Illuminating Les Années Noires Through the Testimonial Voices of Irène Némirovsky, Marguerite Duras, and Charlotte Delbo
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University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 5-2009 Illuminating les Années noires through the testimonial voices of Irène Némirovsky, Marguerite Duras, and Charlotte Delbo Julia Allison Hope Weems University of Tennessee Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss Recommended Citation Weems, Julia Allison Hope, "Illuminating les Années noires through the testimonial voices of Irène Némirovsky, Marguerite Duras, and Charlotte Delbo. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2009. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/6032 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Julia Allison Hope Weems entitled "Illuminating les Années noires through the testimonial voices of Irène Némirovsky, Marguerite Duras, and Charlotte Delbo." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Modern Foreign Languages. John B. Romeiser, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Julia Allison Hope Weems entitled ―Illuminating les Années noires through the Testimonial Voices of Irène Némirovsky, Marguerite Duras, and Charlotte Delbo.‖ I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Modern Foreign Languages. __________________________________ John B. Romeiser, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: _________________________________________ Les Essif _________________________________________ Benjamin Lee _________________________________________ Dan Magilow Accepted for the Council: ______________________________________ Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official student records.) Illuminating les Années noires through the Testimonial Voices of Irène Némirovsky, Marguerite Duras, and Charlotte Delbo A Dissertation Presented for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Julia Allison Hope Weems May 2009 Copyright © 2009 by Julia Allison Hope Weems All rights reserved. ii Dedication To my husband, Jeff, I am grateful for your unconditional love, constant encouragement, and unabated patience. To my parents, John and Lynne, I thank you above all for your love, but also for instilling in me the desire to follow my dreams and to take pride in all that I do. To Dr. John B. Romeiser, the gift of your time and constant support is one for which I shall be forever thankful. iii Acknowledgements There are so many people who have had a hand in this process, even those from distant times and places. I must first acknowledge Dr. John Akers at Wofford College who first inspired me to study French. Dr. Dennis Wiseman and Dr. Caroline Cunningham guided me not only to finish my undergraduate degree, but in the process, helped me to discover my true passion, French and Francophone cultures. I would be remiss if I did not also thank Dr. Ana Maria Wiseman for her role in encouraging me to study abroad. Had it not been for these professors who had a hand in my early development as a student of French, I never would have pursued my studies at Middlebury College. To the entire Ecole française at Middlebury, I thank you for the phenomenal opportunity to study in such and engaging, stimulating, and rigorous environment. I would like to recognize the tremendous influence and positive effect that two Middleburiens have had in my life; Jean-Claude and Annie-Claude Motron, I am honored to be your fille ainée d’Amérique. I must also express my sincere gratitude to the entire department of Modern Foreign Languages and Literatures at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville who have helped fuel my desires to pursue a lifetime of learning. I appreciate the opportunity to teach at the university while completing my studies; it was an invaluable and unforgettable experience. To all of the French faculty, your hands have given definition and form to my purpose. For her inspiring example in the classroom, and her friendship and guidance outside of it, I would especially like to thank Dr. Karen Levy for her contributions. Dr. Sebastien Dubreil and Dr. Katherine Kong, I am grateful for your willingness to allow me to converse with you; our afternoon office visits have been a huge help. Dr. Mary McAlpin, I thank you for allowing me to borrow your office; it is where this project took form. I owe my most sincere gratitude to Dr. John B. Romeiser for directing this project, and to all of my committee members, Dr. Les Essif, Dr. Benjamin Lee, and Dr. Dan Magilow for their willingness to guide it to completion. For their support and encouragement, I extend my grateful heart to all of my family and friends. Above all, I thank God whose hand has given me the strength, courage, boldness, ability, and guidance to attempt to make a meaningful contribution to this life. iv Abstract The imprint that the Second World War has left on our global civilization is one that we are still trying to decipher. Les Années noires (The Dark Years or the Nazi Occupation) are still a murky part of France‘s national history as well as the history of the Second World War. Women‘s voices have often been left out of a traditionally male dominated body of wartime writings, though their experiences are an integral part of that history and merit further study. Focusing on the discourses found in women‘s testimonial voices found in French texts about les Années noires will help illuminate our perceptions of this historical period. Irène Némirovsky, Marguerite Duras and Charlotte Delbo bear witness to some of the tragedies of their epoque and their testimonial voices help to elucidate this shadowy past by revealing often overlooked and unnoticed particularities of women‘s experiences. Literature concretizes these women‘s experiences, rendering them forever accessible to readers who, in essence, are implicated in the witnessing process. The project presents a five chapter study beginning with an introduction that sets forth the theoretical framework. The second chapter focuses on a fictional novel by Irène Némirovsky, Suite française, which provides an eyewitness account of the Exodus from Paris in June 1940. Her novel exposes the deep social and political divisions in French society at that time and offers a cold-hearted yet truthful depiction of the beginning of life under the Occupation. The third chapter will look into journal/mémoire writing as seen in La Douleur by Marguerite Duras, whose narrative voice testifies about collaboration, resistance, deportation, victimization, reintegration and the profound psychological pain of les Années noires. The following chapter explores Charlotte Delbo‘s Mesure de nos jours, in which the author captures the struggle to ‗return‘ to life that she and others experienced. Delbo‘s realistic and frank writing style limits the extermination camp experience and life after it to what it was, unthinkable and inexplicable. The final chapter focuses on the implications these voices carry for our current and future lives. This study is important to projecting these often unheard voices for if we continue not to hear them, the ―Dark years‖ will remain forever grey. v Table of Contents Dedication ................................................................................................................................................ iii Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................ iv Abstract ...................................................................................................................................................... v Chapter 1---Introduction to Illuminating les Années noires ......................................................... 1 Remembering the Second World War ........................................................................................................... 1 Women and war .................................................................................................................................................. 6 Memory and history, testimonial literature as “lieu de mémoire” ...................................................... 13 Autobiographical, witness, and testimonial texts---an explanation of terms..................................... 18 Testimonial voices: veracity, authenticity, and credibility .................................................................... 21 Fragmentary and incomplete nature of testimony ................................................................................. 25 Testimony and discursive practice..............................................................................................................