramatic events which precipitated the events of May. As such, it is worth looking into how these students came together in the first place.

Occupation

On March twenty-second students from a variety of groups came together to occupy the eighth-floor of building A on Nanterre's campus. What began on the ground floor as a sort of open forum for any student to air their opinions or state their proposals for action, was transformed into an evening of further debate in the relative comfort and accommodation of the professors' eighth-floor meeting room. Where they stood, packed shoulder to shoulder, in the foyer on the ground floor, in the meeting room they draped themselves comfortably over the lounge chairs and organized themselves around the immense wooden table that normally served the faculty and administration. It was another instance of the students flagrantly disregarding the rules and customs of the Parisian university system. It was another instance of the students organizing to express their discontent with the conditions under which they labored as students under the administration of de Gaulle. It was another instance of the students choosing a bit of unmitigated comfort over the prevailing conditions thrust upon them by a relatively unsympathetic bureaucracy.

Genres: Fiction, Classics, Historical Fiction, French Literature

379 pages, Hardcover

First published October 14, 1970

About the author

Born in Tebessa located in ,what was then, the French colony of Algeria. Robert Merle and his family moved to France in 1918. Merle wrote in many styles and won the Prix Goncourt for his novel Week-end à Zuydcoote. He has also written a 13 book series of historical novels, Fortune de France. Recreating 16th and 17th century France through the eyes of a fictitious Protestant doctor turned spy, he went so far as to write it in the period's French making it virtually untranslatable.

His novels Un animal doué de la raison (A Sentient Animal, 1967), a stark Cold War satire inspired by John Lilly's studies of dolphins and the Caribbean Crisis, and Malevil (1972), a post-apocalyptic story, were both translated into English and filmed, the former as Day of the Dolphin. The film The Day of the Dolphin bore very little resemblance to Merle's story.

He died of a heart attack at his home La Malmaison in Grosrouvre near Paris.

Reviews

[Vit Babenco]

The tumultuous years in the end of the sixties were a street fighting era – the students hid their books, unsheathed their bayonets and went to fight…

Can we say that the intelligentsia is the agent of historical change? Can we say that the intelligentsia today is a revolutionary class? The answer I would give is: No, we cannot say that. But we can say, and I think we must say, that the intelligentsia has a decisive preparatory function, not more; and I suggest that this is plenty. By itself it is not and cannot be a revolutionary class, but it can become the catalyst…”
Herbert Marcuse – Liberation from the Affluent Society.

Behind the Glass was a cult book in the Soviet Union – literally the music of rebellion sounding from the other side of the iron curtain…

Marcuse proved nothing! His books are a series of predictions, unconfirmed by any concrete analysis, and he isn’t concerned with any proofs. Marcuse isn’t a sociologist, he’s a prophet.

Promises… Promises… “The meek shall inherit the earth!” “Workers of the World, Unite. You have nothing to lose but your chains!” “Power to intelligentsia!”
But history doesn’t care, it just continues on its way…

[Alexander Günther]

Robert Merle ist für mich spätestens seit Malevil ein Garant für gleichermaßen tiefsinnige wie packende Literatur. Seit langer Zeit griff ich nun, im Dienste der Frankreich-Mission wieder zu einem seiner Bücher. Dabei scheint "Hinter Glas" merkwürdigerweise zu den etwas in Vergessenheit geratenen Romanen zu gehören. Das Thema der Studentenrevolte von Nanterre in den späten 60ern des letzten Jahrhunderts mag vielleicht etwas Staub angesetzt haben, doch angesichts der Revöltchen, die die Gegenwart zu bieten hat, kann solch ein Blick zurück, auf das Aufbegehren der Altvorderen durchaus seinen Reiz haben. Nun ist die Historie um die 68er vielleicht auch schon einmal zu oft erzählt wurden. Doch in diesem Roman steckt viel mehr als eine schlichte Beschreibung der Studentenrevolte. Es ist ein vielschichtiger, mehrdimensionaler Kosmos an Menschen, Gefühlen und Sichtweisen. Das Kaleidoskop der Perspektiven reicht vom algerischen Hilfsarbeiter auf der Uni-Baustelle, über zahlreiche Studenten und Studentinnen, die Hausmeister bis zum Dekan (u.v.m.) und schafft es dabei, sich nicht zu verheddern sondern einen stringenten, bzw. mehrere sich bedingende und ausschließende Handlungsstränge zu präsentieren. Die häufigen Perspektivwechsel innerhalb der Kapitel sind gekonnt umgesetzt und und wirken weder erzwungen noch verwirrend. Auch wenn die Erzählweise manches Mal etwas plump daherkommt, gewinnt man überraschend oft erhellende Erkenntnisse über die menschliche Natur und die altbekannten Hemmnisse und Behäbigkeiten an denen der gesellschaftliche Fortschritt seit Menschengedenken krankt.

[Plesz Roland]

Nagy kedvelője vagyok Merle munkásságának, de az Üvegfal mögött majdhogynem kifogott rajtam. Nagyon kusza és csapongó, emiatt nehéz kötődni a karakterekhez. Egy idő után már csak becsületből akartam végigolvasni, sok élvezetet nem nyújtott (mondhatni a legtöbbet akkor, amikor véget ért és végre lerakhattam és nekiállhattam valami másnak).

Én kifejezetten nem ajánlom, pedig a Mesterségem a halál, a Malevil és a Védett férfiak nagy kedvenceim.

[Matthew]

A delight to read. Very few characters in Robert Merle’s novel, set over a day on 22nd March 1968 at Nanterre University, come off unbruised his scathing, often satirical, critique: neither the anarchists, Trotskyists, Stalinists, Maoists, professors - “leftists” or otherwise - nor the ordinary students, be they from elite bourgeois families or more modest origins. The exceptions to this rule could be counted easily on one hand : Abdelaziz, the Algerian labourer sacked from his job helping to construct the university; Denise, the dedicated, but compared to her comrades, considerate and sympathetic, Communist Party member (even if she is the victim of Merle‘s final dig of the novel); and perhaps also Delmont, the PhD student denied a promotion due to his refusal to lick the professors’ asses. Whilst from Merle you can tell a certain - reactionary - disdain for the student participants and “grouplets” that made up what would become May ‘68, he is just as scathing of the moderation of the French Communist Party, and indeed the contemporary capitalist system. Whether purposefully or not, an overarching feminist critique of “the left” of his era appears, with the male characters utilising the language of sexual liberation to excuse their own misogyny and bemoan their women comrades. The narrative flow that moves from internal monologue to monologue without much notice can sometimes be hard to follow, but for me made this novel a pleasure to read. Merle’s interviews with his students and experience of the French university system comes across clearly in the content of Behind the Glass, making it feel authentic and exciting, despite the (purposefully) anti-climatic plot. Cannot recommend enough.

[Dorina]

This is one of those books, which are hard to read, but worth it! One day at an Universty, where students and teachers try to be activists, but they are ridiculously locked into there own problems. Rich students, who want to be socialists, but won't help the real workers close to them. Or even better, they fight with the janitors for serving the professors, when they should fight for them! At least that's what they think they do.
Their biggest problem is the tower of professors, being too tall, and simbolizing their opression - but the professors also hate the tower because it is unuseful. Meanwhile there are groups and parties between the revolutionists too. Oh, and everyone is mad and assumes that they are the only virgins left...
So I think what you should learn from this book, is that instead of the getting into a meaningless revolution, just do some social work, and volunteer for the ones you want to help. Because, as it is written in the book, it is only worth living, if you live for others, too.

[BookLoving-Claire]

Derrière la vitre tells the story of a day in the life of the University of Nanterre in March 1968, through the points of view of several students and teachers.

An incredible novel, seemlessly swapping between traditional narration and stream of thought, where we are acquainted with the teachers' difficulties with colleagues, students or just the simple feeling of being old; with students ideally dreaming of improving the world, students with personal or financial difficulties, students dealing with their parents' old-fashioned education while trying to emancipate themselves, sexually or otherwise. This painting of the University of Nanterre is vibrant, colourful and absolutely brilliant.

A must-read (and preferably in French, if you understand it).

[Celine]

4* parce que j’adore l’écriture de Robert Merle. Il retrace ici une journée marquante de Mars 1968 à la fac de Nanterre, vu sous l’oeil de differents personnages: étudiants, profs, etc..
Il est parfois un peu difficile de suivre le fil et de se souvenirs de tous les personnages, mais c’est le contraste entre les préoccupations politiques de certains et celles beaucoup plus terre à terre des autres (la bouffe, le sexe, l’argent pour finir le mois) qui fait le charme du livre.

[Wendi Enright]

Didn't finish it. Just not a subject I was interested in, I guess. Read the other reviews, and I feel like I'm missing the boat. Might try to go back another time.

[Noémi Beer]

Best book of my youth!

[Eszter Gyimesi]

a kedvencem asszem

[Luboš]

----citace----
Na anarchistech se mi líbí jejich způsob života. Nikdy by ničemu neobětovali své osobní pohodlí.

Holky to (sebevraždu) obvykle nedokáží, říkal tehdy Demiremont, protože to většinou dělají naschvál někomu. Vy mi přece rozumíte. S tajnou nadějí, že se z toho dostanou, aby viděly, jaké z toho dotyčný nepříjemnosti. Může jim to taky ale nevyjít a pak na to normálně jaksepatří zahynou. (Vážná tvář a tišší hlas.) Pozor. Nedůvěřovat recidivistkám.

[Gabrielle]

Le choix de faire le récit du 22mars en montrant son caractère plutôt banal fait autant la force du récit, qu'il nourrit des longueurs. Ça permet bien d'évoquer les paradoxes de la condition étudiantes et ne pas trop prendre au sérieux les gauchistes permet bien de comprendre leurs forces et faiblesses même si ça devient assez redondant. La manière dont le sexisme y compris des gauchistes est montré est pas mal même si le love interrest de Denise ruine un peu tout.

[Tatyana Naumova]

Скучноватый образчик campus novel, где Мерль говорит все об одном: человеческие чувства - не буржуазный пережиток, а то, от чего тебя, к счастью, никакая политическая и учебная деятельность не спасет.

[Jennifer Doyle]

A novelization of the day of the student uprising at Nanterre. Really interesting to read if you are thinking about 1968, and about campus dissent today.