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Xerox University Microfilms 300 North Z ttb Rood Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106 73- 18,868

BROOKS, James Edward Eugene, 193U- TKE FUNCTION OF MYTH IN THE NOVELS OF BORIS VI AN.

The Ohio State University, Ph.D., 1973 Language and Literature, modern

University Microfilms, A XEROX Company , Ann Arbor, Michigan

© 1973

JAMES filhVAtUJ EUGENE BrtUCrkS

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

THIS DISSERTATION HAS BEEN MICROFLIMED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED THE FUNCTION OF MITH

IN THE NOVELS

OF

BORIS VIAN

DISSERTATION

Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy iii the Graduate School of The Ohio State University

By

James E, E, Brooks, B.A., B.Sc. Bus Adm, M«A.

The Ohio State University 1973

Approved By

Adviser r’trarti'icat of Romance I rang'i ages and Literatures ACKHa/LEDGMEHTS

I wish to thank Professor Don L. Denorest for introducing me to the study of French literature. My debt' to the late

Professor Charles Blend for exciting ray interest in twentieth century literature is great, I would like to thank ny adviser, Pierre Actier, Alice Kaaren Courtney can never ho repaid for her moral support. VITA

March 27, 1934 ...... Born, Roanoke, Virginia

1962 . . , .*«***. B.A., Bi Sc* Bus Adm, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio

1963 . . , ...... II. A., The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio

1963-1964 ...... Graduate Assistant, Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio

1964-1965 ...... Fulbright Fellow, University of Grenoble, Grenoble, France

1965-1966 ...... Fulbright Lecturer, University of Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France

1966-1967 ...... Graduate Associate, Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio

1967-1972 ...... Lecturer, Division of Comparative Literature, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iii

VITA It

INTRODUCTION 1

PART I, THE EARLY NOVELS

Chapter I. Trouble dans lea Andaino 25

II. Vcrcoquin et le planeton 57

PART II. THE SULLIVAN CYCLE

III. J'irai cracher sur vt>3 totnbea 91

IV. lea Morbs ont touo la meme peau 105

V. Et on tuera tcms les affrcux 120

VI. Elies ae rendent pno coCTpta 155

PART III. THE MATURE NOVELS

VII, l’Ecume dea Jour a 146

VIII. l*Automne a Pekin 173

IX. l'Herbe rou^e 193

X. 1 >Arrache-cceur 216

CONCLUSION 25**

BIBLIOGRAPHY 262

v INTRODUCTION

In concluding the Avant-propoa for a re-edition of Boris Vian's last written novel, Raymond Queneau wrote, fIBoris Vian va devenir Boris -j Vian," a statement that is unceasingly becoming true: true no less of all his published works than of the image of the posthumous man. Vian has said of himself, "... etre connu, c'eet etre meconnu. . an accurate appraisal of self by the writer who for years was known only as the author of a single scabrous novel. This latter judgement is a serious under-evaluation of the man who has been do (scribed by Pierre Kast as "1'Homme de l 1universal ito ... dans le temps de la spScialioa- tion, ... But with the rise of a new generation of readers, Vian is beginning to find his audience. As the critical appraisals of his texts multiply, the portrait of the man is becoming moro distinct in all its contradictory multiplicity, revealing him as an exemplary practitioner of his axiom, "... l'avenir est £ Pic de la Mirandolc; il faut etre un specialists do tout."** But let us begin at the beginning,

Boris Vian, 1 1Arrache-coeur, presentS par Raymond Queneau (Paris: Jean-Jacques Pauvcrt, 1962*7, p. 8, o Cited by Pierre Kant (in) prScentation de 1 Mlerbe rouge by Boris Vian (Paris: Jean-Jacques Pauvcrt, 1962), p. 9.

^Ibid.. pp. 8 and 23. k % Boris Vian, "Un robot-poete no nous fait pas peur," letter to Andre Parinand, originally published in Art3, (10-16 avril 1953)I 2

Boria Vian was born on March 10, 1920, of well-to-do parents at

Ville-d’Avray, near Versailles. He developed a rheumatic heart condition at the age of twelve which was complicated by a bout with typhoid fever three years later, in 193?* Despite his illness, he completed his first baccalaur&at in Lat in-Greek-Germ an in the same year, and in 1937 began to concentrate on the study of mathematics at the lyc&e Condorcet in Paris, preparing his entrance to l’Kcole Centrale. Discovering jazz about the same time, he studied the trumpet as his heart condition permitted. Not mobilised because of his health, Vian was accepted at Central# in 1939* removing to Angouleme with other students when the Ecole was evacuated to that city in anticipation of war with Germany. He received his diplome as engineer in 19^2, working at Association Franpaise de Normalisation

(AFNOR) and 1 ’Office du Papier. He left the profession in 19^7 when he resigned his position at 1’Office du Papier to try to earn his living as a writer.

Beginning in 19^2, Vian played trumpet in a number of amateur jazz groups, but primarily in the orchestra of Claude Abadie with whom he played until 19**9 . It was as the leader of a group of amateur musicians from the Abadie orchestra that Vian began to play at the Club Tabou in

19^7, moving to the Club St. Gerraain-des-PrSs the following year. This immediate post-war period constitutes the hey-day of the caves of St.

Germain-dcs-Pres and signals the renewal of night-life on the Left Bank. collected in Cantil3nes en gelee (and other texts), Le Monde en 10/18 (Paris: Union General# d'Editions, 1970), p. 225.

^Kunero special de Bizarre. N° 39-**0, "Les Vies parallelss de Boris Vian," (Paris: Jeon-Jacques Pauvert, fevrier 1966), p. 5ff; p. 29ff. Along vrith Jean-Paul Sartre, Vian cane to symbolize that rebirth, although Vian was more an animating spirit than was Sartre.^ The sen­ sationalist press of the post-war period (which Vian has called "lee 7 a pisse-copie"), "... tcujours en quete d'une ’jeunesee d'apris-guerre'.., pervertie par 1 *existentialisme ... pour en dire le plus de mal possi- o ble... ," did much to distort the meaning of that rebirth, and Vian*o role in it. He was quickly dubbed "le Prince de St. Gennain-des-PrSa, "9 and a part of his legend was born. When the furor surrounding the publi­ cation of J’irai cracher sur vos tonbes built to a crescendo, the notoriety of Vian and the Quarticr of the caves was complete. Finally,

on orders from his physician, Vian gave up trumpet playing definitively 10 in 1950 and gravitated away from the Latin Quarter,

Vian's first known text, a collection of poems, les Cent Sonnets

(written 19^2-43), remains unpublished. He wrote his first novel,

Trouble dans les Andains (19^2-43), although it was published only post- 11 hunously in 1966, By nid-19^6, Gallimard had accepted manuscripts

for two novels, Vercoquin et le plancton (written 19^3-*^) and l lEcume

6Ibid,, p. 31. 7 From the manuscript of: Boris Vian, Marrnol de St. Gcrmaln-des- Fres (written 1950, and as yet unpublished), cited by Noel Amaud in Bizarre, p. 51. 8 Bizarre, pp. 52-53•

9 Ibid.. p. 31.

10Ibid.. pp. 35-55.

Boris Vian, Trouble dans les Andnino (Paris: La Jeune Parque, 1966). M, Rybalka mentions a fragment of a reman policier written in 19^2, Mort trop tot, in Boris VIan: esmi d 1 interpretation et de docu­ mentation (Paris: Minard, 19o9),p. 203. des jours (written 19^5-March, 19^), and Vian was a candidate for the

publisher's Prix de la Pl&iade for 19^6. He had met Simone de Beauvoir

and Sartre, both of whom read l'Ecume des jours and were delighted by 12 it, Vian had a nouvelle. les Fourmio. and excerpts from l'Ecume des

-iours published in Les Temps Modernes the same year. In addition, he had

agreed to write a column for the revue, the Chronique du Menteur. With­

al, the beginnings of a solid literary career seemed established.

However, Vian was passed over for the Prix de la FlSiade in July, 19*f6,

and his novels had not yet been released, when he agreed to create a

"best-seller A l'americaine" for Jean d'Halluin of Editions du Scorpion

(brother of Georges d'Halluin, a member of the Abadie orchestra). Vian

wrote the novel in two weeks in August, J'irai cracher gur vos

tcmbea was published by Editions du Scorpion in November, 19*t6, (it was

signed "Vernon Sullivan" and was supposedly 'translated from the Ameri­

can* by Boris Vian). Gallimard finally published Vercoouin et le

planeton in January, 19^7. In February, Daniel Parker, president of the

Cartel d'Action Sociale et Morale brought suit against Vian and Henry -lit Miller, charging "outrage aux moeurs par la voie du livre," A second

erotic novel written under the same pseudonym, les Morta ont tous la memo

peau (19^7), added fuel to the fire. The trial lasted more than six

years and was blown out of all proportion by a sensationalist press. Two

additional novels signed "Vernon Sullivan," Et on tuera tons les affreux

12 Simone de Beauvoir, La Force des chosea, Livre de Poche (Paris: Gallimard, 1969)* tome I, p, 123,

^Bizarre, p. 57ff.

1^Ibid,, p. 60ff. (19**8) and Ellas ee rendent pas conrptc (1950), could not have titillated the most rabid voyeur in Parker's Cartel, Vian'a ultimate condemnation rests on J'irai cracher sur vos tombes and les Morta ont tous la neme peau, both of which were banned (and they are banned to this day). An evidently embarrassed Gallimard went ahead with the publication of l'Eciuno dc3 jours (April 19^7)» but Vian took hio next novel, l'Autorane 4

Pekin (witten 19^) to his friend Jean d'Halluin at Editions du Scorpion who published it in 19^7. The next novel, l'Herbe rouge (1950)^ was not 16 well received and when 1 1 Arracho-coeur (1953) sold hardly at all, Vian abandoned the novel as a form of literary expression.

Beginning in this sane period, Vian wrote monthly articles on jazz for Combat (then directed by Albert Camus) front 19^7 to 19^9* and for le Jazz-Hot from 19^6 to 1958. Both endeavors were labors of love, accomplished by Vian without remuneration. As a practising musician,

Vian preferred playing traditional or Dixieland jazz (his style has been 17 likened to that of Bix Beiderbecke). Consistently enough, Vian did much through his articles in the two revues to force partial acceptance in France of *Be-bop' and later, 'Hard Bop,' — or more generally, acceptance of the principle that jazz is an art form that must evolve. -,0 Virtually all these articles are collected in Chroniqueo de jazz.

1^Boris Vian, l'Herbe rouge (Paris: Toutain, 1950)* 16 Boris Vian, l'Arrache-cocur (Paris: Editions Vrille, 1953). Pierre Kast in his presentation of 1 1 Ilerbe rouge mentions 350 copies of 1'Arracho-coeur sold in the original edition, p. 9*

^^Bizarre, p. 35. 18 * Boris Vian, Chroniques de jazz, texte Stabli et present^ par lucien Molson (Paris: La Jeune Parque, 1967). 'Bop,' as it is called, Vian's poetry belongs to three distinct periods of his life* Les

Cent Sonnets, still unpublished, are prior to 19^. Barmuti’s Digest

and CantilSncs en gclSe (19^9)^ are collections of poems writ- 21 ten during a few months in 19^8. Je voudrais pas craver (1962), is a volume comprising poems written in the last four or five years of 22 his life.

Vian*s first play, 1 'Equarrissage pour tous (written 19**6-47)» 23 was finally produced and published in 1950* A "Vaudeville paramili- taire en un acte long," the ploy ridicules the purely military significance of the Allied invasion of Normandy on June 6, 19^* Vian and the play drew fire for its anti-war tone and general irreverence; but it also attracted the attention of the College de 'Pataphyoique, and Vian is the form of jazz which follows the Swing era in time. It dates from about 19^1 in the USA where it began; but, of course, World War II inter­ rupted ccmmiuii cat ions between the two continents. It is based on a freer, yet more controlled improvisation than is found in Dixieland jazz, greater use of contrapuntal rhytinc, etc. 'Hard Eopf is an evolutionary form of 'Bop' in which the juxtaposition of dissonant chords is emphasized*

Boris Vian, Baraum's Digest (Paris: Aux Deux Menteur3, 19^8)* The original edition was published privately by Vian and Jean Boullet who created the deseeing. Thus Vian and Boullet are "les deux menteur3." 20 Boris Vian, Cantilcnes en gelSe (Limoges: Rougerie, 19**9). 21 Boris Vian, Je voudrais pas crever (Paris: Jean-Jacques Pauvert, 1962).

^Bizarre. pp. 121-125. py Boris Vian, 1 1Eouarriscage pour tous (Paris: Toutain, 1950). First performed at the Theatre des Koctambules, 16 April 1950. The play is dedicated "A man ennemi intime CHARLEMAGItE." 2k 0 became a member in 1955. Le Dernier dc3 metiers, written ae a compani­ on piece for 1 'Eguarrissage pour tous (a long one-act play), was not then performed. The anti-clerical content was too explosive for the Director OC of Les Noctombules, Le Gouter des gSncraux (written 1951) was pub- 26 lished only in 1962. The play mirrors much of the realpolitik of

French foreign policy in North Africa during the period and anticipates to some degree the western attitude toward the colonial wars of the last twenty years. Lea Batisseurs d 1empire (written 1957) was published in 27 1959 shortly before the author's death and ia generally considered hia beet play. This text is the basis for Vian's being grouped with the playwrights of the 'Theater of the Absurd.1 Three additional plays, existing only in manuscript at the time of Vian's death, have recently been published! Tote de Medure, Serie Blcme (in argot and in verse) and

pli. The College, founded in 19**8, tries to perpetuate the spirit of Alfred Jarry and insists that there is "Only the science of the particu­ lar." To see the world 'pataphymqucnent is to realize that the only real solutions are imaginary ones; since the truth about 'reality* will never be forthcoming, all solutions are equivalent, Ionesco, Andre Mas­ son, Queneau and Roger Shattuck are notable members of the College. Cf. Ruy Launcir, Clefs pour la 'pataphysique, "Collection Clefs" (Paris: Editions Seghers, 1969)* pp. 6-7.

^^Boris Vian, pp. 171-203 of the Tcutain edition of l'Equorrls- sage pour tous, 1950. The play was first performed at the Cafe-T'heatre de la Grande Scverine in October, lOCk. The "hero," Pore Saureilles, is a stage performer like any other and his audi* ucea respond as they would to any vedette.

26 * Boris Vian, Le Pouter des gSnSranx (Paris: College de *Pata- physique, k Clinamen LXXXIk March lyb2jT. The play was first performed in German translation at the Staatetheater, Braunschweig, Germany, k^November, 196^. The French premiere was 13 September, 1965* at the Theatre de la Gaite-Montparnaase, pft a Boris Vian, Lew Batinc mra d*empire (Paris: College de 'Pata­ phyoique, 19 Pedale 86 "[13 March 19591). This play was first performed 22 December, 1959* at the Theatre Recamier. 8 28 le Chaoseur Frangais, all in. 1970. None of the three has yet been per­

formed. In addition* Vian adapted the Claire Goll translation of Georg

Kaiser's l'lncendie de l'Op&ra. the first performance having been given

19 May 1953* at the Theatre de Babylone.2^

Since hie plays were not performed and hia novels did not sell,

Vian translated at a furious pace in order to earn a living. Most nota­ bly, he translated Kenneth Fearing1 s The Big Clock. Dorothy Baker* s Young

Man with a Horn. Strindberg's Mins Julie and Erik XIV. Algren'o The flan with the Golden Arm. Cfciar Bradley's Diary of a Soldier. Brendan Behan's

The Qua re Fellow and The Three Faces of Eve by C. Thigpen and H. Cle- 30 ckly. In addition, Vian alone, or in collaboration with his first wife

Michelle, translated several mystery novels by James M. Cain, Peter Chey- ney and Raymond Chandler for Gallimard's 5&ric Moire, as well as two of

A. E. Van Vogt's science fiction novels. This activity spans the period

from 19V? to 1959.

In 195V-55, Vian toured the country as a chontear Aux Trois Bau­ dot g and again caused a furor with his song, le Deaertcur (195*0,*^ just as the First Indochina l/ar was ending and the Algerian VTar was becoming hotter. Vian has written more than *+00 songs, some of which have been

Boris Vian, Theatre Inedit, textes etablis par Noel Arnaud (Paris: Christian BourgoiG, 1970). 29 Cited by Michel Rybalka, Boris Vian: cssai d 'interpretation et de documentation (Pari3: Ilinard, 19^9)*" p* 188. *" 30 Bizarre. pp. 192-202. 31 * Vian's presentation of the song at Dinard provoked a near riot when a group of cuper-patriots criticized what they considered “une chanson ontimilitariste." Vian was quick to point out that the chanson is rather "... violemraent pro-civile." Bizarre, p. 200. 9

collectod in Textes et chansons (1966). In the last years of his life,

Vian was artistic director for jazz and novelties with Phillips Records,

and later, Barclay Records. He has written a book on the music industry

in France, En avant la zizigue ,.. ct par ici les prroa sous (1958).^ He has also written four operas. Three of them have been performed, the most important of which is Fiesta (with music by Darius Mi l h a u d ) . V i a n has also had parts in five full length films, his most important role being that of Prevent (oicD in Bogor Vadim*s Les Liaisons Dangereuses

(1959)• Vian has also had two volumes of nouvelles published, Les

Fourmis (1949)^ and Le Loup-garou posthumously (1970).^

Finally, while attending a preview of the film version of J*irai

crachor sur vos tombes (of which he did not approve), Vian was stricken with an oedema of the heart and died 23 June, 1959, at the age of thirty- nine. Ironically, in 1956 after a serious oedema, Vian said to his wife,

**Je n*atteindrai pas les quarante ans; ne t'accroche pas trop 3. moi.'*'^

^Boris Vian, Textes et chansons (Paris: Julliard, 1966). 33 Boris Vian, En avant la ziziquo .,. et par ici les gros sous (Paris: Le Livre Contenporain, 19520. 34 Fiesta was performed at the Berlin Opera, 3 October 1958; the two remaining operas that have been performed are le Chevalier de la neige (music by Georges Delerue), performed at the Theatre"ie Raney, Fe­ bruary, 1957; y.ne regrettable histoiro (music by Georges Deleruo) broadcast on franco I, Paris-Inter, TIT September 1961. A m o Saknussemm (music by Georges Delerue) remains unperformed. Bizarre, p. I69.

^^Boris Vian, les Fourmis (Paris: Editions du Scorpion, 1949). 36 Boris Vian, le Lonp-garou, textes Stablio par Noel Amaud, Le Monde en 10/18 (Paris: Union~Gen6rale d*Editions, 1970).

^Arnold Kubler, Dossiers du College do *PataphysiquQ. N° 12, p. 98. Cited in D. Noakcs, Doris Vian, "Collection Claseiques du XX® Siecle1* (Paris: Editions Univeroitaires, 1964), p. 40, 10

In spite of the prolific and multiple activities — the scope of which I have tried to indicate — at the time of his death, Vian was remembered only as the author of a single "scandalous and scabrous" novel,

Boris Vian’s novels were virtually unread during his lifetime and critical opinion of them was belittling, hostile or mistaken. One of the most important factors which denied Vian’s novels an audience was the vogue which called for a literature of ’the absurd,* for novels which expressed the experience of the years 1940-4-5, and which offered metaphy­ sical, group solutions to the problems of a world recently issued from such wholesale madness and inhumanity, A Camus or a Sartro was wanted, not a Vian. One critic reviewing Vercoquin et plane ton and using

Vian's multiple activities as a basis, describes him as "... une nouvelle esp^ce de clown 'existentialists1 musical et Srotique."*^ Vian is cate­ gorical on the subject. He states, "Je ne suis pas existentialiste. En effet, pour un existentialiste, l'existenco precede 1 'essence. Pour moi, IfO il n'y a pas d'essence." Such a statement effectively removes him from the surrealist comp as well as the existentialist group, since the former rejects one sot of absolutes in order to replace it with another. On the other hand, Joan Clouaet states in his introduction to the Seghers

E.-M. Albores has suggested that the literature of the post­ liberation period was the culmination of twenty years of a literature of despair, a summation of the past rather than an indication of paths to be token in the future. L ’Avonturo intollectucllc du XXe siecle (Paris: Albin Michel, 1959), pp. 50^305.

^Aimo Patri, "En quelqueo lignes," Para, H° 29 (avril 19^7), p. 33.

^Boris Vian, Interview, La Rue. (26 juillet 19^). 11 edition of Vian texts that Vercoguin et le planeton was not radically different from the majority of novels published in 19^5-47, which suggests the existence of a literary counter-culture -- but one not to be taken seriously*

Etienne Lalou characterizes Vian as an n... amuseur public ..." in his review of Vercoguin et le plancton and, reviewing l’Ecume des jours in the same article, he states that he prefers the former, while admitting the technical superiority of the latter, perhaps because he cannot abide rotnanciere qui so prennent au tragique ou a I*existen- 1+2 tialiceie, ..." and the world described in the second novel is grim*

Admittedly, there is a youthful quality to the first text. Vian describes 43 the effort as a story written "... pour amuser une bande de copains," ^ which was brought to the attention of a neighbor, Joan Rostand the biolo­ gist, who knew Raymond Queneau who was an editor at Gallimard. Rather than on their merits, Vian's first novels under his own name were judged on the basis of the author's multiple activities: he was chroniqueur at le3 Temps Kodernes. author of a roman loufo^ue (Vercoquin et le planc­ ton), jazz trumpeter in the caves of St. Gorraain-des-Pres, and perhaps most crucially, the author of J'irai cracher sur vo3 tombes. How can one take Vian seriously when he ehowB himself capable of such multiple and contradictory behavior, and who has tried to perpetrate a 'pornographic'

41 Joan Clouzet, Eoris Vian, "Collection PoStes d'aujourd'hui" (Paris: Editions Seghcrs, 196^)^ pp. 25-26.

^^Etionne Lalou, Quatre et Trois. (27 mars 19^7). Cited in M. Rybalka, Boris Vian. p. 203.'

^Quoted from Vian's papers (in) Bizarre, p. 80. literary hoax into the bargain? Vian has never called J 1irai cracher ear vos tocibes anything but a canulnr; as an erotic novel, it is comic, even grotesque, and one can see that Vian has his tongue in cheek. Nonethe­ less, the critics went berserk. The reviews range in tone from attempted objectivity; "Le recit est court, nerveux, vivant, truffe de scSnes d'alcoolisna, d'Srotisme et de sadiane. 11 font bien dire qu'aucun vrai probl&ne n*y est traitS, merae par allusion,"*^ or: "Une assez piteuse oeuvre litteraire, mais fabriouee avec talent et debordante de vie. Si les intentions en etaient un peu moins Svidentes, elle conatituerait un • 45 excellent pastiche du roman americain," to opposition: "L*impression de supercherie vient a la lecture pour cent traits de recit ou de conver­ sation raffinSs dans 1*ordure oui ne sont guSre dans la mani^re # 4 6 47 americaine." to word play: "Je crache, done j'essuie." or: "Boris 46 Vian no crachera plus sur nos tombes, mais dans sa trompette...

When a former milicien strangled his lover, leaving a copy of JHrai cracher sur vos tonbes beside her body, an anonymous article in France- 49 Dimanche called Vian an "assassin par procuration," In response to

44 Hebert Ranters, Lo Spoctatour. (26 novembre 1946), Cited in M. Hybalka, Boris Vian, p, 227. he Maurice Nadeau, Combat. (7 janvier 1947). Cited in M, Rybalka, Boris Vian, p. 227. 46 Bertrand d'Astorg. "les Fauscaires de VobecSnite," Esprit. l6e annee, N° 2 (fovrier 19^7), pp. 338-339. Ln Michel Audiard, Bataillo. (21 janvier 1948). Cited in M. Hybalka, Boris Vian, p. 226, 48 Cited in Jean Clouzet, Boris Vian, p* 8.

^France-Dimanche, (4 mai 1947). Cited in M. Rybalka, Boris Vian, p. 22?. 13 mounting virulence on the port of the critics, Vian stated in an interview:

On se plait done a. la clamer sur les toits, cette responsa- bilite. Ceux qui s'y emploient sont ou bien lee gons les plus doux de la terre (Sartre et corapagnie) ou bien les journalistes, ravis de se croire quelque chose. Or, un auteur est le type meme do l'irresponsable. C fest lui qui accomplit les volte-face les plus brillantes (Aragon, Gide, etc.).

... Certains, qui s'imacinent qu'un livre, qu'un po2me peuvent quelque chose, sont des poseurs. Un lecteur peut quelque chose; il peut meme invoquer le livre comme pretexte, avant 1 'action, ou comme justification apres elle. Mais e'est nier la liberte et donner des armes dangereuGOs aux avocats des crapulcs quo d'Scrire "ayant lu ces lignos, il 8trangla son araie." . ,.50

Here Vian makes clear once and for all the difference between the Sar- triens' and his own attitude toward responsibility and poetic creation.

The definition of responsibility implicit in the statement is much more limited than that offered by Sartre and has no abstract metaphysical overtones. Writing and other artistic endeavors are rigorously individ­ ualistic ways of life. The writer has only to respond to hia personal wollcpring of creativity. The work of art, once created, is inert since individuals are free. Thus Vian began to answer critical hostility with credo, but nothing helped to aquire an audience for his novels.

Posthum ou 3 criticism of the novels has been an entirely different story. There have been six book-length studies, a special issue of Bi­ zarre and two articles of substantial import devoted entirely to Vian.

Vian's friends from the College de 'Pataphysique have helped set the tone for all posthumous criticism by declaring that all his works are frankly autobiographical. Such a statement by those closest to the writer while

^Boris Vian, Interview, Point de Vue, (8 mai 19^7). Cited in M. Rybalka, 3oris Vian, p. 97. 1^

he lived, coupled with a need to "habilitate*1 the author, have dictated

the form of serious posthumous criticiaa to date. Generally, the books

of criticisn are biographical panegyrics where textual description is most prevalent and textual analysis is considered useful only to illumi­

nate Vian the man.

David Noake3 in his essay, Boris Vian, states that hit effort is

directed at those potential readers of Vian's works who know him only

through the legend of the "seandaleux." Consequently, the book attempts

to prove that Vian is worth reading and that his works have a place in

the tradition of 20th century French literature. In his introduction,

he states:

Hais il devient vite evident ... que Boris Vian n'a fait qu'adap- ter, pour exprimer sa fa^ on tree pereonnelle do voir les chosos, des procctles mis a la mode par les surrealisteo deo anneec 20 et 50. Le surr&alieae avait ct£ eurtout une tentative pour accoder a l'absolu. II suffit d'etre tant eoit peu au courant des pro­ occupations essontielles de Vian pour cociprendro tout ce qui le distinguait deo adeptes de cette foi nouvelle.51

For Noakes, Vian io related to the surrealists from the point of view of

style, but his individualistic "lives" will not allow disnissal of his

works as being already outmoded. IJoakes finally concludes that Vian's

works demonstrate that a reader comes to know the author through his 52 works, a generally conservative approach. The series "Classiques du

XX® siecle" is directed at the general public, and more particularly, the

foreign public who might shy away from writers considered difficult or

*^D, Noakeo, Boris Vian. pp. 11-12.

52Ibid., pp. 120-121. 15

"dangerous." Noakes's book remains the best general critical introduc­ tion to a writer who admits that his novels are "... difficile[s] a lire."53

Freddy De Vree's Boris Vian is the most overtly panegyric of the biographies, and its elliptical style seems aimed at a narrow con­

fraternity. De Vree wants to create a critique of Vian and hie works which is a mirror of one of Vian’s novels, perhaps in order to be faith­

ful to his image of the man. For a reader attempting to make sense of

Vian, and of De Vree on Vian, the results are chaotic, at best. The text begins:

Boris Vian (10 mars 1920 a Ville d ’Avray) a £crit des livres, Dont plusieurs rouans. II est celebre. XI est mort aussi (23 juin 1959). Done, il a Ste. II a et£ ingenieur, eerivain, trcmpottiste, peintre, compositeur, chanteur, chansonnier, comodien, menuicier, ebeniste, jcurnaliEte, inventeur, necanicien, critique, essayist©, traducteur, etc. Done, parler de Boris Vian ccrivain est delais- ser l'homme. Forcemcnt.-^1

De Vree also tries to rehabilitate the man Vian in all his multiplicity and quickly lapses into the hagiography he states should be avoided.

Again, textual analysis ia unsystematic (indeed, the book is one long

"etc."). De Vree's love for Vian obscures the need for critical clarity.

Henri Baudin's Boris Vian: la poursuite de la vie totale is a revised these du cycle and shows signs of such revision. Ball din also

focuses on Vian the man, and while some of his treatment of abstract the­ matic content is brilliant, Vian must finally be squeezed into the

^ V i a n in a letter to his second wife, Ursula, cited (in) Bizarre, p. 81.

^Freddy De Vree, Boris Vian (Paris: Eric Loefeld, 1965)* P» ?• 16 strait jacket of the series for which Baudin writes the book (,fHumanisu»e et Religion"). In his concluding chapter, he states, "La forme la plus fondamentale de la solitude chez Vian est la non-participation a l'ordre du monde. La raison toute simple en est pour lui qu'il ne voit d'ordre cc dans le monde; ... *" Lurking behind this statement is the essence,

French Catholicism, which assumes there is on order in the world (and it really is too bad that Vian cut himself off from the rewards of religion) in terms of which the author must finally be judged. His conclusions are unjust to Vian’s works and to his own previous description and analysis of those works. Baudin, of course, realizes what he is doing; nonethe­ less, the concluding chapters limp painfully off into nowhere.

The special issue of Bizarre. "Los Vies paralleles de Boris

Vian," includes many notes by the author (Vian did not keep a diary as such), short texts previously unpublished, reminiscences of close friends which shod light on the geneses of some of Vian's works, a good short article by Baudin, "Le Double et ses metamorphoses dans les romans de

Boris Vian," (which demonstrates what ho can do when not so strictured as in his book-length work), and an excellent bibliography. The text is a good critical tool that is an attempt to improve documentation of

Vian's life without concluding critically.

Jean Clouzet wrote the introduction to the texts in Boris Vian for the collection "PoSten d'aujourd'hui" for Seghere. The tendency toward rehabilitation is evident although Clouzet, as a practising

55 Henri Baudin, Boris Vian; la poursuite de la vie totale, "Collection Humanisme et Religion" (Paris: Editions du Centurion, 1966), P. 151. 17 physician, makes cogent remarks about Vian's heart ailment. Some writers have implied that Vian was "killed" by critical reaction to his works.

Clouzet states categorically that with Vian's heart, he could have had an attack at any time and that it was just as likely to be fatal whether he had taken his medication that morning or not, whether he had been attend­ ing that preview or not, Clouzet rightly limits excerpts from the novels, which could be misleading because of loss of context; instead, he emphasizes previously published poems, songs and complete short articles, 56 primarily jazz criticism.

The moot coherent critical work to date is Michel Rybalka*s Boris

Vian; cssai d * interpretation et de documentation. The subtitle indi­ cates the dual purpose of the study. The interpretation is textual, making fullest use to date of the novels signed "Sullivan," in order to illuminate the themes and imagery of the novels Vian signed with his own name. Again, textual analysis is a means of bringing Vian the man into sharper focus, Rybalka*s preference for l'Herbe rouge as tho cru­ cial text for an understanding of Vian causes him to neglect important instances of his chosen theme — the doppelgnnger motif -- in l'Automne a Fokin and 1 *Arrache-coeur. His attempt at documentation is very use­ ful, adding to tho known Vian bibliography,

Tho most recent book-length text devoted to Vian i3 Jacques Du- chateau's biography, Boris Vian. It is an attempt to establish Vian's theories of aesthetics as demonstrable by the novels themselves, and as these latter are complemented by personal recollections of friends at the

Jean Clouzet, Boris Vian. pp. 95-95* 18 tine of the genesis of each of Vian’s texts, IXichateau's essay is jour­ nalistic rather than scholarly and adds little to what Hfia already been

said about Vian's theory of literary creation. However, the text is rich

in anecdote about the author's life, making it a worthwhile companion to the preceding biographies on Vian,57

Among the articles that have been published, Daniel Grojnowski's

"1'UniverB de Boris Vian" stands out, A structuralist treatment of

1 'Ecune des jours, the text is proof that it is possible to write of a 58 Vian novel as an autonomous reality.*^ Marie-Chriatine Loriot's *1e

Langage de Boris Vian," a brief examination of Vian's use of language and the way in which that language informs symbol, is a welcome indica- 59 tor of paths to be taken in a more extensive study. And finally, a thoughtful, cautionary article by Pierre Chrietin, "Gloire posthume et consommation de masse: Boris Vian dans la societS framjaise contempo- raine," points out the drawbacks that Vian's sudden popularity has, and the dangers that increasing university criticism inherently tenders, for an accurate appraisal of Vian's literary 'place,' This caution is impli­ cit throughout the pages of Bizarre, but Christin makes more explicit

Vian's difficulty.

57 Jacques Duchateau, Bori3 Vinn, "Collection Leo vies porpendicu- laires" (Paris: La Table Hondo, “ 95957

' Daniel Grojnowski, "1'Univers do Boris Vian," Critique, tome 21, NO 212 (janvier 1965), pp. 17-28. 59 Marie-Christine Loriot, "le Langage de Boris Vian," La Ncuvelle Critique, N° 175 (avril 1966), pp.

^°Pierre Christinj "Gloire posthume et consomraation de masse: Boris Vian dans la societe franqaise contemporaine," 1'Esprit CrSateur. vol. 7, No 2 (Summer, 1967), pp. 135-1^3. 19

In many ways, the wealth of biography on Vian is a measure of the virulence of the attacks on the author during his life that condemned him to, and conceded him only, the 'Sullivan comer.' Therefore, the author must be '’habilitated" for potential readers beyond the small group of personal friends and Vianophiles who need no convincing. As biographies and biographer-friends continue to emphasize tho many facets of Vian's existence and, in particular, his novels as masked autobiographical mani­ festations of that existence, then the Sullivan legend and tho literary cold shoulder which, in part, resulted from it appears more lifeless, if capriciously effective in the pact. That Vian's friends, Jacques Bens,

Wool Amaud and Franqois Caradec were his first real critics is also of importance; they see his novels as evidence of a beloved friend's exis­ tence. As a corollary of the preceding judgements, Vian’s evident openness to all varieties of experience argues, in part at least, for an openness of interpretation of his works — if on© is to be faithful to the man. From yet another point of view, the biographical cast of most of the genuine criticism is a function of the difficulty of Vian's texts: he does not "fit" anywhere in the literary pantheon in a neat way and an historicist background is more than welcome for most of us as potential critics of his texts.

However, Grojnowski's article represents a departure front this trend and is a necessary change of direction at this juncture of Vian studies. Granted, every writer, through the transformation of 'reality* by tho imagination, tries, in the phrase of Merleau-Ponty, to "chanter le 20 monde"; in that sense every writer is autobiographical. But at the sane time, this imaginative transformation creates a verbal universe which is autonomous, self-refleeting while it simultaneously reflects -- although not necessarily coinciding with — the empirical world. If Vian is to continue to become himself, then the "va" of Queneau'e formula ("Boris

Vian va devenir Boris Vian") must be interpreted in a figurative sense — which indicates elucidation of his texts as texts. Vian'e use of language is like that of no other writer and goes hand in hand with his use of the "double" motif, which is also unique. When these two elements of his novels are seen in relation to his use of myth — both sacred and profane -- then the study of the structure of this three-fold relation­ ship should begin to reveal a viable level of significance in each of the novels which shows them to be also self-reflecting — not only transpa­ rencies which refer back to Vian.

I havo chosen as a working definition of ''myth" the one used by

Alan V/. Watts in a recent text: "Myth is ... a complex of ... [concrete!! stories — some ... fact and some fantasy which for various reasons, hu­ man beings regard as demonstrations of the inner meaning of the universe 61 and of human life." Watts's definition is broad enough to allow not only the inclusion of myths as generally conceived, but also myths cre­ ated within our own lifetimes. The most popular conception of myth is that of the residue of cultures that have ceased to exist; the Greek and

61 Alan W, Watts, Myth and Ritual in Christianity (Boston: Beacon Press, 1965), p. 7. 21 62 Egyptian myths are primary examples, and in relation to which the m o d e m reader must attempt to sort out what portions of the myths belong to what aspects of the culture of which the myths are survivors (ritual, folktale, etc.). The definition also allows for discussion of so recent a phenomena as the N a z i myth of the Aryan superman which proves that myths — in the broadest sense — are still being made. The advent of phenomenology in philosophy has shown that the study of myth cannot be separated from the study of existence; in this connection the ground for a more thorough interrelation between all the humane studies has been revealed, Merlcau-Ponty' n poetic "clianter le monde" is based on his 6k appreciation of the individual's situation in a phenomenal world. The discoveries made possible by phenomenology have led to so radical a cri­ tique of our ordinary ways of approaching the study of myth as that suggested by LSvi-Strauss in Mythologiquos: the structure of myth may mirror the structuro of the human mind, an inductive hypothesis that 65 refers back to Merleau-Ponty's thought. Watts is primarily concerned

62 Cf, G. S. Kirk, Myth: Its Meaning and Function in Ancient and Other Cultures (Berkeley: University of California Press, 197lT* pp. T f e .

^ C f . Henry Hatfield, "The Myth of Nazism," Myth and Mythmaking, ed* by Henry A, Murray (Boston: Beacon Press, 1968), pp. 199-220, 6k Merleau-Ponty stresses the necessity for the inductively think­ ing individual to call upon hi3 imagination in order to elucidate the fact of the world perceived; only by stripping the perceived world of its facticity, by finding an example, can the individual elucidate his world. At best, knowledge of the world is rendered partially explicit by the imaginative capacity of the perceiving human. Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Phenomenology of Perception, trans. by Colin Smith (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1962 ), pp. 52-6?. 63 Claude Levi-Strauss, Mythologiques: le c m et le cuit (Paris: Plon, 196^), pp. 9-^0. 22 with myth and its relation to Christianity; but his definition cannot be divorced from interpretations of the term ’“myth11 employed by most mod­ ern scholars.

The working definition of "myth1* is taken from Watts*s use of the terra which in turn implies the contemporary usage outlined above. To further clarify the last clause of Watts*s statement, I append my para­ phrase of a set of remarks by Jerome Bruner on the subject: myth is that device which allows mediation between the external world and individual inner existence, partaking of both, not absolutely identifiable with 66 either, yet allowing both to survive meaningfully. This extended yet open definition seems particularly true with respect to Vian's liter­ ary creation.

With this definition as a frame of reference I propose a textual study of the three-fold relationship — "double" motif-languago-myth -- in the ten novels known to exist. The study will be divided into three parts, dictated by the three natural groupings into vrhich the novels fall. In Part One, the two early novels, Trouble dart3 les Andaina and

Verconuin ot le planeton. because they share the same youthful tone.

Part Two will be devoted to the novels signed "Sullivan," J ’irai cracher sur von tombee, lea Korts ont toua la memo peau, Et on tuera tcun lea affreux, and Ellen se rendent pas compte. Part Tliree is devoted to the novels of his "mature" period, l tEcume dea .jours, l'Automnc a Pclcin,

I lKerbe rouge and 1*Arrache-coeur. Because of their complexity a text by

66 Jerome S. Bruner, "Myth and Identity," Mvth and Mythmaking, pp. 276-287. text appraisal seems most fitting for an audience totally unfamiliar with

Vian*s works. I will use materials from his other texts only when they serve to illuminate the novels* PART I

THE EARLY KOVELS

Trouble dams leo Andaina

Vercoguin et lo plancton CHAPTER I

Vian comes from a family for whom literature had a very important function. Both parents grew up in easy circumstances in which the culti­ vated life was axiomatic. Boris, his two brothers and one sister became not only voracious readers, but they dabbled in literary creation as woll, both activities dating from an early age. Vian has said he had read all the monumental texts of the national literature to and including the works of Maupassant by the age of eight, with one notable exception.

The family as a whole held regular competitions in the writing of bouts riroSs, the quality of the adolescent Boris's efforts being characterized as only "fair,"^ The collection of unpublished poems called les Cent

Sennets, composed 19^2-Vj* seems to have evolved naturally from this fam­ ily pastime. Vian's first novel, Trouble dans les Andains, belongs to 3 this same period. The text was written originally to amuse Vian's first wife, Michelle, the author having had no inkling of possible future pub­ lication, The posthumous popularity of hio works eventually led to a

"... Adolphe ..., e'est un dos seuls livres clasciques que j'ai eu la veine de lire tard." Bizarre, p. 81.

2Ibld., p. 2?. 3 The manuscript is dated May, 19^3* as published in the text edited by la Jeune Parque.

25 26 scrupulous search of all his surviving manuscripts for completed texts and the novel was finally published in 1966.

If the fragmentary quality of the novel is disappointing, it be­ comes so because it follows upon the polished completeness of l'Ecuiae des jours or of l'Kerbe rouge. Its breakneck pace suggests it was written to be read aloud; its ending suggests "to be continued." The intrigue seems written an fil de la plume. All these characteristics are irritating in the extreme when the expectation is for another polished gem. But when the novel is put into proper order of creation, it only shows the painful process of the writer's struggle to find his voice and style. It is une oeuvre de jeuneose.

The plot involves a search by two pairs of male friends, one

'good* (Antioche and the Major) and one 'evil* (Adelphin and Sfirafinio), for a lost object, the barbarin fourchu. Of the eight major characters

(all of whom are male), Adelphin de Beaumashin and Gerafinio Alvaraidc form a natural pair. They are both members of the aristocracy and belong to a leisured class whose being is entirely caught up in appearance,

Adelphin has nothing to do except prepare for and attend the next raout.

The text begins:

Le comte Adelphin de Beaumashin pacsait une chemise blanche de- vant son Mirophar-Brot qui resplendiGGait de foux convergenta. II y avait ce soir-la grand raout chex la baronno de Pyssenlied et Adelphin, decireux de paraitro a son avantage, avait fait preparer pal* Dunoeud, eon frnc nunero un, qu'il n'endossait que dans des circonstances exceptionnellos, *

Adelphin's entire reason for being is to paraitro, but the being of his appearance is qualified by the suggestion that money makes it possible

4 Boris Vian, Trouble dans les Andains. p. 7- 27 5 for him to disguise hie physical defects with expensive clothing. None­ theless, Adelphin sees himself in an advantageous light. Since he has nothing else to do and to avoid peering into the darkness that awaits us all, Adelphin attends a perpetual feast, becomes a hero de raout. His behavior is in marked contrast to that of the heroic aristocrats in the literature of the dawn of western civilization, Homer's Sarpedon urges

Glaukos on into battle against the Achaians since it has been established that they cannot be immortal like the gods and rather then "stare into the pit," they should engage in the only pastime befitting men of their birth and station. There is a war growling unrelentingly in the back­ ground, but from Adolphin's vantage point its noises are muted if heard at all. His world is by its nature unhearing and he is at home in it.

Meeting Serafinio by cliance on the way to the raout, they continue to­ gether as if they had arranged the encounter and had parted only yestorday. They speak the same language and share the same comfortable existence. If Adelphin is physically deformed, his defect is paralleled by Serafinio's defective libido:

Une monstrueuce sexualitS irradiait do tous les pores de cot homrne au rire nerveilieusement subtil qui, avait doveloppS ca re­ sistance au point de pouvoir saillir une percheronno de un m&tre soixante-quinze au garrot sans en patir le moins du monde. Ses

^Ibid., pp. 13-1^.

^The Iliad of Homer, trans. by Richmond Lattimore (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1931), Book XXI, lines 322-328, pp. 266-6?, Kan, supposing you and I, escaping tills battle, would be able to live on forever, ageless, immortal, so neither would I myself go on fighting in the foremost nor would I urge you into the fighting whore men win glory. But now, seeing that the spirits of death stand close about us in their thousands, no man can turn aside nor escape them, let us go on and win glory for ourselves, or yield it to others. 23

allures de centaure dcbridS lui permettaient de supporter 1*8 regards conccntriques de toute uno assemblee avoc une aioance & nulle autre pareille. Fremissant, il allait dans la vie comme un sifflet a deux sons, brutal et costaetique.7

’Naturally1 the super-male who will mate with horses will stop at noth­ ing on the human level. Significantly, sSrafinio, "qui n'avait jamais pu g supporter la vuc du neant," responds to the prospect of the void, to imminent annihilation, with a serial exploit befitting a hero. Variety and frequency are his only constant criteria. Since the risk of destruc­ tion is perpetual in the text, sSrafinio must constantly reassure himself of his substantiality through some increasingly abject form of sexual

"heroism." There is also the hint of homosexuality as a bond between these two false demi-gods which parodies the relationship between Achil- Q lous and Fatroklos in the Iliad and Nious and Euryalus in the Aeneid.

The "knot" binding Adelphin and sSrafinio together homosexually is

Dunoeud, Adelphin*s "varlet module" who accomodates sSrafinio in prag- 10 raatic fashion — scarcely in accordance with the latter's refined sensibilities — but effectively enough. When Dunoeud is not present,

Adelphin does suffice. Apart from his ability to paraitre. Adelphin is primarily asexual, but ho does not react to being "ccdomised" by sSra­ finio during a moment of stress in the cave of tho Major’s home near

n Vian, Trouble dans les Andains. pp. 17-18.

^Ibid.. p. 29.

^The Iliad. Book IX, lines 185-190; The Aeneid of Virgil, trano. by Kolfe Kumplirics (Now York: Scribners, 1951 "V, Cook IX, p. 239. 10 Vian, Trouble dans les Andains. pp. 43-Vt-, 29 11 Bayonne, Adelphin and Serafinio are also limited in their ability to handle their own problems, having finally to call in the Major and Anti- oche to help them recover the authentic barbarin. Such ineptitude is the antithesis of heroic capability.

The barbarin. "... Cce3 talisman myoterieux a la valeur inex- pliquSe, ..." is the pretext for the story and within the tale is the mixed result of Baron Visi's entire career. The Baron of the manuscript is a super-anarchist and nait re-chant cur, larger than life in all his encounters: with victims, subordinates, minor adversaries and women.

Confronted by Jef Dubois, hi3 "dcroiere victime" — and also the first if the Baron's filing system is to be believed — he relieves Dubois of a considerable cum of money, When Dubois' servant finds him tho next morn- 13 ing, "II o'etait suicide d'un coup de matraque bien place." The Baron readily modifies the highwayman's warning to "your money and your life."

In a dispute v/ith a subordinate over shares of their most recent affair, the Baron settles the argument "... d'un coup do poing bien appliquS,"

Once he regains consciousness, his helper quickly returns to the Baron's

' t h notion of his place. When the Baron's "immonde taudis" is destroyed by some unknown enemy, Visi goes to the neighboring house:

A son coup do pied energiquo dans la porte, une fille dSpoi- trailleo,... vint lui ouvrir. — Tu as un coin pour doimr? lui demanda le Baron. -- repondit-elle en ecartant con peignoir,

11Ibid., p. 79.

Jacques Duchateau, Boris Vian, p. 3&. 13 Vian, Trouble dons les Andains. p. 90.

1**Ibid.. p. 99. 50

— Je te suiG, dit le Baron tandia que des images lubriques se prescaient dons son cervenu monacal. A l'aube, epuicee, la fille mourn t. Le Baron fit pos&nent sa toilette et jeta le corps dans le brasicr qui couvait depuis la voille dans les mines de la inaison voisine.^

Approaching all situations with the imperious demeanor of the b o m mon­ arch, Baron Visi is "monacal" yet his 'performance' cannot be matched.

The Baron is in contrast to SSrafinio who is a decadent 'modem' man of the succeeding generation, SSrafinio needs frequent and varied encounters to sustain his imago of himself as super-male. The Baron is always more than competent and in every conceivable way. Minor adversa­ ries like the Cenobite and Sarcopte discover that if Baron Visi is not god-like in his ability to Eurvive, then he at least leads a charmed ex­ istence. The Cenobite 'attracts' the bullet Sarcopte intends for the

Baron; Sarcopto falls in his turn once Baron Visi tracks him to his cm- 16 ployer, the detective, Brisavion. Sarcopte*s demise is part of the price agreed upon for the entente between the two demi-gods, Baron Visi forms a pair with Brisavion because they are equally indestructible.

Only they can hurt themselves. V/lien the Baron rises to greet hi3 victim, 17 Jof Dubois, he barks his shin on a desk drawer. In contrast to his surface savoir faire, there is this inexplicable clumsiness that ic used, in part, to evoke laughter, Brisavion, his double, is subject to a

1^Ibid.. pp. 96-97. 16 Baron Visi and Brisavion are both anagrams of Boris Vian and the physical description of both cliaracters approximates that of the au­ thor. Vian signed his paintings "Bison Ravi." Another anagram, "Vrai Bison," suggested by his fellow 'patarhysicicn, Stanley Chapman, seems never to have been used. M. RybaJLka, Boris Vian, pp. 152-133* note, p. 132. 17 Vian, Trouble dans les Andains. p. 88. similar 'lapse.' As the Baron comes to his office and rings the hell,

"Brisavion ... pressa un petit bofuton blanc qu'il avait sous 1*index. A 18 son hurlement, car c'Stait un panaris, un domcetique parut." The petty hurts the two men inflict on themselves contribute to the loufoguerie in the novel, make them all too human for the reader, but these hurts do them no damage in the world of Others, where it would make a difference.

Baron Visi and Brisavion are momentarily opposed in their shady dealings, but when the latter tries to kill the Baron and fails, they quickly be­ come associates. The test of the Baron's suitability as a partner is his apparent "air blinde." He is more difficult to kill than Vandenbuic, the man he has just replaced as Brisavion’s partner. The disposition of Van­ denbuic is left to the new partner, as Brisavion remains in his office.

After their single encounter, the Baron interioxises Brisavion and car­ ries their joint project through to its partially successful conclusion, the possession of tho barbarin.

The third pair of protagonists, Antioche Tambretmnbre and Jacques

Loostalo (the Major) are both a blend of superior knowledge and incompe­ tence, neither characteristic residing absolutely in one or the other of the two men. Vian uses similar methods to introduce the two characters.

The Major is given a genealogy:

Le 7 jonvier 1^6■+, le petit village de Paint-Martin-de- Saignant fut attaque par un parti de laorconaires revolte3. La troupe, ccmpos$e d'un baron en banquercuto, d'un ancien chevalier de la JarretiSi’e, de sept rcatres suissos ot de onv.o gedons coif- fes du truditionnol plat a bnrbo, allait franchir le ponceau qui enjambe le Ceicj riviere coquette, blanche en amont et rouge en aval^ qui a donne son nom a l'endroit — le Saignant. Lorsqu'uno naniere de forbnn, vetu de cuir et arm% pour tout potage d'uno queue de boeuf fraichcraent Csic] abattu, surgit inopinfcment d'entre les arbres et se mit a vous abattre les soldats de si bon coeur quo la debandade commenqa. II lea poursuivit, et comme ils rcfluaicnt en dcsordre, les precipita dans la riviere un a un -- aauf les cadavres — jusqu'S ce que touc y fussent pass&s. -- U a j*te l'ost a l'oau! disaient les paysans attroupls, quand tout etait fini. pour depouiller les raorts. Le nora lui recta.*9

The ancestor*s exploit becomes the basis for a part of his name, just like many another medieval knight. Thus the Major (by inheritance) is given a mock heroic cast as the ancestor was nameless beforehand. Since the Major's family was 'without forebears' in the beginning, he is marked out as a "bastard" despite the exploits of a grandfather in the Ameri- 20 cas. The Major is a "special policeman," a kind of private detective operating outside the normal frame of police work, who offers a parallel with Brisavion of the manuscript; however, the Major's presence to tho action of the narrative is anything but symbolic. Moreover, his bizarre incompetence contrasts with Brisavion*s suave savolr faire.

When Antioche is introduced, the only details offered are in a four page systematic account of hi3 dexterity in manipulating the con­ tents of the different pockets of his clothing and of his briefcaso — as 21 a thirteen year old schoolboy. In contrast to his complement, the

Ibid., pp. Vian did meet a young nan while vacationing in whose name was Jacques Loustalot from St~Martin-de-Coignanx, five yearo his junior and called "le Major." having lost an eye as a ten year old, the Major affected a glass oyo with which his rapport v/as virtually human. It is said that tho strange affinity Loustalct had with objects and the inexplicable friendship sluired by Vian and Loustalot influenced Vian's writings despite their being worlds apart in other rospects. Bizarre, pp. 20 Vian, Trouble dana Ion. Andains, p. **6. 33

Major, Antioche is entirely his own creation -- insofar as the narrative is concerned -- until Baron Visi is revealed as his father* Throughout the story, the behavior of the two characters is complementary. The Ma­ jor, as a principlo of behavior, "rSagit vigoureasement" and takes the lead in violent activity, Antioche generally seconds his movements, remaining a step or two to tho left and rear and acting as a cerebral backstop until the climax of the story surrounding the barbarin. Tho incompetence of the two men is also complementary. At one point, they rent a boat with an outboard motor. While the Major holds the motor out of tho vjater and directed at the sail, Antioche steadies his arms. The 22 reason given is that fuel lias to be saved because it acts as ballast.

Their incomprehensible activity is in part legitimised by the logical illogic of the narrative, yet there is a residue of stupidity that re­ dounds to them personally. Generally speaking, Antioche is more capable of ralsp.-meraent from the start. The two men are young, more so than

Adelphin and sSrafinio or Ba\'on Visi and Brisavion of the manuscript.

They are also pure in that there is not a hint of decadence in their lives (within tho narrative, they are sexually chaste), which places them in direct contrast to Adelphin cuid sSrafinio or to the baroque dcmi-gods

Baron Visi and Brisavion.

The two remaining characters are more peripheral to the action than the preceding six. IXmoeud is needed to continue the conflict over the barbarin. Popotepec Atlazotl is needed to help resolve tho plot in favor of the protagonists, Antioche and the Major. Once they kill each

^Ibid., p. 1 3 7 . 3^ other, their function is served. But they are both double characters.

Tho Major, remembering a visit to this heroic Inca exceptionnel," 23 recalls his going into battle humming the ancient Aztec hymn. The syl­ lables of Atlazotl's name are vaguely Mexican Indian and could be Aztec, although there was no known historical contact between the two cultures.

However, each culture had a legend of the "White God" who travelled from his own civilization to the other and returned, Atlazotl's double nature

"proves" tliat history should not flee legend — at least in the novels of

Vian. The quality of Dunoeud's double nature is more obvious^ hie name is an obscene indication of his dodoublenent do la nature, his accommo­ dation of a fretful sSrafinio earlier in tho novel supporting the notion.

The two men are heroic in different ways. Atlazotl, the anachronistic survivor from an exotic culture, joins the European chevalric tradition on the basis of hi3 past exploits.. Dunoeud, ce hSros inverti, is totally at home in the brutal world of tho twentieth century. There is nothing stylish about torturing captives with the blade of a wood plane, but if such means are all that are at hand and they will work (the Nazis and the

Soviets have proved that the most primitive means are os off active as the most exotic), style is a secondary consideration, as sSrafinio would 2k readily attest — after the fact. Finally, the sceno in which the two cion kill each other is pure heroic parody. Atlazotl, having shot Du­ noeud, comes forth (as if to scalp his fallen enemy), his smoking pistol clamped between his teeth like a sword used by a pirate boarding a

23lbid.. p. 73. otL Ibid., pp. hj-kk* 3 5 hostile man-of-war* Dunoeud*s riposte with the wood plane responds to the same images. Doth men die the hero's death, each in his own way*

The search for the barbarin brings into focus the behavior of eight characters, six of whom are certainly paired off as overt doubles; the last two are doubled in themselves. The comparison with classical models may at first glance appear misplaced, but put a Ulysses in the twentieth century and he would certainly be a maitro-chantenr; the dis­ tance between the sacking of Troy and the chantage made to Jcf Dubois is only a function of the scope of greed that impelled them both. The off­ spring of the members of any heroic age are loft with this double legacy: the tradition and the conditions of plunder with everything that these conditions imply and, secondly, the fruits of such plunder. Adelphin and uSrafinio live in a segment of that inherited world where one enjoys the

fruits of piracy but they no longer l:ave the skills necessary to hold the potontial competition at bay (nor do they know how to go about retriev­ ing what would belong to them if they were "the stronger"). Unfit to survive in this Darwinian world, they are consumed by it. Even though estranged from their roots, Antioche and the Ilajor deserve heroic treat­ ment — the Major by heredity and Antioche by his rational gifts (which reveal themselves as hereditary ones) — precisely because they show themselves capable of enough ruthieconess to use such gifts to good effect. The accomplishments of tho previous age have to bo earned again by the offspring of the members of that age. But, in order to be as froe as Baron Visi had been to create his own world, in order to mako the en­ tire world a possibility, they must first free themselves from all remnants of tho past age: the barbarin and Baron Visi himself. At this point, the world of the doppelganger impinges on and merges with the world of myth. If the material for new myths is to be forthcoming, then the old ones must be destroyed — down to their participants, or makers,

A description of the emphasis on circular movement of the charac­ ters and the recurrence of underground imagery is a necessary preliminary

to a discussion of Vian's treatment of myth in this text, Baron Visi is at home in the entire world — in the upper reaches of the atmosphere or miles beneath the earth's surface. He goes to ground for killing vic­

tims, to recover the barbarin and as an old man with a pet medusa and a manuscript to await his "bastard" son, Antioche, Serafinio and Adelphin are limited by the closed circle of Adelphin*s home and that of the ba- ronne de Pysceulied (they pass through a tunnel and exit through a cower

for the return trip). They are escorted to the cave of the Major's home.

The movement of Antioche and the Major is not as free as Baron Visi's, but it is open as they move from Paris to Bayonne to somewhere as the novel ends. The circularity of movement for Dunoeud and Atlazotl is

reflected by their double natures.

Given the heroic proportions of Baron Visi, the father, and the

emphasis on the subterranean as the locale where decisivo acts occur, the myth suggested by the structures of the movement of the six major charac­ ters is the myth of Theseus, The myth is a deformed version and persists

side by side with deformed versions of more contemporary myths, Baron

Visi, this m o d e m Theseus, is a prodigious blood-letter, but the "mon­

ster" has nothing to do with the conflict in the tale; it has become a pet, a companion for the Baron in his old age. Only the human is worthy of destruction by him* Moreover, tho amorous original who loved ladies and left them has become a ’lady killer' who leaves the ladies literally dead: if they do not die of 'natural causes,' then a pistol shot will suffice — especially if the Baron is in a hurry. Vian has token the commonplace Renaissance figure of la petite mort and reversed the roles of the participants. In this instance the death referred to is perma­ nent, The original imago i3 anti-feminist (insofar as the female partner is posited as an object), but Vian's reversal of the roles and his exten­ sion of the imago to its extreme literal consequences is even more violently sexist and at the some time is an attack on the way that lan­ guage is used. Except for Brisavion, there are no survivors in the

Baron's wake until Adelaide de Beaumaehin. Aftor having "betrayed" him for Adelphin's father (significantly nameless) and having kept the bar­ barin, she tried to poison the Baron over a period of years. Had she been successful, the Baron would have been like the rat of the student's song in Auerbach's cellar, with "love" knawing at his vitals. Thus the relationship between the sexes, classically described as a sado­ masochistic life-and-death struggle, is objectified as conflict. Baron

Visi, having met and been bested by a woman who was more than his match, does not press his luck; ho takes himself out of the contest. Jellyfish are quieter companions. The whole of extant classical Greek literature is rife with commentary on the conflict between the sexes, Euripides — no mean mythnaker -- challenges the assumptions his culture takes for granted about the conflict and ultimately sides with Phaedra in his

25 Johann W. von Goethe, Fauct, Farts I and II, trans. by Walter Kauftaann (Garden City: Doubleday Anchor Books, 1961T, pp. 21*f-215. 53

Hippolytus. Racine, in his version of tho play, condemns both parties to the struggle and evenhandedly sides with the Jansenist God, Vian, how­ ever, consistently rejects the force of Ideas of Origin on human affairs, insists the problem is entirely human and bastanadoes tho male too: if the combative female reveals herself as a potential poisoner, the male is ultimately gateux, Baron Visi fathers Antioche (the mother remaining nameless) and settles down with his medusa to await the final confronta­ tion, For the real struggle in tho novel is between Father and con.

This subterranean ’'ged11 is more comfortable "aux bas fonds," He is conveniently at hand in the cave of his ’’bastard” son(s) Antioche and the Major, so that this mock heroic drama may be played out. The Father has become a weakened old man and the focus for the struggle with the son is an inanimate object rather than an ’animate object* — a Phaedra,

After Dunoeud and Atlazotl have killed each other, and the two young he- ros retrieve the barbarin:

Antioche, ce rappelant son pere, s ’arracha a sa contemplation et ce proeipi.ta au premier, Quand le Major le rejoignit, il ache- vnit de pendre le Baron dont il avait prccipite le corps emacie par la fenetre, La corde fixee initialemcnt par Dunoeud au cou du vieiHard, etait raide et agitee do faibles scubresauts, — Commc ga, dit Antioche, on garde le barbarin .,. et on ne doit ricn a personae.,.2°

The ruthless hunger for objocts of value exhibited by the two protago­ nists is reminiscent of tho hunger of tho Baron himself until he had the wealth in his possession. But, even though the search for wealth is con­ sistent with tho same hunger in the father, Antioche and the Major later throw the barbarin into the sea. There is a parallol situation and a

26 Vian, Trouble dans les Andains, p, 15^* limited precedent. Earlier the Baron kept the smallest ruby (of sixty- 27 two carats) and the 1^9 larger ones were thrown out of a window. The

Baron*s behavior is inexplicable if the motivation for continued chan­ tages is unmitigated greed. That the Baron retains only the ’’least one1' implies that as naitrc-chantcur he practices the profession for the sake of the challenge it provides, keeping only enough of the proceeds from hiG operations to maintain himself until the next successful outing and, perliaps just as crucially, to maintain ascendancy over his subordinates and competitors: the Baron ia incomparable in his profession, is not dominated by an overriding acquisitiveness nor can he be duped. In the climactic confrontation, the con follows in the father’s footsteps: he leaves no survivors in his woke except the Major (his double), even if one of the persons to be suppressed is his father, maintains his 'stan­ ding' with respect to a potential audience sitting in judgement (valid, oven if that audience be himself or the Major) and at the same time acts in each a way as to totally reject the charge of acting for mere gain.

Finally, the last statement by Antioche is important: "... [pour qu'jon ne [doivcj rien a personae," to be completely free to realise the self he began to mold at the age of thirteen, it is necessary to reject also the notion of paternity. Since in any case one is a "bastard," (in that the wox'ld is alien) then, insofar as the son reflects the father's ruthleso- ness, henceforth it will bo on his own account that he exerts it; he drives away from this adventure with nothing but his freedom. The ko barbarin -- thrown away by tho Major, tho double -- is returned to its source, "la mer," the only mother in sight.

At this point, the ‘revisionistf version of tho Thesous myth merges with other myths that are both contemporary and timeless, with the barbarin as the link. Adelphin and sSrafinio inherited the conflict over the object through thoir mothers (Serafinio's mother was a Vandenbuic),

Antioche through the father. In this instance, the Major mirrors Erisa- vion: ho is a pure reflection of Antioche. Tho inherited conflict between the offspring of members of the heroic age suggests the age-old strugglo between the mntrilinear (Judaic) and patrilinear (Christian) cultures over the barbarin — the one object of value in the world of the novel. Vajidenbuic as Brisavion's partner had a prior claim on the privi­ lege of searching the object out. The Baron took over that claim and killed his competitor. To maintain what is "rightfully" hie family's possession, Antiocho (and the Major) must continue to kill off Var.dcnbuic and Adelaide de Beaumashin in their progeniture in order to demonstrate their continued right to possess what is important in western civiliza­ tion — the Word, or evidence of the Word, the grail, etc. The irony i3 tliat tho object causing so much bloodshed was originally stolon from outside both cultures by a nomadic maitra-ch-antour bent essentially on adventure. The French ncun, bnrfcaro, retaining much of the original

Greek meaning offers a clue to Vian's use of barbarin: something or someone from outside The Culture that is inferior and demonstrably des­ tructive of that culture. The suffix is also pejorative. Insofar as the object provokes perpetual bloodshed (the suggestion is clear that the bloodshed is senseless, without good reason), then as in the context of the Theseus myth, the rejection of the object is crucial. The religio- cultural conflict is absurd, and yet lines by T. 5. Eliot are cogent:

In order to possess what you do not possess You must go by the way of dispossession In order to arrive at what you are not You must go through the way in which you are not.28

To be free of the separation of self from self imposed by cultural or religious identity (hence conflict), one must impose on the self the purgation inherent in and inherited through that culture. "Sin begets sin," said the Greeks; but the Christian mystic dreams a way out of the dilemma: one breaks the vicious circle in the commission of the ultimate sin (the destruction of the Father, the rejection of the Word) and at once emerges into the sunlight of a new departure — from nothing. Total

(relative) individual freedom demands total nihilation of the world as structured by Others, even (and especially) the Father. Is it necessary to cay that the freedom dreamed for Antioche (and the Major) is purely secular? In destroying the symbol of cultural continuity and the ances­ tor who acted to begin (or perpetuate) that continuity, one topples the entire etructuro. St. John of the Cross's sophism is hero certainly apposite. Within the Judeo-Christian context, the drama of sin and re­ tribution is played out tlirough the destruction of the natrilinear line

(personnified by Adelphin and Serafinio); but the 'stronger' patrilinear line is also rejected and the Word, as accepted by both cultures, is at last returned to its source, "la mer.11

More prosaically, the barbarin functions as a touchstone for the perpetuation of conflict between families and, by extension, continued

2®T. s , EliotCoker," Four Quartets (New York: Harcourt Brace and Company, 19 _ 15* struggles for wealth or property between competing economic groups within

a society. The first of these conflicts is made ridiculous when Antioche

literally tears Scrafinio to shreds with the words, "... le fils de la * 29 soeur de l'ennemi de mon pore." Antioche*s ambivalent attitude toward

his father reinforces such a reading. That Isaac Laquedem evaluates the

barbarin at eleven million pounds sterling and yet offers only fifty 30 francs for it is a satirical statement on the second conflict. When

Antioche hangs his father so as to have total possession of the barbarin

without sharing and yet throws It away, the demolition of this conflict

is completed.

There are also subtle echos of the day to day world of tho German

occupation of 19^2-*f3t which point toward the conflict between European

nationalities. These references are well-masked and the totality of the

theme becomes problematic. Yet there are hints which cannot be ignored.

All direct references to a war are contained in the manuscript which

spans an "heroic" period of time in an indefinite past. Baron Visi has

gone to ground after killing Jef Dubois. The next episode begins:

Des femmes votues de mantoaux de fourrure dont la decrepitude commcnqante so lioait aux conr.assures des boutonnieres et aux bao des manches, pieti undent qa et la, dissirulant lour mi sere phy- siognomonique, soua un air da faux enjouenent et une epaisse couche de torre rafrnctairc; 011 entanait la quarantc-Gixieme an- neo de guerre et la pcudro de riz comment; a it a manquer. 31

Apart from Vian's apparently bizarro use of language, the passage isug-

goats a world subjected to the privations which accompany a long war —

29 t " Vian, Trouble dans les Andains. p. 12*f. in this case, one not certainly identifiable with World War II. Howover, forty-six years is a long time and after two and a half to three years of occupation, the grinding marque and semi-paralysis of the women described suggests that there would not be much difference between the two periods of time for those subjected to the occupation, A fact that may have con­ tributed to Vian's exaggeration is that each day, tho BBC announcer would begin, "Aujourd'hui lVK)^me jour do la lutte du Peuple franqais pour sa liberation." The next day, "1441 ," etc. School children would play 32 at "BBC nev/s," exaggerating the period of waiting and fighting. Later in the manuscript Baron Visi, at the controls of a commandeered cea-plane, turns on the radio to listen to tho latest war communiques: "Pour les personnel cavdiaques, certains postes emettcuro agrees donnaient des communiques imaginaires et optimiotes, et annonqaient la paix toue les jours a midi. L'ensemble donnait satisfaction aux auditeurs."^ Of course, the literal setting is the aforementioned long war, but there is an irony implied here if we refer to the real one -- Y/orld Y/ar II — that is being decided elsewhere. Daily BBC broadcasts would be the only way the population of occupied France would get cone true indication of how the battle for an eventual peace was progressing. The Gomans expected ■zfy an Anglo-American invasion of the continent in the Spring of 19^3 and were no doubt making some preparation for it. The population of occupied

32 ^ Ccnmunicated by M. Pierre Astier in a private conversation, 33 Vian, Trouble dans les Andains, p. 113*

Gordon A. Harrison, Cross Channel Attack (Washington, D.C.: Office of the Chief of Military History, Department of the Army Publi­ cations, 1931), p. 137ff- hk

France was caught in the paradox of waiting; on the one hand, the

German-approved broadcasts continued to promise victory on all fronts for the Axis powers; on the other, the BBC offered more accurate accounts of what was transpiring elsewhere, but the road to liberation was not being cleared rapidly enough. The wait for liberation and for peace was full of paradox and used up the waiter. The most immediate trammelling of freedom is not taking place in the here-now, but elsewhere, in place and in time. In order not to hope too fervently, it is necessary to turn hope into derision: the above passage is tantamount to a pox on both houses, Baron Visi, at the controls of his airplane, is above it all.

Nonetheless, one continues to wait,,. .

There are two more incidents which are possible war referencoo.

As Adelphin and Scrafinio leave the hone of the baronne de Pyssenlied by way of a sewer, there is an explosion which destroys the house and, pre- 35 sumably, everyone in it. This event is never explained. Of course it contributes to the comparison between the Baron and SSrafinio, clearly revealing the former as capable of doing his own killing while an anony­ mous explosion obliterates those who slighted the lovable satyr. Yet a good many faceless people arc destroyed along with the Baronne. That

thero seems to be nothing remarkable about such an explosion, that the

text simply states that Sorafinio gets safely away from the blast area, argues that such events were monnalo cournnte. V.'hile waiting for peaco

to arrive, one learns to take in stride the blowing to bits of a house

before one's eyes, perhaps as the result of aerial bombardment,

^^Vian, Trouble danr> les Andains, p. 38, Serafinio is the eon of a Spanish father and a Dutch mother and belongs vaguely to that group of outsiders who seem to be permanently encamped at Paris* Spain lias been Fascist-dominated since 1939i Vanden- buiC| while a Dutch name, does allow SSrafinio to be included among the

Aryans from the North and East. SSrafinio's two companions, Adelphin and

Dunoeud, are two oncules — des ’vichieux1 — at the disposal of Serafinio in any lubricious moment. But for all that they arc inept. As Adelphin and Serafinio are struck down by the two major protagonists, the bodies are disposed of in a most bizarre way:

Puis, saisissant lcs cadavres, un pour chacun, ils se dirigerent a la cuisine qui conportait un hachoir olectrique perfectionne. Les corps, reduits en mincos lambcaux, fbrcnt jotes dans les vatores, et la chasse d ’oau actionnue. La pratique etait courante et bion superieuro au system© de- mode de la fosse a cliaux et dc la chsudiere. Los chutes des vatores comportaient des regards de glace trenpee qui gormct- taicnt de coutroler la descente normals de la b i d o c h e . 2 6

Thero is little doubt about it; wo are in a world informed by the shoot­ ing of hostages and tho deportation of Jews. The Germans announced at the outset of the occupation that attempts on Wehrmaoht soldiers would 37 call for reprisals at tho rate of fifty to one. Once the death camps and tho oinsatzgruppcn got into the full swing of exterminations in the

East, the Hitlerian regime tried to oxtend the "Final Solution" to West- 38 ern Europe also* Franco's turn came in mid-19^2. Another indication

?6Ibid*. pp. 127-128. 37 The German commander's orders were, in practice, carried out in haphazard fashion; to begin with, Communists and common criminals already in jails were talien as hostages end shot in large — and vari­ able — numbers. Hebert 0. Paxton, Vichy France. Old Guard and New Order. 19^0-19¥fr (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1972), pp. 223-22^. 38 Trickling deportations began in March, 19^2, with, on the ave­ rage, a train a week headed for the death camps* The big round-ups k6 of the pertinence of the Occupation to tho text is the choice of offering a description of Antioche at age thirteen* The critics who mention

Trouble dans les Andains at all agree that Vian has described himself at that age; 39 if this statement can be accepted, Antioche would have been thirteen in 1933 — when it all began* Thirteen is a traditional coining of age in Judaism; it i3 tho age of the bar mitzvah. Antioche lias also been disinherited since he has no mother. But ’in the beginning' he had also begun to create himself. Given the confrontation with Adelphin and

Serafinio, there could be only one direction taken: toward freedom from every kind of constraint, V/hat is truly arbitrary is the form that the world comes to take. And that world is already given when he who would be free attains the age of rationality. To liberate oneself from this arbitrary structure (which the text suggests perpetuates itself through a kind of inertia), one must use tho forms, the symbols of behavior that are given within that world* Tho structure and constraints of tho Nazi

SS state are continuations of those afforded by paternity (for which

Baron Visi is emblematic as Thesous), by the ascendancy of a given reli­ gious and cultural creed (where tho focus is on the barh-irin), by a given sense of economic value (again the barbarin) and even sexuality (it ia not for nothing that Antioche and tho Major are chaste), nothing is more arbitrary than the rice to power of a Hitler — or of a laval, than tho dominance of Christianity as wc know it, than the dominance of a Baron

Visi or of a set of sexual mores. In this respect, the text is a began in July, 19^2. Gerald Iloitlinger, The Final Solution (2nt* rev. ed,; South Brunswick: Thomas Yo/:oloff, 19wi*)i PP. 32/ff. 39 J. Duchateau, Boris Vian, pp. 12-13. 4?

controlled anarchy. The lines from Eliot are again a cogent formal sum­ mation, The liberty from constraint which all true individual freedom

takes for granted permeates down to the means by which Antioche and the

Major subsist. They have innumerable homes, everything in their resi­ dences functions electrically and their automobile is a Cadillac, Even their means of disposing of liquidated Uninteresting biological mater­

ial' is the last word and turns the tables on the emblematic liquidators and the vichioux who acquiesce in such horror: Hoess could not have managed it better.^

A few remarks about the time sequence in the text are pertinent here. The manuscript relating the adventures of Baron Visi suggests a

certain modernity because of tho presence of the airplane that is "... un ancien modele, ..." yet it "... filait a 800 a l'heure environ." In miles or kilometers, that is certainly futuristic for 1942-43. With respect to the present tense of the narrative that elicits the manuscript

Baron Visi is already about sixty year3 old. Further, the evening that he returns to discover his home blown up, "... on entenait ... Csa] voix 42 avince gargouiller un tres vieil air de jazz, ... ." By the most gen­

erous dating, jazz begins as early as 1900, co again, the action of the manuscript is future or impossible to locate historically. It thereby

40 A tern euphemistically employed by the members of tho *S3 bureaucracy to refer to those Jews and other 'asocialc* headed directly for the extermination camps. Reitlingor attributes the development of the term to Eichmann. Tho Final Solution, p. 295. Hoess was, of course, the most notorious of the commandanta of Auschwitz camp. 41 Vian, Trouble dans les Andains, p. 113.

^Ibid., p. 93. w becomes impossible to limit the world of the novel to two continuous generations. The text is related to the empirical world, but the imag­ ined world will not suffer the strictures of linear time.

Vianfs use of language in this novol is youthful, enthusiastic and exploratory. He seems to liave been willing to try every device at least twice. The not effect may be an unevenness but the names of the characters are well chosen. Fyssanlied has an obvious double meaning that hclp3 to explode the woman's aristocratic pretentions. Beaumashin implies a mild anonymity, thingness and is pejorative. Adelphin is vaguely Greek and the behavior of the character is pejoratively Greek to

fit the diminutive. GSrafinio is coupled with him forming the double — and in a double sense as they sharo the cane "fin." A cenob.tto is a communal monk and is used ironically. A sarcopte is a microscopic para­ site of man and fits the cliaractor* Tho names seem chosen first to provoke amusement but suit the characters who are subject to some ridi­ cule. Tho ambiguous exception is Baron Viai. Baron in argot means compere and is pejorative. It helps account for the role he slides into at the end of the novel.

One of Vian'3 favorite devices in this early text is the calem- bour. but its use is often forced and may appear to bo gratuitous. In

the early part of the novel, tho Major, who has just been called into the

"case," attempts a solution of a preliminary mystery: the riddle of the

'person unknown* who earlier fired a pistol at Adelphin and CSrafinio:

Dunoeud pouesa la porte c*t introduisit l'Etranglre. L'ktrangero ee nomraait AntSlie Serre-Feuille. Son pSre £tant menuicier, elle avait coutume de rSpondre spirituellement a la question, — Oue fait votre pore, Mademoiselle Serre-Fcuille? — Mon pcro scie. ., Et chacun de o ’extasier devant une si charmante reportio.

The text does not make clear who questions the young lady, since the

Major and his two employers are in hiding. The two sentence exchange is more than likely a presumed example of her repart io. Once the point has

been made, AxnSlio is allowed to metamorphose into Arielle Comovant who

io applying for a position as a maid. As so often happens in this toxt,

the mystery — and the identity of the sniper — remains unsolved. Vian's use of tho calembour remains characteristic of his linguistic exuber­

ance but without being integrated into the narrative.

His use of plays on words functions in a similar fashion. As the

four men drive toward Baycnne, "On entendait les cailles greciller dans

les sillons et les alouetteo grisoller dans lee rillons ou peut-etre le

contraire," Vian usee the rare word grisoller along with tho common

term silion and to no purpose except to juxtapose sounds. The difficulty

in making sense of the second clause renders the "contraire" totally un­

clear. Earlier in the narrative, just before tho four men set out from

Paris, the Major visits Isaac Laquedera to have the false barbarin

appraised. Isaac advertises himself as an "Antique Here" and when the

Major enters, "Celui-ci lisait une traduction du Talmud en longue verte,

car il voyait rouge et oouffrait de daltoniaie." This reference io to 50

AndrS Pierre-Dacf a Jewish humorist (Isaac is the father of AndrS).

''Antique H^re*' becomes at once a play on ontiquaire and the plea of the moneylender. But an homme sans fortune is precisely what Isaac Laquedem is not. What wealth he has he owes to his ability to offer fifty francs

for an object he appraises at eleven million pounds sterling (a slashing backhand aimed at the value of the French franc in world markets). With­ out attempting to untangle the ambiguities of the sentence that exist on tho objective level, we discover that langue is literally vorte and that

Isaac literally secs red, and (incidentally) suffers from Daltonism at the same time that verte and rouge retain their figurative meanings.

This sentence i3 a good example of the vray in which Vian often forces his audience to accept the consequences of a literal reading of figurative expressions, thereby enlivening the language.

Another, more obvious example of Vian'o use of idiomatic expres­ sions in their literal sense occurs when Adelphin and Serafinio discover that the 'comparatively1 worthless copy of the barbarin has been substi­

tuted for the true article:

CAdelphin] fouilla dans sa poche droite et tendit un petit objet a Serafinio. — Sacre nom de Dieu! haleta Serafinio. Tu I'as enfin? Qu'ost-ce que e'est? — Foutu con! dit Adelphin, C'est le ... Uno detonation retentit et la balle lui coupa la parole au ras des lcvrec.

-- C'est le barbarin... tormina Adelphin...

Ibid., p. 6?. Pierre-Dac gave humorous and satirical talks and songs over the BBC during the Occupation. Called tho "roi de la lou- foquerio," he edited the humoristic caper, 1.’Os a. moolle, that was very popular immediately after the war. Communicated by H. Pierre Astier in a privat e c onversat i on, What interrupts the speech of Adelphin is a physical object literally cutting the flow of speech in two. The text implies that when this ex­ pression is used| what results on the printed page is closest to the intent of the user of the expression if the words that go to make it up are to be taken at their value. Consistent with such usage, Adelphin repeats the fragment and completes the sentence once order has been re­ stored, For Adelphin, tho speaker, speech is the only explicit manifestation of thought and once a thought has begun, it must bo objec­ tified verbally before tho thinking (speaking) process can be continued.

It hns been remarked by his critics that precious few classical references can bo found in Vian's novels, given his background in Latin and Greek, This chapter hope3 to dispel, at least in part, tliat notion.

There is one explicit classical reference that is also typical of Vian's entire method. Nothing can be sacred or accepted with absolute solem­ nity; as Adelphin dresses to attend tho raout at the home of the baronne de Pyssenlied, tho text continues:

Platon, .,, forcrule en quelquos phrases bion pen so os sa con­ ception de l'univers, II ce resume pour lui a l'ccran d'une espoce do cinema sur lcnucl so projettont des ombres animees que d'aucuns preur.ent pour realite quand la rcalito se trouve en re- olite derriere eux. Partant d'une idee analogue, Adelphin s'etait dit: pourquoi pas des sc-uliors jaunes si jo ne me montre qu'a contre-jour

Here Vian takes Plato's "Myth of the Cave" and uses it as a basis for

Adelphin*s choice of wearing yellow shoes: appearance is all says tho homne du monde. In one stroke Vian has evaginated the basis for much of

Christian theology and turned it to frivolity in a paragraph. This is 5a

reduct io ad absurdun of the Great Chain of Eeing, the staff of oil the bien pensants who could be capable of seeing in Hitler a 'soul bro­ ther. ' If the comments on the connection between the text and the

Occupation are accepted as reasonably accurate, then this thrust at

French Catholics with Fascist leanings shows Vian to be attuned to more recent historians' appreciation of the role of Fascism in tho evolution h8 of European political and social forms since the French Revolution.

I-fuch of Vian's use of language in this work can be traced to a calculated irreverence and the search for turns of phrase designed to amuse. From this point of view, all that is part of the tradition be­ come e a potential tete de turc. The literary tradition is no exception, although the 'breakage' here is slight. The one clear example i3 the parody of a lino from Verlaine. As ho mounts tho stairs at the hotel of tho Baronne, Adolphin picks a sprig of beri-bcri which, unlikely enough, calls up visions of licentiousness before his eyes which arc "... si if9 bleuG, si calmes."

Vian also shows a penchant for learned words, calculated to bring to the reader a sense of alienation. In one instance the bodies of the three-man crew of tho seaplane are thro\/n overboard where the cadavers

*f8 Ernst Holte, Three Faces of Fascism, trans, by Leila Vennewitz (New York: Holt, Rinelmrt and Winston, "I'JooT, pp. 30-57ff,

Vian, Trouble dans les Andains, p. 19. Le ciel est, par-deocus le toit, Si bleu, si calme! IFLe Ciel est, par-der.sus io toit..." (in) A Survey of French Litoraturei The Nineteenth and IVn t i c t h Centuries, ed, by Morris Bichop TTlew York: Karcourt Braco and Company, 1955)j p. 2?3* 50 are devoured immediately by gyranotes and carcliarias. The moat striking

example is the description of the Major’s shooting of Adelphin. The minute report on the path tho bullet takes might be used by a pathologist at an official autopsy. The bullet severs Adelphin's vocal cords but,

"Comme il Stait mort, cela n'avait plus aucune importance." There is a

slight twist at the end of the description in on attempt to modify the

clinical account of the path of the lethal bullet. Tho humor here is

noir to bo certain.

There are miscellaneous techniques which contribute to tho

strangeness of the total effect of the novel. On occasion, Vian juxta­ poses seeming impossibilities. There is a fireplace decorated by "... un 52 fronton renaissance du plus pur style gochique.11 The beri-beri comes 55 from the "... controcs lointaines ou r&sonnent les lingas forestiors."

Both images can exist only on tho level of language. There is also one

example of the subversion of a technical term. As Adelphin begins the

drive to tho raout. "Les souliers jaunes fremirent nervcusement sur les

pedales de commande et, avec le bruit d'un ccucou qui G'envole, la voi-

ture demarra. On croyait meme entendre lc choc des poids du coucou sur

les murs." Horsepower becomes cuckoo power. But what is contradictory about the passage are the allusions to the old bi-winged monoplanes of

50 Vian, Trouble dans les Andains, p. 111. Electric eols and sharks, respectively. World War I, to tho cuckoo clock and the cuckoo in the sense of "old

jalopy." Neither of these would sound like a roadster that is powered by electricity.

The technique which Vian turns to most good account in later

texts is that of bringing to life inanimate objects. As a part of the description of the locale surrounding the Baron's taudis. there is

"... un gratte-pieds ... use et poli par de trop long3 services et une education scrupuleuse, ... . It io unclear here whether the past participles of the first clause correspond to the phrases of tho second clause, or whether both participles apply to each of the gerunds of the

second. Tho gratte-pieds is poli by people with une education scrupn- leuso who are apt to be poli3 and use it. The Baron takes his hat and raincoat and "... deccendit l'escalier a cheval cur la rampe. La boule de cuivre synthetique qui dccorait l'extreraite inferieure do cette derni- ere flechit et s'abattit a 1'arrivSe du Boron.During the prime of his manhood Baron Visi dominates everyone with whom he has any con­ tact, There is nothing more natural in such an heroic world than that objects should also make obeis3ance. In embryonic form hero, this rela­ tionship between people and objects becomes more diffuse in later novels.

In this early novel, we see Vian using tho theme of the doppel- ganror to good effect. If the double characters are relatively uncomplicated, they nonetheless foreshadow more complex figures of later

55Ibid., p. 92.

^Ibid., p. 100. texts. While the emphasis is on freedom of action even for Adelphin and

Serafinio, an unorthodox ambivalent concept of good and evil determines ultimately the relations between the characters. To be relatively free is to have the capacity to re-create the world in your image — with provision made for all your manies if your name is Serafinio, Through tho behavior of Antioche and the Major, we discover that even monies are a form of servitude insofar as they mirror the arbitrary world which is always given (and which — however inert — always chips away at individ­ ual freedom). To be Baron Visi in the time of Antioche and the Major is to be gateux. The king must die, but not for the sake of the faceless, nameless queen; sexuality — as given — is also a servitude to be over­ come. Finally war and military occupation are just other facets of that arbitrary world tho individual must struggle against to reach what Vian calls "un Iquilibro instable."^

Myths having the openness for general application never die out.

Baron Visi, a 'modem* Theseus, io as relentless in his bloodletting as the Greek original. To make him mortal is not to limit his heroics in historical time. He is Father, Bringer of tho Stolen Word and Inadver- tant ancestor to economic and political oppression. Whether he is finally Disease or symptom of twentieth century ills is not totally clear. But as embodiment or symptom of such ills, he must be suppressed.

New mythG are necessary for a relatively new beginning,

57 Used by Vian to indicate moments of apparent individual stasis occuring in a space-time continuum. The expression first appears in l'Ecumo des jours, p. 1*f0. A new attitude toward language also becomes necessary. A tradi­ tion of literary usage is just as stifling as the presence of the Father in a world made oppressive to the rational offspring. Finally, to begin to be free is to imagine a world of one's own making. Trouble dans les

Andaine is a modest start.

In this first novel, Vian's double characters are already rela­ tively complex. Ilis use of language, while exuberant, often appears extraneous to the narrative. Both, double characters and language dominate myth. The myths used are both classic and of Vian's own crea­ tion, applied as commentary on the daily life that co-oxists with the genesis of the novel. Tho tine of the myths in this novel already es­ capes linear definition. CHAPTER II

Vian's second novel, Vercoguin et le planeton. was written during

19^3-19¥f and was finally published by Gallimard in January, 19^7. Com­ posed originally to "amuser les copaino, '* it was brought to the attention of Jean Rostand, the biologist, the father of Vian’s friend and neighbor,

Frangois. Rostand p§re in turn brought it to the attention of his friend

Raymond Queneau who directed the series "La Plume au vent" for Gallimard and who agreed to accept tho novel for publication provided that some modifications were made. David Noakes conjectures that the text origi­ nally consisted entirely of episodes about surprise parties and that the episodes centered around the bureaucracy were added later — and at no little pain.1

The text is divided into four parts. Part One io concorned solely with the Major’s surprise birthday party and its corollary, his adventure with Zizanie de la Houspignole (including all the ramifications implied by that ’adventure’). In Part Two, we are plunged into tho world of business bureaucracy with all its attendant contradictions. The only justification for thrusting the protagonists into this world is the need

D. Noakcs, Boris Vian, p. Mf. Jacques Duchatoau maintains that tho novel resembled Trouble dans les Andains in tho original manuscript; tho novel "... etait truffo do chateaux ot de barons... ." The published forn was suggested by Rostand and Oueneau. J. Duchatoau, Boris Vian, pp. 50-51• Neither Noakes nor Duchateau quotes sources.

57 to track down Sizanie’s undo to secure his permission to marry. Part

Three is concerned with the uneasy merger of the worlds of Parts One and

Two and in Part Four, the sympathetic characters return to the world of

Part One -- with what modifications of environment and behavior I will discuss later.

The protagonists of Trouble dans lea Andain.s, Antioche TambrS- tarabre and Jacques Loustalot (the Major), reappear living in similar easy circumstances. But as double characters, they are not interchangeable in this novel. Against the initial background of a surprise party, they be­ gin to differentiate themselvos while maintaining a fundamentally identical outlook. Antioche is again the Major*s right-hand man and has taken total responsibility for the organization of the party because he has had a great deal of practice at it and, supplementarily, will be apt to keep a cool head all evening since he does not become intoxicated 2 easily. Fully self-possessed, Antioche exhibits the same easy compe­ tence characteristic of Baron Visi in Trouble dans les Andaina.

While tho Major and his chief competitor, Fromental de Vercoquin, stand on polite ceremony */ith Zizanie, Antioche moves in smoothly, treat­ ing her as if they have been life-long friends and she responds in similar fashion,^ Antioche convinces the Major that he should 'test* tho young lady's suitability as a mate and thus spare his friend possible de­ ll. ception. His investigation is thorough and to the Major’s satisfaction.

2 Boris Vian, Vorcoouin e£ le plancton, Le Terrain Vague (Paris: Eric Losfcld, 1965), pp.T5“lV. 59

Antioche is the peerless 'operator' who know3 how to treat women as they want to be treated: informally, as ob.jects (X use the term advisedly).

He also keeps the party running smoothly, effectively silences those who 5 prefer that the entire gathering talk rather than dance and keeps a sharp eye on those who would steal all the records if left unwatched.^

Moving into the world of the "Consortium National de 1 'Unifica­ tion" (C.N.U.) in pursuit of Zizanie*s uncle, Antioche reveals himself just as competent in another hermetically closed environment. Introduced to one of Miqueut's subordinates, he explains the purpose of his visit:

— Monsieur, dit Antioche, je desirais voir M. Miqueut pour une affaire personnelle. En fait, pour lui demander la main de sa niSce. — Permettez-moi do vous congratuler... dit RenS Vidal en disoir.ulant un sourire apitoye. — H'en faites rien, e'est pour un ami, ajouta vivement Antioche. — Eli bionJ si votro araiti& se traduit par des services cotnme celui-ci je vous serais infiniment reeonnaiscant de me considerer desormais coinme un ennemi possible, dit Vidal dans le plus pur style du C.N.U. -- En d'autres tomes, conclut Antioche, qui gout ait un lan- gagc simple, le soue-ingenieur Miqueut est un enraerdeur. — De la pire espece, dit Vidal.7

Face to face with someone who speaks the same unobscure language he does,

Antioche goes directly to the core of understanding necessary if any future dealings with Miqueut appear likely. In the special world of the young that the text favors as the legitimate one, an emmerdeur is someone qui no eait pas vivre. From this point in the text Antioche appears rarely but io always ultra-competent. He is already amply apprised of

^Ibid.. pp. 4J-44.

^Ibid.t p. 60.

7Ibid.t p. 73. 60

the snake-pit into which he has ventured and later judiciously allows the

Major to charm his own snakes: one does not buy the kind of embetcments

sure to ensue upon any contact with Miqueut -- even for a close friend.

Antioche appears at the engagement party which closes the book -- but

as a friendly observer since the Major of tho beginning of tho text has

become competent.

If Antioche has made a quantum jump from the character he was in

Trouble dans les Andains, the Major initially retains the purity of the

earlier character. He u s also become amazingly naive and gullible.

This change could bo ascribed to a more complicated environment. He has decided before the party that "... ses aventures comnenceraient cette g fois a la minute precise ott il rencontrerait Zizanie." Although the

occasion of the party is his twenty-first birthday, his opening attempts at conversation with Zizanie are those of a young man totally lacking in 9 experience with women. Surprisingly, he 'neutralizes1 his competitor,

Vercoquin, leaving him afoot in the woods at Marly and miles from the party. Accepting Antioche's evaluation of Zizanie a3 "... une fille ... parfaitement bien... he inquires naively: "Tu crois que j'ai uno 10 chance?" Freddy De Vree has suggested a partial solution to tho puzzle of the Major's behavior. Post-adolescents have, in this connection, the ^ # 11 problem of "Comment se taper la fille dosiree" and the Major's approach

8Ibid., p. 15. 9 See Chapter I, note 19* 10 Vian, Vercoquin et ILe planet on. pp.

^ F . De Vree, Boris Vian, p. 1^. is one virtual answer consistent with the problem, Albeit extreme, as

Antioche suggests. Another reason for this apparent obtuseness is to

amuse, Jacques Du chateau surest s, somewhat plausibly, that for the

Major, Zizanie is a3 much an ideal object as the barbarin of Trouble dans

les Andaine, and that he is afflicted by the blindness that pursuers of 12 such ideals generally have. The contention would be perfectly sound if

the Major and Antioche had not been hired to trace the barbarin and that

it is the Major who rejects the object for the two of them. The Major's

turnabout in Parts Three and Four suggests that De Vroe's reading is more

accurate. On the other hand, the fact that Antioche and the Major share

Zizanie as they ultimately shared the barbarin suggests an affinity

between the "Majors" of the two novels without their literal quests being identical.

Once the Major penetrates the world of C.N.U, on his own account,

his behavior changes rapidly. After approximately four months and three weeks of fruitless efforts to gain an audience with tho uncle, Antioche

and the Major arrive for the moment of truth. But for Miqueut, visitors

could wish to speak to him for one reason only: C.N.U, business. Before he knows it, tho Major has been adopted by the firm and directed to draw up a "Nothon do surprise-partie," the subject of a possible marriage with 13 Zizanie never being discussed. It is while drawing up his projet de

12 J. Duchateau, Boris Vian, p. Don Quixote and his Dulcinea is the example used. 13 Vian, Vercoquin et le plancton, pp. 106-111, A Nothon (no­ tons), one of Vian's neologiems, is the written form that C.N.U. uses to outline every possible element in a sphere of human activity as an aid to the normalization of the activity. 62

Nothon (under a deadline) that he evolves as a character. Gaining compe­ tence in a professional sphere, the paralyzing preoccupation with his affective life is no longer such a great problem. Thus, on the day his

Nothon is presented for approval, the Major demonstrates his ascendancy to Zizanie, foils a last attempt by Vercoquin to neutralize him and saves 1^- Miqueut in an awkward moment before his superiors. Thinking he has demonstrated his worth, the Major confronts Miqueut only to discover that the latter is more concerned that Zizanie remain as secretary — bettor yet, that she do the Major's typing at home which means one salary 15 less. But Loustalot, having obtained his objective, plans to sever all connections with the firm.

l/hen the engagement party begins, the adult relatives of Zizanie,

,fles gens serieux," set up a solid wall between the young men and women

— allowing no dancing — and, just as importantly, between all the young people and the refreshments. It is the Major who leads the counter­ attack that allows tho young people to take command of their own func­ tion. The engagement party is transferred to a more congenial environment and quickly transformed into a surprise party, the Major pro­ viding organization and leadership. He assumes Antioche's functions of the first party, securing an orchestra, assuring the availability of food 16 and drink and casting a benevolent eye toward the baisodrome from time

Ibid.. pp. 138-1^5.

15Ibid., pp. 15^155. 16 According to M.-C. Loriot, the semi-neologism, composed of two existing linguistic elements, is Vian's invention. ,rLe Langage de Boris Vian,11 La Nouvelle Critique, N° 175 (avril, 1966), pp. 3**—35* 63 to time. Able to drink only orangeade at the first party, he serves him­ self a Monkey's Gland, the potent drink that is Antioche*s speciality in

Part One. Later, he pours himself two glasses of brandy and drinks to 17 his own health, "... le second d'abord, par politesse, , He even participates freely in the sexual games, while Zizanie does the same.

Hia basic concern i3 that his party be a success; to Emmanuel Pigeon, one of the likeable employees from C.N.U.:

— Avez-vous, dit le Major, trouvS chaussure a votre pied? — Je ne fais pas qa avec mon pied, en general, mais je dois vous avouer que j'en ai mis un vieux coup a... — A? demands le Major. — Autant lc dire tout de suite, dit Enmanuel. A votre fiancee.

Instead of being angry, horrified or chocked, the Major simply continues: 18 "... je suis content qu'elle vous ait plu." As the evening wears on, the Major thus tends to become totally concerned with his function as organizer of the fete, and Zizanie, for whom he has labored long and hard, ia simply another possible ingredient in the potentially successful social venture. The passage is ambiguous enough to leave unclear what passed between Zizanie and Pigeon; throughout the exchange, however, the

Major reiooins formally polite and accomodating, complete master of the situation. Evolving from his position as Antioche's double in Trouble dans les Ar.dains and at the outset of this text, the Major can no longer be taken as interchangeable with or merely complementary to Antioche. He

17 Vian, Verconuin et le plancton, p. 175. Henri Baudin in his article, 'To Double ct ses metamorphoses dans les romans de Boris Vian," is quick to make his point about the doubles. He calls this drink a Mon­ key's Gland, confusing the separate incidents. Bizarre, p. 82.

^^Vian, Vercoquin et le plancton, p. 18^, 64 is fully differentiated and individualized — yet, like the remaining characters whose forms have contour, his traits are first and foremost 19 an assent to the situation of the young.

As the Major is doubled with and differentiated from Antioche, so is he doubled fragmentarily with Vercoquin, his arch rival. Vercoquin'8 limp excliange with Zizanie as they dance is a mirror of the one Zizanie 20 had with the Major immediately before. In addition to their mutual passion for the lady, they are both, surprisingly, poets. At the poetry-

reading contest arranged to settle their differences, it develops that

* 21 Vercoquin has read only one .. volume depareillS de Verhaeren. ...,11

and his verse reflects that sole reading. The Major's first offering,

Et les vents malaises brodouillaient leur antienne Aux bonds mysterieux du mort occidental ..., 22 is a pastiche of Heredia's 'Xeo Ccnquerants" and a contre-petterie. He

* 19 The Major appears as a character in the ncuvoiles la Route de­ sert et le Brouillard, le Figurant and 11Pie blcue collected in Les FourmiG~Tl~^u9)~ and' les kenpartG du aid and Snrprise-rm. tic chea”l'6obille collected in le Loun-gnrou (1970T. According to J. Duchateau, Michelle Vian-Ltglise doubts that the Major ever read any of Vian's texts in which he figures as a character — or any of Vian's other texts, The Major ei­ ther jumped or fell from a third story window while attending a party in 1948. One of his favorite gambits was to leave a party by this means (stepping out, leaving observers with the impression he was falling or jumping to certain death; but having verified the premises beforehand, he would slide down the divtinpipe or climb to the roof). The circumstances of his death have never been clarified. Bizarre, pp, 17-22; J. Ducha­ teau, Boris Vian, p. 66. 20 ^ Vian, Vercoquin e t le pi met on, pp. 20-21. Asked similar self- conscious questions by both men, Zizanie answers "yes" to the Major's and "no" to Vercoquin'G inquiries.

21Ibid.. p. 148.

22Ibid., p. 147. Et lea vents alizcs inclinaient leurs antenneo Aux bords mysterietix du monde Occidental. 65 continues with a pastiche of Baudelaire and Hugo, the last of whoa Ver- 23 haeren acknowledged as his master. The relative merit of their efforts is measured by their effect on the available listeners, the counter-girls at the ice-cream bar where the reading is held: Vercoquin*3 poem inter­ ests them; the Major's causes them all to faint. After these victims of the Major's genius have been ambulanced from the scene, Vercoquin acknow­ ledges his adversary's mastery with a Hindu stance of veneration. The

Major who has already been described as a lover of Indian culture

"... sentait son coeur gonfle d'amour pour co voyageur lointain qui avait A 2k avec lui tant de gouts en comraun." The differences raised by their competition for Zizanie's affection have prevented Vercoquin from becom­ ing a potential copain. Given the resolution of the text in favor of conviviality over private affectivity, the bond between Vercoquin and the

Major is adjudged the kind that is more lasting. Ultimately what sepa­ rates tho two men is not a woman but a certain lack of savoir vivre in

Vercoquin that is being rectified in this last encounter.

"Log Conquorants" (in) A Survey of French Literature, ed. by Morris Bishop, p. 262. Cf. M. Rybolka, Boris Vian,~'p.' 162.'

2^Vian, Vercoquin et le plancton, pp. 150-152. This poem is in alexandrine quatrains and lias the rhyme scheme of Baudelaire's "Harmonie du Soir1'; the poet-hero is Hamoniac le soiffard, eaten up by vers (worms) and vers (verse). Michel Rybalka states that the poem is a pas­ tiche of Hugo, but not of which poem. The content approximates that of "l'Fpopce du vers" and Mle Poote au ver do terre" from Hugo's la L&gende des Giec'les. P. Mansell Jones, Verhaoren (Now Haven, Conn.: fale Uni­ versity Press, 1557), pp. 7-3; M. liybaikn, Boris Vian, p. 162; Charles Baudelaire, Le3 Flours du IVil (Paris: Cornier, 19S1T, p. 55; Victor Hugo, La Legendo des Si eel os, texte etabli et annoto par Jacques Truchot. "Bibliothcnue de la Pleiade" (Paris: Gallimard, 1950), pp. 193-209 and p. 210. 2h Vian, Vercoquin et le plancton, p. 153- 66

Like the Major, Antioche also has another double. Arriving at

C.N.U. on the Major's business, Antioche is directed to itene Vidal, since

Miqueut is not there. Face to face for the first time, "Les deux horaraes se regarderent quelques instants et constatIrent qu’ile se recsemblaient d ’une fagon curieuse, ce qui les mit fort 3. l'aise."2^ Vidal plays trum­ pet in Claude Abadie’s orchestra, the jazz group brought in to play for the engagement party. Significantly, Vidal and the rest of the band leave a half-hour before the explosion, surviving the writer's carnage 26 along with Antioche and the Major. Vidal and Antioche agree on the folly of an unrestrained quest for Zizanie and Antioche deciphers easily

Vidal's oblique evaluation of Miqueut as an emmerdeur. That they liter­ ally speak the same language makes mutual understanding a certainty.

Leon-Charle3 Miqueut 13 not in a class by himself either. There are functional doubles for the sous-ingonieur principal who lurk about 27 tho corridors of C.N.U. Zizanie says he seldom leaves his office. But visitors or junior associates who attempt to speak to him there find access difficult or impossible, as Antioche discovers. However, he makes

25Ibid., pp. 77-78. 26 Vian himself played with the Abadie orchestra beginning in 19^2. M. Kybalka uses these personal references as a basis for the con­ tention that Vian, in "real" life, fragmented himsilf in the cano manner as his characters do in order to maintain both himself at a distance from Others and himself from himself and all Vian's texts are expositions of this conscious preoccupation. I would suggest that one of Vian's pet phrases ^borrowed from Korzybeki), "la carte n'est pas le tcrritairc," which Rybalka quotes in another context, should be applied before reach­ ing such a conclusion, H. Rybalka, Boris Vian, p. 117ff; Alfred Korzybski, Science and Sanity (3rd ed.; Garden City, H, Y.: Internation­ al Non-Aristotelian Library, 19**8), PP. 5. 27 Vian, Vercoquin et le plancton, p. 55* 67 himself totally available to his superiors and expects his subordinates

to do the sane for him* At one of the daily meetings he holds with his

six closest subordinates, ho cautions them on the use of commas and goes

on to remind them to do their own editing because notre organione de

controle ... ne doit rien avoir a faire.A portion of their duty,

then, is to insure that their superiors have nothing to do. The daily meetings were devised by Miqueut and his superiors to insure that junior

employees waste a maximum of time and thus hold down the flood of projets

de Nothon submitted to higher echelons since evaluation of them is years behind schedule. Given an opportunity, Miqueut would create the twenty-

four hour workday. When Pigeon, a junior executive, wishes to take his vacation three days ahead of time, Miqueut reminds him that it is against

the rules. Still unable to discover what Pigeon's “personal reasons" are

for the projected early departure, Miqueut decides he will take an "un­

scheduled" vacation covering the desired period; Pigeon, as the only 29 person competent in his specialty, must remain. Consenting to the mar­

riage, Miqueut expresses his preference for a Saturday afternoon ceremony

that will not interfere with business.^ Finally and consistently, he has tracked Pigeon down at the party and is locked in a storeroom by the

Major. As leaking natural gas seeps into the room, Miqueut begins to

draft a "... Nothon [aui] ... a pour objet de definir les conditions dans

lesquclles doit extirper un sous-ingSnieur principal lorequ'il subit une

23Ibid., p. 69.

29Ibid., pp. 103-105.

^°lbid.. p. 155. 68 asphyxie aui lui est impose© par le gaz d'eclairage a basso pres- eion.., . He is one of the few characters in Vian's novels who has no redeeming qualities. None of tho people he victimizes thinks of doing him violence; in civilized fashion, they try to stay away from him, but they cannot avoid him. The corrosion he brings to their lives is oppres­ sive and total. Nor do the war and the Occupation make a difference.

For Miqueut, business is better than ever.

One of his doubles never appears, Taucheboeuf, ingenieur princi­ pal at C.N.U., is Miqueut's immediate superior and also imposes a maximum waste of time on his subordinates. But the daily game of manille to which Miqueut is convoqued can be profitable within the structure pro- 32 vided by C.N.U. On one occasion the stakes in the game are tine serie de projets de Nothons dont on so disputait l'attribution." "On" in S'* this instance includes Toucheboeuf, Miqueut and the Directeur-g£neral.

If these men cannot assure the rapid administrative flow of their paper, they profitably use the delays to take credit for the long hours of work of their subordinates.

Another more refined reflection of Miqueut is the Delegue Central

Requin. He does his part by calling meetings for the directors of C.N.U, several times a week. Becoming used to the meetings himself, he cannot

31Ibid., p. 187.

^Claude Leon cays that Vian drew upon his experiences at Associ­ ation Franqaise de Normalisation (AFNOi!) for material on C.N.U. and that more or loss consciously he used the AFNOR method in constructing hi3 novels. J. Duchateau, Boris Vian, p. kGm

^Vian, Vercoquin et le plancton, p. 85. 3*H do without them. If Miqueut and Toucheboeuf hold their conferences to

imitate Requin, the latter has come to imitate himself. Appointed by tho government to supervise C.N.U. and help protect the public, Requin has joined the bureaucrats. The taking of credit for the work of subor­ dinates probably is instituted from the top since Requin "... Smargeait a plusieurs ministeres et signait des ouvrages techniques quo d'obscura ingenieur3 passaient des heures pcnibles a Slaborer."^ The meeting at which the Major’s Nothon is approved reveals that Requin has become as passionate for them as is Miqueut. Requin is so impressed with the fin­ ished quality of the proposal (in theory the Major is not a "profes­ sional'1), that he is certain that Miqueut is responsible for its composition. Miqueut refuses credit in such a way as to let it be under- 36 stood that the work is hie. It is plausible that Requin duped himself in this instance as with the repeated conferences for executives: having hold 3 0 many, life would not be the same without them; having become accustomed to senior executives accepting credit for work of their sub­ ordinates, it can only be that Miqueut is responsible for this comparatively brilliant piece. It is apparent that the difference between tho thefts by Requin and Miqueut is primarily one of style. In this connection, L^on-Chorles’s surnamo spells out the limits of his place among the big fish like Requin, 70

There are two additional minor characters who are important because they combine qualities that Vian loves to satirize. As the en­ gagement party is in full swing, a knock at the door and a subsequent exchange reveals that a guest has continued his favorite occupation: having banished himself to the balcony, he drop3 objects on the heads of passersby in the street two stories below:

C ’etaient deux nouveaux representants de l'ordre, Ils ve- naiont de recevoir sur la tete uno jardiniere en chene doublSe de plomb, de format grand aigle. Le centre de recuperation des metaux non ferreux n'etait qu'a cinquante metres et ils protes- taient, jugeant oue leur travail consistait a garder l ’ordre et non a transporter du plomb.37

Prior to this time, a missile had caused a fatal casuality; a passing gendarme had been struck on the head by "... Un cache-pot de l'&poquo *58 Ming ... en bronze de quarante-dcux kilos et deo virgules. The first policeman’s complaint was that of the connoisseur: the blatant vandalism he found disgusting without any reference to the assault from above. The glass of cognac offered in conciliation had killed him. On this second occasion, the policemen again take no notice of the assault which has specifically to do with "keeping order,1' but are rather concerned with not stepping outside the function conferred by the uniforms they wear.

First an aesthete and now two purists are called in to fairo rire.

Offered the traditional cognac, they respond in unison and in the affir- 3 0 native with 'Xa voix de devoir.11 Consuming two bottles and appearing disposed to remain, the two are invited to stay:

37Ibid., p. 182.

^Ibid.. p. 175.

39Ibid.. p. 182. 71

— Mill* excuses, dit le plus gros, ... mais, comme on dit, nous sommes peudeurastes par vocation, — Vous operez ensemble? demanda le Major. — Eh ben... pour une fois, on peut bien s'encanailler un... tantinet! dit le plus maigre ... . Le Major fit eigne a deux zazous, Slaves du grand Maurice Escande, et les remit entre lea mains des gendarmes, — On vous arretet dirent ces derniers. Venez qu'on vous passe £ tabac...**0

It is a long standing tradition of l1 humour estudiantin to provoke laugh­

ter at the expense of the representatives of law and order, but Vian

seems to have a fixation about them and the way they behave in practice.

The addition of the homosexual aspect objectifies one of his pet notions:

homosexuality as a reason for being is a distinct limitation of individ­

ual possibilities. The choice of becoming a policeman is analogous.

The combination of the two is a pitiable spectacle.

The continued elaboration of tho double characters discussed so

far shows that tho line between ’good* and 'evil' has become hardened

with the description of a more complex environment. Other double charac­

ters to be discussed in the context of the surprise party will modify

that judgement to some degree, but withal, the discussion of this motif

reveals a world becoming progressively grim.

Ibid.. p. 183. The cnlcnbour "s'encanailler un tantinet" means "s'amuser un peu" and "s'envoynr une petite tante," drawing the second meaning from "peudeurastes” (pedorastes). Vian ignores the fact that there aro no gendarmes in Paris, only agents de police (pointed out by M. Pierre ActierK The' zazous were a group of young people who surfaced at the beginning of 19^2 in Paris and who tried to turn their backs on the war and the reality of tho Occupation. Flamboyant dressers and avid for jazz and jitterbugging (the Germans had forbidden most American art forms as "decadent"), they wore predecessors of the "cave-dwellers'1 of St. Germain-des-Pres of the post war period. Unlike the American "zoot- suitors," they generally came from wealthy or upper middle-class back­ grounds. M. Rybalka, Boris Vian. p. 56; S. de Beauvoir, Force des Choses, tome 2, pp. 90-91i Bizarre, p. 2?. 72

Vian'a description of the world of C.N.U. and of Miqueut nay appear virulent and even unfairt but he does attempt to be even-handed in his evaluation of this world and what it means* The myth appears by its very' nature satirical. With the technique of 'making it strange,' the "normal" only sounds bizarre. Miqueut, Toucheboeuf and Re quin make it apparent that the higher the position in the supervisory hierarchy, the greater the connection between position and smoothness of profession­ al veneer. Miqueut has absolutely no chance to become a Requin unless he poisons all his superiors at the same time* Above him in tho C.N.U. hierarchy, the roll-call goes on and at the top is the PrSsidont-Direc- teur fcSnSral. Emile Gallopin, whose name conveys the measure of his concorn with what is "in the public interest." Also harbored in the building, seldom seen, nearly invisible, are:

••• quelques Inspectours gSn^raux, anciens soudards retraites, qui passaient le plus clair de leur tempo a ronfler aux reuni­ ons techniques, et co qui leur en rcotait a parcourir la contree sous le couvort de missions leur dormant un pretexts pour ranqonner los adherents dont les cotisations permottaient au C.N.U* de subsicter tant bien que mal.^

The ,fC.N.U." of the passage does not include the minor employees, so the bulk of the cotisations goes to these soudards. C.N.U, produces Nothons which are to regulate all forms of human activity; their inutility is apparent. But the responsibility for waste of industrial as well as hu­ man resources cannot be localized at C.N.U. The larger business community with the collusion of the government also has a hand in the

Vian, Vercoquin et le planeton. p. 66, 73

elaboration of the Nothons. Both business and government act to avoid

imposition of the Nothons, insofar as normalization would control sharp kz business practice. As a result of this shadowy activity in the upper

echelons, the public suffers through and in spite of the ambivalent roles

of the 'Requins, 1

Vian is much more concerned with the specific iii« at C.N.U, and

with its star representative Miqueut. As the only member of the hier­

archy who is visible, Miqueut*s presence has nearly absolute importance

for trle petit personnel," There are six junior executives who work

closely with Miqueut; they are of an age and none are out of the ordi- nary. They all try to fill up the time until they are called into

conference by Miqueut. With the squeeze being applied to the product of

their labor within and without the firm, their struggle is for spiritual

survival in a totally sterile environment. True, "ils s*embetent;" but as Vidal says, au fond on s ' embeterait out ant ailleurs et on y * serait peut-etre meins peiaards. Be seul ennui ici e'est Miqueut," On a practical level, it is as individuals faced with Miqueut that their difficulties lie. On the morning of 19 March, 19^0 , Miqueut begins his daily meeting with an harangue on the use of the telephone. Interrupted by a telephone call "de l'extorieur," Miqueut signals his subordinates permission to leave some five hours later and "le dix-neuf juin a seize

42Ibid., p. 67.

43lbid., pp. 73-76.

A jIl Ibid.. p. 101. 74 lf5 heuree, ... [il] reposa le recepteur." This says something for the state of Miqueut*s natural functions as compared to the rest of us, or hio control when confronted by superiors. He did eat; his desk contained approximately a three month supply of food.

He missed the entire war and as all the male employees had strag- gled back, he would note nothing abnormal about the office. Vidal is

* * **7 the exception, "... car il venait a pied d'Angouleme... ." ' Miqueut, thinking he is late returning from lunch, begins his sermon. Vidal tells him a cow got onto the metro track and blocked traffic, a preamble for a

Nothon proposal as far as Miqueut is concerned. He continues:

II faut se plier a une discipline, et, vis-a-vis du petit person­ nel, nous devons nous confonner aux horairo.i stricts; en sccnme, voyez-vcus, il faut faire trSs attention d ’etre exact, surtout en ce moment, avec ceo bruits de guerre, et nous qui sommes plus particuliercaent destines a etre de3 chefs, en somrae, nous devons plus que lec autres, donner l,exeraple... — Oui, Monsieur, dit Vidal avec un sanglot dans la voix, je ne recooimoncerai plu3 jamais. II se demondait qui etaient les "autres" et aussi ce que di- rait Miqueut en apprenant 1* armistice. ^8

If he was detestable before, having once stepped out of his office and into occupied France he becomes unbearable. Even though Miqueut has been unaware of events for three months, these remarks, especially concerning la discipline, echo much of what came from Vichy spokeemen after the

Government was organized. Miqueut has tho qualities of a Vichyiet avant

45Ibid., pp. 89-90 and 94.

Paris was declared an open city on 12 June a >d surrendered on 14 June, 19^0. William Shirer, Tho Collapse of the Third Republic (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1969), pp." 776-777. 47 Vian, Vercoquin et le plancton, p. 95« ItA Ibid.. p . 96 . 75

la lettre. Aa Vidal ie to discover, Miqueut is little affected by the

Armistice or its meaning. After the fact, he trembled at the risk his

collections of documents had run, "II s'empressa de cncher un pistolet a bouchon dans le bout on de porte de ca cuicine et s'estima des lors digue % U9 de donner a tout moment son avis de patriote." The hardships caused by

the Occupation allow him to remain as dirtily unkempt as he had before­

hand, but now with no risk of castigation.

Since he receit'ee packages from the provinces, he can little

appreciate that secretaries at the bottom of the salary scale do not earn

enough money to keep pace with the galloping inflation that follows hard

on the Armistice. When twelve of them ask for a raise, he offers all the

bureaucratic lies in one forn or another as pretexts for doing nothing.

When the women resign, he places the blame squarely on them, lying bald- 50 51 ly. A mean human being who is entirely contained in his prose," lie

is emblematic of the effect of bureaucracy on those who only try to earn a living.

Over and beyond the general criticism of bureaucracy, it is agaiiiBt the specific goal of '‘unification" that Vian takes umbrage.

i | Q , Ibid.. p. 97, "il etait ur£caricature d'homme, il devient maintenant une caricature de resistant." M. Kybalka, Boris Vian, p. 59* 50 Viim, Vcrconuln et le plancton, pp. 97-100.

Claude Leon, a friend of Vian'o who played drums in the Abndie orchestra and who also was a colleague at AlIIGl and 1 ‘Office du Penier, says that Vian did not necessarily hate his work, only the incompetence and inefficiency of his superiors. The latter thought highly of him un­ til he persisted in pointing out their miGtekeo and correcting their butchered attempts at the use of the French language. That ho objected strenously to the normal inert ion of errors made the situation even worse, ^ * Bizarre, p. 35; J. iXichateau, B'ria Vian, pp. ^3-Vf, Miqueut states the problem fairly explicitly, explaining to the Major

C.N.U.'o struggle against public resistance:

C'est un travail qui deraande, en sotnme, du doigte et une assez grande hnbilet$. C'est ainsi que, bien eouvent, on nous oppose des arguments qui semblent de bonne foi. Eh bient trois fois sur ^uatre, nous constatons, ... que ces arguments avaient $tS dictos par des points de vue purement d’interota particuliers. Et souvent, n'est-ce pas, lea gens se contredisent malgrS eux et noua opposent des raisons qui ne tiennent pas. C'est pour- quoi, en somme, il faut lutter perpetuellement pour tenter de faire triocnpher le point de vue de 1 'unification. 52

Any attempt to force individuals to think alike -- even about C.N.U.*s

goal — is reprehensible from Vian's standpoint. All tho would-be syn­

thesizer needs is a show of disagreement among competing attitudes of

his opposition to demonstrate the truth of his own position. It is a

puzzle though that Miqueut is able to single out these trees from the

forest background. The substance of individual behavior at surprise

parties is no great concern of his as long as the form is followed to the

letter. In his failure to correctly take the measure of the importance

of the opposition, it must be said that he cannot see the forest for

the trees.

Despite the opposition, the only inroad made on the bureaucratic

corporation here elevated to the level of caricature is that possible

through the imagination of a Vian. Miqueut is no more, but Toucheboeuf and Requin survive; a sous-ingcnicur principal is just important enough

that there are always ready replacements. The machinery is solidly in place and casualties do not begin to slow it as 1'Ecmne des jours will make apparent.

^Vian, Vercoquin et le planet on. pp. 125-126, 77 Vian deals with the myth of the surprise party and the life of the zazous in somewhat ambivalent fashion. The treatment of the differ­ ent aspects of this life is structured like a Uothon. There are refresh­ ments, music, dancing and, most importantly, sexual recreation. The first category is described in a sentence that is pure Vianiana; in the large room of the Major's home which is cleared for the dancing:

On y voyait ... deux tables surchargSes de friandises: pyra- mide3 de gateaux, cylindres de phonographes, cubes de glace, triangles de franc-ciagons, carrcs raagiques, hautes spheres poli- tiques, cones, rim, etc... Des bouteilles de nansouk tunisien voisinaient avec doo flacons do toque, du gin Fun^bre Fils (du TrSport), du whiskey Lapupace, du vin Ordener, du vermouth de Thuringe, et tant do boissons delicates que l'on avait de la peine a e’y reconnaxtre.53

The empirically verifiable becomes the legendary and just as quickly shades into the purely verbal, the calenbour (cones, rig r conneries), making clear that Vian's purpose is to amuse as much as to describe. In the same fashion, the drinks range from the dismal to the abominable, until Thuringian vermouth must be seen as unqualifiably awful: what little German red wine exists is mediocre. Food is seldom important in this world except to draw laughter. GourrandiGe has little or nothing to do with why these people come together. As the Major expresses it in

Part Four, since they are going to drink in order to be gay, feed them so they may drink without becoming ill; the success of the total experience is dependent on gaiety.

^Ibid., p. 1^.

^Ibid.. pp. 170-171- The music is jazz and for the first party is to be played on "Un pick-up a quatorze lanpes, dont deux a acStylJno en cas de panne de 55 courant,... The Abadie band provides live music for the second.

The titles of the songs are all given in English for the first party and are extremely fantaisisto, entirely of Vian’s invention: Until my green rabbit eats his soup like a gentleman, Garg arises often down South, etc.

The music played by the Abadie group is given French titles. There are only two songs mentioned, both deformations of titles in English designed to circumvent the official German ban on "decadent" jazz: Honeysuckle

Rose becomes On est sur les roses and Lady Be Good is rendered as Leo 56 Bigoudis. The names of composers and performers are also transformed:

Bob Crosby becomes Bob Gross-Bi; Duke Ellington is Mildiou Kensington; Cfl George Gershwin becomes Gu^ro Souigne (qui ne swing guere). The last judgement is a reflection of Vian's estimate of Duke Ellington as the greatest jazz composer and musician.

But the most important aspect of the entire operation is the sex­ ual exploration, described for the most part as good clean fun, no different from other facets of the parties. And it must be made clear: fun for the copains. The girls who attend the parties are all willing objects ("Une fille est disponible quand elle est jolie."). Women are necessary, but anonymous accessories for sexual involvement — with one

^Ibid.. p. 14. 56 Ibid., pp. 17^-175. There is even a bi-lingual calembour here (Garg arises z gargariser). 57 It appears that the zazous themselves initiated this expedient to circumvent the Genian ban. Vian, Chroniques de jazz, p. 162. 79 exception* "..• [U3ne chaxmante rousse, *.." Jacqueline, reverses the usual roles and goes on the prowl at the first party, leaving all the males who dare prostrate in her wake. Vian1© sexually insatiable female is a tongue in choek treatment of a variation on the medieval notion of tho redheaded person as aligned with the demonic, through whom the super- 58 natural becomes possible. To that end tho Major's garden at Ville d'Avrille (Ville-d'Avray) becomes a Garden of Earthly Delights with its

... gigantesque gratte-menu des tropiaues,.* [qui] couvrait ... 1 'angle forme par la rencontre des mure eud et nord du pare... [son] banc de bois d'arbouse de vache ... [ses] lapins sauvages... Cqui] rodaient a tcute heure,.. leurs longues queues ... [trai- nant] derriere eux... [son] mackintosh npprivoise, portant un collier de cuir rouge cloute d'albatre... Cqui] se promenait dans les alleeo d'un air nolancolique, regrettant ses collines natales o1 pouscait le bagpiper.59

This is the setting for the Major's first understanding with Zizanie, where the legendary unicorn has been replaced by the potentially legen­ dary mackintosh. If the feats of sexual athletics performed by Vercoquin

(with "une petite blonde” and with Jacqueline) and Jacqueline (with an indefinite number of males and with the mackintosh) become possible and do not seem out of the ordinary, then the fact that the north and south walls of the garden meet is equally unextraordinary. In contrast to the first party where sexual bouts are at a premium, pranks (throwing of sandwiches, sophisticated voyeurism) are just as import ant at the second.

The world of Part One has already been adulterated by the contact the

58 A classic example of the 'outsider' is the redhaired Roquentin in Sartre's Nausee. Jacqueline also fits that description and will not remain supine, offranto. for the merely human. But within the con­ text of Part One, she too is nowtial because everything is possible here. Provided that she remain the exception, she validates the rule. 59 Vian, Vercoquin et le ploncton. pp. and 1^-16. 80 protagonists have had with the world of business, war, occupation and ra­ tioning. The insurgence of the adults in its early stages further contaminates the second party. Irruptions by outsiders continue through­ out the evening, and although treated humorously (Miqueut's appearance is the exception; he can only evoke a rire jaune). the confluence of modifi­ cations suggests an alternate reading of the world of the surprise party.

Vian's biographers generally support the thesis that the novel is 60 half apology for the surprise party. But even 'in the beginning' it is a world in decomposition, a world treated with ambivalence. On tho sur­ face, the party is an event allowing the juvenile copainc open license to enjoy themselves, but there are anomalies. The handbook for surprise party beliavior which details methods that insure sexual success & 1eo points out possible explanations for failure: equal competence of one's competitor or the entry of irrational elements like love into the ecjua- t 61 tion. The agressive Jacqueline is a paradoxical irritant to a world of bone vicux copains. The archetypal athletes of the dance floor are ano­ ther index of ambivalence:

Jjc male portn.it une tignaese fricce et vm ccnplet bleu cicl dont la veste lui tombait aux mollets. ... Le pant.-vlon, ... eta.it si etroite que le rcollet oaillait avec obscenite ecus cette sorte d*Strange i'ourreau ... II etait sv/ir.g. la femelle ... cuait dec dessous de bras. Ea tenue moins excen- trioue quo cellc de son conpagnon, pacsait precque inapertjue: ... 11 e'iippelait Alexandre, et on le rurnouuiait Coco. Llle se notxaait Jacqueline. Eon eurnom, e'etait Coco, ... lie ctaient tris, tros s w i n g , 62

^ D , IJoakes calls the text a burlesque, Boris Vian. pp. kk-kj.

^ Vian, Vercoquin et le planeton. pp. Zb-^h, 62 Ibid., p. ^6. The physical description is that of another species — birds — where the male is generally more brightly colored 81

Visibly embodying all the values of young people enjoying themselves, they are nonetheless male and femolle and Coco has always been pejora­ tive. They are interchangeable and objects of partial contempt. As the first party ends, Antioche has the task of clearing the premises. After detailing the damage done to domicile and guests found in various nooks and crannies, "XI leur dit a tous au revoir et s'en fut les attendre £ la grille oil, pour se venger, il en abattit un eur quatre a coups de mitra- . 63 illeuse a mesure qu'ils sortoient." This is already far from the adolescent world of ftrn and games with which the text began. That the guests should continue to file by allowing the arbitrary fourth of their number to be gunned down may seem far-fetched. Yet why not? According to the date, this kind of event is soon to be a daily occurence.

To liberate the second party from the pernicious influence of adults, the young people assault them using chairs as missiles and when the brief battle ends, "Les morts, peu norabreux, tinrent 5. l'aisc dans la poubelle," There is the gendarme with the fractured skull. When a cook locked in a cupboard protests loudly, five irritated zazous "... la lib&r&rent et la viol^rent, tous les cinq, deux par deux." At the end of the party, a complete stranger, dressed in black and accompanied by a dog, is asleep in the bathtub; he wakes, opens the gas valve and falls asleep again without lighting the pilot. "Deux zazous passSrent pr§a de than the fomale and whore tho ornithological appolation is doubled by a popular name.

^Ibid., pp. 61-62.

^Ibid.. p. 165.

65Ibid., p. 172. 82 la salle de bains. Une querelle, a propoa de rien, les divisait. II y eut un coup de poing ear un oeil, une chandelle... un Sclair fownida- 66 ble... et 1 *iimneuble sauta." The entire group of buildings is blown up, "... sans deranger personae, car un petit bombardement &tait en train

» 67 du cot$ de Billancourt." The author's attitude toward surprise parties and toward the people who attend them is ambivalent and that ambivalence is expressed in part by his allowing the violent "real" world to intrude 68 on them ’in the beginning.' The similarity between the final explosion and the one leveling the hotel of the baronne de Pyssenlied should be apparent. Once more the Major and Antioche are left completely liberated from a world where a dream of innocence may once have been possible; on the other hand, the omnipresence of the world of feu Miqueut and Vichy corporatism (where the dSgats may, on balance, be more devastating) is menacing.

Vian's use of language has evolved to some degree. The relent­ less search for calemboura has abated and those used are not quite so schoolieh. His trouvailles are more sophisticated, perhaps more subtly mature than in the first novel. The names of the characters are as evo­ cative as those used in Trouble dans les Andnins, particularly Miqueut and the baroque names Zizanie and Vercoquin. There is a line of men's

66Ibid., p. 187.

67Ibid., p. 188. 68 There is little doubt that the baccanales described nover took place at Vian's parents' home at Vxlle-d'Avray. There were many surprise parties held there during this period — and always under the watchful eyes of Boris's parents. Bizarre, pp. 23-24. 83

Vian also pit a number of his friends into the novel. Claude L?on, cal- 71 led "Dody," becomes D'Haudyt. Claude Luter becomes "Lhuttaire, le no clarrinnettisstte a vibrrrattto,... ." Francois Rostand, called affec­ tionately "Mon Princo," becomes "Corneille Le Prince," since he wrote a 73 scholarly text on Corneille, The novel is a flood of plays on words.

There is a sofa "en peau de narvik," referring to a Norwegian port, the site of a 19^0 battle between the Allies and the Germans, and also narval

69 According to one of tho firm's most recent advertisements, Fra­ gonard the painter was also a perfume manufacturer, but the ad is untruthful in other respects, so the attribution to Fragonard need not be accurate. Cf. Esquire. Vol. LXXVIII, N° k (October, 1972), p. 51* 70 Alexis Lichine, Encyclopedia of Winea and Spirits (New York; Alfred A. Knopf, 1970), p."2^2. The term is peculiar to the Burgundy wine region. 71 Vian, Vercoquin et le planeton. p. 1?2. 72 Ibid., p. 1?6. M. Pierre Astier recalls that Luter was a stut­ terer so the repetition of consonants may also imitate the speech impedi­ ment, in addition to its 'imitation' of the clarinet vibrato. Luter and Vian were friends, so Vian would not be ridiculing his fellow musician. n r Vian, Vercoquin et le planet on. p. 40. Francois Rostand, L 1 Imitation de soi chez Comei 11 c"'(Paris: Boivin, 19**6). Cited in D. Noakes, Boris Vian. p. 84 74 (narwhal). Zizanie perfumes her self with a "... remugle de Rue Roy­ al et " called Brouyards de Lonthftrite, referring to LenthSric, the perfume maker, and to i*ent:crite (intestinal infection). In the garden ia a

"... banc en arbouse de vac he,M composed of arb cruse (hedge) and bouse de 76 vache (covr-dung). There is also an object created from words, the 7*7 "laurier-voucruh"(l'auriez“VouB cru). The editorial Nota Bene becomes

"Note a Beneis,"78

Vian uses many more expressions that correspond to nothing pre­ cise in the real world but that nonetheless evoke complex images for the reader, primarily comic ones. The office of Miqueut is characterized by

* * 79 "... une temperature belzebique," because the occupant never opens the window. The insatiable Jacqueline uproots a leek and indulges in "... la ^ So brimade macedoniennc." The Major, cuddled to the tender Zizanie, utters the cry of "... une chichnouf en extase ..." when the mackintosh nuzzles his hand.8"1

The author also makes judicious use of archaic and obscure words.

Y/hen the battlefield is cleared at the engagement party, the Major makes

74 Vian, Vercoquin et le planeton. p. 14.

75Ibid., p. 51. 76 Ibid.. p. 13. Pointed out by M. Pierre Astier.

77Ibid.. p. 54, Pointed cut by M. Pierre Astier.

78Ibid.. p. 34. Pointed out by M. Pierre Astier. A bilingual pun that relies on the Latin form.

79Ibid.« p. 117.

^°Ibid., p. 39.

81Ibid.. p. 5 1. 85 82 the pronouncement, "Ainsi perissent les embesteurc." When the Abadie group plays, the sounds of the trombone ., paraissaient isoir du goeier O7 d'un taureau egrillard." When the Major is alone with Zizanie for the 84 first time, a tremor passes from His shoulders down to his iechion. At • 85 the engagement party, the Major* decides to "... enclouer le telephone," and thus destroy a perpetual source of disturbance,

Where Vian really excels is in pointing out the potential of new relationships between people and objects and words with themselves.

Fixed expressions continue to coae alive under his pen. During the brief

"real" war, AntiocLe and the Major defend a crossroads cafe against all comers; barricaded in the cave, they consume the entire bottled stock.

Since no one dares attack them, they are av&rded ",,. la Croix de guerre evec palmes, qu'ile portaient fiereucnt en bandouliere, s'eventant avec las palnes," 86 The passage denytliologizes any pretense of meaningful bravery during the immediate, humiliating past, suggesting also that any decorations awarded during such a catastrophe should not be sources of pride. A far more complex notion is suggested in the description of the phonograph records t)iat a r e to be played:

go “Ibid., p. 165. My underlining in the text, 83 Ibid., p. 1?4. My underlining in the text. D. Noakes mentions compaing.s ana donzolie, missing u Boric Vian-, p. 54. 84 Vian, Vrrroniiin ft _le rl :mcton, p. 55. Upper pelvic bone near the groin. Anatomical nod obscure. P>5 Ibid., p. 1?s. My underlining in the tcsrt. Medieval verb referring to the spiking of a cannon. Vian also usee virelay, poictevin, paulpic, p. 40, and huir, p. 179- 86 Ibid., p. 102. ,rEn bandouliere," a croix would look like a crossroad. ... des disques,.., attendaient, pleins d'indifference, le moment ou, leur dechirant l'epiderne de sa caresee aigue, 1'aiguille du pick-up arrachcrait a leur ame spiralee la clameur emprisonne© tout au fond de son sillon noir.°7

The objects remain objects and yet are alive: the soul of the music created in the recording studio, having been transferred to wax, is at the mercy of the user, the listener who would in some respect relive that experience, but because of the nature of the medium, ever waningly; re­ cords wear out; the improvised creation can never be exactly repeated.

The relationship between stylus and disque is just as ambiguous, just as necessary. And from a poetic point of view, the image is true.

On a hot summer day in tho steararoom of Miquout's office, Vidal opens a button of his suitcoat. Detained and chided by Miqueut, he wanted to "... lui plonger un porte-plune dana l'oeil. Mais I'oeil se derobait.'* Miqueut then shifts to another register:

... je vous demanderai de fairc un peu attention. C*est une ques­ tion de discipline. C'est comme qa que nous en Bonnes arrives la ou nous en sommes. ... Vidal so vengcait en arrosant do sueur I'extremite du soulier gauche de Miqueut qui s'ctait tourne a moitie vers lui pour lui prodiguer ces eclaircissements. Lors- que le bout de soulier ne fut plus qu'une bouillie humide ... Miqueut s'arreta de parler.°°

The shoe has a life of its own — an irony arising since Miqueut is no­ toriously unkempt. The reader can speculate on the quality of his shoeshine. At the same time, it appears that the mechanism that keeps him talking is in the shoe and is characterized by a different animation than the Gtrictly human. Conversely, when Miqueut has talked long enough to cause Vidal to sweat sufficiently to drown out the verbal machinery in 87 the hot room then, in effect, Miqueut stops himself. The product of hie belabored speech iG a silencing -- for the moment. And Vidal pays for this silence with the sweat of his brow.

Vian'e fondness for enumeration approaches that of Rabelais, although, his use of the device is not nearly so prolific. The primo ex­ ample in this novel occurs as the second party gets into full swing:

Dea couples d£gouttants de sueur parcouraient des kilomStree au pac de course, se prenant, so lachant, se projetar.t, se rattra- pant, se pivotant, se depivotant, jcuant a la sauterelle, au canard, a la girafe, a la puliaise, a la gcrboice, au rat d'ugout, au touche-raoi-la, au tiens-bien-ca, au poucse-ton-pied, au leve- ton-train, au grouille-tce*-jnmbec, au viens-plue-pres, au va-plus- loin, lachant des juronc anglais, americains, negres, hottcnt^ts, hot-ce-matin, bulgaree, patagons, terrafuogiene, et kohetera.0^

Half-derisive, half-admiring, Vian tolls the pean of the zazous and za- zoutes at their (swinging best and reproduces the beat of the music. Even here, the tone of tho text is ambivalent, To believe in tho absolute possibilities of this world, one would have to remain a certain age and never, never venture forth into the outside world. As David IJoakee cays, what Is killing about possibilities is the roadblocks barring enjoyment of then.^0

Vian's use of double diameters is beginning to show refinement; the differentiation between them lias become nore subtle. In the case of

Miqueut, his doubles are invisible, yet their presence is felt. The slia- dow of the War and its aftermath hovers over the mythic worlds described here. One world never existed except in the writer's imagination. The action of the novel which spans the spring and Glimmer of tho same year

89Ibid., p. 181.

^°D. lloakes, Boric Vian, p. 88 covers the historical period from pre-Kay, 19**0, to after March, 19*+2, 91 when the zazous first made their appearance in Paris. The world of

C.N.U. may at first glance appear trivial because of the biting satire.

In both cases, by the end of the novel they have been effectively leveled

— if only on the plane of imagination. In many respects, Vercoquin et le planeton stands alone among Vian's novels in that it occurs during a recognizable period of historical time although the chronology is not strict. In Trouble dans les Andains, time was absolutely relative within the narrative. The marriage between language and content becomes ever tighter.

These two early novels are youthful in tone. Vian's use of the double characters evolves from tho description of the inhabitants of the closed world of Trouble dans les Andains to the more complex ones of the apparently open world of Vercoquin et le planeton. In the first novel,

Antioche and the Major behaved as if the world and everyone in it could be manipulated or modified to fit their own desires. Once the individ­ uals venture past the Gate of the Garden, however, competence becomes as important as the existence that one had dreamed infinitely possible. The discovery of fragmentary reflections of self in a world no longer inno­ cent offers only partial consolation for overt organized chaos and inhumanity. Others seen to have structured existence so as to defeat the individual and, through the individual, the human.

91 The zazous are never mentioned until the second party where Vian distinguiohes gender with zazous and zazoutes, foreshadowed at the first party by his use of type and typesse. Vian, Vercoquin et le planc- ton. pp. 52 and 1?2. The internal myths one lived 'in the beginning* jure subjected to modification upon contact with rampant brutality and a good portion of individual energy is expended in the retrograde activity of preserving the organism against the inroads of the mundane. The problem of integra­ tion into a world not of one's making with retention of the self as self is unresolved. The dream of partial union with an individualized other,

Woman, also remains a dream. She is ever present yet opaque; communi­ cation with her requires a language not yet learned.

The schism between language and the world it describes is not crucial 'in the beginning' (Trouble dans les Andains) since the dream of an existence controlled by the individual also allows the leisure for integration. However, to venture out of the Garden is to discover that total integration may never be possible, language, therefore, becomes a means of preserving that part of the world which is now loot or which continues to exist in imagination. The feast of language is revealed as private; while the individual ponders the proper continuation, language is primarily an instrument of parody.

The author's use of double characters is more closely integrated with the world of myth that determines their existence: as myth becomes more explicit, the doubles exist against a background that blurs their independent definition. Language again appears extraneous, not totally integrated with the world it describes. PART II

THE SULLIVAN CYCLE

J 1irai cracher sur vos tombes

Les Horts ont tous la memo peau

Et on tuora tous les affreux

Elios go rendent paa compte CHAPTER III

J'irai cracher eur vos tombes, the first and most notorious of the novels signed "Vernon Sullivan," was published in November of 19^.

The 'translator1 for Sullivan translated his own work into English in

Constructed according to the recipe for best-sellers then cur­ rent, tho text is replete with erotic marathons, drinking bouts and blood. The novel contains well-defined examples of double characters whose development is limited only by demands of plot. Vian's tireless commentary on myth is also present and with the habitual complexity. His usual inventiveness with language is muffled by the fomulaic construc­ tion, his struggle to find the suitable tone for such 'translations. *

Michel Rybalka first pointed out that the Sullivan novels contained variations on the themes present in the novels that Vian signed with his own name. Rybalka rightly insists that any study claiming comprehensive­ ness must include these texts in the corpus of Vian's works. Even though

q Vomon Sullivan, _I Shall Spit on Your Graves, translated by Boris Vian (Paris: Tho Vendone Press, 1 9 Vian also adapted the novel to the cta^e. It was performed for the first time on 22 April, 19*t8, at the Theatre Verlaine, Paris. Tho film by tho same title is baGcd on the filmscript written by Vian and Jacques Dopagne with the mise en scene by Michel Gast. It was released in 1959, after Vian's death. Prangoise d'Saubonne wrote her version of the novel using the filmscript as a basis. J 1 irai cracher sur vos tombes, (Paris: Seghers, 19^0), The first edition~wao published as: Vernon Suilivan, J'irai cracher sur vos tombes, traduit de l'americain par Boris Vian (Paris: Editions du Scor­ pion, 19**6). Bizarre, pp. 188-190; M. Rybalka, Boris Vian. pp. 225-231. 92

the novels wore written according to a different set of creative cri- 2 teria, Vian is always present behind the fictional Sullivan.

Lee Anderson is a black whose complexion is light enough to allow

him to be taken for white.^ He is also intent on vengeance for a younger

brother who has been lynched. When Anderson arrives in Buckton — some­ where in the southern United States -- to take a position as the manager

of a bookstore, he immediately makes the acquaintance of a group of high

school age adolescents of both sexes on summer vacation. Naturally, the

band Gpends its time drinking bourbon (when they can get it or an adult will buy it for them) and developing individual sexual technique, but without permanently pairing off. Anderson, an adult, is a godsend for

the group of teen-age girls avid for experience. No member of this group

is given a surname, but Anderson's initial partner is a precocious fif­

teen year old namod dicky, a blond nymphot willing to try anything.

Obviously favored over the teen-age boys, Anderson rotates as a partner with every girl in the group, but Jicky among them seems vaguely attached to him. At a formal party, she even makes an oblique proposal of

^M. Rybalka, Boris Vian, pp. 112-113. 3 - According to Michelle Vian-Leglise, Vian got the idea for the novel fron They Shoot Horses, Don't They? by Horace IfacCoy and an article by Herbert Asbury, ' Uho is a Negro?" in Collier's (August 3* 19** 6) on the number of light-skinned blacks who crossed the color-line. At the time Vian wrote the novel he had no awareness or concern about racial problems in the United States. Only the contact with black American jazz musi­ cians beginning in the fall of 19**7 would offer him a sense of the difficulties in the USA. With that in mind, the novel becomes a jwrely literary exercise, whatever its merits on other bases. Bizarre, pp. 57- 60; M. Rybalka, Boris Vian. pp. 103-10*+; J. JDuchateau, Boris Vian, pp. 136-137. 93

marriage which Anderson shrugs off. Judy, her relatively faceless twin

and about the same age, is by her own admission, "... la tete froide de 5 la bande, In contrast to Jicky, she keeps her distance from

Anderson and, of the group, she is his least frequent partner. To Ander-

son, the narrator, she appears to avoid him whenever she can. One

night, in rather bizarre circumstances, Anderson discovers a partial ex­

planation for her behavior: Judy prefers threo-way sexual relationships where she is partially an observer. Tho scene is repeated later without

emphasis. Anderson's initial judgement on the group is made early:

J'avais toutes les fillcs les unes aprSs les autrcs, mais c'etait trop simple, un peu ecoourant, lilies fairaient qa prec- que aussi facilement qu’on se lave les dents, par hygiene. Ils se conduisaient comma une bande de singes, debraillec, gourmands, bruyanto et vicieux; qa faisait mon affaire pour le moment.

His evaluation carries with it an implied moral condemnation. But if the girls behave like animals, he is all too willing to take advantage of that behavior. Just before leaving the town on his blood-letting binge which ends the text, he summarizes the group again: ,rPlus betes cue vid- 9 eusee. Sauf Judy." Of the group, only Judy is depraved and not stupid,

h Vernon Sullivan, J'irai cracher sur vos toabes, traduit de l'Americain par Boris Vian (Paris: Editions du Scorpion, 19**8)* p. 52.

5Ibid., p. 28.

^Ibid., p. *t6.

7Ibid., p. 80.

8Ibid., p. 37.

9_Ibid., p. 138. 9*

The two girls are perfectly interchangeable on the sexual level as far as

Anderson and the demands of the plot are concerned, except for Judy's self-consciousness. Even here, Vian has managed to discover a cartesian archetype, the fifteen year old girl who watches herself while she experiences "Life."

The Asquith sisters are also interchangeable insofar as they function as sexual prey, but this function is a prerequisite to their be­ coming demonstrably suitable objects for revenge. The Buckton 'groupies' belong to the solid middle class, but Jean and Lou Asquith are members of 10 the hereditarily wealthy, true southern aristocracy. Since Anderson aims high, the sisters will do -- to begin with. At twenty years of age,

Jean is the older of the two girls; she is blond, experienced and willing from the first encounter when Anderson takes her in a half-drunken stu­ por. But in contrast to the teen-age partners Anderson is accustomed to,

Jean sees in him the desirable husband because he can provoke such spon­ taneity in her. She immediately proposes marriage with a candor typical of both sisters. Anderson turns her question aside, but she persists, and when she becomes pregnant, elopement and marriage are the pretexts he uses to take her to a suitable killing ground. In love from the begin­ ning she responds with an openness that invitos erotic humiliation, which

Andorson is quick to furnish — for the reader. Jean Asquith, believing herself loved, gives herself completely: humiliation, by definition, does not exist. Anderson, the super-sensualist who responds radically to odors, notices that, "Elle sentait la sauge et les herbes sauvages.

10 The surname is that of a prominent British family, interna­ tionally known during the Victorian period and after. 95 11 and is surprised to hear that she never wears porfumo, Lou, her younger sister by five years, is a complete contrast in physical type; snail, brunette, ostensibly virgin, she bathes in a French perfume. Lou resists Anderson from the outset. Moral like her sister, she resists the more when she becomes aware that his attentions to Jean make his appeal to her somewhat suspicious. Attracted to Anderson, she too suggests mar- riago — and at first as a prerequisite to intimacy. Pushed to compete because of Anderson's constant pressure, even when she does offor herself to him she retains "the nagging bitch of a doubt" about Anderson and about possible destruction of the close relationship with her sister.

She stands in contrast to Jean who is blissfully unaware — or uncaring

— of attentions Anderson pays to Lou. It is this alertness that causes

Anderson's plans to finally go awry. Naturally neither of the two sis­ ters can tolerate being in the same world with blacks, and through the nemesis figure, Dexter, Lou discovers that Anderson is in fact a black.

The grisly ends he imagines for the two girls -- orchestrated in accord­ ance with his sexual approaches to them -- is ultimately revealed as suicidal. The balky, cerebral woman in each case behaves specifically in terms of "a triangle." Judy, from the first pair mentioned, is no real threat to Anderson because she is vicieune and because he has a limited interest in the group. On the other hand, Lou is targeted, racist, moral and wary of breaking ultimate harmony. Yet Anderson does much to help destroy himself.

11 Vian, J'irai cracher sur vos tombos, p. 56. In subsequent notes Vian's name will be used rather than the pseudonym. 96

Except for the last three chapters, the novel is written in a first person narrative — * from the point of view of Lee Anderson — and

Anderson is the most fully developed character in the text. Large, blond and physically well-built, he imposes himself physically on women and men alike. The women swoon and he stands in contrast to his competition for women's favors, towering over the scrawny teen-agers on the one hand and

% 12 the cramped, bookish "...-types a lunettes ..." on the other. Whether he is playing guitar and singing, drinking or fornicating, he is unbeat­ able, inexhaustible. But the plot calls for a stereotype of the black 13 male as irresistable lover. Anderson is suitably unself-conscious, befitting his role. At twenty-six, he has spent the past ten years in

Europe and during this formative period, managed to overcome any linger­ ing puritan tendencies about sex that are usually attributed to Americans by Europeans, On his return ho discovers that his younger brother has been lynched by the father and brother of a v/hite girl with whom he had fallen in love, Anderson sets out to strike back through the breaking of the taboo: if the younger brother (identified only as "le gosee") was unsuccessful and lost his life to the taboo, Lee will also break the ta­ boo to destroy — at random -- rather than to create. On one level, this reasoning functions as motivation for plot, but given Lee Anderson as drawn, the cruel quirk of preying on whites not directly involved in his

1^Ibid., pp. 33 end 11 F. De Vree, Boris Vian, p. 41. De Vree is the only one to point out, justly I believe, that Lee Anderson is a priori an anti-Vian, citing Anderson's judgement of himself, "Je mo sentais fort comme John Henry et non cocur a moi ne risquait point de se casser." p. 5**-. 97 brother’s death responds to some pseudo-machiavellian drive in the char­ acter. Quite capable of arranging an orgy to the measure of the teen­ age regulars and even of bumbling to a tentative hold on the Asquith sisters, it is his working out of the murders themselves that reveal An- 14 derson as an unself-conscious victim of his own sexual fetichism. He lias no difficulty with sexual response to the teen-age girls, and to a certain extent no difficulty with the Asquith sisters. Once he decides that they will be the first victims, sexual enjoyment becomes secondary as he maintains a watch on himself. More pointedly, as Lou reveals more and more resistance to his dominance, he in turn resists totally when at last she acquiesces. Later, when he decides he has a substantial hold on them, he deliberately and consciously withholds himself sexually until the lethal moment with each. In this last instance, he reveals himself a sleepwalker in the ritual of Erotic Transgression, If he could multiply the partners ad infinitum then death-as-release would be truly orgasmic.

\ The final paroxysm of the last victim would — provided that he could at­ tain sufficient self-consciousness — coincide with his own explosion.

At the double moment of death-in-life he would become infinitely present 15 to the universe. Finally, with Lee Anderson, the impulse to life would be converted toward the impulse to death in response to that death-in- life imposed a priori on members of his race.

14 M. Rybalka, Boris Vian, p. 107. Rybalka’s statement describ­ ing Anderson as "Un black Muslim avant la lettre," ia gratuitous and completely wrong-headed. He only reveals that he knows nothing about the Muslims.

^^There is a mirrored resemblance to the phenomena of the jouio- sance a vide so prevalent in the novels of Jean Genet, cf. Hotre Dame des fleurs; Georges Bataille has a variation on the same phenomena in Mort. The visibly black brother Tom is in contrast to Lee. According

to the narrative, Tom is submissive, a Christian believer and not loath

to turn the other cheek: the "goose11 is killed and has to be buried.

Any thought of active resistance to those who killed his brother never

enters his mind. Tom is beaten after a written protest concerning vot­

ing irregularities engineered "... eur l'ordre du eenateur Balbo, ..." and he admits defeat, moving back to the north where he attended col- 16 lege. Even hiG name recalls ’Uncle Tom* with everything that implies.

But as he is quick to point out to Lee, being visible, carrying the stig­ mata, is a serious trammel to freedom. He does not have the liberty that

Lee experiences. That lack makes him an entirely different kind of per- 17 son. Within the novel, Tom's religious belief appears aa a function of race and statue. Ultimately the brothers are complimentary, Tom visible,

Lee invisible; the second "invisible" brother is the "gosse," the origi­ nal transgressor, who is seen as an unconscious adolescent, not really aware of having broken a taboo. Lee’s decision to become a malevolent extension of the dead boy appears somewhat schematic, but does allow for

Lee's appreciation of the possibility of contact across the grave:

Je me sentais tout joyeux a 1'interieur et e'est probablenent que le gosse se retournait sous sea deux metres de terre, alors, je lui tendis oa patte. Cost quolque chose, do serrer la main de eon frore.1°

Vian, J'irai crachcr sur vos tcmbes, pp. 7^76.

17Ibid.t p. 75* 18 Ibid.. p. 13^. J. Duchateau asserts that the "gosse" was a "faux blanc," which is in no instance borne out by the text. He also calls Tom a vrai noir, which implies that he too accepts race as an essence, Boris Vian. p. 135* 99

Insofar as Lee Anderson's actions ore a participation in Transgression, his behavior throughout the novel is an attempt to be united with this brother on the other side of the grave, to become permanently 'invisible,1

The attempt to appeal to a conceptualization of the reader of a certain kind of best-seller notwithstanding, Vian is never trivial. Even here, the author delves into the realm of myth and, as usual, his ans­ wers are ambivalent. The person of Leo Anderson raises the entire question of racial myth, not only in the USA but in western civilization as a whole, Anderson is drawn to fit — and mock — the stereotype of the black male as the arch lover. The "difference" in the timbre of his voice is always noticeable: for the erstwhile manager of the bookstore 19 who is indifferent and thus makes nothing of it; for the Asquith sis­ ters who are attracted by it, but then they are supposed to be, other- 20 wise the myth (and the taboo) would havo no substance. Only the teen­ agers pay no attention to it, even though seme of them are no younger than Lou Asquith and certainly more intimately involved with Anderson,

Jean, as is proper, only notices it; Lou, the questioner, matches it with the voices of Haitian plantation hands, Dexter, the wizened, tubercular nemesis figure remarks that Anderson lias the shoulders of a black box- 21 er. These responses occur in the southern USA where the primary distinction to be made as a basis for determining caste and class is on

19 Vian, J'irai cracher sur vos tombes, p. 18,

^Ibid., pp. 66 and 104-105.

21 Ibid., p. 44. the basis of race, where the myth and the taboo have full play. To seek out and to label is all-important. Anderson has been to Europe and so is not tied absolutely to southern thought. Tho fact that he has sloping shoulders is unimportant, not racially characteristic ub far as he is concerned. Ultimately, the response to Anderson as an individual and on a sexual plane is intense enough that the response could only be forbid­ den (if one happens to be a defender of culture as are Lou and Dexter),

These two immediately make the connection with race. Jean only likes it.

The irony imposed by Vian is that Anderson is and is not black: how does one go about separating out the one-eighth black blood that he admits to?

It cannot be color that makes him "noir." It cannot be his behavior either, since it is not radically different from tho behavior of those around him, all of whom are at least solidly middle-class white. Vian would, based on what is known of him, ridicule and reject any essential- ist explanation of behavior. Anderson is a man who committed suicide in his own cv/ect way -- and for a complex of reasons; one of which would be because he saw himself as, in essence, black, with everything that im­ plies in the given social setting. But only probably. The final 'chap­ ter1 reinforces the notion of Vian’s fundamental ambiguity in this context. After Anderson has been tracked d o ™ and killed, "Ceux du vil­ lage le pendirent tout de meme parce que e'etait un negre, Sous son

# 22 pantalon, son bas-ventre faisait encore une bosse derisoire." The passage may appear to be one more sop for the voyeurs that Daniel Parker 101 23 later tried to protect. On the other hand, Freddy De Vree agrees with the general charge that Vian ends the book with the facile "...noir = martyr. ...*r' First of all, consultation of a contemporary account of the practice reveals that the hanging of the dead body is only a part of 25 the lynching ritual. The description is thereby a realistic detail.

For some reason, De Vree chowe to ignore the second sentence where a cru­ cial clue to a more complete reading lies: "... une bosse derisoire. ..."

<3erisoire at this point by virtue of its liaving become dysfunctional.

It is impossible to accomplish the procreative act if it coincides with or is accompanied by the death of the partner; and yet Anderson's goal has been just that. He made of that bosse a tinebocib attached to an anonymous Other's trigger-finger with the purpose of attaining — hope­ fully, at the right moment — just such a 'climax,* Vian's last image is a final ironic corrxient on the event of Anderson's bloody suicide as pro­ cess, If Anderson is a failure, it is as an individual and as a human being — insofar a.s lie chose to live in terms of the myth, voluntarily restricting his freedom. Ambivalence toward tho self can be and often is absolutely destructive. The character Lee Anderson proves it against a two dimensional background.

23 Daniel Parker, of lc Cartel d'action socjole et morale. See Introduction, p. 4 and Chapter IV. pit F. De Vree, Boris Vian, p. *t1.

2^Cf. Walter White, Hope and Faggot (New York: A m o Press, 1969), pp. 19-*iO. 102

Vian'e use of language seems perfectly adapted to the type of novel of which ho is writing a pastiche. Brief, declarative sentences, laced with slang from time to time. There are no extended poetic images, which contributes to a quick reading. The novel is surprisingly well- 26 constructed for a labor of two weeks. There is come importance 27 attached to names: the Asquith sisters are from Frixville and Lee An­ derson's bookstore is in Buckton, two towns where money is to be made and life is relatively oacy, perhaps drawn in contrast to Paris of 15>**6.

Vian also copies certain expressions in English to make the

'translation* more believable. "Holy Smoke" becomes "Sainte FumSe"; "<;a va" is used in the sense of "O.K."; "Vous etcs un vrai as ... Parole d'Indien" is used for "you're a real pal [probably], scout's honor" or

"honest Injun," [which is worse]. 28 None of tho expressions is so used in French. Another striking aspect is tliat the formal vous is used by all the characters all the time despite the abundance of sexual intimacy that occurs in the text. Again the usage would support the notion that the text is a translation, since there is no intimate form of the pro­ noun in English.

26 Vernon Sullivan would be a black who had crossed tho color line and had brought his novel to France knowing it would be unpublishable in the USA, D'Hallujn and Vian established a complete dossier with an 'ori­ ginal* in English, The nano is composed from those of two musicians: Paul Vernon who played in tho Abadio orchestra with Vian and Joe Sullivan, a great American jazz pianist. J. Duchatcau, Boris Vian. pp. 130-131* 27 "Asquith" lends itself to a literal obscene pun in Ehglish. No critic has mentioned it, but knowing Vian's penchant for the humorous, it may have helped to determine his choice. 28 Vian, J'irai crachcr sur vos tombec, pp. 58, 23 and 5?, respec­ tively. Pointed out by H. Pierre Astier in a private conversation. 103

Although Anderson is to be seen as fundamentally unreElective, the manner in which the story of the "gosse" is revealed bit by bit and the information given as of the barest detail, could conceivably be a function of Anderson's attempts at repression of the image of his murder­ ed brother. Psychologies is not generally Vian's approach to characteri­ zation, but his critics assume he thought the genre demanded it.

The style fits the genre, then, Vian's pudeur is not tongue in 29 cheek, however, and one wonders what all the fuss was about. Jean

Clouzet says that this novel caused more controversy than any publication 30 he could recall, excepting a few books on politics. It is regrettable that the ftirioue response made it impossible to put the novel into its proper context for so many years.

In some respect, the Sullivan novels begin as a holiday from the complexity of the texts Vian signed with his own name. The double char­ acters proliferate in J 1irai cracher sur vos tombes, but their use is schematic. The myths tho characters live in terms of allow them no

29 The "fhss" was not confined to Paris. Geoffrey Gorer, writing during the height of tho cold war period, found that J'irai cracher sur vos tomfces "reads ... like a paradoxically luscious communist tract," he goes on to imply that the visions of the USA popularized in Europe by Raymond Chandler and Vian under the pseudonym play into the hands of the advocates of the police state, even if they fictionalize existing condi­ tions in the United States. He misses tho point of these texts entirely and his paranoia ranks with that of Daniel Parker, Geoffrey Gorer, "The Erotic Myth of America," Partisan Review, vol. XVII, no. 6 (July-August, 1950), pp. 539-59^. Cf. M. Rybalka, Boris Vian, pp. 228-229. It ha3 not been that long since the court decisions on Lady Ghattorley's Lover and Tropic of Cancer. Ralph Ginzberg was sentenced to prison even more recently. 30 J. Clouzet, Boris Vian, p. 21. 104 breathing space whatsoever. The language that seems appropriate to such a universe begins as equally stultified and fixed. CHAPTER XV

The second of the Sullivan novels, les Mort3 ont tous la memo poau. was published in September, 19^7. It wan condemned along with

J'irai cracher sur vos tonbes and has never been translated* Published in the fall of the year after the storm of criticism surrounding the first Sullivan text had died away, it is shot through with references to the controversy -- or controversies — raised by the courts, the critics and the generally squeamish. But Vian's preoccupations remain con­ stant. The use of language in the 'Sullivan cycle' is etill fairly neutral, befitting the genre: Vian is trying to achieve the appearance of a text translated from English. But the elaboration of double char­ acters and examination of and commentary upon myth continues unabated, with certain parallels and complications of examples from J'irai cracher sur vos tonoos.

The narrator of les Morts ont tous la meme peau is Ban Parker, a professional bouncer in a combination night club and gambling den in New

York City. He is a white who thinks he is a black passing for white*

^Vernon Sullivan, lea Korts ont toua la meme poau [followed by] les Chicns. le d*sir et la mcrt (nou vcllo)™"traduit de l'americain par Boris Vian, [followed by a] postface do Boris Vian (Paris: Editions du Scorpion, 19^7). My copy of the toxt, xeroxed from a previously uncut copy in tho possession of Madame Ursula Vian-Kubler, bears no date, Vian's postface, since become famous, supplements the criticisms of the controversy contained in the novel.

105 He is married to a white woman and moves in the world of whites. His presumed brother Richard, who is black, demands money for his continued

silence about Dan's racial origins, providing the necessary complica­ tion of plot.

Dan has been employed at the club for five years and is good at his work. The private upstairs gambling room is supplemented with small cubicles where disappointed bettors may momentarily recuperate and, if they wish, take advantage of the presence of working prostitutes there for this purpose. One evening Dan is called upon to eject a potentially disturbing group of five, including one of the girls, and he does so without causing a stir. He pauses in his work only long enough to drive to Central Park end bed the prostitute who is disappointed that her cus- 2 tomer is too intoxicated to do anything but sleep. The woman is never named because Dan, the narrator throughout most of the text, does not know her name.^ A few evenings later, Dan, attempting to counteract his nervousness while awaiting an unknown visitor, deliberately directs his * ^ gaze at one of the girls, .. [unej belle mecanique blanche... ," who is waiting cut the pre-cocktail hour doldrums. By common accord they move toward a few moments of distraction in an oversized telephone booth 5 adapted for the purpose and without exchanging a word. She is described 10? only as "cette brune,The accord of Dan with the girls is mutual and without a victim: they need each other. The girls are drawn to him out of boredom with the kind of customers they generally see who have to drink themselves into the mood and once inebriated become incapacitated.

Dan is there, sober and physically attractive. The assumption the text rests on is that the sexual impulse remains alive and healthy, even in the working prostitutes and that rather than refrigerate themselves as a protective device against working conditions, they act to overcome frus- 7 tration and keep the impulse alive, Dan's attitude toward the girls is in part contemptuous, but his sense of woll-being depends on their avail­ ability, They are reference points allowing him to verify the continued life of the sexual impulse in himself. The girls may perfectly well re­ main anonymous; they are interchangeable.

On this night, Dan's calm is short lived; the visitor is a white emissary from Richard who wants money for silence. Going immediately to meet Richard, Don finds him in the company of Ann and Sally, who are black. They are also identified as working prostitutes by the bouncer- narrator. As Dan enters, Richard is embracing Sally and does not trouble himself about the intrusion, acknowledging the former's presence only when his lackadaisical love-making is finished. Ann, who later speaks as

Richard's girlfriend, sits silently, smilingly, at a nearby table. Both women mother and protect Richard, functioning as maternal mistresses and

6Ibid., p. 30. 7 The text also assumes there is no fundamental difference in male and female sexual response,. which is questionable. The text is prior even to the Kinsey report (19*^8), not to speak of Masters and Johnson. g apparently without jealousy. The basis of the movement of the two women toward Dan is not absolutely clear, although they may be acting to abet

Dichard's attempted blackmail scheme. For Dan's part, the scene that he walked into excites him, the women are there and Dichard has gone to sleep. Despite his avowed disgust and dislike for blacks, Dan has no difficulty with sexual response and with both women at the same time.

Ann and Sally are as maternal and gentle with Dan as with Richard. If

Dan was able to forget his 'white' skin while making love to the two women, his racial aversion is reawakened immediately afterward, albeit mingled with continued desire. He notices nearly simultaneously that

Ann stretches just as hi3 wife does and pronounces his name with the same 9 intonation, Sally is neutral except as sexual object, yet she is an extension of and complement to Ann, not only in the relationship with

Richard, but also with Dan. The latter, who would rather compartment­ alize thi3 experience, is discomfitted by the resemblance to his wifej the resemblance is clear in its implications for "color" as impossible barrier, a notion which Dan accepts almost totally,

Dan's wife of five years, Sheila, is blond, desirable and en­ tranced by him as he is ultimately devoted to her. Dan comments that his interludes with the girls who frequent the night club cend him heme with a perpetually renewed sense of her absolute importance for his life, sex- 10 ually and otherwise. When he returns home this night, the effect that

g Vian, lea Morts ont tous la meme peau. pp. 39-^1. Vian's name will replace the pseudonym in subsequent notes, 9 Ihid., pp. h9 and 53. 109 the two black women have created is entirely different. Having aroused 11 Sheila, Dan discovers himself impotent. The effect on Sheila is irase- diate. For her, his impotence is proof that he no longer loves her and 12 his consolatory gesture is brutally rejected. Dan's next move is pre­ dictable. He makes an early morning visit to Muriel, one of the girls from the night club whom he sees occasionally. She is agreeable, but Dan is still impotent. The absolute determinant in his lack of ardor is that

"Elle sentait distinctement et dScid&nent le savon. Au diable. Autant * 13 coucher avec une machine a laver." However, she does accept his conso­ lation and prepares the breakfast that Dan had not taken time to eat at the family apartment. Vfhen he offers to take her to a movie matinSe, she . . *] if responds, "Chouette, ... c'est comme si on etait fiances." At this point in the narrative, the wife's situation, as reflected by this limi­ ted experience with two women, Sheila and Muriel, is based on conflicting notions of tho marriage contract in the broadest sense. For

Sheila, penile strength cements the contract between husband and wife; if it is lacking, then the contract has already been broken. For the work­ ing prostitute who has not been 'lucky,' the fact that Dan is no drunkard and is gentle, oven though temporarily impotent, makes him a desirable 15 mate, Dan, who subscribes to standard notions of machismo and is

11Michel Rybalka mentions the impotence, but call3 it "inexpli­ cable." Boris Vian, p. 109. 12 A Vian, les Morta ont tous la acme peau. p. 60.

13Ibid., p. 72. 11f Ibid.. p. 79.

1%bid., p. ?8. 110 trying to find himself, is trapped between what he considers two poles of

Being -- which have only to do with color. It is no wonder he is con­ fused, given the dimension that Muriel has just added to his problems. 16 Not only is he 'in question' as to "color,” but also as to sexuality.

That Dan's offer to Muriel is prompted by a search for an alibi in no way detracts from Muriol's perception of herself as a potential wife. The circumstances of Dan's impotence transforms "une mecanique" into a surro­ gate wife, just as the initial blurring of the line between black prostitute and wife brought on his impotence. When Dan is on the run af­ ter two murders, he comes to ground in a Harlem hotel operated by a man whose wife "... Stait une metisse cotmne lui, mais beaucoup plus foncSe, * . 17 Penser a elle, 9a me donnait encore plus besoin de Sheila," Dan has recovered from his temporary incapacity (the process will be discussed below) and as the search becomes more intense, his need for his wife be­ comes more acute. Seeing the need, knowing the man cowering, cut off from wife and child, and believing him black, tho woman does not recoil from it. When she responds to his sexual embrace, she too functions as the mothor-mistress, but, as distinguished from Ann and Sally, purely as 18 a willing substitute for the absent wife who is beyond reach. For his part, Dan also believes he is a black. Hi3 partial repudiation of the interlude rocts on the hope that he can break through tho police cordon 19 and visit his wife. ' The marriage contract and its accompanying

1^Ibid., pp. 7b and 79.

17Ibid., p. 129* 1ft Ibid.. p. 15^.

19Ibid., pp. 140-1*H. 111 sexuality take on varied guises, all filtered through the ambivalent con­ sciousness of Dan, a pseudo-black racist.

He is a man in the prime of life at thirty-five and like Lee

Anderson he imposes himself on his world physically. Employed as a boun­ cer for five years, his former enthusiasm for his work has disappeared. 20 Believing himself a black, each broken head, each bedded prostitute, had been a measure of revenge for the adolescent fear of whites that he had been unable to forget. As the novel begins, he suddenly discovers that he is totally comfortable in his world: as he has habituated him­ self to his work, so is he suddenly conscious of being totally invisible, perceived as white by himself and by all those around him. Therefore, he ? 1 is white: to brutalize others has become normal.~ Richard iiranediately throws him back into the abyss between the two worlds. Upon discovering the down-at-heels Richard curled up asleep on his living room floor, Dan 22 identifies him as "Ce sale nSgre, Richard." Little is known about

Richard except that he and Dan grew up together and that Richard has re­ appeared after an absence of five years. However, he parallels both of

Lee Anderson*s brothers from J'irai cracher sur vos tembes: he is visible like Tom and Dan describes him later, before killing him, as

"une fantome.1*^

20 David Uoakes calls both Lee Anderson and Dan Parker "Qdes] ... metis criminelCa'J*11 Boris Vian, p. 99.

21 * Vian, les Horts ont tous la meme peau, pp. 7-12.

22Ibid., p. 23.

2^Ibid., p. 26. Both Michel Rybalka and Jacques Duchateau appre­ ciate this aspect of the brother-double theme. M. Rybalka, Boris Vian. p. 107 and p. 122; J. Duchateau, Boris Vian. pp. 135-136* 112

The irruption of Richard into hie life again creates fresh doubt in Dan about the being he has just assured himself was other-than-Richard.

When the latter demands money against the threat of exposure, Dan is pre­ sented with the concrete problem of survival in his world, no longer separable from the problem of identity. His decision is made: to be white is the only road to survival in a world where racial distinctions are all-important. In effect, Richard's fate is sealed. Complicating

Dan's difficulties is the interlude with Ann and Sally and his resulting impotence. He comes away from the experience still convinced that he loves his wife, but equally convinced by the experience with the two wo­ men that he has somehow communicated with the black "over-soul" and has thereby condemned himself to the 'other' world, tho one to which he truly pL belongs. Hence his impotence and the conclusion that his love for

Sheila is now bracketed, dead, the what-has-been, In order to redefine himself, Dan strikes out in two directions: the killing of 'his brother under the skin* — "son semblable, son fr&re" -- destroys objective evi­ dence of hio doubling in this world and leaves only the whito image of himself as the "true" one, ^ More complicated is the resolution of the

pL t t , j Dan loaves the two women, "... Coon] corps entier impregne de leur odcur." Their odor in a reminder tliat he has ’found1 his place and contributes to his impotence. His revulsion at the smell of soap with Muriel is meant to be an unconscious reflex, taki:ig its meaning from the meeting with Ann and Sally. It becomes ludicrous, if it in remembered that he in white. The difference in odor, like the timbre of lee Ander­ son's voice, is an unpleasant difference that should confirm the racial myth. It does more to confirm the canular. The sensitivity to odors links Dan Parker with Lee Anderson. Vian, les Koits ont touo la meme peau. p. 50. • ^Ibid ., pp. 84—85. Michel Rybalka, in his chapter "Lc Double et l'hcone sans visage,"quotes this passage describing Dan's meeting with Richard and the two women to demonstrate Dan and Richard's relationship 113 second problem, his interpersonal difficulties turning around his impo­ tence, but Dan has an answer. The attempted resurrection with the white prostitute Muriel having failed, Dan turns to a black one. He would 26 M... changer de peau." But he gets two for the price of onej the sec­ ond prostitute is revealed as a man. Unwilling to be watched in the sexual act by the male, Dan chooses instead to watch the two of them in the sexual embrace. Wary of reaffirming the experience with Ann and 27 Sally, he becomes a voyeur and recovers his potency. The sexual act with black participants becomes pure spectacle, the re-enactment of "the ritual" in its purest foita, allowing him to return to his wife with some measure of success. The paradox involved for a man who believes himself black is obvious.

But Dan is not black: he is white. After three murders, ho overhears a police detective tell Sheila that the authorities have proof that he is white, that Richard was a maitre-chanteur. This last twist requires an additional metamorphosis of which Dan is incapable and he commits suicide. Thus Dan is effectively a double of himself and insofar as doubles: "[Richard] n'etait pas seul. Avec lui, je venais de rencon- trer le fond de mon amc." X«es Morts ont tous la meme peau, p. 64. M. Rybalka, Boris Vian, p. 122. But Rybalka never mentions tho two women, Ann and Sally, which is crucial to the text and although the reference in the quoted lines is to Dan's single encounter with them. The ensuing passages on page 65 make that abundantly clear. Rybalka twists the text to prove hie point — which is only a part of the dilemma Dan impose3 on himself. Rybalka's disclaimer on pages 145-146, when he finally does mention the two women, is of no effect since he chooses to keep his theme simple.

2^Vian, les Morts ont tons la meme peau, p. 89. The paradoxical pun is lost in English; the American English expression is 'to change one1s luck,1

2^Ibid., pp. 93-96. 114 as he attempts to be both selves, a double of Richard, his ‘brother under the skin,* The implications of this treatment of the double theme are myriad and I will comment on a few of them.

It should be fairly obvious that this novel parodies the treat­ ment of the black-white racial myth of J'irai cracher sur vos tombos.

Like Lee Anderson, Dan believes in tho myth and behaves in terns of it.

The fact that he is not black is of secondary importance as long as he bolieves that he is. The scene with Ann and Sally is a mirror of the one in J 1irai cracher sur von tombes involving Judy, Jean and Anderson with the racial roles reversed: if Lee Anderson is an invisible black, Dan is effectively on invisible white, Dan's belief in the operation of a ra­ cial "oversoul" allows him to account for his own behavior in a radically false way. That Dan fits the racial stereotype as much as Lee Anderson does and yet denies it by his very being explodes the myth of the stere­ otype from the opposite direction. The myth of Transgression also comes under fire since there is in fact no transgression and, by extension, there is nothing to transgress save the taboos that individuals as indi­ viduals internalize, Sheila regards Dan the murderer as a public embarrassment and has already chosen a suitable replacement, the police lieutenant assigned to the case, Sheila seems truly astonished that the husband she knew for five years could have killed his brother, whatever 28 Dan's, or the brother's, color, Ann wants revenge on the 'brother* who killed her man. The pun on brother is thus double-edged: brothers in

pQ Ibid., pp. 105, 122, and 162. 115 self-dec option can also be brothers capable of living more or less har­ moniously, regardless of color, if... •

Dan's story is also a parody of the existentialist hero in ac­ tion. Lee Anderson looks at himself in the mirror and describes the physical reflection; Dan sees, in addition, a sign of his metaphysical 29 malaise in his eyes. Dan is a believer in essences. On the v/ay to see the movie with Muriel, he reflects that the clothes she wears and the way she walks reveal what she is, a prostitute. He then congratulates him- 30 self on his ability to hide what he is. That he sees no difference between the two states emphasizes his conception of essence as social in origin, but his behavior when threatened implies that he thinks he can exchange one essence for another. The killing of Richard is founded in

Dan's awareness of the operation of objective criteria in the world peo­ pled by creators Cor better re-creators) of delusion. His voyeur experience is a successful changencnt de peau accomplished vicariously.

In this connection, it is not for nothing that the protagonist's sur- 31 name is Parker. The myth of the pornographic novel with the censor as protagonist is re-enacted for the 'real' Daniel Parker and his group.

The myth of sexuality as racially connected is shattered in simi­ lar fashion since Dan Parker is not even what he thinks he is. His racial and sexual beliefs act as efficient causes for him, just as the

2 9 Ibid., p. 26. Cf. D, Noakes, Boris Vian, p. 101; M, Rybalka, Boris Vian, p. 133.

^Vian, les Morts ont tous la memo peau, p. 81. 31 Ihid., p. 103. Dan's surname is first mentioned in the text when he is objectified as a 'hidden' black and a murderer. The reader knows that Dan Parker is also a "changeur de peau" and a voyeur. 116 beliefs of the other characters in the novel operate effectively for them. In this sense, Vian seems to insist that the 'imaginary* all too often does become real.

Tho novel is written primarily as a first person narrative. The three shifts to third person coincide with Parker1s objectification as the 'hidden* black who murders his 'brother* and then two other people.

That he ceases to be what he thinks he is and becomes (for others) what he does supports the contention about the existentialist parody. Vian's thrust at journalists has Parker be what he has be cane in print. Simi­ larly, Parker in the midst of his impotency crisis visualizes his love for his wife as like a photograph, inert, inactive. Seeing the headlines broadcasting the search for him an Richard's killer, he notes with satis­ faction that there is no photograph of him; later, in hiding, he is dissatisfied that the news stories carry no picture of Sheila. Tho last chapter of the novel describes the photographer who takes the picture of

Parker's remains which makes the former's reputation. Tho picture is published (shades of Gat ch-22!) in Life magazine,^ There is little doubt that the objectification that coincides with the moment of death is definitive and is the only one that counts. The final image rejoins that of J'irai cracher cur vos tombes.

Vian's use of language is still formulaic, tied to the genre.

Those who work in the night club and Dan in particular use the slang

^^Ilungry Joe confuses the concreteness of existence offered by sexuality with the 'life* of photographs because he lias been a photo­ grapher with Life magazine. Joseph Heller, Catch-22 (New York: Dell Publishing Company, 1962), pp. 5*2-5^. 117 appropriate to the milieu. But Vian cannot restrain himself completely.

Some of Parker's cerebrations are strangely poetic and very cartesian:

Je me rendais chcz Nick par dee voies dctoumees, descendant une station avant on une station trop loin, puis revenant jus- qu'au bar en suivant un chemin complexe, une espece de labyrinths que je tissais a plaisir dans les rues avoisinantes, gngnant a ce jeu extenuant — mcntalement, jo veux dire — un semblant de re­ pit, une fausse eecurite dont la grille trompeuse me protegeait des attaques en perspective.53

It is this kind of introspection in the character which constitutes the broadsides against Daniel Parker and against existential heroism, the po­ lice and journalists. Tho double characters are either more complex variations on the double characters of J'irai cracher sur vos tombes or additional double characters who complicate aspects of the racial-sexual theme not examined in the earlier text. Vian's treatment of the racial and sexual myths lived by his characters is a demonstration of possibili­ ties for wrong-headed believers of such myths, all too true, despite the apparent improbability of the characters* circumstances. We are left with the distinct impression that nruch more remains to be said about such possibilities. At the same time there is sufficient grist for the mills of Daniel Parker jst al. There is a little something for everyone; Vian appended the now famous postface with detailed responses to the fhrious outcries provoked by J'irai cracher sur vos toribes, responses directed at unofficial as well as at official critics: "Quand cesserez-vous de vouo chercher dans les livres que vous licez, alors que le lecteur cherche le livre? ... Quand admettrez-vcus qu'on puisse ecrire aux Temps Modernea et ne pas etre cxistentialiste, aimer le canular et ne pas en faire tout le

33 » Vian, les Morts ont tons la meme peau. pp. 27-28. 118 temps? Quand admettrez-vous la libert£?,t3^ The text, a canular on the preceding canular, J'irai cracher eur vos tombes, and a canular on the expression "changer de peau," left no one unscathed. With the addition of the post face, tho writer adds a bit of overkill and the subject of the controversy is closed: for Vian perhaps, J 1irai cracher sur vos tombes and le3 Morta ont tous la memo peau were formally banned 15 May, 1950* and d'Halluin and Vian were fined 100,000 francs each. D'Halluin doubts 35 that the fine was even paid. J 1 irai cracher sur vos tombes was a mo­ dest success at fir3t. It is well known that the suit brought by Daniel

Parker's Cartel made it a best seller. The ensuing outcry also deter­ mined the form of les Morts ont tou3 la ncme peau, in which Vian strikes out with imaginative malice against all his antagonists: Parker and the

Cartel, the critics who seem to have been enraged at being duped, the yellow journalistg and the forces of official order. Vian reportedly became increasingly bitter as the trial dragged on and no one purchased the texts he signed with his own name. A few days after tho final deci­ sion wao rendered, Vian was interviewed by Combat and responded v/ith the dead pan irony and raisonnement par l'abeurdo at which he was so good:

Si cos deux cuvrages sont empreints d'obsession cexuelle (et cola est puieque les juges l'ont dit), il est a craindro quo je sois un obscde sexuel. Car oi je l'ai fait expren, ce n'est pas une obsession, e'est un artifice. Je precise: 3'ils sont volontairement empreints d'obsession scxuelle, il n'y a plus

3*Ibid., p. 188, 35 J. Duchateau, Boris Vian, p, 153. 119

d*obsession puisque Je la controle. Done, ile le sont involon- tairement, ot je suis un obsedt* sexuel — C.Q.F.D.?®

From our vantage point in time it is difficult to understand what the storm was all about. Vian paid an extremely heavy price for these two minor texts.

One canular leads to another; the complication of the double characters functions as port of the revelation of the reverse of the coin in the second canular. They stand out like marionettes dancing spasmodically to a music that has been internalized: the myths they live in terms of may be 'dead,' but the characters breathe into them a jaun­ diced life. The language used is again fixed, and together with the myths forms a frozen universe.

36 Cited in J. Clouzet, Boris Vian, pp. 21-22. The perplexing problem about official reaction to Vian's canular is that Queneau pub­ lished his On e3t tcu.jours trop bon avec les femmes under the pseudonym of Sally Mara and the text was accepted as precisely that: a confes­ sion. The irony is that Queneau's text is much more erotic than either of the banned Sullivan texts. Sally Mara, On est toujours trop bon avec les femmes (Paris: Editions du Scorpion, 19^7). chaffer v

Tho third Sullivan novel, Et on tuera tous leg af frcux, was pub­

lished the year after les Mort a ont tous la mono pcau, in 191*8, Most of

the text appeared serially and in expurgated form in tho weekly France-

Diirancho from 1 February to 11 April, 19^8, The novel was discontinued

because of reader protest and decrease in circulation. The last issue

contained a synopsis of the latter portions of the novel, Jean d'Hal-

luin'3 Editions du Scorpion published the complete text in the summer of

the catre year. It has never been translated into English. After strik­

ing back at the critics of J’irai crachor sur you to‘»,bec with lcs Mort3

ont tous la meme peau and, per^ ips as importantly, with the post face ap­

pended to the latter novel, Vian turned to a more conventional tkene in

the best-seller vein. Despite the unfinished quality of these novels,

one has to marvel at the quickness of Vianfs composition, especially in

viev; of hie myriad other occupations. He continues to develop double

characters, elaborate on myth and, to an increasing degree in thi3 text,

desert tho formulaic use of language common to the genre.

Vernon Sullivan, Ft on t^ora tens Ins nffrcv.x, traduit de l ,amfi- ricain par Doris Vian. Illustrations do (iuo, Mittolhorg et M. C, Raymond. Serialized in Frnnce-Xhr■ nn.oha, 11° Vi;—83 (1 fevrier 19^8 - 11 avril 19^3). Original edition: >:rnuuit de l(acericain par Borie Vian (Faria: Editions du Scorpion, 19^8); M. Hyballta, Forin 7inn, p. 173 and pp. 252-233; Bir.arre, p. 193. There is an Italian translation, however: E nccidere: o tutti i_ rucchioni, tradur.iono dal franee se di Clara Zanon (lalano: Contra, 196 b}.

120 Beryl Beeves and Kona Thaw are described at the outset as sensi­ ble women with whom it is possible for the major protagonist, Bock

Bailey, to meet in a relaxed setting, where they drink, dance and con­ verse without his having to defend his virginity against tasteless and persistent onslaughts* The two young women are willing to respect his devotion to sports, at least until his twentieth birthday* They indulge in stimulating pastimes and go their separate ways at the end of an eve­ ning. Based in Los Angeles, all the members of the group are young professionals or are in otherwise easy financial circumstances; they could well be prototypes for the so-called "beautiful people." Operating as a group, they never overtly pair off and the girls, never described, are rigorously interchangeable as conversants or as dance partners. Once tho plot is developed, they reappear, confronting Bailey with what they consider legitimate griofs. He has, in the meantime, lost his virginity and their prior attempts at understanding have, from their point of view, emphasized their present enpty-handedness. Whisking him away to tho pri­ vacy of a cousinrs convenient villa, they draw lots to determine which of them will possess him first. He is bound and blindfolded but, breaking tho cords binding his wrists, he becomes the active agent, possessing both girls at once. The blindfold spares him the task of distinguishing one girl from the other: "Au moment ad elle va s'eloigner ... mes bras se roferment sur elle... Je la tienc d'une main et de l*autre, ja r£uesi3 a attraper les jambes de la seconde." To the reader, the confusion is

^Vernon Sullivan, Et on tuera tous les affrcux* traduit de l'ane- ricain par Boris Vian (Paris: Eric Losfeld, 1 » PP* 7-3. 122 of little importance; nothing in the text would allow them to be differ- L entiated anyway. The narrative being written from the point of view of

Rock Bailey, the two girls function first os feminine emphasis on his non-experience; then they become agressive means to the limited orgy that follows hard upon his sexual initiation, emphasizing his ability to learn quickly and to experiment in ways that did not come to mind precisely at

"the moment of truth." The description of Bailey*s exit pictures the ex­ hausted girls as having gotten more than they had bargained for, as being so much material used and abandoned. As characters, they remain faceless and interchangeable throughout the text.

Berenice Hansen and Sunday Love also function as double charac­ ters with respect to the protagonist. Their functional reciprocity becomes clear when they are shown in conjunction with two additional fe­ male characters. Bor6ni.ce is only one of many spoiled children of well- to-do families ™ who are also rfbcautifUl physical specimens" — and who are more or less willing partners for any potential orgy concocted by the

•villain* in the novel. Berenice offers herself to Rock Bailey (he is

Mr. Los Angeles) who has been kidnapped for the same orgiastic purpose.

He refuses, wanting to remain true to his principles. He describes her e as having a beauty "... assez surprenante. Un peu trop perfectionee,'*

She is a pastiche of the most alluring characteristics of the most pop­ ular Hollywood stars. Their first few moments face to face are like

h This description at the beginning of the text could be inten­ tional: •'Lacy dansait avec Mona et Beryl me sauta au ecu ... — Bonsoir Mona, dis-je. ... Mona me regardait." There are a few such errors, but this one is blatant. Ibid.. p. 9.

5Ibid., p. 18. 123 those between Adam and Ere in the Garden, with the notion of sin haring g made a premature irruption into their lives. After a few blushes from both principals, tho protagonists complexes -- totally untested to this point — take over and 'good* and 'evil* acquire an objective, if inane, value. But this sudden rupture in the flow of time begins the birth of flexibility in Bailey; "... elle s'Scarte de moi ... et me regarde, ... si jamais vous avez lu quelque chose dans un regard, vous pouvez dire tout de suite que je suis le plus parfait crStin que la terre ait Jamais n portS." In a world determined by the values of young people, where phy­ sical good look3 and relative intelligence are prized above all else,

Bailey is plagued by the worm of doubt croated by that look from BSrS- nice. Ensuing experience increases the hero's uneasiness about his position on the relation between the sexes. Cora Leatherford, an adult, g does not consider him her type and would rather kill him than kiss him.

Mary Jackson, like Berenice, a runaway adolescent, take3 advantage of his being bound to improve her kissing technique. But she docs the same with 9 his companion, showing no preference. Sunday Love is introduced to Rock

Bailey the evening that the novel begins. Finding him attractive, she refuses to play according to the rules that Mona and Beryl, the two copines, accept. She is insistent and tho pressure on Bailey is gentle but constant. It is the first direct confrontation with the antagonists

6Ibid., p. 18.

7Ibid., pp. 20-21.

8Ibid.. pp. 60-61; p. 88; p. 92.

9Ibid., pp. 95-100. 124 of the novel that catalyses the change taking place in Bailey's innocent view of the world. Coming away from the encounter a survivor, and with the prospect of another confrontation that could well be fatal, he recon­ siders and calls upon Sunday Love. She is willing, but it is he who initiates the encounter. Having in the meanwhile seen enough to be con­ vinced that he might have been missing an important aspect of life, he takes steps to correct this situation. Through Sunday Love, Bailey, at 10 least in theory, falls finally into an adult aspect of existence.

BSrSnice Hansen and Sunday Love are complementary in their function, standing on either side of Rock's acceptance of contingence, Between the former and the latter come encounters with Mary Jackson, a duplicate of

B$r$nice, and with Cora who demonstrates that all women are not at his disposal, making the final acceptance of caitingence more probable. Be­ yond their description designed to titillate, the women are instruments of the protagonist's "Education sentimentale." If Mona and Beryl are inter­ changeable, Berenice and Sunday Love are complementary, having little consistency beyond their function as signposts for Bailey's "Time before and after.

There are two pairs of minor female double characters, all arti­ ficially manufactured under the direction of Markus Schutz, the antagonist of the novel. Be prefers to see beautiful people and since there are not enough of them in the world, he uses good physical

1QIbid.. pp. 149-153* 11 T, S. Eliot, "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (New York: liar- court, Brace and Company, 1943),. p. 6. The quotation is a parody of a passage which reads: "Time past and Time after / in a dim light:" 125 specimens as prototypes and makes them serially* Dropped by parachute into Schutz's island retreat, Bailey and his companion from the mini- cocibat team, Mike Bokanski, are sent on patrol. Encountering members of both sexes from "series 0" (which is obscene enough), they pair off with two of the women. Despite previous experience with Schutz's "pension- naires," Bailey is startled to see two women side by side who are carbon copies of one another and he tries with difficulty to digest the know­ ledge that all tho other women of the group are exactly like these two.

For their part, the women are flattered because they believe their 12 partners are from "series S" and thus more perfect specimens. A dis­ cussion on aesthetics with Schutz himself leads the two intruders to a meeting with two women from "series P"; again they are absolutely

A -I X identical, "*.. RoucseCs] des pieds a la tete ... The two pairs of women are absolutely interchangeable on one level; but because of their relation to Bailey and Eokandci, they are complementary, since the men are also doubles.

Rock Bailey is Mr. Los Angeles and at the outset completely devo­ ted to non-coed sports. He is in fairly easy circumstances since he can afford a night out whenever he wishes. He is vaguely a university stu­ dent and a convinced virgin. At best, his existence is by choice superficial and untainted by real contact with the world. Paradoxically, it is just the accidental aspect of his existence, the physique that he

1^Vian, Et on tuera tous les affroux, pp. 179-l8o. Vian's name will be substituted for the pseudonym in subsequent notes.

1?Ibid.. p. 191. calls a gift from his parents, that drags him into the contingent world where Schutz is systematically trying to eliminate the accidents of birth, insofar as those accidents produce "dee gens laids." Bailey is kidnapped by Schutz's men and even though he does not consent with

BSrSnice, he is forced to contribute to Schutz's betterment of the 15 species through artificial insemination. With revenge for the humili­ ation suffered as a motive, Rock becomes an amateur detective. His education continues os the dead bodies pile up around him, emphasizing the perishability of the flesh. Continued contact with women outside his controlled world transforms the flesh into concrete sexual temptation.

If Rock Bailey is an amateur, his double Mike Bokanski is a professional, 16 an FBI undercover agent. About Bailey's age and general build, he too is amazingly pure and a virgin until his encounter with the "0" girls — despite being an ex-marine. Mike appears casually unarmed — except for the walking early-warning system of his dog, Hoonoo, and the pocket3 full of hand grenades that he throws on the slightest pretext. Andy Sigman, andder undercover agent, says that Mike's methods are unorthodox and have been cause for complaint but that they are tolerated because they _ Ibid.. p. 8.

15Ibid., pp. 23-2^. 16 This is the only kind of technical clip that Vian makes in the Sullivan novels. Ho never visited the USA and acquired what knowledge he had of the country from books. After he had Lee Ander.on pulling down the iron grill in front of tho bookstore each night, ho carefully re­ searched the physical surroundings for the remaining novels in the cycle. It is doubt fhl that the FBI hires twenty year olds. Similarly, Rock Bailey is astonished that Andy Sigman, ostensibly a taxi driver, has a telephone, reflecting a specifically French problem, p. 29. D. Noakes, Boris Vian. p. 106; F, Be Vree, Boris Vian. p. Vl. 127 17 are effective, As a detective on his own, Bailey is only competent enough to acquire a great many bruises. As a team he and Mike make 18 steady inroads on the staff of the ubiquitous Dr. Schutz. Rock learns very fast, as a detective as well as a neophyte eroticist. He and

Bokanski are complementary doubles and it is through the two of them that the argument raised by Schutz's experiments is filtered.

If Doctor Schutz's clinic outside Los Angoles resembles an armed camp or a concentration camp (complete with armed guards and watch- towers), his island hideaway is like a second Garden of Eden where there is no restraint and, of course, no clothing. If Schutz's scheme to im­ prove on the first creation is to succeed, the surroundings must aid hie specimens to be "fruitful and multiply." The good doctor's creations prompt a general inquiry into the myth of tho progressive amelioration of the species with tho attendant complexities revealed by such an inquiry.

Given the ruthlessness with which Schutz's subordinates protected his interests vfhenever ruthlessness was needed, Bailey expected to meet the

Evil embodiment of the Destroyer of Human Individuality, but Schutz's

17 Vian, Et on tuera tous les affreux. p. 1^3*

1^V/hen Vian revised the text for publication by Editions du Scor­ pion, he cat down with a group of friends and gave them ports in the novel. Michel-Haurico Bokanouski, later Director of Fontana Records (a subsidiary of Philips), still later Ministro do 1'Industrie, gave his name to Mike Bokanski. Marco Schutzenberger, Boris's companion during the days in St. Germain-dos-Pros and later Directour da Rocherches at CURS, becomes Dr. Markus Schutz. Alexandre Astrue, tho cinematographer, becomes Douglas Thruck, a minor character "... qui travaille a la grande oeuvre de ea vie, une Esthctique du cinema pour laquelle il prevoit dix volumes et dix ans de travail." . Ibid.t p. 11, Bizarre, p. 17; M, Rybalka, Boris Vian, p. 233* J* Duchateau, Boris Vian, p. 162. 128 appearance belies this notion. Openly sympathetic to Bailey and Bokan- ski when they do come face to face, he is not reticent in voicing the reasons for his venture:

— Qui vous a donnS 1'idee de faire des etres vivants? demande Mike. — Les gens Gont tous tr£s laids, dit Schutz, Avez-vous remarquS qu'on ne peut pas se promoner dans la rue sans voir des quontitos de gens laids? Eh bien, j'adore mo promener dans la rue, mais j’ai horreur du laid. Aussi je me suis construit une rue et j'ai fabriquS deo jolis passants... C'est ce qu’il y avait de plus simple. ... Chez noi, un slogan: On tuera tous les af­ freux... C'est amusont, n ’est-ce pas? — C'est sublime, dis-je. — Naturellcmcnt, il y a une oxagSration, dit-il encore. On ne les tue pas comme qa.,,'19

Bailey, who as he opens up to the world becomes increasingly concilia­ tory and non-violont in his dealings with others, sees little that is wrong with such a plan, especially since both he and Mike fit into the category of those to be saved. But, as Mike reminds him later, neither aro over-joyed at the lack of differentiation in the women from "0" and

"P" series whom they have encountered; he even wonders if they can truly be called women. Mike describes his roasone for being on the investi­ gation: some of Schutz's creatures have infiltrated the higher political circles of the country; even President "Truwoman' a" secretary is of

Schutz’s manufacture and the products are preaching theories dangerous to national security! If their creator is successful, then the "affreux" may woll be simply exterminated. Besides, with all those beautiful peo­ ple around, the girls will search out the ugly, leaving Mike and Bock to their own devices. Bailey is lukewarm about the dangers: anyone should be able to be president; at least there would be good-looking senators

^Vian, Et on tuera tous les affreux. p. 185* and Schutz's men could not possibly be as corrupt as the present crop.

Rock accepts the involuntary motherhood imposed on the runaway adoles­ cents ("... un pcu cochonnes, ... plus ou moins consentantee, ... une belle bande de tordues ...") and the dead and dying casualties from the 20 first clash in Los Angelos as part of the price of virtual improvement.

Even Hike is not totally convinced Schutz's objective is so bad, so long as he as an individual will be able to survive any blood purges. Ironi­ cally, Mike's devotion to duty is tied to orders taking: the departing

Schutz — who takes his vacation every year at this time and refuses to bo delayed — points out that tho Fleet admiral, Count Gilbert, is his man and that the Navy will thus do nothing to stop him. As a concilia­ tory gesture, he premises a promotion to Andy Sigmon and good jobs for both Mike and Rock once ho becomes President. Mike then apologizes for the destructkn caused by his grenade throwing, and everyone belongs to 21 one big happy family. It would appear that Schutz has enough connec­ tions to remain untouchable and he promises there will be no more

"affreux" in five years, but tho evidence of two of his products argues against such a brave new world. 22 C-16, called Jef Davey by Rock for convenience's sake, is a kind of watchman at the mainland location of Schutz's "clinic." He was left to cook too long in the test tube and was rate; despite being

20Ibid., pp. 196-198.

21Ibid.. pp. 204-205. 22 J.-F. Davey, a journalist friend of Vian*3 who wrote for Com­ bat. As Rock names the fictional character, he says, "J'avais un poto qui ... a aal tourne. J-aintenant il fait du journalisme." Ibid., pp. 116-117; M. Rybalka, Boris Vian, p. 233; J. Duchateau, Boris Vian, p. 162, 130 programmed to guard the premises, he does just the opposite and tells the intruders anything they wish to know, escorting them through the entire installation. To take revenge for being "mal fini," he knowingly does 23 precisely what he is not supposed to do. ^ Count Gilbert tries to help

Mike out of hie depression by informing him that he, Gilbert, has:

... a raa disposition une secretaire bossue... Lee yeux de Mike s'alluraent, -- Elle ect bien moche? — Elle ect ignoble! assure Gilbert avec un grand eourire. Et en plus, elle a une janbe de bois!...24

Schutz has created his pcnsiormairos intelligent; even C-16, who is a ratS, has used hi3 spare time trying to discover all that he con possibly discover. And with that kind of will to individuality, to differentia­ tion, Schutz or any other Creator can theorize as much as he wishes: the 25 individuals will simply redefine "the beautiful,11 ar.d for the best.

A related problem, as is usual with Vian, is that of sexuality.

Variations on the myth are filtered through the males here. Rock Bailey and Mike Bokanski. Bailey*s experience has already been summarized to a point, but, generally speaking, women should be first of all desirable and willing, yet the aggressiveness of Beryl and Mona is to be deplored, even aftor the experience with E$renice and Cora Leatherford. The aware­ ness of fabrication of the "0" and "P" girls detracts from the total

23 Vian, Et on tuera tous les affreux. pp. 115-142.

2/fIbid., p. 218. 25 Michel Rybalka mentions the Voltairian cast of this text, Boris Vian. p. 111. Thoro are also echos of A. E. Van Vogt's The World of A which Vian translated five years later in 1953. We have the evidenco of his friend Claude Loon that Vian was reading Van Vogt and other science- fiction writers as early as late 1946. Bizarre, p. 81. experience, but what must be kept in mind is that the two men's sexual heroics all take place within a twenty-four hoar period which should count for something* More important, it appears that Schutz's creatures have been conditioned to go straight to the heart of the matter and with­ out imaginative variations which is tho essence of the sex relation as far as Hock is concerned; but, on the other hand, the 'women1 learn 26 fast. Hike's entire experience has been with those two girls and he is already aware of the possible unrelieved monotony of the activity; the two men set about imposing on the "P" girls experiences they have not 27 been programmed for and without too much broken glass. But equally crucial in this context is a test devised by a depressed Mike Bokanski: the twenty-five handscnost and the twenty-five ugliest sailors from a

U. S. Havy chip are to be lined up facing the fifty prettiest girls from

"series P," presumably differentiated only by hair color. When the girls are given the signal to choose their partners:

Quarante-copt des filles ont bondi sur le groupe des oalingres et trois seulement vers les autrec. Toutes les trois cur le meme, d'ailleurs: un type bati ... comma un satyro, avec un grand nez crochu et des yeux luisants,2o

Just as Jef Davey and Count Gilbert modified or disobeyed the word of the master, so it would appear that the women are able to overcome their con­ ditioning, since they apparently have the capacity for discernment. Hike is jubilant at the prospect of Schutz's master plan going awry; Rock is

2(5 Vian, Et on tuera tous lea affreux. p. 182.

27Ibid., pp. 192-195. Oft Ibid.. p. 215. 2 0 confident that he will be able to adapt to the situation easily enough*

With sexuality, as with the abstract problem of beauty, any process that improves the erotic capacity of the species (so long as it is accom­ panied by intelligence) will have far more positive aspects than negative ones*

Sooner or later, Vian had to tire of the flat, realistic repor­ tage of the genre and slip back into his non-Sullivan mode, just as he changed pace with the subject matter of this novel. When the group makes the parachute jump over Schutz's island, "Nous avons saute un a un, lo demier a ferme la porte derriere lui, car tout le monde est bien elevS ici ... • The passage illustrates onos more the logic of the relation that can exist between people and objects. That it could be possible to close the door of a B-29 under such circumstances is beside the point.

Doors are closed by civilized people and it is only a matter of discov­ ering how to go about it in such a case. There is little doubt that, given man's potential, it would be possible. Once the party is on the ground, they take the direction of Schutz's encampment: "... et voici qu'une route se manifesto sous notre nez, sans la moindre pudeur, 3*Sta- lant sous l'ooil jaune de la lune qui fait mine de regarder aillcurs.

In this instance the verb se manifecter is taken in its literal sonse, while the moon is equipped for the purpose with a figurative oeil jaune. Oeil refers to the totality of the face of the lune. Since the nakedness of the route is revealed by the lune, the pretense of looking elsewhere can only be in response to the uso of pudeur. The route and the lune need each other for the manifestation to occur. Once Bailey and Bokanski confront Schutz, tho latter asks Mike how much Harvard paid him to wreck the doctor's operation: n— Rien, dit Mike. Je vous donne ina parole.

— Vous n ’avez pas de parole, dit Schutz ... ga ne vous engage pas beau- coup.”3^ In this instance Sclmtz insists that parole is defined as an element of spoken language (its first meaning), or as tho ability to articulate verbally the thought process which is the property of all who have speech* At the same time, he insists ironically with engage that the sense of what Mike wants to say will have to be closer to that verb for which donner sa parole is a circumlocution. The examples given here all occur in the brief period of the approach to Schutz's Eden, except the last speech. They indicate an impatience with tho language that fits the form. Indeed, the ambivalent denouement is truly in keeping with

Vian1s principle: the categorical conclusion is probably a mistaken or inadequate one.

Et on tuera tous les affreux represents a radical shift in focus when compared to the two preceding Sullivan novels, but Vian’a purpose remains serious. The lighter treatment of the subject nay disguis© the carnage but should not obscure tho importance of the problems raised.

The concept of sexuality presupposed by readers of this type of novel is brought into question along with the notion of human beauty with its

32Ibid.. p. 187. attendant problem, perception. Vian'a double characters are schematic here, but their balance Is terrifyingly apt. On the whole, the text is another parody of the genre.

Vianfs double characters are not as sharply delineated as in the two preceding Sullivan novels; but as double characters they are well- integrated with the mytha he chose to revolutionise. The attempt to enliven the language used could not be brought off completely; yet the occasional use of language as Vian employs it in non-Sullivan texts does fit that segment of the imagined world where its use seems possible: near the new Eden. CHAPTER VI

The fourth and last novel of the Sullivan series, Elies se rendent pas compte. was published in the summer of 1950 and han been translated into Italian. Written about the same time as l'Herbe rouge, it betrays little or none of the originality that characterized the pre­ ceding three Sullivan volumes. It i3 apparent that Vian, under the pseudonym at least, is playing out the string. The evidence of the text is sufficient reason for allowing Vernon Sullivan a quiet death. Vian does continue to develop double characters and to some degree to examine a Gingle myth. There is also some modification of the language used as compared to the preceding three novels.

Donna Watson is a messenger for a group of lesbian outlaws who operate in and around Washington, D, C. On her way to the gang head­ quarters outside the city, she is delayed and captured by tho two male protagonists of the narrative, Francis and Ritchie Deacon, after a long

Vernon Sullivan. Elios se rendont pas compte (Paris: Editions du Scorpion, 1950). F. Caradec gives a date of 19**o and mentions Vian as translator, Michel Rybalka says tliat Vian wan not mentioned in the first edition and assumes 19**& as the copyright date. Rybalka i3 responsible for the update, all other bibliographers following Caradoc. The former cites the Eiblio.rraphie do la France in support of his contention. Bizarre, p. 155; M. Rybalka, Boris Vian, p. 23**. The Italian transla­ tion is: Esse non si rondono conto, tradusione dal franceso di Clara Zanon (Milano: Contra, 19(567.

135 2 auto chase, The group is evidently blackmailing a friend of the two brothers and one among them lias stabbed and perhaps killed a Chinese hairdresser, a crime for which the police would like to talk to Francis.

Tho brothers want information. Taking Donna to a residential hotel in the city, they determine to keep her until she tells all she knows. Des­ pite the fact that she "... [ne] conna[it] que les femmes. they manage to convert her to heterosexuality and discover all that she can toll them in a brief if intense period of time. Later, when both Donna and Francis have been captured by the gang and are about to be tortured and killed, she demonstrates that the conversion was permanent, helping

Francis to escape and is fatally wounded when she avoids exposing him to 5 danger. The gang headquarters cleared of the enemy and the two brothers reunited, Ritchie, the medical student, examines Donna:

-- Rien st faire, il me dit. KLle est liquidle. Elle sourit vagueracnt, je lui tate le front, Elle a l'air de nous reg.urder. Je frissonne malgre moi. — C'$tait une fille pas nal, je dis. — Pas mal, dit Ritchie corune un echo. Domaage qu'elles se rendent pa3 compte. Dans deux heures elle sera morte*6

The all-inclusive epitaph appears somewhat bizarre, nonetheless Francis remembers her with regret. Gaya Valenko is the brothers' young friend who has gotten herself into difficulties. She is the daughter of a

^Vomon Sullivan, Elies se rendent pas compte, traduit par Boris Vian (Paris: Eric Losfeld, 1966J7 PP* 91-96. " 137

European diplomat based in Washington who frequents the young jetsetters.

At some time in the near past she has managed to become addicted to hard

drugs by the leader of the gang and her brother. It is at the announce­ ment of her coming marriage to the brother, Richard Walcott, that Francis

intervenes. At first he collects only a few bruises and is indirectly

responsible for the stabbing of his mother^ hairdresser. Once the gang

is demolished and he and Ritchie are recovering from their aches and

pains, there is still the problem of their friend Gaya and her addiction.

Francis summons Gaya by telephone with the statement, MJ*ai ce qu*il te 7 faut.,,f When she arrives, there is no time lost exposing her to the cure

that Francis has imagined: a cold shower and a double dose of Hetero- g sexual Revelation. The text is silent on the effectiveness of the cure, which suggests that the problem of drug addiction had more to do with the

plot than anything else; or that even if it was important at the outset,

it no longer is at the conclusion; or the silence is a result of careless writing. What does bind Donna and Gaya together, however, is that they have both become abnormal, and if the cure equalizes them, then their

abnormality is of the same nature, or conversely the two girls are abnor­ mal with respect to the lack of the cure: exposure to their natural

function as heterosexual mates.

Richard Walcott was to be Gaya's husband. According to Donna, it was he and his friends who lured young women of wealthy families into the gang’s control, forcibly addicting them while they were intoxicated.

7Ibid., p. 190.

8Ibid., pp. 191-192. 138

Richard and the gang count on practising a chantage of some sort just to

keep the girls supplied with drugs. The chantage in Gaya's case is

marriage to Richard Walcott, There is only one difficulty: Walcott is

a homosexual. When, against her will, Gaya takes Francis to introduce

them, the latter remarks immediately, ,TUne vraie folle de premiSre gran- 9 deur." For the narrator, Francis Deacon, the 'temporarily abnormal*

young female lesbian is sympathetic and salvageable. For the male homo­

sexual, Francis has no sympathy and no mercy. When Richard telephones to

the gang headquarters recently devastated by the Deacon brothers, Francis

takes the call, identifying himself as le Bon Dieu and continuing, **Pu 10 n'iras pas au poradis, ... parce que tu as trop l'nir d*une tante.

When Richard's auto explodes during a high-speed chase, Francis remarks,

"Bonne Chose." There is no regret for this particular execution, God's

justice is done, Richard's sister Louise is the real brains of the gang,

always going heavily armed, Donna remarks that she ",.* fait drolement 11 bien 1 'amour." Captured males are generally taken to the headquarters,

tortured and used as living targets for the gang members who practise on

then, using different weapons, Louise coolly pistolwhips Francis as a 12 warning against interference on Gaya's behalf. Captured enemies can

expect her to go for the genitalia: emasculation for the males, a red-

hot bolt for the women, John Payne, a friend of tho Deacon brothers

9lbid., p. kZ.

Ibid,, pp. 180-181.

11Ibid., p. 108.

12Ibid., pp. 63-66. 139 captured with Donna, has been so treated. Louise comes to the attic used as an improvised prison and, inspecting Payne's body, says: "11 eat 13 mort? ... C'est marrant, les hommes, ils peuvent pas vivre sans 9a.11

When Francis eliminates her, it is without compunction, every rib being broken. Louise and Richard Walcott are sister and brother and destruc­ tive parodies of human heterosexuality. If Louise is a false male wearing women's clothing, her brother is precisely the reverse with respect to his presumed sex. They are abnormality gone out of control and must be eliminated like lethal bacillae before the entire species is corrupted and destroyed.

Francis Deacon is the sen of wealthy, influential parents, a Har­ vard dropout who loves himself to the point of fatuity. Donning his woman's garments before hie mirror in preparation for Gaya's coming-out ball — which is also a costume ball — he says: "Je suis torabe amoureux 15 de moi — comme 9a... ." A success at the party, Francis naturally thinks of the feminine disguise when the identity of tho gang members be­ comes known. (Ironically, Gaya is dressed as a page boy, foreshadowing the revelation of her "abnormality"). Ritchie, Francis' younger brother who falls into the problem by chance, is only momentarily dubious about the disguise. It is significant that only the "normal" are taken in by the brothers in women's clothing; the truly "abnormal" characters are

1^Ibid., p. 165.

Ibid., p. 166. Including the one she inherited from Eve. 4 C Ibid., p. 1^. A pun that may be intentional refers to the notion of "coming out" in gay parlance, indicating one's admission that one is a homosexual and one's entry into tho gay world. 1*0 never b o deceived (that Donna is initially taken in already implies her longing for the 'straight' world). Francis himself has no difficulty in picking out the women who are drossed a3 men at the costume ball, but he thinks Louise Walcott a man until she mentions her first name. Later, he thinks another gang member is male since she is dressed as a man and is accompanied by a male. lie is not deceived by the male homosexuals who are ostensibly male. On the other hand, the "normal" women are always taken in, by the Deacon brothers in disguise as well as by the male and female homosexuals.

Francis and Ritchie share everything, the blows as well as the women (Donna and Gaya) and, except for the difference in style, are totally interchangeable, especially insofar as they enunciate the moral of the text which is also the title of tho book.

The myth of heterosexuality a3 the prerequisite to an existence otherwise healthy is the only myth treated in any great detail here.

The costume party that begins the text is good clean fun for these young people who have time on their hands. Even so, there is one young lady who takes her male costume and the role it allows her to play a bit too seriously. She gives it over quickly enough with Francis' guidance. But this otherwise Idyllic setting is invaded 'in tho beginning’ by Gaya's drug supplier bringing with him the aura of gay bars and the twilight world of gangsters. The VJaleott group who seem willfully "abnormal" and who have hard drugs to sell have a strong chance of spreading the two types of abnormality because of the relative innocence of their young victims. The text makes clear that the aberrational process can, and 1V1 probably does, extend through its effect on sexuality to the corruption of the political process and even to espionage.

Admittedly, Vian goes about developing this story line with some­ thing of a heavy hand. The equating of homosexuality with the use of hard drugs as being, in essence, the same kind of abnormality is a bit strong. It has not been proven that homosexuality is 'abnormal' in the sense that it is used here. Vian's hatred of homosexuality as a limi­ tation on freedom is a recurrent theme and it may be that the equation takes place on that level, Vian's penchant for parody must also be taken into account. However, the apparent two dimensional structure of tho novel is one that future readers of Mickey Spillane and Ian Fleming would 16 readily accept. Within the text, however, the cure for abnormality among the not too heavily tainted is heterosexuality — forcibly in tho case of women since "elleo se rendent pas compte." The truly irretriev­ ably diseased must be liquidated, and they aro. Vian's winks of connivence do not always point up tho canular clearly enough to be certain how seriously he takes what he has written, so the problem pre­ sented remains unsolved. The story line, however thin, is well constructed, well integrated.

D. Noakes states that the Sullivan novels are all prototypes for what come to be called the eerie noire and that Vian is a true pre­ cursor in this area* D. Hookes, Boris Vian, p. 105. F. De Vree points out the similarity to Spillane and/or Fleming. F. De Vree, Boris Vian, p. **3. Francis Deacon, something of a rich dropout, has "mauvaisea 17 frequentations" and consequently the text is largely written in argot, a change from tho preceding three Sullivan novels which makes for an overall difference in tone, a tone modified in part by Vian's increasing 13 mastery of "the sound" of a 'translation from the American.* At one point Francis has a heated discussion with a policeman that sounds very

French, but if it had happened in Washington, D. C, even twenty years ago, the non-uni formed disputant would most likely not have survived the beating. Tho policeman, in the face of continual insult, is ultimately 19 reasonable -- which is totally unrealistic. There is only one instance, early in the text, when Vian lets himself go in constructing an image with which tho novels he signed with his own name are filled.

Francis awakens a week after Gaya's ball,

... par un beau matin du printemps, en plein raois de juillet, et ceci n ’est pas si invraisemblable que qa en a I'air, car le printemps est aussi une qualite et il n'y a pas de raison pour

17 Vian, Elies so rendent pas compte, p. 10. Vian*3 name will be used instead of the pseudonym in subsequent notes,

^ B y tho date of composition of Ellea en rendent pas compte (I9*f8-19^9), Vian had translated Kenneth Fearing'a inn Big Clock (Le Grand horloger) in 19^+7* Ho had also begun his col .Laooration with Duha- nel'3 nbrio noire for Qallimord. Alone or t/ith Michelle, he translated Raymond Chandler: Lady in the Lake (La Dame du lac) and The Big Bleep (Le Grand somr.cil) in 19^Hj Peter Cheyneyj Dames Don't Caro "(Los Femmes e'en balancentj in 19^9* Bizarre, pp. 192-195-. 19 See Murray Kempt on, "Understanding the Police," New York Review of Books, Vol. XV, I.:° 8, (5 November, 1970). Kempton reviews four books on police behavior, one of which is Police: A Sociological Study of lav, Custom and Morality, an unpublished University of Chicago disser­ tation by William A. WestIcy, 1950-51, Kempton quotes Wesley as stating that the police propensity to use violence in cases of lack of respect, as opposed to outrage against society, was three to one. M. Kempton, "Understanding the Police," pp. 3-7. 1^3

qu*un jour de printemps ne prenne pas place a n'importe quel moment de l'annee.20

Here the freedom of the possible in a post-Einsteinian world ia indicated at the expense of our habitual use of language which, the text suggests, will have to be modified to allow for the possibilities that exist.

Thematically, this is the thinnest of the novels signed Sullivan.

The work mirrors the difficulty of creating a text sufficiently differ­ ent to whet the appetite of the prospective audience and yet one not too difficult to read. (Vian was composing, concurrently, l'Hcrbe rougo in his chosen idiom). The double characters and the complex of their rela­ tionships could be dictated in part by the need for novelty. The myth of abnormality should, perhaps, be accepted in its broadest sense: psycho­ somatic deviation is abnormal, whatever the cause. The 'cure* would be in keeping with the expectations of a reader of this genre. Care muot be taken not to identify such deviation with what Vian would call mutation, as a possibility for the individual, conceived in the broadest sense.

The "fictitious11 world that is filtered through Vernon Sullivan is a world apart only insofar as Vian has suppressed language as he custom­ arily uses it. The double characters are conceived first of all as possibilities who are seemingly excluded from the universe of the personal novels. The double characters of the Sullivan cycle function almost entirely in terms of the myths to which they are subjected. That the outsized Lee Anderson and Mike Bokanski may shrug off the vulner­ ability that plagues Antioche and the Major means, paradoxically, that

2 0 Vian, Elies se rendent pas compte, p. 35* they are tied to an answer by the same myths that give them their air of invulnerability. Their world is one choked by irreepirable myths.

The Sullivan novels are principally informed by the myths the genre of the novels seems to dictate. As a consequence, the double char­ acters are drawn with greater relief than those in Trouble dans les

And a ins or Vercoguin et le plane ton. But their greater freedom is only apparent. Ultimately their tragedy is the world of myth that calls them forth. The "darkling aspiration" of language to free itself is also caught and stopped short, the bright moment or two of Et on tuora tous les affreux notwithstanding. In retrospect, such mcaonts are aberrations in a world deadening to individual possibilities. PAKT III

THE IIATUHE HOVELS

l'Ecunq dor; jour3 l 1 Antonne a Pekin

l fTIcrbe roufte

1 1A rracke-c oeur CHAPTER VII

L'Ecume dos jours was written in late 1945-March, 1946, and was finally published by Galliraard in April, 1947, three months after Verco- ■i quin et le planet on. The novel has been translated into British and

American English, Italian and German. Moreover, there is a film based on the novel, a theatrical version performed in Brussels and a music hall revue utilizing poems, songs and extracts from Vian's prose works, in- 2 eluding I'Ecume des jours. The drama surrounding the novel and its rejection for the Prix do la Pleiade were the beginning of Vian’s diffi­ culties in the literary world. The award of the Prix to Jean Grosjean for Terre des horvaea holped sot into motion a chain of events that was to plague Vian for the rest of his life.

In the Avant-Propoa of I'Ecume dos jours. Vian writes his equivalent of an art poetiquc, for this novel at least. The story is:

Fra^nents of the novol (Chapters 33, 34, 36-41, 50, 63 and 66) where no mention is made of the duchesse de Bivouard or of Jean-Sol Part re had been printed in Los Temps Modernes, M° 13 (October, 1946), pp. 30-61. The original edition is: Boris Vian, 1 'Ecume den jour a (Paris: Gallimard, 1947). Bizarre, p. 190; M. Rybalka, Boris Vian, pp. 203-209.

^The translations are respectively: Froth on the Daydream. trans. by Stanley Chapman (Loudon: Kapp and Carroll, 1967); Good Indigo, trans. by John Sturrock (Hew York: Grove Press, 1968); Schiuma di giorni (in) Sterpacuore, traduzione dal franceso di Augusto Donaudy (Milano: Rizzoli, 'I965T;' Chloe, Aus den Franzbsischen ins Deutsche ubertragen von Antje Pehnt (Duuseldorf: Rauch, 1964). The Brussels performance was in 1968. The film, with the mice on sc?nc by Charles Belmont, was released

146 1^7

... enti^rement vraie, puisque je l'ai imaginee d'un bout $ 1'autre. Sa realisation materielle proprement dite consist* essentiellement en uno projection de la realite^ en atmosphere biase et chauffee, sur un plan de reference irrcguliereraent on- dule et presentant de la dietorcion. ... e'est un procSdS avouable s'il en fnt.3

Vian gives the reader fair warning. The expectation of a novel written

in the style of a Zola or a Martin du Gard is disappointed beforehand.

The world of the two early novels (with glimpses of this world in the

"Sullivan" novels) seemed on the verge of a transformation, of becoming something else. With I ’Ecume d03 .jours, Vian gives that promise of form a measure of contour.

The plot is simple. Spurred by the example of Chick and Alice,

Colin meets ChloS. They marry and Nicolas meets Isis. ChloS falls ill.

Whon his funds are exhausted, Colin works to save her life. Chick pre­

fers collecting the works of Jean-Sol Partre to Alise. Alice, to save

Chick, kills Partre and all the booksellers Chick buys from. She is trapped in the last bookstore she fires and only her hair will not bum.

Chick is killed. ChloS dies and Colin must die coon after his grey mouse commits suicide, Nicolas and Isis are kept apart by social and professional considerations.

The six major characters in I'Ecume des jours are paired off as heterosexual couples: Chick and Alise, Colin and ChloS and Nicolas and

Isis. Chick is a practising engineer who borrows money from his uncle in March, 1568. M. Hybalka, Boris Vian, p. 211, The music hall revue was performed in Paris in May, 1971* 3 Boris Vian, I'Ecume des jours, suivi d'une postface par Jacques Bens, ,rUn Langage-univers," Le Monde en 10/18 (Paris: Union GSnerale d*Editions, 1963)* P* 5. every week because his salary is not sufficient to allow him the same standard of living as the workers he commands. Alise is the niece of

Nicolas, Colin's new cook; she and Chick meet by chance at a lecture given by Jean-Sol Partre, where they were "... tous lee deux £ plat ventre sous l'estrade ..." because of the overflow crowd. The failure to have an existential experience together notwithstanding, they discover that they have many common interests (beginning with a profound admira­ tion for Partre and the desire to collect all of his works). Asked to describe Alise, Chick answers, "Je no sais pas decrire, ... Elle est 5 jolie... ™ Ahl ... dit Colin." But the random incident that brought then together leads ineluctibly to the passion that destroys them as a couple. That Chick works for a living as an engineer plays a role in their coming apart a3 well as Alise's parents' expectations of what her husband should bo. The reason is never quite made clear, but Chick is certain that they will never consider him as a husband for Alise, even g with the twenty-five thousand "dcublezons" that Colin gives him. When

Chick comes into possession of the gift from Colin, he spends a good part of it to pay a replacement for his job. Iflien the gift has dwindled to nothing and Chick would gladly work as an underpaid engineer, his replacement has taken his job and Chick has to accept one that pays 7 even less. Far and away the most important element iu their breakup is

Sbid., p. 8.

5Ibid., p. 15.

^Ibid.. pp. 1*4 and MJ.

7Ibid.. p. 117, l**9

Chick*e passion for collecting Partre *s works. Alise gave that up as soon as she 'collected* Chick. Walking to ChloS*s house the day of

Colin's and Chloe's wedding, Chick sees "un exemplaire du Femugle de

Partre, ..." in a bookstore window and "... [commence} a baver de g convoitise. Un petit ruisseau se [forme} entre ses pieds... ." When

Alise sees how Chick fritters away the money given him so they might marry even over her parents* objections, she can only sigh, "Un soupir si l£ger qu'elle fut la seule a 1*entendre ... . When she receives a gift from Chick, it is because she is fortunate enough to wear the same size suit as the duchesse de Bovouard; Chick wanted "un papier" from the 10 pockets and bought it used. When Colin is shown the latest misuse of

Alise'B "dowry," rather than the pages, he sees "... les yeux d'Alicc,

... et le regard d 'emerveilleraent triste qu'elle jetait cur la robe [de 1 1 mariage} de ChloS. ... les yeux de Chick n’allaient jamais si liaut."

Uncomplaining, hesitating to criticise, Alice can only be a victim, liv­ ing finally as if on the dole. Her communication is better with Colin

Cat a distance) than it is with Chick who never raises his eyeG from the book. Finally, fired from his last job, with enough "doublesons" to * 1P have his last volume covered in "... peau de neant, ..." ~ Chick sends

Alise away. Stunned, chut out of her world, die sets out to fill the

g Ibid., p. 55. The figurative expression provokes the literal consequence.

9lbid.. P. 75.

10rbid., p. 110.

11lbid., p. 97.

12Ibid., p. 1 V;. void in her life in various bookstores. Chick, surrounded by his col­ lection of Portria, has locked his door on the world. But he has not paid his taxes.

Colin is the same ago as Chick and they have at the outset ap­ proximately the same interests. Chick has to work for a living and Colin does not. When the latter hears "Alise" in conjunction with his friend's name, he is already half in love. That Chick will not consent to bring Alise to his apartment until he has a girl of his own piques

Colin's interest at the same time that it forces him to think about ana­ 'll ther girl if he is even to meet Alise privately, Nicolas does not have other nieces and even though Isis appears at the skating rink wearing exactly the same attire as Alise, "... Colin connaissait tr&3 bien ses parents."*1'* Colin practices the "biglemoi" to the tune of CliloS and the frame is provided for his meeting with the woman. When Isis Ponteau- aanne, the hostess, introduces him to ChloS, Colin says, "Bonj... £tes- 16 voue arrangSe par Duke Ellington?" The die is cast. Beginning with the ephemeral desire to emulate his friend, dazzled by the perpetuation of Alise as mystery and frustrated by the blank that Isis need not be,

Chlol must be the reincarnation of the Ellington classic. That the

1^Ibid., p. 8.

1Shid., pp. 27-28.

15Ibid., p. 20. 17 character is neither "moody" nor "sultry" is beside the point. Sup­ porting such a reading is the fact that ChloS, in contrast to Alise and

Isis, has no history until she meets Colin. A month after the party,

Colin and ChloS are married in a luxuriant ceremony. In a detail that would go unnoticed, ChloS begins to cough as they leave the warm church 18 and hurry through the cold to Colin's new car.

The next morning, as the young couple prepares for tho honeymoon in the south, Colin's grey mouse "... s'arreta dans le couloir, KLle voulait voir pourquoi les soleils n'entraient pas nussi bien que d'habi- 19 tude et le3 engueuler a lfoccasion," As they interrupt the drive, stopping for the night, ChloS picks up a handfhl of snow and "... se rait

3. touecer corame une Stoffe de soie qui se dechire," Immediately after,

Colin, in a buret of youthful horseplay, throws his shoe through the win­ dow of the room he and ChloS take for the night. Since the glass does not grow back completely, Chloe wakes the next morning with "... la poi- trine.plcine da cette ncdge,., Alise receives a letter from ChloS announcing the abridgement of the honeymoon since she does not feel well. On the first day back in the city, Chloe collapses while

17 * Ibid., p. 2ht Nicolas' description of both Chloe and Concerto for Johnny Hodges. Accurate for the second tune, Nicolas' judgement on the first is puzzling -- unless 'moody' and 'sultry* are redefined,

l8Ibid., p. 62. 19 Ibid., p. 63. At the beginning of the novel, "... un soleil brillait de chaque cote Cdu couloir] car Colin ainait la lumiere." p. 8. 152 chopping. She is put to bed and it becomes apparent that the wheel rolls

downhill faster tlian it can be rolled upward.

Nicolas is the cook whom Colin got in a trade with his aunt for ^ 22 his former cook and a "... kilog de cafe beige." A disciple of ,'Gouf-

f$" in culinary matters, he springs from a family proud of its tradition.

From that point of view, his sister, Alise's mother, has "... mal tour- 0 23 ne ..." since she studied philosophy. At twenty-nine years of age,

Nicolas appears eight yearG younger and infuriates Colin becauso he

speaks to him in the third person. Nicolas remarks that "... une cer-

taine familiarito n'est admissible que lorsque l'on a gardS les 2b barrieres ensemble, et ce n'est point le cas." He insists that they

come from different worlds. While practising his profession, he uses the

language appropriate to his role. Were Colin one of the "gens de maison,"

their rapport in the kitchen could bo different. To sit down at table with Alise, Chick and Colin as friends, however, he goes down the ser­

vants' stairs and rings the bell like any other guest, Isis meets

Nicolas the day of Colin's and Chloe1 s wedding and he spends the night 25 with hor and two "cousines." Isis is not jealous when told that

Nicolas "... s'ost ... mal conduit ..." with various hotel-owners'

22Ibid.. p. 11.

2^Ibid.. pp. 11-12 and p. 19* "Gouffe" evokes Auguste Escoffier, the master snob of French haute cuisine. Nicolas' sentiment about the marks of family status arc echoed later by Alise v/ho remarks tliat her father, an agrego in mathematics, is only a "Menbre de l'lnctitut" at age thirty-eight. "II aurait pu faire un effort. Heureusement il y a oncle Nicolas."

2ZfIbid.. p. 23.

*^Ibid.. pp. 63-64. daughters during the trip through the provinces, but she wonders

"... pourquoi il eet cuisinier ..." since he is ”... bien."^ At their 27 reunion she is flattered that he prefers her to her cousins. When it is obvious that the charged atmosphere in the apartment which accompanies

Chios's illness i3 affecting Nicolas, aging him sevon years in eight days, Colin forces him to take a position with Isis' parents. In his new position, ”11 £tait rajeuni, mais con expression inqui&te trahissait un desarroi profond." But, upon closer contact, Isis has changed her mind.

She cannot marry him because she is not ”... a sa hauteur." Her parents 28 would never dare broach the subject with him. There matters rest.

Isis and Nicolas are the only survivors of the six major characters.

There are minor double characters who appear only briefly. In addition to the three couples, the wedding party includes the "piderastes d'honneur," the brothers "Desoaret," Coriolan and Plgase, who are twins.

Their use is comic, but the names are well researched. Pegasus, the winged horse, was born of the Gorgon's blood. Coriolanus was the unbend­ ing Ron an patrician soldier who was banished from the city and went over to the Volsces, Rome's enemy of the moment. Returning as an enemy he nearly sacked the city. Deanaret (deo mareos) is simpler. The brothers are b o m twice and oscillate between the opposing influence of the sun and moon, the male and female principals, participating in the nature 15*»

U s avaient embrasse la carriere de pederastes par necessite et par pout, mais comme on les payait bicn pour etre pederastes d'honneur, ils ne travnillaient presque plus, et raalheureueement cette oicivete funeste les pouesait au vice de temps a autre. C'est ainci quo, la veille, Coriolan s'etait mal conduit avec une fille.29

It is Coriolan who approaches Isis closely enough to be called an "inver- 30 ti" by his brother. Here the pun has another basis, Isis has the name

of on Egyptian goddess; that she is attractive to a Roman means that from a cultural perspective, he is betraying his traditional roots which are in Greek civilisation. Vian integrates this polished piece into the text and it fits.

Chick really should have paid his taxes, though. As a conse­ quence of his delinquency, he has to deal with cliaracters who are also doubles of a kind. The "senochal de la police" calls out ",,, six de ses meilleurs agents d'armes... ," all called Douglas, , muniG de leur egalisateur a douae giclees. for a special mission. He commands,

Blocnotes,

— Recouvrement d’impots chez le sieur Chick, avec oaisie prealablc... . Passage n tabac de contrnbpjide et blame severe. Eaisie totale ou meme particlle compliquee do violation de domicile, 3’i

29Ibid,, p. ^9.

^9Ibid., pp. 61-62.

^1Ibid., p£>. 152-155. Douglas is a "... generic truditicnnel" used because tie C'T.uci.nl cannot remember the names of his men. "Agents d’arnes" combines "agents de police" and "gendarmes." The "senechal de la police" ic a trouvaille that suits the cliaracter. In modem ucage, a senechal ie, at best, a provincial bailiff representing the crown in "justice," etc. That such functions no longer exist Gince the crown does not exist, suggests a medieval setting despite the overt modernity of tho text. At the sane tire the police function, baaed on the quoted passage, is not only tc keep order, but to render 'justice' on the spot. The 155

If "tabac" is "contrabands," it is the strongest tobacco there is. As

the sonSchal repeats the pronouncement to Chick before sentence is car­ ried out, he warns him that "C'est un tabac trSs fort;,.. ," Chick's

"arrache-coeur" has been taken by Alise; picking up his "tue-flic en mau- vais Stat," he can make only a reflex gesture as he is gunned down trying to defend his collection. Prior to their arrival, Chick put two differ­ ent recordings by Partre on the record player, placing himself exactly between the two speakers so that "... sa tete se trcuve juste a l'endroit ou ce choc aurait lieu, ot conserve, automatiquernent, lee re suit at s de 3 Z 1'impact. The irony is emphasized before the fact of his death. As the two agent3 enter, they bracket Chick as the recorded Partre bracketed him and mirror the intellectual exercise. Tliat the later 'impact' is abdominal means that his agony lasts longer: *la collection de Partre, c'est la raort.' Similarly, the truism no longor reads "death and taxes" but "taxes or death," Entering the building, the sencchnl placed his agents in pairs. The two who enter "... se ressemblaient, ilB avaient le teint bistrS et les yeux noirs, et les l&vres minces." Of tho six 'pall­ bearers' (dressed in black), only the two are called upon to officiate.

They finally realize that the fire in the adjoining building makes the

"pietinement" unnecessary: they intend to destroy the books, even after sor.echnl's red "combinaiccn" and "sieur" (XIe siecle, vicux or droit) reinforces that reading. Cf. Dictionnaire Robert.

32Ibid.. p. 151. 156

Chick is visibly dying. More important, from Vian's point of view, is 33 that the agent a d'artnes fire on command.

The experience of the six major characters forms the heart of the text, as couples and as male and female. The story of Chick-Alise is a beginning from which the story of Colin-ChloS is b o m which in turn gives birth to the story of Micolas-Isis. The last couple is together at a distance, from each other and from the other two couples. The background story of Chick-Alise continues to interweave with and commont upon the major motif of Colin-Ckloe, functioning as counterpoint doo3 in a jazz improvisation. Remaining within the musical frame, the motif of Chick-

Alise dies out just before a laet reunion of the four surviving charac­ ters which amounts to a restatement of the "total" motif. The Colin-

ChloS motif is played solo and the "separated" Hicolas-Isis only appear again at Chloe1o funeral. This is metaphorically true as Colin is last seen waiting patiently to exact some revenge on the plant that killed

ChloS: insofar as he exists only in terms of the dead partner and would bo 'death-dealing,' he is already a phantom. The separation on the basis of sex functions in like manner. Chick and Colin are the same age and have similar interests; what separates them is Alise — a gap neither can close. Once Chloe appears, they are again in "Squilibre instable."

77 Ibid., pp. 158-161. This series of scenes is the logical ex­ tension of tho nouvclles Bono Eloves. The short story describes the training period of two police cadets, Freddy De Vree summarizes Vian'a judgement on the police: "... un bon flic, ga n'existe pas. Un bon flic est cruel, sans pi tie, dur: un ho." me rauvais. Un homne bon qui est flic, n'est ni dur, ni sans pitie, ni cruel: c'est un nr.uvais flic." Boris Vian, Los pons Elovos (in) Lcn Fourmis. Le Terrain Vague (Paris: Eric Losfeld, 15^ST7 PP» 25-3^* Freddy De Vree, Boris Vian, p. 20. 157

Etymologically, •'Colin" is a familiar diminutive of "Nicolas. When

Colin trades Serge for Nicolas, in effect, he brings •himself' home.

What separates Colin and Nicolas is ChloS. Only when he "gets out of the family" does Nicolas' degradation abate. The throe women are separated by nothing. On ChloS's wedding day all three are "jolies" and while alone 35 together similarly dressed in stockings, shoes and nothing else. Both

Alise and Isis are reunited with Chlol momentarily during her illness and each at significant moments in the latter*s disintegration. Bofore ChloS loses the first lung, Alise kisses her on the lips, quenching ChloS's thirst metaphorically since she is not allowed any water as a part of the treatment. Isio visits her soon after discovering that her other lung is affected: flowers are all that will combat the nenuphar (water lily) and 36 Isis gives her the carnation she wears, promising to bring more. In view of this complexity in the interrelationships of the characters,

Jacques Bens's insistence that the six major characters aro identical and 37 interchangeable, are reducible to one character, is questionable. That their situations are all different makes for different interactions be­ tween couples and as a group. That their story forms a whole has more to do with the writer's choice of how to limit the optic rather than with interchangeability. If there is only existence as human reality, then

Cf. Nouveau Dictionnaire Etymologicrue. Larousee. Attested in 1300.

35Vian, I'Ecume des jours, p. 53. F. De Vree sees '•un petit cotS lesbien" in this scene. I see pure male fantasy. Boris Vian. p. 32. 36 Vian, I'Ecume des jours, pp. 112 and 138. 37 Jacques Bens, "Un Langage-univers," postface de I'Ecume des j pairs. pp. 182-183. 158 situation determines the basis for communication with the world beyond one's skin, beginning with other people.

The world of myth described in l'Kcune des jours is overtly rich­ er than any of Vian13 novels with the possible exception of 1 1Arrache- coeur. In I'Ecume des jours, the experience of the six major characters is summarized as love equals death, D. Grojnowski may have written the most important single critical text on Vian to date. Using as his point of departure an unpublished note by Vian that J, Bens quotes at the end of his postface, Grojnowski explores the structure of the novel, refer­ ring to the two periods of existence: before marriage when (in the beet of circur.)stances) one is only concerned for the self and the second when

",,, on cot plus tranquille, e'est-a-dire qu'on commence a avoir dos mal- -zg heurs parce qu'on a ceuse de ne penser qu'a coi," From that point of view, l'Ecune dea jours can be seen as a commentary upon the world in germination in Vercoquin et 1® plancton, but in the later novel histori­ city touches life as lived only indirectly. The time of the novel is completely internal to the narrative.

On the day of the marriage, Colin with Chick's help has tried unsuccessfully fourteen times to knot his tie. The fifteonth attempt is successful only because Chick's eyes "... tombSront sur con ouvrage et la

p Boris Vian, unpublished note, cited (in) Postface de I'Ecume des jours, p. l8*f. Paraphrased by D. Grojnowski in "l'Univers do Boris Vian," p. 2^. The basic separation between life in the Garden and the world of business, war, etc., that limited the narrative of Vercoquin et lo plancton is rephrased as life before and after acceptance of contin­ gency in 1 ‘Kcui.ie des jours. That 'Other* becomes 'Others' is an inevitability that progressively destroys the self. 159 cravate se referma brutaleraent,..." as a reaction to Chick's 'careless1 behavior. The tic is made rigid by a . fixateur a pastol. but 39 both men agree that such difficulty is abnormal. This incident coupled with Chios's coughing as they leave the church are complementary signs of the apparently inevitable progress toward death that characterizes this marriage. Once ChloS is abed, the extensive examination by Dr. Mange- manche roveals that she has a nenuphar in one of her lungs. At first, she is to drink no water so that it will not develop roots; finally, her bedroom must be constantly filled with fresh flowers to combat the flower *K) that is growing on her substance. Once her illness is objectified, the pace of constriction of the world of Colin-Chloe increases also. All is to no avail. As Chloe grows worse, the apartment shrinks progressively and proportionately. Consequently, the light growo dimmer. Colin had the use of two suns ’in the beginning1 because ho liked sunlight; now,

Alise notices that "II fait moins clair qu'avant, ici, ... She asks why Chloe does not light the lamp. But u [13g s lampes meuront,,.," also. Nicolas' exquisitely appointed kitchen becomes dim, with

"... juste le gaz et un frigiploque,... The elaborate meals prepared in imitation of GouffS are reduced to three struggling sausages so averse ho to maintaining life in the human that nitric acid will not kill them.

39 t Vian, I'Ecume des jours, pp. 5^-55* IfO Vian's use of logical paradoxes continually refers back to Heraclitus and the pre-Socratic philosophers. The water-lily cannot be taken as a metaphor for coma known wasting disease, but must be accepted for what it is, a plant. if1 Vian, l'Ecumo des jours, pp. 109 and 111,

^Ibid.. pp. 116-118. Dr. Mangemanche examined ChloS at the beginning of her illness when it was still possible to give the bedroom an oval chape by playing Elling­ ton's recording of Mood to be Wooed; on his second visit, he thinks the 43 couple has changed apartments. Paintings disappear, the rugs change quality and become thinner. The dining room disappears altogether as ceiling and floor meet. Only Chloe'a bedroom remains comfortable, if smaller: like a one room cottage in the swamp. Colin uses all his

"doublezons," sells all his possessions ‘and finally goes to work to try to save ChloS. Active loving does not hoIp either. ChloS insists that love-making will help her. Even though Colin kisses her "... trio douce- ment, ccrcme il eut enbrasco uno fleur. ...," and their love-making is presumably as gentle, the long walk to Mangemanche's office exhausts her, 44- proves her wrong. A "Clilce" i3 a girl from the swamps and her cough is a hole waiting to be filled by a plant lying dormant undor the snow: a plant from her native habitat, liko a water lily. As the nenuphar inhab­ its Chloe'o second lung, Isis notices the "... sensation du parquet froid 45 comma un roarecage." The swamp closes in upon the swamp-girl who is finally no more than compost for a water lily that grows better in her than anywhere else.

Colin has additional otymologies that fit the character. The name is that of a stock character in medieval farce, a buffoon. From a

"colin-tarapon" ("qui n'en a pas le moindre scuci"), Colin is degraded into a "colin-raaillard" or one who plays at blind man's buff. At hia first job interview, Colin is asked, "... a quoi passez-vous votre temps?" and he answers, "Le plus clair de mon temps, ... je la passe 2 l'obecurcir ... [p]arce qua la lumiire me gine." The tautology is pa­ tent: if he has not seen much sunlight from his grimy windows, it would bother him to be exposed to it suddenly. Conversely, since there is not much metaphorical light in his life as ChloS slides back toward the source, he would be bothered by the physical light. Finally, "colin" is the name given to a "poisson-charbon," so named because of the coal- colored streak down his back that Colin would get as he rubs against the *+6 continually lowering ceiling-becoming-swamp* V/hen Cliloe die3, Colin has lost his third job, the mouse squeezes out of a narrow opening as the apartment walls squeeze out the last of the living apace and the world they knew has been reduced to zero. 'L'amour, c'est la mort.1

The couple Chick-Alise is destroyed by Chick's intellectual pas­ sion for Partre's works and Alice's inability to do anything about it.

Chick not only must have all Partre's texts, but in every edition. That passion is degraded into the collection of personal articles: a pair of

Partre's pants, de Bovouard's suits and Partre's pipe with the recogniz­ able imprint of the philosopher's teeth. Chick demonstrates passion-love as turned away from its true object and toward the intellectual fad that has little to do with the philosopher's thought. And there are two of them to lose everything.

Ibid.. pp. 121 and 163. The blindfolded image is repeated as Nicolas gazes at Alice's hair that he has hidden undor his coat: "... il se trcuvait baigne de soleil. Seuls ses youx reetaient dans 1 *ombre." 162

Nicolas not only is haunted by the defeat of life with Colin-

ChloS, but he also retrieves Alise's unbumed hair from the ashes of the

"last bookstore," all that remains of Chick-Alise* Isis remains rela­ tively untouched. Leaving the apartment to rejoin Nicolas disguised as a chauffeur, she tells Colin, "On m'attend." This is a curious formality after just discussing the possibility of marriage to Nicolas. During another visit, she inquires about Colin who is absent. "II travaille & 47 sa banque?" The socially neutral remark presupposes that Colin has an executive pocition or, at least, tliat life remains neutral. Isis, as a partner, remains at a distance from Nicolas because of the presence of her two cousins who are her anonymous reflections: because the girls are tJiree, Nicolas' contact with Isis ie partial; once he becomes her cook- kS chauffeur, he is her superior and she remains 'superficial.*

Within the novel, work is one of the last forms of degradation.

Finally forced to work, Colin has three jobs: at the first, he grows gun barrels with the heat of his body to prepare for national defense.

The second job is that of protecting the gold reserve and shouting when the thieves who have regular habits arrive. The third is to announce bad

^Ibid.. pp. 140 and 165. 48 J. Duchateau maintains that Isis (along with Nicolas) ie a den a ex nnchina, the two combining to introduce Colin to ChloS. Tlio sit­ uation is more complicated than that and must bo related backward in time to the irruption of Alise into the lives of Chick and Colin. Isis is not as Duchateau says, "... la gardienne de la fanille." Isis, "tho swamp born," becomes a guardian of the dead after the descent of her brother/ husband Osiris into the underworld. Along with Nicolas, that is what she does, 'bury' the dead. J, Duchateau, Boris Vian. p. 7^. Felix Guirand (ed.), New LnrouS3C Encyclopedia of Mythology, trans. by Richard Alding­ ton and Delano Ames Trev. ed.; New York: Prometheus Press, 1968)1 pp. 17-19. 163

news to people one day ahead of tine. The three attempts to preserve

Chios's life a bit longer are progressively dehumanizing ways of earning

money. At the first location, the physical surroundings will not support

plant life (which is the source of all existence); dirt is beginning to

cover even the road: civilization may have to go underground. The phy­

sical setting for the second job seems to be underground. Under Colin's

feet, all has become mineralized, a metallic environment. The third job

allows him to move back into the mixed animal, vegetable and mineral

world inhabited by people — but where he is hired to directly dehu­ manize others.

The pages deccribing the gun-barrel factory are an extended poe­

tic image that illustrate the folly of arms races (emphasizing the perpetual unpreparedness of the country despite the unlimited expense) and more generally carry to the logical extreme the economic thesis that guns are preferable to butter. Colin can only give birth to gun barrels that are the image of his need: the muzzles flower into roses made of

Steel. The second job requires that he make a twenty-four hour circuit of the Reserve. To be sure, the abstract profit from the manufacture of weapons of destruction is not visible. The good salary from the third job could stem from the spoils of tho second as he is given the tack of intensifying the duration of human misery. What he is ablo to do beet is "... se faire mettre a la portc. ..." and after creating havoc. Employment no longer makes any sense when he finds his own name I*9 on the list.

^Vian, I'Ecume des jours, pp. 1^0-lVl; pp. 163-166. Cf. D. Grojnowski, "l'Univere de Boris Vian," pp. 26-28. The description of the factory where Chick works last is even

more fantastic* In this factory, everything that is anti-human works

automatically,

••• dcvant chaque machine trapue, un homme se debattait, luttant pour ne pas etre dechiquete par lea engrenages avides, Au pied droit de chacun, un lourd annoau de for etait fixe. On ne l*ou- vrait que doux fois par jour: au milieu de la journee et le eoir* Ils disputaient aux machines les pieces metalliques qui sortaient en cliquetant deG otroits orifices menngcs cur le deosus, Les pieces retombaiont presque immediateaant, si on no les recueil- lait pas a temps, dans la gueule, grouiliante de rouages, oil s'effectuait la cynthese.50

If the machine breaks down temporarily, the operator loses a bit of

flesh; if the machine stops completely, it severs the right hand. Four

of the machines watched by Chick break down (he is reading a book by

Partre) and four men are dead before he can leave his chair. The divi­

sion of labor will not allow Chick to explain the entire situation to

any one of his superiors. Chick loses his Job when the four idle ma­

chines cauco a drop in production past a stipulated percentage below normal. The extended image is the metaphorical result of the piece work

system of production and remuneration. Not only do the men who operate

them pay for the machines that will not pay them a living, but they also

can pay with their lives if the machines break down or stop. The spe­

cialization that resultB from the division of labor i3 ultimately

inefficient and, above all, dehumanizing: a dehumanization that has general acceptance.

If the gentleman dilettante and the lower echelon technician are

forced to work that is mechanical, useless, dehumanizing or all three, 165

Nicolas is saved first by the same sense of proportion his work gives

him. His work is essential (everyone must eat)f artistic and given Ni­

colas' pride of position, elevating since it is not a task that may be

accomplished on an assembly line. But there are disquieting elements in

his ephore, too. Serge was traded for Nicolas. Chloe and Colin are win­

dow shopping before the marriage and see Serge's abdomen, mounted on

wheels, advertising electric irons. Colin's recognition brings an impa­

tient, esthetic response from ChloS who generally is displeased with what

she sees as window displays. Colin's "C'est qu'il eavait faire la cui­

sine! ..." ie ambiguous: it is difficult to determine whether Colin's

outburst is that of the epicure or of one who sees a reason for uneasi- 51 ness in his aunt's subsequent sale of Serge, To risk being sold at the

displeasure of a theoretical employer is to exist on a level with the

machine operators at the factory — and provided there are people wealthy

enough to pay someone of Nicolas' talents. The last consideration pre­

supposes an upper middle-class frame of reference as basic to sheor

survival.

In the parody involving Jean-Sol Partre, Vian has used Voltaire's method, reducing the philosopher's total output to a reflection of one

51 Ibid,, p. ^2. Serge is displayed next to a window in which a man dressed as a butcher cuts the throats of snail children to advertise "I1Assistance Publique." Chloe, horrified aa a prospective mother, can­ not believe tho scene is real, but Colin points out that it is impoesible to eay since tho organization gets them for nothing. It is necessary to remember that the world of each of Vian's novels is based on laws that are internally justifying. Always tho self-conscious user of language, Vian has Serge's trunk severed below the armor the archaic meaning of the noun would have provided and reduced him to the meaning of hio profession for others. Perhaps Serge ate more than his culinary talents were worth to Colin's aunt. 166 work by Jean-Paul Sartre, La Nausea. On the day of his lecture, Jean-Sol is already the author of such works as Vorai. Paradoxesur Ie Deguculis,

Choix prealable avast le hant-le-coeur and La Lettre et le Neon. The forces of order take extreme measures in an effort to control the over­ flow crowd. Firemen turn their hoses on the parachutists and ",.. les d£v[ient] vers la seine"; those arriving in coffins are spiked like vampires; those trying to enter from sewers are turned back to face the rats. When Partre*s elephant arrives, it wades through a sea of bodies and his elite guard chop their way to the door of the auditorium with axes. Only the "insiders" have valid tickets. Once his lecture begins, the faithful cheer every word and following the speaker's thought becomes difficult. When an additional group of interlopers cause the ceiling to collapse, Partre "... Ce1arrete] et CritJ de bon coeur en se tapant sur les cuieses, heureux de voir tant de gens engages dans cotte aventure."

Daniel Grojnowski describes the scene beet when he says that Partre % „ 52 "... joue a etre philosophe." The duchesse de Bovouord evokes "buvard," a mirror of all his scribblings. Chick calls himself "un salaud" because of hie treatment of Alise. There is a parody on a parody. Nicolas gets into the act by announcing a meeting of the "Cercle Philosophique des

Gens de Mai non" where "II y sera parle de I 1 engagement. Dn parallels est etabli cntre l 1 engagement d'apr^s les theories de ... Partre, 1*engage­ ment ou le rengagemcnt dons les trcupec coloniales, et 1*engagement ou

^Ibid.. pp. 72-77. D. Grojnowski, "l'Univers do Boris Vian," pp. 20-21. Grojnovski*e citation in not exact, using "... cette situa­ tion" rather than the text'G "cette aventure." The underlining in the text is Grojnovski'e. 16? 53 prise a gages de gens dits de maiaon... ." Grojnowski remarks that

Partre is unconscious of the effect of hi3 activity on others. That he is uncaring is made clear when Alice (who has lost the right to enter the kingdom) a s k s that he delay the publication of his raulti-volumed

Encyclopedic de la nausea until admirers have the money to buy it* Told of Chick*s plight, the philosopher replies:

-- II ferait mieux d*acheter autre chose, ... Moi je n'ach&te jamais mes livres, -- II aime ce que vous faitos. — C'eet con droit, dit Jean-Sol. II a fait son choix. — II est trop engagS, ... dit Ali39. Moi, j*ai fait mon choix auasi, mais je euis litre, parce qu'il ne vaut plus que je vive avec lui, alore je vais vous tuer, * *. — Vous alloz me fnire perdre men noyens d*existence, dit Jean-Sol. Comment voulez-vcus que je touche mos droits d'auteur si je suis mortV^t

Alise*s liberty is not at all metaphysical and is opposed to her choice, an implicit criticism of systematic philosophy which is ineffective, in­ applicable to tho problem of living in tho world. Jean-Sol's objections are also intellectual as he politely unbuttons his shirt on Alise *s re­ quest, allowing her to use the arrache-coenr she brought along for just such a ’contingency.* Partre*a world ia sterile. The passage describing

Partre's regular patronage of the cnfS implies that his reasons for doing so are disturbingly similar to Chick's experiment with the two records 55 playing at once.

^Vian, I'Ecume des jours, pp. 27 and Mf.

^Ibid., p. 155. CC Sartre as the writer to be parodied was an accidental choice. Vian considered a character who collected "Queneau, MacOrlan ou un autre." He took advantage of Sartre'3 euddon popularity which suits the parody. Michelle Vian-Leglise say3 that Simone de Beauvoir thinks Sartre would have accepted his death just as the character, Partre, does. 168

Tho text offers the first published evidence of Vian's attitude

toward the church and roligion and the attack is devastating, as the com­

parison between the marriage ceremony and the funeral for Chloe makes

clear. When Colin was financially secure, the "Religieux," the "Bedon"

and the t,Chuiche', spared no effort to see that he was given his money's

worth. Chloe was played at the ceremony, the "chevecho" put in an honori­

fic appearance, even "... jSsus ... paraiesait heureux d'avoir Ste invitS * 56 et regardait ... avec interet."^ For ChloS's funeral, since Colin has

no money, the "Religieux" promises him "... une cereraonie veritablenient

infecte." All church-appointed officials for the fbneral ridicule the notion that the bereaved deserve respect. Colin addresses jSeus directly

in tho church:

— Pourquoi l'avez-vous fait mourir? demanda Colin. -- Oh!,., dit Jesus. N'insistez pas. II chercha une position pluG commode cur ses clous, -- Elio etait oi douce, dit Colin. Jamais elle a'a fait le mal, ni en pensee, ni en action. — Ca n'a aucun rapport avec la religion, marmonna JSsus en baillont.

Ses yeux s'etaient formes et Colin entendit sortir do ses narines un leger ronrounement de satisfaction, commo un chat repu.57

The graveyard for the poor is a swampy area barely above ground. The be­ havior of tho churclimon at the inhumation is for all the world like an

Grojnowski is at pains to point out that Partre is like the negative of a photograph when compared to the thinker whom he is modelled upon. D. Grojnowski, "1'Univers de Boris Vian," p. 20. Cf. M. Ryblska, Boris Vian, p. 209. 56 Vian, I'Ecume deji jours, pp. 57-60. "Bedon" is "bedeau"; "Chuiehe" is tho "suisse." "Cheveche" is "archeveque." 57 Ibid.1 pp. 169 and 172-17^. The imago will rejoin the one end­ ing the text in which the grey mouse asks an ovorfed cat to eat her since life is no longer worth living. 169

exorcism of demons, The church functions in terms of the money it gleans

from the faithful; the churchmen are avid to earn a living rather than to

expound any religious doctrine. The last imago of Jesus on his cross

suggests that the notion of deity is bound up with the destruction of human beings. The criticion is vicious and the tone is in keeping with

the world of young people who are out of the sunlight that they had

thought universal,

I have tried to indicate the way in which Vian uses language in a unique manner and yet integrates that usage into the subject matter of the text itself so that it is impossible to separate them. The novel is, as Jacques Bens suggests, "Un langage-univors," a universo constructed of language. The very richness of tho text demands a cample of the extent of Vian's linguistic rsvisionien.

In addition to the neologisms already mentioned ("biglemoi," a dance; "doublezono" which may be related to doubloon), there is also

"pianocktail," a machine of Colin's invention that produces drinks etruc- 58 tured like the songs played on the musical portion of the instrument. m 59 There are the semi-neologisms, "courses aux veaux" and "deputodromo," in the text.

Tho archaic expressions are not as numerous as they were in Ver­ coquin et le plancton. There are "ceptante-trois" musicians at Colin's

^Ibid., pp. 12-13. 59 i Ibid., p. *tO. Horse races where competition is between "pla­ ters, " second class thoroughbreds, or worse. "Deputodrono" ie related linguistically to "baisodrome" from Vercoquin et Ie plancton. 170 6o wedding. As five of the major characters enter an elevator, "[l]es 61 cables d'icclui s'allongSrent... ." Colin, looking for on Aliso to love, sees a woman dressed in an overcoat made of "... peau de nandour * 62 decatie... .11 The original expression referred to a 'Hungarian mili- ciaman" and by extension to a "mean, brutal soldier." Vian's use makes the unlikely a normal occurence in the world of this novel, 63 There are two apparent anglicisms. Chloe visits her "relatifs,"

The honeymooning couple looks for "... de quoi se nutritionner. ..." along the way.&

Vian creates new words from existing vocables. "[Colin va.•• 65 s'Dabluter,..." formed on the noun "ablution." Colin sees a picture of

Mangemanche'a wife and is "... «n proie a uno crise de gcndolance ex-

* 66 treme. formed 01 the adjective "gondolant." There are the "var- lets nettoyeurs" at the skating rink who keep all debris (inducing the 67 human) from interfering with the skaters.

Figurative expressions are stated in terms of their literal con­ sequences. A skater executing a "grand aigle" drops an egg at Colin's

60Ibid., p. 50. rently used in Belgium. 61Ti . . Ibid. . P* 57.

62Ibid. , p. 30.

63Ibid. » P*

6**Ibid.• p. 69.

65Ibid. , p. 26.

66Ibid. , P. 93.

6?Ibid. , p. 18. 171 68 feet. The locker room attendant takes his "... pourboire qui lui oer~ 69 virait pour manger car il avait l'air d'un menteur,... The person who accepts a pourboire and then uses it to feed himself has, a priori, the look of a liar. Colin asks a pharmacist to "[ejxScuter [une] ordon- nnnce and the latter puts the ordonnance in "... une petite guillotine de bureau. ..., Clje couperet s'abattit et 1 'ordonnance se detendit et s'affalsa."79

The relationship between people and objects as a reciprocal one should bo apparent but there are any number of additional examples. As

Colin prepared the dinner table, "... la eonnette se d5tacha du nrur et le 71 prevint de l ’arrivee de Chick. ..., a process that is much quieter and in keeping with Colin's easy circumstances. At dinner with Chick after his first meeting with ChloS, Colin uses a holly leaf to cut a spi- ral in a rratcau that he spins in his other hand and it plays the

Ellington arrangement of Chios. The image implies that, at this point in the novel, objects can be made to behave in accordance with indi- 72 vidual desires.

The list could be interminable. As the novel progresses, the single word or image based on a single expression tends to disappear and the extended image is used to construct the world inhabited by the

68Ibid., p. 17.

69Ibid., p. 16.

7°Ibid.. p. 9^.

71Ibid.. p. 11.

72i b i d .. p. 39. 172 characters. In trying to gauge the distance between Vercoquin et le plane ton and l'Ectxme des .jours, it must be remembered that the former novel was composed in 19^3- ^ although they were published within a few months of each other in 19^7. Even so, the distance travelled by the writer in that three year period is phenomenal.

In l fEgume des Jours, the male double characters are separated from themselves and from each other by any circumstance of existence.

The female double characters appear to be attuned to each other — but they are opaque and are seen at a distance. The world of myth the char­ acters move in is perfectly comprehensible to them; they accept it and its laws completely. That their attempts to pair off and to survive eco­ nomically are doomed to destruction is also in the order of things. The language used to describe the world of myth within which the characters exist is for the first time not extraneous. Despite the wealth of changed relationships that language appears to offer, the startling effect is a result of novelty. Here, the world of double characters, myth and language is perfectly integrated for the fir3t time. CHAPTER VIII

L'Automno a Pekin waa written in September-Novcmber, 1S&6* and was published by Editions du Scorpion during the summer of 19^7# shortly before leo Morts out tous la mene peau. In the apace of nine to ten months, Vian had five titles published, three under his own name and two texts by *'Vernon Sullivan," L'Automne a Pekin sold hardly at all in the original edition and not much better when Vian took the revised version of the novel to Editions de Minuit who republished it at tho beginning of the summer of 1956. The publication of the text in the collection "Le

Monde en 10/18" in 196^ brought the novel to a wider public. This long- est of Vianfs texts was translated into Gorman in 1965* The circumstances surrounding the award of Gallimard's Prix de la Ploiade in

July of 19*^6 had a great deal to do with the content Vian finally decided upon for this novel. Some of the principals involved in Vian's first deception in literary circlec promptly found theneolves characters in the writer's next novel. Daniel Parker was to have tho same pleasure very shortly afterward in les Norte ont tous la meme peau.

The plot is complex, but stated briefly, Aciadia Dudu takes the

'wrong' bus to his office and gets off the bus the next day in

*| ^ Boris Vian, I'Autonne a Pekin. (PariB: Editions du Scorpion, 19^7). The German translation is: Herbst in Pekin?. Aus dem Franzo- eischen ins Deutsche ubertrngen von Ant jo Peluvt (Due g eld or f: Rauch, 1965).

173 Exopotamia. lie decides that this desert country is an excellent place to build a railroad. The Directors of his firm agree. Two engineers (Angel and Anne), a secretary (Rochelle), and two agents ri’execution (Marin and

Carlo) are sent to do the work. Dr. Mangemanche is the camp doctor, assisted by an intern. Tho working operations under Dudu are directed by a certain Arland. But a hermit, Claude L$on, has taken up residence with

Lavande nearby. He is followed by Abbe Petitjean, the inspector of her­ mitages. Others have also preceded tho construction group, Pippo

Barriaone owns a hotel. Tho archaeologist, Athangore ForphyrogSnSte, assisted by Cuivro and her brothers, finds a "ligne de foiM after a five year eearch, Mangemonche*s model airplane decapitates Pippo soon after the latter*s official disappropriation: his hotel is needed so the rail­ road line may cut it in two. Mangemanche kills his intern and rideB away into the black zone of tho sun*s rays emitted in this region. Angel kills Anne and Rochelle, The maiden trip on tho completed railroad re­ veals that the two lines cross and all the surviving builders of the tracks are killed, except Angel, Athanagore and his crew also escape.

A second expedition is being readied even as Angel awaits the bus to the city.

Rochelle is trained as a secretary but her family wants her to p learn to meet people before ehe begins working. Two months after she meets Anno, the two go dancing with Anne*s friend, Angel. Both men are drawn to her; ehe is drawn to Anne, "... un type rcnarquable ... Cqui] a

^Boris Vian, l'Automne a Pekin, suivi d'une postface par Franqois Caradec, "Avant do relire 1 ’Antcr:no"X Fokin. *' Le Monde en 10/18 (Paris: Union Gonerale d*Editions, 1So?)", p. ^2. 175

des yeux Spatants et une belle voiture."^ Angel is exactly the brother

she would like to have. Anne, "le plaisantin," arranges a trip to Exopo-

tania for the three of them. She and Anne play their roles well in the game of seduction and they become lovers during the sea voyage. Once in place in the desert at Barrizone's hotel, Angel's saddened love for her

is difficult to ignore; but she tells him her life is well compartmen­ talized; he will have to be content with the role he has been assigned.

As the 'brother* of the trio, Angel must handle his problem as best he 4 can. If Anne becomes tired of her, she will let him know. But every­ thing changes rapidly in this desert. With Amadis, ehe is verbally aggressive, asserting flatly that she is not a woman v/ho seeks out p$d§- rastes as confidantes. She immediately confides in him: should her experimentation with Anne end soon, she still has Angel in reserve; she has kept him around for just such a contingency. Dudu remarks that Angel should want to kill Anne. Momentarily disturbed, she rejects the thought since Angel ought not be passionate in that way; she forgets having ro- proached Angel for his irritating sorrow. When Anno is killed, she tries to stay awake but, with the help of a potion from Abbe Petitjean, she sleeps as though everything were the came, insisting, however, that

"... Qa pm j a fait beaucoup do peine." In her dream, two men were fight­ ing over her and "[c'Jetait trJ3 romanesque," As sho tries to slip Angel

into his reserve role, he convinces her that they both can play the

^Ibid., p. 41.

4Ibid., pp. 182-184.

5Ibid.. pp. 255-255. 1 ?6 tragic survivors of one who died too soon; dividing Petitjean’s potion will only put them into a deep sleep and will also be "romonecque." She accepts, but Angol does not drink his half.**

Cuivre is already in the desert and works below tho surface. In contrast to Bochelle who is never physically described, Cuivre is a

”0611360.” She has a captivating skin ”... d'une curieuee couleur d’ocre foncS.” According to AbbS Petit jean, ehe has ”... line poitrine a se 7 fair© exccmraunier, ...” but she knows that. About the same age as

Kochelle, she has nothing of tho coquette about her. She thinks the abbo <* 8 "... idiot, ... drole, et adroit de sos mains," Meeting Angel on the way to the new hermitage, ehe invites him to uec hi3 hands to see how she is made since it is dark. For Angel, she anells of the desert, ”,., un drole de parfum, ... ." Seeing that Angel has been crying, she says, ”11 Q ne faut pas plourer pour une fillo. Loo fillee no valent pas qa." Con­ ditioned by an existence on the decort, she accepts the immediacy of life with relative honesty. According to Athanagore, Cuivre prefers working with her brothers underground, but she does come up long enough to help

Angel liberate liimGelf from his vicarious tie to Eochelle. The occasion is another visit to tho new hermit and they stop on the way. Immediately afterward, she returns to tho excavation. "Elio savait qu’il valait

6Ibid., pp. 272-273.

7Ibid., pp. 123 and 197.

8lbid.. p. 131.

9Ibid., p. 136 , 177 raieux ne pas rester prls du gargoa inquiet qui venait de la prendre*.,

Knowing precisely what is necessary in a given situation, she doos what is needed to help Angel begin to look at the world from his own point of view.

Within that context, Lavande is a double for Cuivre. She is the companion for Claude Leon, the murderer turned hermit. She too has been in the desert from the start. For the group visiting the hermitage and seeing her for the first time:

Sa peau avait exactemont la couleur des cheveux de Cuivre, et vice versa. Angel esoaya de ee roprecenter le melange et il eut le vertige. — Vous l*avoz fait exproc, dit-il a Cuivre. — Mais non, repondit Cuivre. Je ue la connaiscais pas. — Je voua assure, dit Lavande, e'est un hasard.H

Cuivre'b hair is jet-black. Because of her relationship with Claude

Leon, Lavande is complementary to Cuivre. While Rochelle is revealed os one who plays numerous roles appropriated from the various art forms,

Cuivre and Lavande are more fundamental in their responses: they do not have recourse to the artificial os a means of describing their involve­ ment. The three women function as sexual objects through whom it is possible to make judgements about the men with whom thoy oro involved.

Lavande and Cuivre live their roles without being crass.

Anne and Angel are complementary doubles. Both are engineers and tho focus of their attention on Rochelle emphasizes the only true differ­ ence that has sprung up between them. Anne makes more money than Angel because the latter does not like to work. He is always late, cannot

10Ibid„ p. 259.

11lbid., p. 1*0 . 178 12 dance in time to music. He amuses himself by brushing the ears of 13 children walking on the sidewalk with his turn signals os he drives by.

Anxious to include all his friends in his experience of the world, he

cannot drive and talk simultaneously. Driving to dinner with Rochelle

and Angel, he strikes a pedestrian, breaking his hip in five places.

Since Cornelius Onto is in no condition to go to Exopotamia, Anne must

sign to go in his place. Angel and Rochelle get a free change of scenery 14 since Anne docs not want to be bored in the desert without friends.

Anne is more skillful with women, but he also does not take his relation­

ships with them (or anyone else) very seriously. For Anne, the

instability is built into tho relationship: to become someone*s lover

presupposes an endless fire in the head (or loins, or both). Hut the

passion dies down after two or three years and more rapidly with succeed­

ing women. When the response becomes a kind of reflex, then honesty dictates that the affair be ended. '*En fait, on n'a pas besoin d'aucune m r femme, spScialement ... Elies sont trop carreee." The lack of imagi­ nation in women, the willingness to restrict the mate's world to

themselves helps to abbreviate relationships even further. Angel insists

that is not true for Rochelle. Anne points out that such a truth has not

changed bocause of Rochelle; ho likes to make love to women but also

"... faire des choses, ... et roster sur le cable, ou coleil, et avoir la

12Ibid.. p. 41.

13Ibid.. p . 3 8 .

1**Ibid.« pp. 46-48.

15Ibid., pp. 146-147. 179 16 tete vide... ." Anne is not long in kicking over the traces. To

Araadis* chagrin, he stops work in the middle of the day to go to the her­ mitage; when he has caught up with Petit jean and Athanagore, he ha«

decided it is all over with Rochelle. Angel can have her. Since Lavande

is reserved for Claude LSon, that leaves Cuivre and Anne is certain that 17 "[Angel] ne dira rien s'Cil se] l'envoie." The stage is set for the moment of truth between the two friends.

Angel con at least keep in step when dancing. His difficulty is with women. Each time ",.. il rencontrait une jolie fille, il eprouvait un dleir de propriete. L'envie d*avoir les droits sur elle." Kochelle

is no exception, but Anne is his friend. That does not help him whon

Anne and Rochelle become lovers. He imagines he can sea the progressive' loss of finances in her features resulting from the uso Anne is making of her body, Angel's bedroom is next to Anne's which does not help the for­ mer at all. He oscillates between an anguish at seeing Rochelle's perfectability disappear and tho desire to participate in Anna's usage of her. The intensity of hie polar reactions is magnified with passing time. But there are attenuating circumstances, too. Before I-hngemonche departs, ho makes Angel a gift of all his yellow shirts: not everyone can wear them. Athanagore and Pot it jean adopt him and the opportunity to verbalize hio poison moderates its sting. When Cuivre takes an interest in him and he ultimately becomes intimate with her, he loses even the

16Ibid., pp. 1A7-1A9.

17Ibid., pp. 232-237 and 2^5-252.

lSIbid.f p. 180 certainty of his unhappiness; but paradoxically he begins to wake up*

When Angel meets Anne, Athanagore and Pet it jean returning from the hermi­ tage, he knows the affair between Anne and Rochelle is finished: Anne is gay as he was before Rochelle. But, "... les choscs etaicnt preteo a s'accomplir. Car Angel savait ce qu'etait Cuivre, et il perdait d'un coup tout ce qu'Anne avait eu de Rochelle."19 It has been through Anne that he perversely experienced pain because of Rochelle — as a kind of anti-Anne. That the affair is finished means he has the pain no raoro; there is only the residue of himself set off against Anno.

Claude Leon's situation is a case apart. But ho arrives in the desert at about the samo time as the railroad builders and it is hia relationship with Lavande that purifies his existence. Asked to buy a revolver by his superior, Arne Saknuesen, so that the latter might fight in case of a confrontation with the "conformistos," Leon buys it at five hundred franca more than the limit allowed him by Soknussem. If it would be possible to stint on meals so that he could make up fcho difference himself, perhaps his superior would hear of it. But the problem is, how to get to his office with the revolver since it is against tho law to carry a weapon in the street? Naturally he has an altercation with a cy­ clist and shoots him. The fact that the man was a "conforraiste" helps to save his life; two suicide attempts by Leon and the intervention of Abbe

Petit jean do the rest. As tho abbS says later, "... [Claude Leon} ne neritait pas do roster en prison. ... II meritait d'etre guillotine."2^

19Ibid., p. 259.

20Ibid.. p. 157. 181

Despite the misgivings of Petitjean, the new hernit Leon has chosen as 21 his "acte saint, ... [de] baiser Lavande." His Sundays premise to be busy because the railroad builders will bo certain to come. If Claude has been resuscitated, it promises to be only a reprieve. Abbe Petit jean insists that with one exception, every hermit has gone mad in four years, killed and raped the first adolescent girl he met. In the exceptional 22 case, the hermit was killed by the adolescent girl who was a maniac.

Anne and Angel, who wcro originally inseparable friends, have come to represent opposing attitudes toward Rochelle and eexuality. If Cuivre helps to liberate Angel from himself, Lavande does the same for Claude

Leon. But someone must pay; in the desert, no activity can bo undertaken with impunity.

Amadis Eudu is a bureaucrat, a Kiqueut "en raoins normal." Frus­ trated successively in all attempts to get to his office on time because of tho vagaries of Bus 975 ow a particular morning, Amadis finds himself a block from hie office and still without having had an opportunity to ride the bus to work. Rather than walk tho block that remains, he crosses the street and begins to retrace his stops to a bus stop from which it would be worth the trouble to ride the bus: the end of the line for example. Dudu has the luck to take the bus driven by the opera­ s' tor who Goes to Lxopotainia one day out of three. Once in tho desert,

21Ibid., p. 1*1.

22Ibid.. p. 137.

2^Ibid.. pp. 7-12. Cf. J. Clouaot, Boris Vian. p. *9.

2**Vian, l'Autcxnne a PSkin. p. 17. Amadis finds a desk. Where he finds it is beside the point; every bu­ reaucrat must have a desk, telephone and paper to transmit. The railroad project is also no surprise, given its inutility and the monetary gains in prospect for capital stock companies. Athanagore approaches Dudu

1(... Equi a] eu des moments de timidite. in the past, but "... [qui se sent] un autre hocuae ici." Brutally officious, he can recognise ano- 25 ther pederast by hie name: Lardier, Athanagore * s factotum. Once the people and the material are in place, Amadis becomes remarkable for his devotion to work as a means of salvation (for everyone else) and his in­ sensitivity to all human considerations, Dudu's calculations would mean cutting the hotel in two, but the plans cannot bo altered, Rochelle should be willing to come to work the day after Anne is killed since there is the mail that must be gotten out. The other characters attempt to fight back, using the epithet, "sale pederaste," but Amadis can only play at being offended by the label and the name calling is without effect. He also disturbs the stable couple, Lardier and Athanagore*s cook, Dupont, Of the tliree men, Amadis is the only one who is truly vis­ ible (Dupont is always spoken of, but never appears) and insofar as tho two assistants to the archaeologist play homosexual roles in the novel, they are interchangeable with Amadis. In some sense Anadis-Dupont-

Lardier are a mirror of the triangle Anne-Roche lie-Angel, and with the came result: Dupont (".., qui ent putain comma tout,") is invited along by Amadis on the maiden run over the finished railroad and is killed 183 with him. Lardier, the idealizer, survives his torturers in the same manner as Angel.

Athanagore and Petitjean are complementary double characters, by age and by calling. The former has been in this part of the desert exca­ vating Egyptian ruins for five years. Of uncertain age, he is 26 "... sSdentaire en dehors des periodes de transition.11 His reactions are healthy: Dudu, of all the characters he meets, infuriates him. A peaco maker, he trios to discipline Lardier each time the factotum exhi­ bits an "un**archaeologicM attitude; on one occasion he has his aide copy, pn in Greek, "... une poeeio lettriste d'Isidore lEcu,n He sympathizes with Angel and the doctor, Mangemanehe, and generally serves as a benev­ olent commentator.

If Athanagore wants the good to take place, AbbS Petitjean rakes things happen. He works Claude L$on's release from prison, approves of his 'holy act* and provides the sleeping potion that puts Rochelle to pQ sleep "... pour de bon."- Too much of an iconoclast to succeed in the liierarchy, he has been 'banished1 to his position as inspector of hermi­ tages, Mangemanche has ccmo to the desert, abovo all, to find a suitable place to fly his scale-modcl Ping 905 airplane. The motor is so powerful that flying it around centers of dense population is too dangerous. Only

2^Ibid., p. 65.

^Ibid.. p. 69, 28 Ibid., p. 274. Cf. F. De Vroo and J. Duchateau who point out Petitjean's role as a catalytic agent who counter-balances the inert destructiveness of Dudu. F. De Vree, Boris Vian. pp. 35-62; J. Ducha­ teau, Boris Vian, pp. 100-10*f. a desert would suffice. The same doctor who attended ChloS in l'Ecurae des jours. Mangemanche is a changed wan: "£D]epuis que ChloS est morte

0 0 J29 ... j'ai fait de la neurasthenia ... j'ai tue pas sal de gens."^ When the Ping (which flies so rapidly it cannot be seen) decapitates Barri- zone, Kangeraanche*s “carnet a malades" is balanced. If he kills one more person he will be arrested; since the intern he brought along to help fly the model planes was bitten by the Ping and will probably lose a hand, the doctor*o prospects are not good. Impatient (like Wolf in l'Herbe rouge), he kills the intern with "le cyanure des Karpathes,"^ gives his shirts to Angel and disappears into the black zone, an inspec­ tor of police hard on his heols. All three of these men of experience have areas of competence in which death is a daily reality, Athanagore is occupied with uncovering tho cultural relics of a civilization devoted to death. Petitjeon's teachings would insist that "only through death is deatli conquered." Kangemanche, who should be concerned with the preser­ vation of life on earth, can only kill and is ultimately suicidal. Their provinces are the subterranean (Athanagore), the terrestrial (Mange- manche), and tho heavenly (Petitjean). But they have traded functions:

Kangemanche actively pats patients underground, Athanagore wrings liis hands and Fetitjoan becomes the healing physician who helps create a rough justice. All three come to Angel's assistance in some way.

^Vian, l'Autonne a pSkin. pp. 89 and 189-190, 30 Ibid., pp. 211-212. There ie a poetic justice at work in the death of the intern. Earlier, he killed a Louis XV chair with a strych­ nine injection, turning it into a Louie XVI chair, p. 61, 185

Anne and Angel have been headed for a dividing of the way because

of their hidden conflict over the possession of Rochelle. In effect,

Angel nced3 the relationship between Anne and Rochelle to continue in

order to go on possessing her in abstraction. Conversely, Angel says of

Anne, ,.peu a peu je ne l'aime plus. II jcuit trop."^1 His intimacy

with Cuivro gives Angel (who is becoming reflective) a concrete base from which to view his insubstantial ties with Rochelle. Anne's break with her throws Angel back upon himself completely; Anne is no longer a trans­ parency allowing Angol to possess the woman. The former is now completely

opaque again and Angel is at a loss. As Athanagore, Petitjean, Anne and

Angel approach the archaeologist's excavation to inspect tho "ligne de

ioi," the two older men have already descended the ladder and:

Anne se pencha cur l'ouvorturo. — On no voit pas grand che^e, dil-il. ... C'est le moment. — Pas encore... dit Angel avec desospoir. — Pais si, dit Anne. ... — Hon, repeta Angel. Pas encore. II parlait plus has, d'une voix effraySe. — II faut y allor, dit Anno, Allonsl Tu as peur? — Je n'ai pas pour... muruura Angel. Sa main tcaiclia le doa de son ami, et, brusquement il le poussa dan3 le vide.32

Only by killing Anne can Angel free himself. Anne's cooperation suggests a complementary reading: Anne and Angel are two aspects of the same self,

one that lives and thinks solely in terci3 of the flesh, and which is to­

tally irresponsible. (Anno thinks no more of "the what has been" than does Rochelle, and Angel, with reference to Anne, is only tliat, a

"vide"). Angel is the introspective element that also lias the will to

51Ibid., p. 225.

52Ibid., pp. 260 -261 . appropriate tut for whom other considerations are important as well, raak-

ing him a perpetual victim of his other self. 33 Anne, pushed into the void, rejoins the void created and rejected by the couple Anne-Rochelle,

Once the void is objectified, the circle is full. As Petitjean tells

Angel later, both Anne and Rochelle sont morts pour vous reveil- tL lor. Anne and Rochelle are now complete. Angel can begin again.

At this point in tho novel, tho train crashes through the surface and into Athanagore's "ligne de foi," killing all the builders of tho railroad and thoir families, except Angel. Both the group on tho surface and the one underground "travaillaient dans le vide," Whon the archae­ ologist's crew broke into the vault which began the "ligne do foi, ... tils rencontraicnt] du vide pur."^ Similarly, building a railroad that goes nowhere in the desert is the metaphorical passage to the same country. The moral then, a paradoxical one, is that a "ligne de voio" 36 built on a "ligne de foi" (instead of "du sable") cannot but fail. Or is the converse true?^

33 M. Rybalka has thoroughly examined this aspect of tho novel in his study of tho double. His approach, however, is the some as Sartre's in the essay on Baudelaire. Boris Vian, pp. 122-124.

■^Vian, 1 'Automne a Fftkin, p. 280.

35Ibid., p. 122.

Be Vrce, Boris Vian, p. 55.

"V? Noel Amaud, in a letter to tho College do 'Pataphysique on the occasion of the publication of 1 'Auto a Pekin by Editions de Minuit, describes the novel as a version of tho Quest for the Philosopher's Stone. De Vree duly writes an exegesis based on Armud's synopsis. Ilia study of the theme is hermetic. D. Noukes thinks that Amaud, on bon * pat aphysic ien« is practising a canular. F. De Vree, Boris Vian, pp. 58"* 6 0 , LArnaud'© letter is included in an appendix,] D. Uoakes, Boris Vian. p. 78. 187

Vian struck back at the hierarchy at Galliioard for pausing over

1 'Kcumq des jours. Ureus de Janpolent is tho chairman of the board of the company building the railroad (Jean Paullian led the vote against

Vian*s text). The board members are all gateux, have their private col­ lections of pornographic pictures and in general know nothing about building railroads. They do agree on the principle of keoping the sala­ ries of non-supervisory personnel at a subsistanco level. Arland is the contre-naitre who directs the working operations under Dudu. He is never 38 seen, but is always referred to as "un beau ealaud." Jacques Lemar- chand who supported Vian's candidacy for the prize has an avenue named after him as the "... hSroique dofonseur ... d'une barricade contre les

Prusoiens."^ Jean Grosjoan, tho defrocked priest who won the prize with J+0 , a volume of biblical poems, Terre des h e m m e becomes Abbe Petitjean.

While the abbS's religion is reduced to a scries of childish rhymes, the character is not at all antipathetic.

After the text of I'Ecumo des joura where every other line in­ cluded some kind of trouvaille, any exhibition of obvious linguistic figures would be anti-cliciactic. Vian begins a different course with

1 'Automne a PSkin. After the first few pages, the author concentrates on extended images that illustrate -- for the careful reader -- a

vfl Dudu says at one point, "Je ccmpte bien rappeler Arland £ 1'ordre." Marcel Arland won the Goncourt prize in 1929 for the novel l'Ordre. Vian, 1 'Automne a Pekin, p. 2^2,

?9Ibid.* p. 22. 1^0 „ The title of tho volume of poetry may have suggested I'Homme de Terre, a penis shaped slab of granite in 11Arracho-cocur. 188 41 revolution in the use of language. There is even a debate on usage by the characters.

There are a few semi-neologisms in which the author combines existing linguistic elements to form a new idea. A group of young priests and young children wearing oriflammes idolatriqneo set up a bat­ tery of lance-hostiea to discourage anyone from stopping at their bus lip stop, Arne SaknuEscm is enraged at the memory of the behavior of the

conformistes ... au Liblrationnenent" (liberation, rationnenent). an oblique commentary on what the liberation was probably like in Paris where all the necessities of life were in short supply, but which did not impede the jockoying for political power.

Thore are examples of objects brought to life and that respond to situations as humans do. Claude LSon gingerly handles the newly pur­ chased pistol "... en visant un pot de fleurs qui s*ecarta de la ligne de 44 « mire." Loon has to caress his "couverture" so that it will allow him 45 to got out of bed. When ho cays that he is afraid that he will wake tho house, "... en pretant 1*orcille il por^ut la cadence rSguliSre, la respiration couple et pose© dee planchers et des muro et se raesSrena."

Turning the lights on quickly, he surprises a grimace he made at the mirror the night before which is still there, but which begins to fado

41 See above, the calcnbour on ligne de voio, ligne de foi.

4^Vian, 1*Automne a Pekin, pp. 10-11.

45Ibid.f p. 23. 44 Ibid., p . 25.

^ i b i d .. p. 21 . 189 46 as the light in the room increases. The motor of the bus that Amadis takes to Exopotamia "... ronronnait reguliSrement car on venait de lui * * 47 donner une pie in o assiettee d'aretes de poisson-chat... Only a well-fed bus would bo willing to make Guch a long non-stop trip.

The names of the characters are meaningful in most cases. Amadis

Dudu evokes Amadis de Gaul, Don Quixote's idol. Tilting with sand is a more serious sign of aberration than tilting with windmills. Athanagore

PorphyrogSnSte is more complex. The given name combines Greek "Thanatos" and "Agora.” The surname means literally "the son b o m to the crowned emperor” ("nS dans le pourpre"), so the character is 'the royal son who markets the dead.' Cuivre indicates the character's skin color; she is also malleable and a good electrical conductor, helping Angel repair his short circuit. Lavande washes Claude LSon clean and perfumes his 'soul.'

Rochelle evokes "roche” and the character is a sign of shipwreck for 48 others. Angel and Anue also have complementary names. Didiche,

Carlo's eon, insists that Anne, "C'est un ncra de chien."^ "Xne" sug­ gests itself immediately. In his postface. Fran?oi3 Caradec offers

le malheur veut que qui veut faire 1'nnge fait la bete."^ The names are indicative of the connection between tho two characters.

46 Ibid., P. 22.

^Ibid.. p. 14. 48 M. Rybalka combines "roc" and "Michelle,” the given name of Vian'e first wife. Boris Vian. p. 142. 49 *. » Vian, 1'Automne a Pi*kin, pp. 101-102. M. Rybalka points cut that Anno was a perfectly acceptable name for males in the medieval period. Boris Vian. note, p. 122. 5°F. Caradec, Postfaco de 1 'Automne £ p£kin, p. 199. The line is from Pascal and Caradec is categorical in stating that Vian's text is not 190

The Jarryesque humor pervades the entire text. Athanagore*a crew unearths unbroken pottery that should be highly prized; but he brcako them so they will fit une boxte du module standard, ..." made of 51 cardboard. The best example, however, i3 tho railroad itself. It begins where it begins and ends where it ends: the inutile makes perfect sense to Amadis and to his employers. He enthusiastically points out to a dubious Athanagore that the great advantage in building a railroad on the desort is that no one will use it ("Voue trouvez que

The examples here prove the sword has two edges.

Once the action shifts from the city to the desert, there is discussion on the use of language that could well turn around Vian*s own theory. Tho statement is in two parts a\id is enunciated by Angel:

— Vous savez ... en general, on no sait rien. Et les gens qui dovraient savoir, ... ceux qui savent manipulor les idees, ... et les presenter de telle 3orto qu’il3 o'imnginent avoir une pensSe originals, no renouvellent Jortais leur fend do choses 3. triturer, de sorte que leur node d*expression est tcuJours de vingt ans en avance sur la matioro de cotto exprecolon. II reculte de ceci qu'on no peut rien apprendro avec eux parce qu'ils se contentent do mots.55

a new exegesis on tho man from Port-Royal, Blaise Pascal, les Pens&es (in) Oeuvre n completes, tcxtc ctabli ot an note par Jacques Chevalier, "Biblioth.que de la Pleiade" (Paris: Gallimard, 195*0, p. 11?0.

^1Vian, l*Autcnne a PSkin, p. 69.

^Ibid., p. 73.

^ I b i d .. p. 190. Angela speech is a commentary on the "crise de langage" and before it

was supposed to have begun. The passage is a questioning of the rela­

tion between the structure of thought and tho words we use, presumably,

to express that thought, Angel goes on to point out the similarity be­

tween what he calls tho "transe" in jazz and . la nature purement

physique ... de la pen see.11 Jazz improvisation at its best relies

on the constant creation of relationships that have to be instantaneous

because of the nature of the medium. They are spontaneous, intuitive and

fully self-conscious expressions of tho process of thought. Angel im­

plies that more often than rot, linguistic sophistication carries with it a deadening of the thought process, Vian's entire method has been to bring words into line with the content of expression so that there is absolutely no difference between them.

This is an extremely complex novel, perhaps even more so than

1 *Arrache-coeur. Vian lias put various elements into it and described

their behavior as a function of the language used in the description.

The tautology, I believe, is intentional. In tho Passage that mentions the second expedition, he writes:

La camplcxite de 1*ensemble fait que tout ce qui peut leur arriver eot vraiment, malgro l'expericnco acquioe, impossible a prcvoir, encore plus a imaginer, 11 est inutile de tenter de le decrire, car on peut concevoir n'inporte quelle solution.55

Vian has no metaphysical concern here, but rather indicates that the chemistry of every imaginative (and imagined) encounter establishes its 192 own rules while it is unfolding. From that point of view, what is true is what is imaginable.

The double characters of l'Ecume des jours evolve into the ones separated at the beginning of lrAutomne a Pekin by notions of sexuality or of morality. The possible ’third* double lives in a separate world and can exist only as a spectacle. There can be no unity of purpose in such a circumstance and the destruction of one of the doubles is inevi­ table. The female doubles remain opaque and the male's choice is marred by circumstance. The woman at hand is always the wrong one; the ’right* one lives in another world and any union is fleeting. The world of myth lias been transported beyond the limits of ’civilization, * yet tho latter persists and in its poison. There is no escape. Language tolerates the changed environment and is completely integrated with the world of myth inhabited by the double characters. CHAPTER IX

L ,Herbe rouge was written during 19^3-49 and was published by

Editions Toutain during the summer or early fall of 1950, According to

Vian's estimate in an unpublished note, the novel sold a thousand copies in the original edition. Since that time, the text has been printed in numerous editions, beginning with Jean-Jacques Pauvert’s re-edition in

1962. The novel has also been translated into Spanish. Based on the premise that all Vian’s texts are ’autobiographical,f the critics assert that this work is the most thinly veiled of the author’s revelations about hinself.^ This is tho shortest of Vian’s novels and the story is simple enough.

Wolf and his assistant Saphir Lazuli have built a machine on contract from the local municipality, but whose use is not precisely made clear. They live and work at le CarrS with Lil and Folavril, their wife and would-be lover, respectively. There is a dog, sSnateur Dupont, and a maid. Marguerite, who is never seen. Wolf is haunted by his lack of de­ sire and Lazuli by his inability to love Folavril properly. Both men

Bizarre, p. 196.

‘TJoris Vian, l£ Hlcrba roja (Barcelona: Editiorial Pomaire, 1967). 3 * Beginning with Pierre Kast in his Presentation de l ’Herbe rouge, p. 18. The statement is echoed by all his biographers in one way or another.

193 19^ kill themselves: Wolf usee the machine to wipe out his memories and

Lazuli uses a more direct method. Lil and Folavril leave le CarrS and return to the city.

Lil, the wife of Wolf, has been married to him for a few years. if Tall and blond, she has prettier shoulders than Folavril. In love with her husband, but reticent, she does not always make her wishes clear.

Celebrating the evening the machine is completed, she accepts Lazuli’s suggestion that they continue after dinner with a party, assuming that it will please Wolf. After he telephones two couples, his comments on the damage that accompanies such parties makes the misunderstanding doubly clear. She is then content to dance the entire evening, most of it with

Lazuli. Assuming that some of hi3 desire will be for a continued life with her, Lil wants Wolf to have what he wishes. Hopefully, they can have a fuller life together now that the machine is built. The morning aftor the party she pays a visit, not to a fortune-teller, but to a "re- niflante" who lives in a "... haute cabane raontee sur des grands pieds

... avec un eccalier ... a la rampe duquel s’accrochaient des loques d§- 6 goutantes qui coloraient localement de leur mieux." The "reniflanto" has an "inhalateur" that she uses in conjunction with cards rather than a crystal ball. Although she "... ne subodore pas grand-chose for Lil at the start, the latter is ultimately told that Wolf will find what he has been looking for after having been ill for a long time; the news

if * # Boris Vian, l ’Herbe rouge, cnivi des Lurettes fpurrees, pre­ sent e par Pierre Kast (Paris: Jean-Jacques Pan vert, 19&5) * P* 35*

^Ibid.. pp. 37-38.

6lbid.. p. 56. 195 pleases Lil and it only costs her "dou2o pelcuques. 1,7 Faced with a troubled Wolf who is ill at ease after his first experience with the ma­ chine and who is unwilling to discuss it directly, she encourages him to take Lazuli with him and have a uight on the town. Besides, her two

"coleoptSres epScioliees" are trimming her cuticles and manicures are time-consuming projects. She says that she and Uolf do not talk to each other much anyway nor does Wolf like to go out with her very often. He g does not dispute eithor statement. She is discreet. Her questions to

Folavril about Saphir's apparent difficulties are couched in terms that are polite and banal. Nor does oho seem to comprehend what is involved in Lazuli's death, later. She is more willing to believe that he killed himself after Folavril refused him. She i3 "... hebetee et vague. 9 and says ’'On ne mourt pas ccramo qa." She seems to see in Lazuli's sui­ cide a prefiguration of V/olf's own and has already begun to put herself at a distance from it. When Wolf returns to the house after his penul­ timate visit to the machine, Lil appears as distracted and distant as he is. When he drops hor favorite salad bowl and leaves, she does nothing 10 to stop him. Faced with the breakup of her existence, she denies the possibility of the men's problems as overlapping. Numbed at the prospect of becoming a widow, she takes refuge in tho mundane, as jLf everything were normal. Once Wolf departs, she and Folavril can pack their bags.

7Ibid., pp. 57-59.

^Ibid.. pp. 92-95*

9Ibid.* p . 15^.

Ibid., pp. 168-169. 196

Folavril, her complement, is not married to Lazuli, but is also blond« Her perfect legs compensate for Lil's shoulders. In contrast to the remaining three human characters, Folavril is simply alive and 11 "... elle etait douce & cause de ses yeux de biche-panth3re aux coins."

Asked by V/olf if she is ever curicus, she responds that she is too lazy 12 and nearly always satisfied, so curiosity is unnecessary. The image of

Folavril as a creature of earth is reinforced during the party as she and

Wolf lie out under the stars while the others dance. Wolf placeB a baby mole between her breasts and its red eyes "... brillaient comma des saphirs blancs." She imagines "violettes de la mort" to accompany "as- phodSles" and "lo muguet" because she likes the name and the flowers, so 13 she puts them together. She is aware of Lazuli's diequiot from the beginning; but since she cannot see the "bonhomie" who is watching them as Lazuli does, she can only try to convince Saphir that there is no one there. For her, life is simple: you live it. As Lazuli's uneasiness turns to fear, she is avare that the next step is anger, pitched to the intensity of their mounting -- and frustrated — desire for each other.

But that awareness brings with it the concomitant sense of impotence: completely alive, she cannot put life aside to experience Lazuli's demons with him. Her urgent invitation to intimacy is not (or cannot) be unself-consciously accepted. Only after Lazuli stabs himself to death can she soe his demons, who then are objectified. Folavril and Lil are

11Ibid.. pp. 35-36.

12Ibid.. p. ^3. 13 Ibid., pp. The underlining in the text is mine. 197 doubles insofar as they face men with different variations of the sane malaise. With love and the hest will in the world they can do nothing to help their men or change the courses these men have set out for them­ selves. That each female character seems more in tune with the other's man is very likely a function of their lack of involvement with that man: it costs one nothing to be at ease with someone liked. Once the fabric of daily living becomes mutually involved, the situation changes drastically for both partners.

lazuli kisses Folavril for the first time the day the machine is completed. As he does so, the man appears beside him. A violent rubbing 1 if of the eyes causes him to disappear. It is Lazuli who suggests the party, probably to avoid a confrontation with Folavril since ,!I1 habitait la moitiS du second Stage, Folavril 1 'autre. Comma 5a, le hasard.*'^

Later, he spends the entire evening dancing with Lil for the same reason.

When they are alone again on le CarrS and during daylight, the man ap­ pears again as Lazuli approaches Folavril to kiss her. Bracing himself against the machine which is running, "... le moteur lui vibrait dans les 16 mains et lui donnait sa puissance." The man dissolves and disappears.

Later, when darkness falls, Lazuli has no difficulty. The mole who lives in obscurity is not blind, merely myopic, in daylight. When night falls he is in his element. As Wolf and Lazuli prepare for their night on the town (to which they have been forced to some degree by the feminine

Ibid.. p. 33.

15Ibid.. p. 37,

l6Ibid., p. (ft. 198 ritual, crucially for Lazuli) the latter says, "Avec elle ... je ne suis jamais seul. Tcrutes les fois que je commence a m'occuper d'olle sexuel- lement, c'est-a-dire avec non arae, 11 y a un horame ,"17 The experienced Wolf scoffs, just as Lil did at the notion of such a problem*

From the vantage point of the couple married for a period of years, such a problem is inconceivable. Once comfortably into the quartier dee amou- reusos, Wolf and Saphir count off to the fifth house and enter, ,fParce 18 qu'on est deux, ... Et pereonne ne regardait Lazuli.11 The experience has been successful for Lazuli, in part because the relationship with the prostitute is casual and because it occurs in the darkness. Cut the sense of well-being turns to ashes because they agree to direct two sail­ ors to the qnorticr des jenx and once there agree to participate also.

There, it is possible to play "a la saignotte ou au retroueeio," and it is also possible to choose the human target desired. Wolf, who sees how viciously one of the sailors shoots his darts at a teen-age girl's breast, does not wich to play. Lazuli, still aggressive, suggests as a target "Une vieillo? ... fa ne peut pas to faire de mal, une vieille ... 19 sous I ’oeil." Lazuli's target is his very own "bonhocnae" who has a sad expression on his face this time. They leave as quickly as they can.

Returning to le Carre by way of the caverns, they walk "cote a cote ccmme pour fnire Eve."20 Pausing to watch "... le n2gre danser. they

17Ibid., p. 97. 1A Ibid., pp. 100-101.

^Ibid,, pp. 10^105. Cf, Chapter X, the "foire aux vieux."

20 Ibid., p. 106. 199 manage to forget, momentarily, all their difficulties. It is Lazuli who 21 suggests that the two of them come to live underground with the dancer.

But they return to the house on le Carre and Lazuli’s situation worsens until the day of reckoning.

Wolf's difficulty is more complex. It is he who suggested the construction of the machine as a means of disposing of "... une surpro- duction de metal a fair© les machines,"22 which the city accepted. Since

Wolf thinks it "... tuant ... de trainer avcc soi co qu'on a StS avant, ...,|23 he has decided to use the machine to erase his memories, although ’ThSoriquerient, ce n'est pas a qa qu'elle sert."^ Wolf has evidently entered into the machine in its experimental stages; now that it is completed, ho is not thoroughly convinced it will work aa he wishes 25 because nothing happened on previous occasions. By his own admission,

Wolf is void of all further desire. He belioves that if he can wipe the slate clean and begin again, living will then transcend the compartimen- talized quality it has now. Ho ha© been playing plouk for fifteen years; there will always bo players who are better than he and after such a long period of playing the game, he thinks that he will not suddenly become the best. There is no reason to play a game if one cannot be first; what

21Ibid., p. 112.

22lbid.. p. 71.

23lbid.. p. 137.

2i*Ibid.. p. 43.

25 Ibid.. p. 73. 200 26 good is the gains then? After years of marriage, he and Lil do not un­ derstand each other very veil; for one thing, they do not know how to 27 talk to each other. The work on the machine has been a means to an end. One can only visit the quartior des amoureuses so often. Wolf wants a passion that he can identify as such and that he may live in terms of. Nothing and no one is sufficient to him. The night of the party he slips away to his study to converse with his reflection that livos in a mirror resting on four legs. He stretches full-length on the silver mirror to "... so parler d'homrae a hemme." Arguing against his reflection and in favor of entering the machine, he says, ,rtJne solution qui vous demolit vaut mieux que n'imports quelle incertitude. T'es pas d'accord? — Pas d’accord, rcpeta le reflet,"28 The Wolf on this side of the mirror rejects all argument, deterainod to make the attempt.

While playing plcuk Cat best guess, the game is what a combina­ tion of golf and croquet weald be like) and conversing with his dog,

£&nateur Dupont, he discovers that the dog has always wanted an ouapiti.

Ill at ease in his own skin, Wolf has a difficult time believing that anyone can want anything* To discover that the Sonateur has a passion is encugi to make Wolf want to help satisfy it. Helping the dog find the

and taking it to the house io just the beginning, however. The

Scnateur then retires from the world:

-- Ecoutez, dit-il, je vais avoir line derni&re lueur. Je cuis content. Vous coaiprenez? ... Cost du contentement

26Xbid., p. 52.

27Ibid.. p. 93.

28Ibid.. p. **0 . 201

integral, c’est done vegStatif ... Je reviens aux sources...... Je vous aiae bien, je continuerai pent-ctre a vous cooprendre mais je ne dirai plus rien. J'ai mon ouapiti. Trouvez le votre. — Et 3*11 n'y en avait pas pour tout le monde, des ouapi- tie? dit Wolf.2^

Death is vegetative for all animals (including men) as in I’Ecume des

jours with ChloS's nenuphar; to be satisfied is to be gatcux. Death is absence from the world whether one still walks the planet or not. For all intents and purposes, one disappears. Perhaps oaapitis are only for dogs. Even in the face of this evidence and the sSnateur'e example, Wolf is adainont.

It is in this same scene that Wolf reveals to Lil that she may be necessary within limits, but in not sufficient because they would still be two; sho is "complSte." "Toi enti&ro, e'est trop."^ Wolf and Lazuli are also complementary doubles. The formor has no passion loft and, in 31 the absence of one, wishes it to be absolute. Lazuli has a passion but cannot be free to enjoy it — or anything else for long — and for the same reason. They are also complementary in that their women cannot help them, nor con the two men help each other*

In the same way that Wolf and Lazuli complement each other as doubles, the circumstances of thoir suicides are complementary. Lazuli’s

"unhappy consciousness" steins from his myopia which is like that of a

29Ibid.» pp. 135-136.

?0Ibid.. p. 137. 31 Angel in 1*Arrache-coonr will demonstrate that the passionate search for a passion is enough to show tliat one is alive and well. 202 blue mole. As be and Volf return to le CarrS from their night out, he tries to pry information about the machine from the reticent Wolf, let­ ting it be known that he does not wish to meddle. He says, "Dana une chute d'eau ... ce qui compto c'est la chute, ce n'eet pas l'eau.1^ His death demonstrates that what ho says is not true. Folavril forces the issue. She wants him as much as he wants her. Going to his room during the afternoon, she decides to take from him the onus of being aggrosolve.

As soon as they begin to embrace, the cad-faced nan appears over Folav- ril's shoulder. Lazuli reaches behind him for "... le poignard court dont la lame portait une profonde cannelure, son poignard de quand il

€tait scout." Gripping the man by the collar, he places him on the bed,

"II se sentait uno force eans Unites, ... cauvagement, ..." he stabs the man in the heart. "II avait dans tous ses muscles une ixiissance * % 3 3 eauvage prete a bcuillir, Turning again to Folavril, he believes he is free until the second man appears, a carbon copy of the first one.

"Lazuli se redreesait, eauvage." Two strokes with the knife ore neces­ sary to kill this second one, whose eyelids ”... tcmb^rent net comme des couvercles de mital." Lazuli begins to be discouraged and Folavril, who can see nothing, can only try to calm him. Asked to close his eyes, he cannot. The third man, exactly like tho preceding two men, waits as

Lazuli flings the knife at him, striking him in the throat. "Au moment oil Cl'homme] prit contact avec le sol, le vent gcrnit plus fort ot couvrit le bruit de la chute, oais Lazuli sentit la vibration du parquet."

^Vian, 1 *Herbs rouge, p. 109.

33Ibld.. p. 1^7. 203

Quickly a fourth nan appears and when Lazuli kills him, a fifth and then a sixth man appear. He kills then both. At this point, Folavril watches in horror as he turns his knife upon himself. "II grog.iait cotnrae une bete et ca respiration faisait un bruit d'eau." As he falls forward,

"... la lame bleue ressortit dans son dos nu, At this point, nil six bodies become visible for Folavril. Lazuli had killed the sixth man by stabbing him in the right eye; when Folavril turns Lazuli*s body over, the latter's right eye "... n*£tait plus qu'un cloaque noir,"3^ Then she notices that all six men (who are dressed in black, like pallbearers) look exactly like Lazuli. Gradually, they disappear in the order of killing; as they do so, Lazuli.*a wounds — which were repeated from each of the six — disappear, until only the 'self-inflicted one* remains.

Folavril goto out of the roan just before a storm whack3 Lazuli away, room and all. There is only silence which follows, "... lui laiscant lea oreillcs bcurdonnantcs ccmme lorsqu'on a plongS dans une cau trop 35 profonde.1^

Lazuli's death demonstrates that it is impossible to separate la chute from d'eau, to separate a fall from something falling, to separate being from becoming -- at least on a human level. Saphir, the baby mole, could not cope with the first sexual metamorphosis of his soul, his ame. and he gave himself literally "la paix de l'wae.11 From fear, or timid­ ity, the first step was too much to take and it became necessary to kill all the possibilities in himself before pacifying that p-ne which became

^Ibid., pp. 143-151. The underlining in the text is mine.

35Ibid.. pp. 152-153. 2C*

such a roadblock to future metamorphosis. It is curious that the areli-

gious Vian should use an image that lends itself to a biblical quotation:

"If thine eye offend thee, strike it out." But Gloucester in King Lear was also myopic. Vian has hi3 male literally blind himself, not as in

the case of Gloucester because of sexual excess, but becauso he could not give his sexual ame the peace necessary to make an earnest beginning.

Standing at tho still point, Lazuli is an inability to face the future.

If Saphir considered moving into the caverns, it was because the appearance of his "bonhcrmo" modified the meaning of existence. If life

for him was "... debordante at pas qualifiable, . at the beginning

of the novel, the appearance of one of his "possibilitSs" (that involved making choices) changed all that. But Saphir was a "bleu," a neophyte.

For Wolf, life is deceiving because "C'est pas possible que ga ne soit que qa, ... le plouk, la machine, lee Amoureuses, le travail, la musique, la vie, lea autres gens..» ..., 1,37 not to mention Lil, And life is rigorously compartmentalized. The rules of plouk are so morally strict that no one would touch Wolf's clubs while he helps the Senateur hunt out “38 the ouapiti. Tho prospect of another party, for Wolf, means "Disques, bcuteilles, danse, rideanx dechir?s, lavabo bouchl ..la mcme chose que toutes les autres fois... .,|39 Port of the charm of love-making stems

frcm the lack of structure given to the process — again for Volf. Each

^Ibid.. p. 36.

37Ibid.. p. 137.

^Ibid., p. 55.

39Ibid.. p. 38. 205 time that Lil suggests that it would be a good — a near certainty to progress toward — to be enjoyed at a specific moment, Wolf becomes irri­ tated, assents to an event (the party) that would forestall such an

Inevitability until an unspecified future tine, or dissolves the instant in which a "yes" becomes necessary into a verbal game of some sort. The exception is tho moment on the plouk ground when Lil is on her way some­ where else and his desire for intimacy is totally unexpected. When Wolf and Lazuli sit on the carpeted sidevralk of the quart ier des amoureusos. eating "sandwiches au poivre" and drinking "... ananas pimento," Wolf questions the narchand.es who brought them (and who are also dressed for the locale):

— Vouo, dit Wolf, on peut entrer avec vous dans ces maicons? — Won, dirent les deux marchandes. Nous, on ect plus ou raoins vestales. — On pout toucher? dit Wolf. — Oui, dirent les deux filles. Touchotter, bigeottor, li- chotter, maio rien de plus. — Oh zutl dit Wolf. Da quoi se mettre on appStit ot etro obligS de c'arreter juste au bon momentI... — On a des fonctions, expliqua la porteuee de boissons. II faut faire attention dans notre mStier,^

That the two women answer in unison already implies that the question has been asked repeatedly and that the girls have been organized to firmly reject any ideas about modification of function. Wolf nay be seeking pleasure, but tho girls are at work; after all, he is an engineer. But he does not make the connection. In the same manner, it is necessary to

"assoemer" the "gordien" at one end or the other of the cavern in order to gain entrance; the "nSgre" then accepts the visitors' interest in his dance as genuine, since the scoffer would scarcely go to such lengths to

Ibid.. pp. 99-100. 206 ridicule him. But to remain too long — two hours for Volf and Lazuli — » is to make the "nSgre .. susceptible," Once more. Wolf is disappointed: he is convinced that any endeavor can "duror" which directly contradicts hia attitude toward each endeavor on other occasions. Experience of liv­ ing must bo absolutely variable and at the same time susceptible to duration. True and yet manifestly impossible for Wolf who (whether he admits it or not) wishes to bo simultaneously present to both manifesta­ tions. But, as Folavril says, "... e'est l'enserable qui devient ccsnpli- que, et que l'on perd de vue, II faudrait pouvoir regarder tout qa de tr3o haut." But then women are complete and opaque for Wolf and

Lazuli. Wolf's reactions to a ccnpartraentnlized existence make his auto- critical responses clearer.

Lil and Folavril are powerless to change the lives of their men nor can they help them with their crises. Discussing thiB problem,

Folavril says:

... nous eesayon3 d'etre aussi betes qu'il faut ruisqu'il faut qu'uno femme soit bate -- e'est la tradition — et c'cst aussi difficile que n ’iriporte quoi, nous l^ur laissons notre corps, ot ncuo prenons le leur; c'ect honnete au moins, et ils s'en vont parce qu'ils ont pour. -- Et ilo n'ont memo pas peur do nous, dit Lil. — pa Eerait trop beau, dit Folavril. Mens leur peur, il faut qu'elle vienne d ’eux.^2

If women resist the problems inherent to sexuality bettor than men, it io because of the prejudice against them (in a world where men have to be­ lieve they dominate) that each woman has attributed to her the strength of the collective members of the sex. The attribution functions

111 Ibid.. p. 140,

**^Ibid.. p. 1*t1. D. Koakes, Boris Vian. pp. 81-82. 20? effectively because men think of women collectively, Zf women can sur­ vive tho conflict, they do so as individuals who know how destructive 43 generalizations can be. They can survive, but the carnage from gener­ alization works both ways; when Lazuli's body is swept away, Folavril cut him oat of her life: it is as though he never existed. When Wolf walks away for the last time, Lil says, "En r$alit£ ... ils ne sont pas faita Ulx peur nous. Ils eont faits peur eux. Et nous pour rien." Even for women, moments of lucidity are fleeting and have to be repeated, usually in a void: when nothing can be changed. Here, Lil generalizes from her own experience which may or may not be valid for all woman. The scene of their departuro from le Carre is ambiguous; both wear attire that is

"voyante." Each wears an article of apparel that has on ornithological connotation: Lil wears an nigrolctbe in her hair, Folavril a jabot mous- seiuc at her throat. Lil wears the bright colors of the male bird, but of the female human; Folavril, the neutral colors of the female bird and the male human. A remark by Folavril suggests a dual reading: "... mon rove * * k 5 qa sorait d'cpouser un pederaste avec plcin d'argent." pf; lorn at os are a third species who do not offer the same prospect of spiritual pain as men; if women were "creatod" aa objects, they may as well be 'creative objects' that act upon their environment. The second reading suggests, albeit with seme ambiguity, that they may have decided to strike "man"

This is the only occasion in all of Vian's novels where he has a female character say something reasonably intelligent that does not in some way flatter the masculine world view. Vf Vian, I ’Horbe rouge, p. 169.

^Ibid., pp. 178-179. 208

from their vocabulary altogether or decided to "appear” as objects so

ambiguous that the 'next time* their individual mysteries will be so

engrossing that prospective mates will not hare the leisure to commit

suicide. These are all possible readings, no more.

Wolf's machine seems to pull the sky into it; lazuli's experience

with the fan tone of his possibility indicates that it is possible to

travel into the future and Wolf's use of the machine verifies that travel

into the past is also possible. By entering the "case” of the machine,

one is transported through space-time, a four dimensional experience.

But Wolf wants to erase his pact. On his first voyage, he "re-estab­

lishes" his relations with his family. Loved "too much,” he fought

against it; coddled too much, he fought against that, but used it when it

served his purpose; disappointed from the beginning, he played at being

the indifferent hero and took his first step toward eolitude. To his

question, "Quoi do plus eeul qu’un ho roc?" Monsieur Forlo, his coadjuteur.

replies, "Quoi de plus seul qu'un tiiort?" Returning from the city with

Lazuli, he goes directly to the machine for a second interview without

entering the house. The voyage to "the other side" is made more quickly.

Discussing hia religious experience with Abbe Grille (from the grill at

the window of the confessional), he establishes quickly that he did not

(could not) develop belief, given his background. For a change of pace,

Abbe Grille allows him to look at a photograph of "lo Bon Dieu”: it is

Ganard, a lycSo classmate of Wolf's who always played that role in school

k6 Ibid., pp. 73-89. In the image of Minos in The Inferno, Mon­ sieur Perle has a long beard that wraps five or six times around his body. 209 plays and who was also a practical joker. Grille will allow no scoffing 47 or pity since Ganard has a ”... belle situation,” Eejeeting Grilled apparent tolerance as noyautage. Wolf discusses his education with Mon­ sieur Brul. Mere the character is at his most vehement.

Building on the two previous interviews, Wolf establishes a preliminary assessment of his years on the "bench”:

— Votre gout do 1 'herois.no vous poussait & briguer la premiere place, dit Monsieur Brul. — Kais ma paresse m 1interdisait d ’y acceder en permanence, dit Wolf. — Cela fait une vie equilibroe, dit Monsieur Brul. Ol est le nal? — C 'est un equilibro instable, as sura Volf. Bn equilibre epuisaat. Ur systems ou toutos lec forces agissantss eont miUee m'aurait beaucoup mioux convonu. — Quoi de plus stable... coamenqa Monsieur Brul... puis il rcgarda Wolf d'une faqon bizarre, et ne dit rien do plus,

The formula "Squilibre instable” is used for the third time since 1 'Ecume des jours, and for the first time as directly descriptive of a human situation. From Monsieur Brul's point of view, the f,6quilibre" cannot have been so bad since the Wolf seated before him managed to survive it

(or managed to continue living with it which amounts to the same thing).

But Wolf's rejoinder makes clear what he is searching for — immobility.

In effect, he has 'perverted* tho use of the machine. Wolf continues, describing the deception he experienced when faced with the hiatus be­ tween tho world his teachers spoke of as a future certainty and the world

Wolf came to know which relegated the ideal to the unforeseeable future.

(It is apparent that he has imposed the consequences of this deception on

**7Ibid.. p. 121.

Ibid.. p. 12?. 210 hie life with Lil, in 'another tine1). Wolf io capable of arguing from the point of view of an essential immobility and a perfection possible in time, mutually contradictory notions that mirror his attitudes outside the machine. In effect, Wolf is burning his bridges in front of him.

The interview concerning his affective life is conducted by Mos- demoisellee Aglae (the youngest of the three Graces) and Ileloise (she by whom castration is brought into the world) and reinforces the image of his self-irapoeed paralysis. There has been no passion in his attempts at loving, either; he has never been able to decipher a look, for example.

On his last turn in tho machine, he is given a chance to decipher a i|Q glance — that of his interviewer, Carla — and he refuses. The sixth and last interview is with an old nan who wants to collect the tax due 50 from Wolf as a . cellule d'un corps social," the fifth category of memory, as outlined in tho first interview by Monsieur Porlo, For the first time in his life, Volf gives in to a desire, flies into a rage and kills the old man. Once the abstraction ftun nort" becomes concrete, Wolf understands what his interviewers have tried to communicate to him about the meaning of his search. They all remark that his statements tend to­ ward generalizations that probably hold for no one except himself. They are also aware that a hint of criticism, of scorn, usually makes him

i*9 Ibid., p. 171* Wolf may not be able to "lire dans un regard" (neither could Dan Parker with Richard nor Rock Bailey with Berenice Hanson), tut he can cnicll out an odor. Ho is aware of Lil's "parfum blond," He likes Folavril*s, but she never wears any. Neither did Jean from J'i.rai crachor n r vos teabag nor Alice from I'Founo des jours. The woman with the entrancing personal odor is also the woman one never chooses. She is killed for some obscure reason; she belongs to someone else from the beginning; or one is already married.

^Ibid., p. 175. overstate his case; but most importantly, the Wolf who looks on his past tends to reinterpret the meaning of the different aspects of that past so as to make paralysis inevitable. Since he forgets everything that is discussed in the machine as soon as he leaves it, he has also forgotten his first reaction to a past relived by the person he has filially become outside tho machine, judging it as a "passS fictif." Effectively he covered only five of the categories outlined by Monsieur Perle. The appearance of Carla is designed to allow him to re-evaluate the enor­ mities he has uttered -- and in the most concrete way possible; she offers herself to him but he persists in wanting to disappear. Since that is the case, the sixth category, "inquietudes oStaphysiques Sven- tuelles," will not be needed. He has none since he has killed himself in the past. Looking at tho old man's body, he murmurs:

— Quoi de plus scul qu'un mort... nnirrjura-t-il. Mais quoi de plus tolerant? Quoi do plus stable... hein^ Monsieur Brul, et quoi do plus ainable? Quoi do plus adapto a ea fonction... de plus libre de touto inquietude?51

Ironically enough, Wolf is now privilodged. Not many persons can have had the luxury of wandering outside space-time after he has become a cadaver in time. D. Naakes misses the point on Wolf's strange rhetorical questions about whether Lil ever saw him othor than as a stranger, some­ one already dead. The question is based on what he has juot done to himself, in the judgements made on a Wolf who no longer exists, but nonetheless did help to create the Uolf who is killing himself. The last scene between him and Lil makes clear that the question is valid, if late: he con only think while in tho machine now, since the being who 212

produced the present Wolf has been cancelled out# He cannot remember who he was; how could Lil do so? He is a man without a past, a stranger to 5? himself. He may well let go of the cage; he has made himself an object.^

If Lazuli has attacked himself in the future and nihilated him­ self in the present (thus refusing himself the future). Wolf attacks himself in the pact os a future possibility and destroys himself in the present. The deaths of the two men demonstrate the limitations imposed on the eolf when problems are stated with only two terms: the Either/Or choice is a voluntary limitation that leads to paralysis, immobility and, for Lazuli and for Wolf, death by their own hands#

J, Haa, writing in S \bsj.dia Patnphysica# has tried to support the notion that Wolf is a mutant with a relationship to Mars, based on 5/1 a comparative reading of H. G. Wells's War of tho Worlds, The entire article sounds like a canular purporting to be a textual analysis, Haa

(that name should make one wary) insists that Wells uses "Morciens,11 (I would like to see his translation); that the red weed of Vian's novel has persisted in seme isolated spot on earth and is the same as in

Wells's novel, even though Wells's text states that the red weed,

^D, Noakes, Boris Vian, pp, 86-87, Cl Vian gave a lecturo at the Pavilion de Karcan in 19^3, on the general theme, "l'Objet et Foodie," entitled "Approche discrete de l'ob- jet." His reference is to the Human Condition and death, Mcrleau- Ponty and Jacques Lacan also spoke during the series. The text is in­ cluded in J, Clouzct, Boris Vian, pp# 150-163. HL ^ J. Haa, "Quelques elements pour l'Herbe rouge#" Suboidia Pata- physica. H° 6 (10 sable 96 C1963]), pp. 95-99# 213 attacked by bacteria, died off as quickly as it had proliferated.^

Given that Haa*a main point Is that Wolf is a mutant, he would be on solid ground making such a statement about any later text by Vian. The latter insists that we can all become mutants and that a round trip to

Mars will not be necessary* Granted, Wolf is strange, but the locale of the novel is nowhere in particular, as with all the texts he signed with his own name except Vorcouuin ofc le plancton. Red weed is no more strange in this environment than tho carpeted quartier des amoureuses, the plouk course or Wolf himself. The world of the novel is limited by itself. That Vian may have borrowed motifs from other writers is pos­ sible, even probable (the red weed used as an image would be one such motif), but he always modifies the use of the image to suit his novelis- tic world. To be a mutant, however, Wolf could not think in aristotelian terms, which he does; he cannot live on this planet properly, not to speak of being in evolution toward a more advanced state of existence.

Wolf has painted himself into a comor by allowing himself only two alternatives: faced with the problem of lack of desire, through the use of the machine he can accept or reject his past. Since hie past has led him to the moment in which he recognizes his lack of desire, then in aristotelian terms, he logically ha3 to reject that past and ’disappear.1

More and more, Vian haa integrated his use of language into the narrative until it has become totally unobtrusive. The world of the novel is completely marvelous. Anything can happen and does. The

G. Wells, The War of the Worlds (in) The Scientific Ro­ mances (London: Victor Gollancz Ltd., 1935), P* ^25. 21^ characters are recognizably human but the world they live in is different, so the relation between humans and their world is modifiable. S&nateur

Dupont is the first animal to speak to human characters in a Vian novel.

But he also barks — and meows to please the maid who prefers cats, although "... ga lui fait trSc mal a la gorge.The ouapiti, which is not an identifiable animal, also speaks. It is not surprising in such a universe that the earth, "facile," should still bear the imprint of Fol- avrilfs body from the night before, or that a carnation she had picked should have replanted itself overnight and even tries to blend in with 57 the red grass when Wolf starts to pick it. Just as Folavril lies on

Lazuli's bed, the wind "... trainait dehors dans la poussi^re de la route et rodait a l'entour des haies vives. as it actively begins rO to build the storm that will carry the dead Lazuli elsewhere. In a world where, if the eky is low enough, one con "... le toucher du doigt 59 en montant sur une chaise ..,," it should not be surprising or strange that Wolf can grow a mustache and cut it off immediately when he does not like it or that the risk of shocking a corridor is real when Wolf go "... [le] prit ... en sens inverse." The language used brings this world into being; if the world is imaginary and "... en expansion,..."Si

Vian, I'Kerbe rouge, p. 3*f,

"ibid** p. 6?.

^Ibid., p. 1*42.

"ibid.. p. 31.

^°Ibid., p. Vl. 61 Pierre Kast, Presentation de I'Herbe rouge, p. 1*4-, the language is perfectly suited to it. A language adequate to its

function is normal whether it shocks our sense of the customary or not.

It is only because l ^cume des jours is such a radical departure from

the ordinary that we drew back before entering into its world. Vian's novels prove -- as much as they demonstrate anything else — that words have a life of their own: not only do they escape their creator, but they can be freed to form new relationships, to create their own content. CHAPTER X

L 1Arrache-coeur. the laat novel that Vian wrote, was published

in 1953. Written in 1950-51* it was refused by Gallimard and was even-

tually published by Editions Vrille, attracting tew readers. The novel has gone into a number of editions since Jean-Jacques Pauvert's republi­

cation of the text in 19&2 and there have been translations into British 2 English, German and Italian; but at the time of the publication of the

original edition, the sales were so thin that a discouraged Vian turned

away from the novel as a viable means of expression.

The text is complex but, in summary, Jacquemort, a psychiatrist

on vacation in or near a rural community, arrives at an isolated house in

time to witness the birth of three children to Clementine. He also re­

leases her husband Angel from the adjoining room and they become friends.

Angel remains estranged from his wife; Jacquemort remains as a guest and

to help with errands. He was b o m an adult the year before and wishes to

fill himself with the passions that he does not have through the analysis

of patients. He fails. Angel leaves. Clementine has the growing

Bizarre, p. 81. See Introduction, p. 5* 2 The translations are, respectively: Heartsnatcher, trans, by Stanley Chapman (London: Rapp and Whiting, IS&oT;"Dor Herzaureisser, Aus den Frauaosischen ins Deutsche iibertragen von Eerccht" "(Wsaoldorf: Rauch, 1966); Sterpacuoro, traduzione dal francese di Augusto Donaudy (Milano: Riszoli," 19^5)7

216 217

children for hereclf. Jacquemort eventually replaces la Gloire as the

village recipient of all the inhabitants' shame, for which they pay him

in gold that he cannot use to buy anything.

Culblanc and Ilezrouge become double characters through their

relationship to Jacquemort, The former is twenty years of age, a combi­ nation "bonne" and "nurse" (in the text) at the house of Clementine and

Angel; it is she who was to act as midwife at the birth of the children

since there is no doctor in the village and Angel has been locked in his own room. Momentarily unsettled by the unexpected irruption of Jacque- raort upon the scene, Culblanc is overwhelmed by the apparent expertise the psychiatrist brings from the city, since her "... connaiscances en A 7 obstStrique n'allaient guore au dela du velage." But beyond knowing how to give a pelvic examination and shave the pubis, Jacquemort is at a com­ plete loss. Culblanc knows that midwifery consists essentially in waiting when tho birth is normal and, consequently, take3 command. She receives the first two enfanta, washes all three and generally recovers control of her maternity room. It is Angel who helps modify tho rela­ tionship between Jacquemort and Culblanc. In answer to the psychiatrist's inquiry about subjects to psychoanalyze, Angel answers,

"II y en a ploin, ... Vous aurez la nurse quand vous voudrez. Et les gens du village ne refueeront pas." On the way to mass the Sunday of the new enfants* baptisn, Jacquemort acks when he may psychoanalyze her.

She understands "fornication" and he acquiesces, suggesting that she

^Boris Vian, 1'Armche-coeu r, prosentS par Raymond Queneau (Paris: Jean-Jacques Pauvcrt, 1962), pp. 12-13.

**Ibid.. p. 2*. 218

position herself on hands and knees in order not to stain her dress in

the grass, "Bien sur, dit-elle, comme si elle estimait que c'Stait la 5 seule faqon possible." Beginning the same night and repeatedly there­

after Jacquemort tries to psychoanalyze her and always without success.

But they always end the would-be sessions of analysis by making love and

she always insists on what Jacquemort calls M... cette Strange position quadruple, ... . Neither is happy with the situation. When Clfenen- tine remarks that Culblanc looks under the weather and guesses the reason, the latter answers, "Mono que j'ai pas le temps de rien sentir.

11 est 1*1 A me questionner." But it is not as easy to break off as n Clementine would like, since Culblanc admits that ,rQa [laj travaille,"

Finally, awaiting "la boniche" and fortified with "le fouille-pStrin" which gives the discreet user courage and decision, Jacquemort determines to bring matters to a showdown. Convinced that "comme de coutume cela termir.erait ... en queue de psychiatre he wishes to at least vary the love-making stance. Forcibly threatened with the missionary posi­ tion, "la nurse" struggles furiously, calling Jacquemort a "satyre.” The continued threat of what we would consider orthodoxy forces her to reveal at least why she tolerates only "cette position idiote," Her only previ­ ous lover had been her father and he had insisted on that position

^Ibid., pp. 56-57. g Ibid.j p. 88. Voltaire's Panglocc "... Cqui] enseignait la metaphysico-theologo-cosmolo-nigologie, gives a lesson in "phy­ sique exporimentale" to Madame Thunder-ton-tronkch'a maid. Voltaire, Candide (in) Romans et Contec. chronologic, preface ct notes par Rene Pomenu (Paris: Garnier-Flammarion, 1966), p. 180. The difference with the Vian text is that no overt didacticism is apparent.

Vian, 1 *Arracho-coeur. p. 78. 219

because he did not want to look at her. It was not, as Jacquemort be­

lieves, because the father was ashamed or because she was so young, but

as Culblanc says:

— Non, vous ne comprenez pas, ... I voulait pas parce qu'i dieait que j'etais trop moche. Et puieque c'est mon pere qui le disait, il avait raison; ... voila que vous m*avez fait desoboir a mon pore et que je suia une mauvaise fille.

-- Et je ne vous dirai rien. Je ne suis pas la pour satis- faire toutes voo sales monies.®

He makes her feel ashamed, even though "On ne connait pas qa chez

nous, ... ." Jacquemort offers a bargain: he will accept her biases in

that area if she will consent to psychoanalysis. She rejects the offer. * 9 Jacquemort is l'*,. corame les betes, ... ."

Since Angel and Clementine will not submit to psychoanalysis

either, Jacquemort is driven to the village for subjects. Uezrouge, the maid of the mar?chal-ferrant. is the only likely prospect. Sho responds aggressively to polite chatter that could be taken for ridicule. Approx­

imately the same age as "la nurse," Nesrouge is not nearly as anxious about sex. The irnrochal-ferrant is physically the strongest man in the community and has only recently acquired another interest. Jacquemort

insists that she undress because:

— C*est la base indispensable d'une bonne psychanalyse, ... dit Jacquemort pedant. Elio rougit. — Oh! ... dit-elle en baissant les yeux. Meme mon patron n'a jamais oee le faire avec moi. Jacquemort front;a le sourcil. Qu'est-ce qufelle comprenait? Mais comment lo lui deoanderV’'®

q Ibid.. pp. 102-106.

9Ibid.. p. 105.

10Ibid., p. 119. 220

Predictably, his attempt at psychoanalysis ends in love-making. Nezrouge

remarks that he may return to "[laj pay.,.choser" again soon. To these

rustic young ladies, such a polysyllabic term could only be a circumlo­

cution that a city-bred person would substitute to describe what for them

is a natural action. Natural in different ways since their names indi- 11 cate their sexual postures with Jacquemort. That they respond as they

do is an ironic commentary on the value of psychoanalysis in an environ­

ment whore the term has no meaning. Jacqueraort could well be on another

planet. Through the influence on Culblanc and Nezrouge by her father and

the carechal-ferrant, respectively, the one year old Jacqueaort remains

frustrated as a psychiatrist. Be it noted, a psychiatrist who uses his

patients to cure himself. At the same time, he remains ineffectual as a

lovor for the same reason(s).

Clementine as a wife has been strongly affected by pregnancy.

The physiological changes, the distortion of hor body as she had per­

ceived it, the premise of pain that merely begins with the onset of

pregnancy but which would be objectified when the children are finally

born, cause her to threaten Angel with a pistol and lock hint in the ad­

joining room from the seventh month until he is released by Jacqueraort 12 the day the children are born.

Visited by the two men the same evening, sho rejects all their

attempts to console her about her recent ordeal. It is too close to her

in time:

11 Cf, Vian, J 1 irni crachsr snr voo tcmbes. Lee Anderson's kill­ ing stance is a mirror of sexual, posture with the Asquith oioters.

12 Vian, l*Arrachc-coeur. pp. 15-1?. 221

J© devrais me recupSrer ... pour quo toi ou un autre vous veniez m'ecraser et mo jetcr votre ordure, et quo qa recommence, que j'aie mal, que jo coi3 lourde, que je saignc ... Allez-vous-enl,.. Tous les deux! Toi porce que tu o'ao fait qa et vous parce que vouo m'avez vue comme qa. Allez! ... Filez!l3

At this point in the text, it is curious that Jacquemort's reassurance that the ’’signs" of pregnancy will disappear should elicit such vehemence and her remarks are directed at the two of then. Clementine insists that she can nurse the "trois salopiote" because she will not be worrying about her bunt line any longer. Angel will simply have to find another bed-partner because "Une feme ne peut plus se fier aux hommes 3. partir du moment ou un hcmae lui a fait des enfants, Et particuli^rement pas a celui-la." She cannot bear his body to touch her own: the horror of 15 her recent suffering is imprinted on any contact between them. She plans to build her life around her cliildren and announces the schedule that she has set cut for them and herself — including a body-building program that will condition her for her chosen role. Ironically, the hill she has chooen to climb, l’Hotnme de Terre, "... un champignon irrS- gulier ... is suspiciously like a gigantic granite penis, Tho day that she climbs the fourth and most difficult face of the mass of rock, 16 she responds erotically as she approaches the summit, A second irony is that Clementine has insisted that she and she alone will care for the nine month old children. On this day she is so occupied with her piece

1^rbid., pp. 19-20,

1W , p. 29.

1^Ibid., p. 69.

l6Ibid.. pp. 71-73. 222 of stone that she is a half-hour late for their afternoon snack, Jacque­ mort notices that her "... ton pos& contrasts!t avec 1'excitation 17 physique qui impregnait encore visiblement sea membres," The lore affair with stone wanes gradually and she rarely fails to feed the children until a day that Angel is forced to do it in her absence and in spite of Cl&nentine's interdiction. He and Jacquemort discover her, supine on the dining-room table, to all appearances completely alone, but in the midst of the sexual act and behaving as though she were with a 18 partner. She thinks she was ",.. renversee stir cette table," From this day, Clementine goes to her room to take a nap at ^:30 every after­ noon, The incident makes the break between Angel and Clementine a definitive one, even though he departs some time later.

Jacquemort solves the problem of Clementine's strange behavior by chance. The day after she masters the fourth face of 1'Homme de Terre, he goes to the blacksmith shop on Clementine’s business and notices ”twe forme vague, d'allure humaine" that appears to be metal, fieturning through the village, he passes the shop of an old seamstress who is sew- 4Q ing a dress like the one Clementine wore the day before. The tnar$chal- ferrant has constructed an "androide" in her image and every afternoon at the same time he dresses the supple, bronze and steel robot in a copy of one of Clementine's garments and the seduction at a distance occurs,

Jacqueraort, at a knothole in Nez, rouge's room, watch in hand, remarks that

17Ibid., p. 7 6.

l8Ibid., pp. 96-100. 223

"En co moment od les reins d'acier de la statue plongeaient le marSchal dans 1’ext ace, Clementine, dans la maison de la falaise, crispait ees doigts, , et haletait aussi, satisfaite."2® Culblanc and Nezrouge emphasize Jacquemort's failure to fill the void in himself by analysing 21 0 subjects; it is Culblanc who returns to her room, "pleine." Clemen­ tine's love affair with the mineral (the granitic) and through the re­ fined mineral (her bronze and steel double) with the marechal establishes an absolute distance between herself and Angel. 'And the children belong 22 to the mother since she suffered to bring them into being.'

The two months that Angel has passed behind a locked door have been decisive. Released by Jacquemort, he is laconic, responding half­ heartedly to the psychiatrist's attempts at polite conversation and not at all when Jacqueraort attempts sly analysis. He remarks that he has

"... ratS pas raal de choses."2^ His wife's response to pregnancy and initially to motherhood make him painfully aware of one more failure. In this world there is no forgiveness and he begins to pay immediately: his exile to another room becomes permanent. Angel's acceptance of responsi­ bility for Clementine's suffering puts him "... en etat d'inferiorito,,.." where the children are concerned. His interpersonal existence disappears completely as "ClSncntino ne veut plus rien ... Et les autrea £lui3

20Ibid., pp. 120-123.

21Ibid., p. 70.

22Xbid., p. 22, Echoed by Angel, p. 80. pit Ibid.. p. 24. Also spoken maliciously of Wolf by Lil, when it no longer makes a difference. Vian, l'Herbe rouge, p. 179* 22k J2k fichent la fi&vre... . His isolation on a personal plane is total.

For a man who describes himself as "intSresse" and . [quij aime vivre...,11 the wall erected between himself and ClSmentino is a disaster*

Nullified as a husband by Clementine-femme, he is also nullified as a parent with the assistance of Clementine-mlre, If he reproaches her about her inattentiveness to the needs of the three enfants, she responds scathingly from her shelter as wife who has been abused M... avec une espSce de surete haiEsablo et presque justifiee." He sees the children 25 as "Ponvres larvos ... Cqui3 airaent qu*on les brime, ... . 11 At the same time, ho is "gene" when they appear to take sides with the mother against him and is always nervous in their presence and aware of his incompe­ tence with them*

Although Angel and Jacquemort have difficulty in communicating — conditioned by the former's external "vide" and the latter'e internal one — Angel snaps out of his muteness precisely when challenged by Jac­ quemort' 6 assertions about his need to "psychanalyser." Jacquemort contends that he has to analyze subjects since he was born the preceding year without passions or desires. Angel takes the opposing position and suggests that if the psychiatrist sincerely tries to cease desiring the appropriation of the desires of others, he will prove negatively that the one desire is enough and that he is in fact free. The latter accepts the test and immediately .• une transparence envahit •., son corps, ..*," but that does not mean the demonstration is accepted -- or acceptable:

Vian, 1 1 Arrache-cceur, pp. 81 and 79. Cf. Lazuli and his ffbon- horarae" in 1 'iicrbo rouge. 2 5 Vian, 1 1 Arrache-coeur, pp. 96 end 102. 225

— Vous voyez bien, dit Angel. En pleine relaxation, vous n fexistez plus. -- Ah, dit Jacquemort. Vraimcnt vous vous leurrez, Si vous croyez qu'un tour de passe-passe va avoir raison de ma conviction... — Bien, dit Angel, Je suia heureux de voir que vous etoe de mnuvaise foi et insensible a 1*evidence. C'ect dans l'ordre des choses. On psychiatre doit avoir mauvaiee conscience.

Angel is a "trop-plein" that ho would like to keep private at the same

time that his links with a world outside himself have been severed.

Thrown back upon himself, he has nothing to do. Ironically, it is the

"vide,1' Jacquemort, who suggests that Angel should "... chercher un de­

rivator,...:" he should take up boating, for example, and if he does not

have a boat, then he should build one, Angel begins to do so the fol- 27 lowing day. Denied access to existing passions, Angel creates a new

one for himself and reaffirms his freedom. And just in time: the

dining-room scene with ClSmentine pushes him out to the edge of the land*

From that day, ho moves out of the house and into his improvised ship­

yard on the rim of the cliff. As soon as the beat is ready, ho will

leave. Jacquemort has come to regard Angel as a friend and is upset.

Angel explains that "On ne reete pas parce qu*on aine certainos personncs;

on e'en va parce qu*on en dSteste d'autres. II n fy a que le moche qui pQ vous fasse agir.' As he departs, he mouths a set of horailitic state­ ments that are designed to at once negate Jacquemort's possible perception of his leave taking as painful and to assuage any wrench that the psychiatrist experiences: men and women do not live on the same

26Ibid., pp. 2*»-28.

2^lbid., pp. 80 and 89. pQ Ibid.. p. 12*K plane; he will not miss the children because he does not know them and 29 besides, "... Cil a] horreur dea onfants." These are appreciations that are made after the fact and to that degree are self-serving. His disclaimer made directly to Jacquemort falls into the same category: he carries little food and water (he intends to "pecher a la ligno"); he has 30 bored a small hole in the hull of his boat which skims across the water on its eleven pairs of legs like some gigantic insect.

Jacquemort's irruption into tko house on the falaise is dramatic but almost ineffectual. Culblanc delivers the first two enfants. "En- core un, dit-il pour lui. ...," and steps forward to deliver the third child. At the nurse's suggestion, he moves to the adjoining room to 31 "deliver" Angel too, who is "reborn" after a two month hiatus. Jac­ quemort has a red beard, was b o m an adult only the previous year and 32 dresses with an oxtravaganco that is "follemont simple." Jacquemort and Angel are destined from the beginning not to bo able to communicate with each other, primarily because Jacquemort . donne ... dans le fortament pence," and Angel is too tired, too isolated for that. As the psychiatrist describes his reasons for coining to this out of the way place:

Celui que jo psychanaljserai cocano qa, il faudra qu'il me dise tout. Tout. Ses pensees les plus inbimos. See secrets les plus poignants, ees idces cachocn, ce qu'il n'oso pas s'avouer a lui- meme, tout, tout et le restc, ot encore ce qu'il y a par derri^re. 227

... Je veux realisor une espece d'identification, Savoir qu'il existe des passions et no pas les ressontir, c'est a f f r e u x „ 3 3

It is precisely this mania in one b o m too young in a world too old that

creates all of Jacquemort' s difficulties. His verbal responses are those

of an adult but are spoken as a child would speak, as one who has not yet

had the time to form a prejudice or to speak from experience. However,

he is in fleshly difficulties before he knows it. When Culblanc misun­

derstands what he wishes, he accepts her interpretation of what he wants

just as a child cannot refuse a piece of candy, while at the same time he maintains his fixation. After a particularly exhausting night spent try­

ing to force the "nurse-roaid" to talk, he concludes that all his

arguments are turned aside "... par un silence, par une inertie trop

naturels pour qu*il puisne les combattre, trop simples pour qu'ils en- # 3 k gendrassent en lui autre chose qu'un total decouragement.,H^ Only the

lingering odor of their inevitable love-making compensates for his frus­

tration, allows him to overcome the fatigue caused by her muteness. Her silence, inertia and naturalne33 are like characteristics of another world. What he does understand is the sonsual and is willing to accept

it for all that it is worth while he pursues his single idea. At the house, he gradually becomes "l'oncle Jacquemort," fulfilling the role that Angel is not allowed to play with respect to the children. Hie

'success* in both areas is juxtaposed to the "vido" of Angel's existence.

If life at the house is marginally bearable, Jacquemort can tolerate life less in the village. Sent to the carpenter's chop to order

^Ibid.. p. 25. Cf. Wolf, l'Herbe rouge. 3k Vian, 1 1Arrache-coeur, p. 89. the beds for the now-born enfants, he aeea the young "apprenti," who ia too tired to lift up his hatchet, drop from fatigue. The carpenter awak­ ens the boy brutally and Jacquenort protests, saying, "Vous devriez avoir honte! ..." and receives a blow on the chin for his pains. The 35 carpenter then returns to his work as if nothing had been said or done.

Earlier on the same day, Jacquemort had received similar treatment when he protested at the manner in which the aged were treated at the "foire 36 aux vieux.When he returns with Angel the following day to get the beds, the apprentice is dead, Angel agrees to throw the boy into the

"ruisscau rouge" that most of the farms face and that flows by the vil- 37 lago. Jacquenort remarks Uiat the adults all appear solidly planted 38 in this world, are sure of themselves. They certainly are not fit sub­ jects for psychoanalysis. They are like Culblanc, only less vulnerable.

The arrangement with Culblanc is not working out, so Jacquemort accepts

Angelfs suggestion to try animals. Re manages to absorb the cerebral matter of a castrated cat which only intensifies hio reactions to odors 39 and makes the sensible world more complex. That loaves only the

•'bonnes" as possible subjects. When on the way to Hezrouge's room above the blacksmith shop, Jacqueraort tries to get the la3t word in a verbal duel with the nar€chal-ferrant. His "... fleche ultima" is "Je vais

35Ibid., p. 39.

36lbid.. p. 35.

37Ibid., pp.

^Ibid.. pp. 57-58 . 229 troncher votre bonne. ",.. et je la psychanalysorai. ..." becomes IjO nearly an afterthought. And of course he is no more successful in satisfying his mania with Nezrouge than with Culblanc. By a process of elimination, he is thrown back upon la Gloire as the only possible will­ ing subject and when that analysis becomes intSgrale he will bo ready to replace the old man on his boat.

Both Angel and Jacquemort could be continuations from other nov­ els. The Angol from 1 Mu tonne jt Pekin was an adult-adolescent who was just coming into maturity. This Angel has failed many times and being older, his departure promises nothing like the same future as his name­ sake from the earlier novel. Jacquemort as "vide" continues whore Wolf left off in l’Herbe rouge, but the difference is that ho is an adole­ scent-adult. Neither cliaracter is able to cope with the universe of this novel which is the important thing. As J. Du chateau remarks, the men are if1 rivals, but certainly not competitive ones. Rather their situations are juxtaposed and only where the children are concerned does Jacquemort entirely replace Angel. Tho relationship there is rathor like uncle and father. In their inability to dominate their erotic universes, they are set off against the nnrochal-ferrant. Jacquemort has tho leisure to fornicate with Nezrouge only because tho employer has becomo wrapped up in the seduction at a distance of Clementine — who has already sworn off sex. The narechal only emphasizes a certain kind of lack in their

i i a Ibid., p. 117. ^1 J. Duchateau, Boris Vian, pp. 180-181. 230 bz lives. The lack cornea from Angel and Jacquenort and the way the two men relate to their world.

La Gloire becomes a double for Jacquemort through the latter*s analysis. The first time they meet, the old man describes the qualities of the "ruisseau rouge” and explains his own function. Jacquemort had noticed that the body of the carpenter*s apprentice floated. La Gloire explains that all bodies float on this water and the quality of the water b3 has to do with his function. He is expected to fish out with hio teeth all tho detritus that the inhabitants of the village discharge there.

He continues:

... je dois digorer la honte do tout le village. Ils me paient pour que j'aio des rcmord3 a leur place. Do tout ce qu'ils font de mal ou d ’impie. De tous leurs vices, Dc leura crimes. De la foire aux vieux. Doc betes torturees. Des apprentis. Et des ordures,^

If the old boatman is paid to accept the shame that attaches to every act, then 'everything is permissible* within the lira its the villagers impose on themselves. They can woll be Christian believers, have

pp. 182-183. J. Duchateau goes too far. "Angel n*a pas pu supporter le spectaclo des extaecs do ea femne, Jacquemort ne euppor- tera celui de la force du aorechal: e'eot en initant celui-ci qu'il se laissera entraincr a la violence et se retrouvera cheu le pore la Gloiro.” Clementina had already 'killed* Angel by cancelling him out of her life. The ranrechal-f■: rrant is incidental. The quotation J. Ducha­ teau uses to prove his point about Jacquemort is cut off for that purpose. Jacqunmort only draws back to get his watch and verify hio supposition about the meaning of ClSaontine's naps. If Jacquemort re­ places la Gloxrc it is because ho revolts against violence, just as the old man had before him. Tho basis for that revolt was in geim in his initial relationship with Culblanc. Duchateau distorts (or ignores) the text in this manner quite often.

^Vian, 1 'Arracho-coeur. p. h8. Uh Ibid.. p. **9. 231

"... leur conscienco pour eux." ^ Even if their lack of remorse (paid)

allows them precisely to be believers, that they keep their own consci­

ence is certainly made easier. La Gloire remarks that his mother was an

outsider just as Jacqueraort is. The villagers have always behaved the way they behave now. He who weakens, who revolts against ‘universal* lack of shame, is the one who becomes the boatman. La Gloire is the name of the boat, lie no longer has a name. It is easy to see that Jac­ quemort arrived with all the necessary credentials to replace him,

Clementine's three enfants are not "trumeaux" as the astonished

Angel says, but rather "Des jumeaux et un icole, ... . II est sorti nettement aprSs. C'est le eigne d'une forte personnalite." Jacquemort uses this formula in the beginning and insists upon it until it is no longer arguable. Speaking to the curS about the baptism, he calls the enfants the "trois jumeaux." ^ ClSmentino's seal means official appro­ val, which she gives when she names them: "Joel et Noel pour les jumeaux. Citroen pour le troisiSme." She also keeps that arrangement when ahe has them in bed beside her. Citroen, "1*icole," is on her left side and alone. Tho "twins" begin by echoing each other, Noel simply abbreviating his brother*o statements by dropping the first word. Cit­ roen is different from the beginning. Joel, the first bom, is generally the most 'normal* of the three. He is apt to be more concerned about

^Ibid., p. 50.

Ibid.. p. 17.

^ I b i d .. p. 53 .

^Ibid.. p. 29. 232

Clementine'a shows of emotion than the other two boys, He is also the one who is most petted since he is the good boy, Noel as hio twin usually echos him while they are toddlers but an occurence on the third day of his existence prepares for tho child he later becomes, Clementine lifts Noel up to give him the breast, and playing at being a mother since she is not yet capable of taking her role with total seriousness, she teases him by offering her nipple and then withdrawing it time after timo. The enfant becomes purple with rage and frustration, seems to be on the verge of asphyxiation which frightens his mother. She promises never to do it again, but it would appear that the child is formed. By the age of four the children begin to differentiate themselves totally.

On a rainy winter day, ClJmentine promises to cry if the three of them do not come to eat. "Tu no sais pas, ob3erva Noel meprisant, arrache a son laconinme habituel par la remarque vraiment outrecuidante de sa more."'^

Beginning with one’s own mother whom one should be able to depend on as a non-deceiver, one becomes aware that what comes from others (material or verbal) is more often than not othor than what it appears to be. Noel shortens speech to the minimum for understanding, searches out the exact expression and demands the same kind of precision in others. All of this at the age of four; but these children leara rapidly, Citroen is the truly creative one among the three. It is significant that he is both

"isole" and associated with Jacquemort from the beginning: it is Jac­ quemort who delivers him. While Clementine is torturing the three day

^ I b i d ., pp. *f2 -^3 .

^Ibid., p. 133 . 233

old Noel, Citroen watches her. For Clementine, "... il etait inquiotant,

profond cormne un petit dieu etranger." Citroen never criee. The day

that Clementine is late with 1 'Homme de Terre is also the first day he

stands alone. When his mother returns to the screams of the "twins"

Citroen and Jacquemort seem impervious to the noise, Citroen pulling his 52 surrogate father's beard. Citroen controls their children's games but

in combination they complement each other almost perfectly.

There are two minor double characters in the novel and it is

fitting that they belong to the church. The village priest and his sac­

ristan form a natural pair, Thoir functions are complementary within the

context of the church as an institution. Moreover, the stance they take with respect to Divinity reinforces their functional reciprocity. The

curS has a sumptuous, if curiously constructed, church to administer and a sumptuous erudition to help him spread the Word of God. Tho Sunday the

children are to be baptised, tho villagers ask the cure to call down rain because the "sainfoin est sec." Once ho is installed in hie "chaire a

couvercle," he begins his harangue:

... Dieu, e'est la volnpte du cuperflu. Vcus ne songes qu'au necessaire. ... II no pleuvra pas! Dieu n'est pas utilitaire. Dieu est un cadeau de fete, un don gratuit ,.. une image artis- tique, une friandieo legere. Dieu est en plus. II n'est ni pour ni contre. C'cst du rabiot.53

The cure lowers the shutters just in time to avoid being stoned to death.

51Ibid., p. 43.

^Ibid., p. 75. 53 Ibid., p. 60. Vian continues to parody Pascal? the lino from t^ie Peftsoeo reads: "II faut all or a Dieu par l'Eglise. Qui n'eet pas pour est contre." The context mokes the euro speak of God as the embod­ iment of "extreme injustice." Pascal, les Pensees, p. 1337 and note 3* > 25^ His parishoners pull his "chairs" down around his ears and he relents, calling down the rain. In his sacristy-dressing room onco more, he is anxious about his performance, oblivious to the fact that the villagers got what they wanted, Jacqueraort and the sacristan vie in paying him compliments and the euro is ecstatic. The cure's religion is tho same one implicit in the behavior of the churchmen and Jesus on his cross in

1'Kcune den .jours. The character, insofar as he sees himself as much an actor as a priest, recalls P3re Saureilles who is also perpetually en cc vedette. Fat this ctir6 also takes his religion seriously. God is not

"utile," but "inutile" and tho sufferings of mankind aro important only insofar as they take place for Him. In an environment where it is possible to pay in gold to have someone else bo ashamed, the possibility of communication on such a level is virtually impossible.

Jacquemort has already noticed that the sacristan is a "... petit hemme rcugeaud et ... insignifiant... When the cure announces his next spectaclo, a boxing match between himself and the devil, the sac­ ristan is so introduced, to the ekepticisa of the crowd. His spitting of flames does not impress thera either. The sacristan's vexation reveals him as a self-conscious performer who cannot wait to share the spotlight with the cure. His hooves are fully visible and stem from the "legSre 56 claudication" of the priest. But the confrontation between the man of

eZj. Vian, 1'Arrache-coeur, pp. 62-63. 55 , Cf. Boris Vian, le Bernier dos metiers. Sayn^te pour patron- nar;es (Paris: Jean-Jacques Pauvort, 19o57T~~The sacristan in the above play is an entirely different kind of character, but the cure could be a Peverond Pere Saureilles (Sorel) do province. 56 Vian, 1 'Arrache-cocur, p. 153. See section on myth. 235

God and the devil io devoid of metaphysical significance for the villag­ ers who have no difficulty with conscience. The devil, for all practical purposes, cannot exist. The cure io a man who io always on stage, who is otherwise devoted to spreading the Word of a God which is absolutely without meaning for his audience. His sacristan, logically, would be the devil; red, innocuous, vain liice hie opposite number and a flatterer

(until found out), the sacristan-devil is necusoary if there is to be a

"dialogue" at all.

CloMcutine as a mother is slow to develop, but the process is icolorable and tho affect on those around her is virtually without end.

At the start oho behaves with respect to the notion of her mutilated and abused flech which must somehow be paid for, Angel i3 the most visible target and must be punished for the sin he has committed: he will be denied further access to tho temple and what better way to justify his nihilation than to devote hersolf totally to her children. And they be­ long to her since the pain was and io her3 alone. As a corollary, the father can simply go away and with her best wishes. The period in which th: fantamo of sexuality persists is characterized by the caresses given to stone. The nchal-fcrTvnt:1 s fantasy extends the period of transition somewhat and is characterised by her on rossos given in empty air. Sexuality does not, finally, constitute a true disturbance. The fleshly confrontation ia what must be avoided. The "androide" is a oi-iuilacrun for all of that; but what is important for her future hopes is that the spectacle for Angel is the last straw. Driven off the last bit of land loft to him, the father tako/j to the sea; that Clementine would 236

prefer even the empty air to him -- and in this circumstance at the ex­

pense of the children who have been her pretext — is too much to bear*

The father leaves, burning his last 'earthly1 abode, the improvised

ship's hangar. The months and days of the calendar have already changed.

If it is 39 .iuinet on the cliff as Jacquemort watches Angel put to sea,

it is already 39 juinout in tho house where Clementine, seeing the smoke, 57 is aware that "Cajon dernier obstacle s'envolait." Once the verifiable

event coincides with her desire that Angel be nullified, it is as though he never was. It is possible for her to speak of him in the past (and hope that the children will be as gifted as he was) and yet have the birth of the three "juraeaux" border on tho miraculous. She has already used a month of her freedom on the day of his departure.

Her method turns upon a logic that is internal to her situation and which is not open to discussion. Just as soon as she is aware that

the children can even feed themselves, she begins to think in terras of

tying them to her forever; she will give them so much love that life would lose its meaning out of her presence, Porhap3 they can eat alone, but what they eat she can control. They will have all but the scraps which she will take to her room and eat only when the meat has rotted.

That she must train herself to be able to eat such leavings without vo­ miting enhances her self-consciousness as saint at the came time that it

objectifies how much the throe children need her in order to subsist. If

she punishes herself enough — for example, by letting the meat become wormy before eating it — then perhaps she can purify every instant to

57Ibid.. pp. 123 , 127 and 129. 237 this very moment when che was not sacrificing herself (as ahe is now) and time in the pash will become opaque, solidify, promising the same for the

future.^ And that is not all.

Cnee the problem of basic nourishment is disposed of, she begins to actively ij~a53.no disasters that could befall them beyond her sight, outside tho house itself. Her beginning is timid: the improbable chains of events she imagines begin with the nearly infinitesimal (a larva found under a rcclc), peak at the truly dangerous (a bull charging toward the walled garden) and ond with a sting (of a flying ant) as the extent of tho damage; the arc formed by the chain of events describes nearly a bell 59 slurped ev.r ;e. Hvr imaginations are also constructed so as to demon­ strate h r auarenosj of h : r position with respect to the children. She lists tlio fantasies, choosing tho child who would be struck down as the last ele'.-3nt. Her choices are invariably in inverse order of tho chil­ dren's nearness to her: Citroen, Noel and Joel, ’Nearness1 ic equivalent to rolat.ivo lack of resistance. First Citroen alcno, then Citroen dying and Joel injured and as an afterthought, Noel dead also; then Citroen dead, Neel dead and Joel unharmed. At this stage in her development as arch-moth-r, she formulates her concern: "Je les aims puisque jo penoe a ce qui pout lour cirri ver do pire," This is nanifc.otly an example of reasoning by the abs rd and her imagination feeds upon itself. The

53Jbid., pp. 138-1A0 . If tho description sounds like one of Ste. Theresa, it is no error,

59lbid., pp. Co Ibid., pp. 1A!V-1^7. A perversion of the cartesian cogito: "Je ponse a cux done jo suis more." 238

final image beccmen a cascade of blood (cf. the peasant a at the box­

ing natch).

In order to turn imagination into action, she needs a listener —

not to approve of her fears since she hue elected herself the only compe­

tent judge — and Jacquemort is there. He suggests alternatives, but at

this point he is t*:o for along the read toward acceptance of the univer­

sal lot. Like Wolf he has the kind of reverse pride that will not allow

scttii.g hir:r,3lf out a3 role judge of value. He voices hie disquiet with a gussfcicn instead:

— I< * o.'olgr“3*-v<a rrw honfceux. — Quoi de plus nature!? Cos enfants i;ie tiennent lieu de tout, i1 s cor.t mou unique y.ocn d'enister; il est juste que, rooipro- ru ami,, its s'hab LlU'-at a ee rcnoser sur moi en chaquo c i. roc. 1st a 110 o.b'

It is clear that her attitude toward tho children is inseparable from

I'M’ r_,g?_d to have that attitude, Tho two attitudes are perfectly ccrnple- ne.vtary and since she makes the decisions there can only bo one outcome.

Jncqu \uort is impressed with Clementine*s mania as mania, which does not help matters.

The day the children loam to fly, Joel leaves his teddy bear sit tin,.-; on the linb of a tree which is the only provocation Clementine needs: tho trees must go. ’‘[Lesj bucherons ... Ldoivcnt] ... venir 62 le;* nbattre tcus. ... Cent la ecui.e solution, In tho world of the novel, "abattre le3 arbres" means to attack them as one would make war on human beings, from the trenches and with spearsj the trees

6 1 Ibid.. p. 167.

€2Ibid.t p. 176. scream with pain and rage and attempt to destroy those who would mas­ sacre them. The slaughter is more than Jacquenort can bear, but

Clementine hears nothing out of the ordinary.^ Three weeks later, her delirium sends her out to the garden while the children are off flying which creates a fresh panic. That they apparently come down frcni the attic where they would have been reading is only by the way; that they could have left the garden and gotten themsolvos killed on the road and fulfilled her bloody expectations is enough. The wall around the garden must be and is replaced by

... un mur de rien pour qu'on ne puisse pas avoir euvie de sortir du jardin. Comme qa, tout ce qui n'ost pas le jardin c'est rien et on ne peut paa y aller. ... [Un mur] qui [limite] a l'etat pur.

The ground is next to go -- and as an extension of the decision to limit 65 space without any untoward occurence to provoke her. The natural world intervenes, as is so often the case in Vian's novels, to help limit the children's world even further. In the novel, nature is alive and in this instance malevolent. When the hailstorm begins, "... des grelons amers 66 ... explosaient contro les ardoises du toit, ..." and Clementine remem­ bers in panic the forgotten element. The children must be retired from the world outside the house altogether. It would be impossible to sup­ press tho sky* And there is a roof on the house already. To be certain that the three " juricaux" do not wander out under the sky and have it fall

63lbid.. pp. 178-182*

Ibid., pp. 201 and 20*+-205. zko

on their heads, they will have to bo put into cages, permanently. Jac­

quemort i/ho lias discovered that the children con fly, protoGts that birds

die in cages (without revealing his reference, however). "(Ja vit tr$e

bien, . , , is her answer. This is the only instanco in wliich she sub-

stilutes the indefinite pronoun for the nines of tho children, or "mes

enfants." Tho question is, could she imagine something more? Her pain,

or anxiety, io tied to her love for the children and imagination doeB not

limit itself because it is perverse.

V’arlior eke lia.d said, "... il faut leur construire un aondo par—

fait, un nende propwo, agrcable, inof fennif, comme l'intorieur d'un ocuf 68 blanc pome cur un cnunain do plume,11 Tho cages contain their beds, a chair, a thick and arc large enough to fcholterf an adult of email 69 cloture. Could r-v.: find a way to pit t h n back into the womb? It is not a coincidence that in the scene immediately following the above cita­ tion Jncgtw morfc visits the church described at the beginning of the novel 70 as "... un oeuf do panic cur un nid, ... ." God as "luxe" is objocti- ficd llj lu:sariourj objects of value and, coupled with the prieot,s perception of hinr.olf as a stage performer, suggests that the myth of the

67£?i&» p * ^3.

6 "Ibid., p. dc6. 69 ~''b Id., p. P_?Jk Vian ;.i 1 in an ia tor/Lew in 1953, that he in­ tended in or cate with l.'Arrpch^-oo'.'.'ir an "au.-i-tiar.iu" with reference to Horve Ik :,In's la _Vi_ ■ go an jc k g , in which the Liclher socms to hate her children. /ran saxd thut it was much worse* to be "... couvS par ea more." Most critics then suggested that hio oyjt. m o t h e r was Vian*s target. In ny treatment of the text, that is besids the point, Franqois Billctdoux, "Vian, la ton Vian," * rgc (5-9 avril 19 55). Cited in D, Iioakes, i/.-uls Vian, p. 93 *uxd M. a/oalka, Toris Vian, p. 317. r0 ( Vian, 1 *Arr.-, ohe-coenr, p. 51* 2*f1

Church and Religion io tied to the church's expensive relics on the one hand «nd the priest's extravagant language on the other. Thus the myth bodies forth as pure appearance. The cure is closer in character to

Petit jean from l'Autonne a Pekin than to any of the rest of Vian's char­ acters including P

The combination of the priest's "legSre claudication" and the ruddy faced sacristan as the revealed devil evokes the "homo claudus," the imago of the Old Mon of Crete from Dante's Inferno. But in a commun­ ity which rejects both the premise of original sin and the supremacy of 73 * the Papacy, the image representing the cure and the sacristan-devil

Vian, l'Automne a Pekin, p. 289 and l'Herbe rouge, p. 122* It does not matter that the effect of Petitjean's profeseid noyautage is to draw people to him as separate from the organism his soutane would indi­ cate he represents. In l'Herbe rouge, it io Wolf who suggests tliat this iG Abbe Grille's method; but the Abbe makes it no better with hie enigmatic answer. 72 ( M. Rybalka suggests that there is a similarity to Genet's use of form and appearance. But Genet goes further, establishing through hio successive perversions of the sacred a wall interdicting condemnation by others. Boris Vian, p. 39. Cf. Jean Genet, Notre Dnmo des flcurs. 73 C, II. Grandgcnt's and J* Sinclair's interpretations respective­ ly of the line "'1 dcctro piede 3 terra cotta; / e eta 'n cu quel pixl che 'n eu l'altro eretto." Inferno, Canto XIV, lines 110-111. La Divina Conncdia di Dante Alighieri, ed. and anno, by C. H. Grandgent (Eostom D. C. Heath and Company, 1933)» p. 127. The Divina Corody of Dante Ali­ ghieri i The Inferno, trans. and commentary by John D, oinclair^(New i'ork: Oxford University Press, 19&1), p. 190. Cf. The Book of Daniel ii, 31-35; Ovid, Met am orphoses, trans. by Rolfe Humphries (Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1961), PP. 5-7. functions as a pure reciprocity without traditional religious allegorical significance, Tlie sa.no is true for the notion of the four ages of man

(gold, silver, brass and iron) which must also be cast in another light.

The boxing autch between the cure and the sacristan-devil is ad­ vertised au a "spectacle de luxe,11 Two of the ring posts represent only

den scones fjnilicres de la vie de Jerats: Jecuo se grattant les piedo sur lo bord du chejuin, se tnpant un litre de rouge, Jusus 2 la pcciie a la ligne, bref un reta>..'.3 de l'imogerie sulpicienne clacsi- 7k , quo*" The cur j has hud the inexpensive seats piled with chairs a3 an object Ionaon to ace “apnny his opening tirade on "Dieu est luxe," but the villager;:, led by tho .■ v n‘ * c 1 a .1. - j*: r i ■a n 1 1 turn the chairs into firewood and honbord hi-.i as they did c.-u-Iier in tho church. The sacristan is the stronger boxer iron the beginn‘an; and the cure has to resort to trickery.

His "Vado retro" doubles M s opponent with laughter and exposure to some telling blew s. The eacristnn counters vith "... une grole de coups qui A 75 # pleuvait, si l'on pout dire qu*uny pluie peut greler." The euro fol­ lows with a knee to the noso and knocks tho sacristan cut by dropping the loud-speaker (suspended above the ring) on his head, ITo circles the ring pronouncing, "Je suis vainqueur par k.o. technique ... Cost Dieu qui a vnincu en r;oi, co Dieu de luxe et de richesso! C*est Dieu! En ti*ois ng reprises!A "technical" knockout it certainly i3 : even the puns are

y - : - Viati, 1 1* vr; pp. 1W-150. Held cut doors, though not on the Xjry.ba of tbs c.arch, tua "spectacle" evokes a reaieval Passion, two cc.ruevs of tho ring representing tho life of Christ, another one, the devil and a fourth, the worldly. ZkJ> integrated into the narrative now. The episode also evokes Wolf's state­ ment about a good boxing match as being superior to Monsieur Brul’o education (a religion for some) because even if "truque ... qa soulage."

In this instance Religion is a boxing match and it is "truquS" but it does not "soulage." The villagers want their money returned: the bout was too expensive by the minute and there was not enough bloodshed. For

Jacquemort who has been a spectator, it is the free-for-all which follows that constitutes the true "soulagement,"

After the boxing match, the relation between the curS and the

sacristan-devil becomes openly antagonistic; as is proper, the sacristan drops the pose of the arch-flatterer and becomes openly contemptuous.

The cure must struggle to even cave face behind the scenes. The priest has another spectacle planned involving an ascent toward "le Seigneur" in a golden ballon (montgolfiore) and "... [la] defeneetr[ation de] ce oa- 77 cripant de sacristain. ..." once a sufficient altitude is reached.

The spectacle will be luxuriant and will function as puro appearance.

Jacquemort suggests a way out of the ensuing argument. Addressing him­ self to the curS, he says:

II me scnble que vous constituez lea deux tertaes d'un equi- libre; l'un rend I'autre valable. Sana diable, votre religion prendrait un aspect un peu gratuit. — Voila, dit le sacristain, je ne suis pas fachS de vous 1 *entendre dire. liccutez, mon cure, avouez que je vous justifie.

*?*? Ibid., p. 208. The priest's project parodies the descent of Beatrice into the earthly paradise, The Divine Comedy of Panto Alighieri; Purratorio. trans. and commentary by John D. Sinclair liiew York: Oxford Univez'sity Press, 1961), Cnntos XXIX and XXX, pp. 376-*tOO. Meedlees to say, in Vian there will be no revelation except that of the "inutility" of religion. 244

srlier, the sacristan had suggested that ho was "utile" for tho priest' a

spactacles. * On cne level, Vian still has liis tcngue in cheek when

GiM'iikiug of religion, but on another, tho exchange points to another re-

tl-of-io f d absunhira of the Great Chain of Being. Kvil is a part of God's

greater Good but where "Gcod" and "Ih/il" are manifest as the appearance

of "Luxe," they are totally dyofunctional. Hero at last in l/olf's words

in au equilibrium where .. Its forces ngiGsant cant nulls s," amounting

* 79 to an "cquilibre stable11 and manifest as "inutility.1' Within the

ot-ucturo of the Church and Hellgio:i as pure appearance, the curS none-

theless puts Clementine's behavior in another perspective, A eked about

coalitions at tho house, Jacquemort says that tho thought that something

rj ht happen io her children , la rend folle. 11 Tho cure replies,

"iLia ello serait egalcncat; folio cl'avoir 1 *ivies qu'il ne peut rien leur 8 0 orriver, ... Here ia another ''cquilibre stable" but where the

forces operating are equally destructive nnd since Clementine has open,

nec'.n to the children, mho can be dcubly dectruetive. Tho image of the

r~. O { Vian, 1 * Ar m d ; o-e e aur, pp. 203-209. 70 There is .also a thread rur.nir-- through Jacquenort's visits to the church tint t/vpiai^.ir’j the inlcqrc/icn of lit-:-i.nry puns into the fabric of tin ,n .-ua.tivo. .In adciiiian to the notion of "lure" v/hich re av;:, Jaequn:w t culms h i v e l f in tin church after a hard day in tho village by list;.;eing to the choir sing in tin ex a-obscurity of the ovoid sfi ectu.re (pp. (:*no6). liyca his lact visit in the novel, 1 *... til] hums

l 1.atmosphere rciigieuae l - . » o g une vo.l.apde de vicax vivuur . ,, " (p. 207), roc .j 11 imp the lir.oo "Lg:*;calme et voiuptr:,1' irc.i I'cjudolaire18 "L'lnvi- taCTon o\i voyage" (repealed three !i .c-c. in the pe--.:, li.’-o a litany). That Paudftlnirc' n rel'craiv-.a is to holi.-n A is only incidental go long a s ".La, tout r.'ent qu'ordre et bacute;" i’or Vian, :..ich o rd er and beauty are inoperative or d": rtruci.lv a. The voyage that Jacquemort io aboutto take in the recurring or. a as the rep I an a. mi; for la Glor re, Charles Baude­ laire, la s 1**1 a'i tv j du J1?I, pp. 5^-.-59. Of. 0 arm s' use of Amsterdam in La Chut u. 60 Vian, 1 1Arrache-cceur, p. 210. 2^5 egg and that of the stable equilibrium, while descriptive of the reality of the Church and Religion, also inform the myth of the Mother as church, * % 81 making Clementine a "Sainte-Mere-Eglise" and, as Jacquemort states, insofar as she would be the world for her children (the contrary of what 82 she says), she is totally destructive.

The novel also functions in terms of the myth of the Four Ages of

Man. The image picked up and used by Dante of the Old Man of Crete is implicit, but it is subordinate to the Four Ages as a common medieval figure: Old Age, Maturity, Adolescence and Childhood. The aged in this isolated community are simply sold at "la foire aux vieux" by the raa- quignon municipal; they will serve either as toys for the children of the purchasers or as toys for the purchasers themselves who take them along on days of "spectacles" to maltreat them. At the foiro that Jacquemort witnesses at the beginning of the novel, the old man who is auctioned off first is turned over to the "enfants" of the purchaser who set upon him, O-e beat and knock him down. Jacquemort turns to watch with horrified fth fascination. The prospective buyers "... ne regardaient pas." If in

81 Also the name of a town in the Cotent in in Noimandy, site of a bloody battle on 6-8 June, 19^*

^Vian, 1 * Arrftche-coeur, p. 219*

There is a reversal of this "inevitability" in a ncuvelle called lo Rctraite. In that text three adolescent boys abuse a hunch­ backed old man, stonir ; him, shooting arrows into liis hump. One day, the boldest of the three jumps over his bent figure from behind an over a fireplug, landing in front of him. The old man pulls out a six-shooter, empties it into the boy and walks away. Le Retraitc (in) les Luretteo fourrocs (following) l'Kerbe rouge (Paris: Jean-Jacques Pauvejrt, 1962) pp. 213-217. gif. Vian, 1 1 Arrache-coeur. pp, 32-35* 2*6 85 Lhakesponre'o play, Lear's statement, "Old age i3 unneceseary" is spo­ ken metaphorically, in this novel it is made a reality.

The mature inhabitants of the village and the surrounding farms are in another cane, entirely. The women are colorless and retiring.

The men are described aa

... den hommes da trentc-cirq a rjuarante ans, salides, durs, coifiv> do cacnuettes posooa bh,n d 1aplomb cur lour tote. La race p.uraicsait trnpuo et resinennte, Cuolques-uns portaient le moustache. C'est uno preuyo. ... ils <\v. uent tons l'air bien vivante, ... ot curs do quelque chone.^o

The "mouGtacho" is the sign of thj or the ror.gnnr. If the race is resistant, it is in part because they 'cel* other bur .an beings also.

'The nseloi-s mouths of the old are made to servo ecme purpose and they are hilled in the proveas. Thu nature eve also nure of their 'religious1 be­ lief but that is no grout problem if la Cleave nr-i later Jncquenort are there to accept thoir h.or.te and tlmnr gold. They do not go into tho church humbly: they demand rain a .id stone the priest until they got it. 37 At tho ou :r -1 of tho boring match, 'he cry is nLu sang." Lines tho cava makes good his escape before they can got it frc.:i him, they draw blood from each other. There is a kind of rough justice at work hero.

P.r. "'■’illisn Lhakonpcaro, i.nr; .T/~h£ (Kow Yovk: Washington Square Press, 15*70), Act II, sc-no l.vio 170, p. 'j\.

'/inn, 1 'Arrvk v-ocsur, pp. jA and 57-5-8, 87 'This thirst for blood is mirrored in o p ...entire's iirnginings about tho bleeding of h/-r children, for the ..n-i . d tine, ew.n though ehe is not "cvoynvte" and never goes into the vi Litho life there inter­ penetrates her imago a of her children end rc-verl a uha 0 0 .1-uniat ion bo tv/con — in this iastauco — tho porpctv ■ hi -an of t h a ’v.d vna at tho ex pens a of all othor ago groups by tho nature . iltrgnrs .;ud 0 ] • men tine 1 o attitude toward her c m children. 'The tent g a d s tuvc I. core any bo only a difference in stylo dictated by relative circumstances* 2b7

When he stops the car to pick up animals who are hitch-hiking to town,

Angel says, "— Quand ils so tiennent tranquilles, ... ils ont l e droit

d'aller se promener. Sinon, on les punit ... on les bat ... on les en-

fence. Et on les mange sans autre forme de procos."% 88 Later, Jacquemort witnesses the crucifixion of an "... Stalon. ... [qui] a faute." Jacque- raort still has the courage to suggest the treatment is extreme. The

peasant answers, "II etait libre, ... L'avait qu'a ne pas fauter." The marochal-ferrant is then brought in to castrate the animal. Like the 89 trees, tho animal’s screams of pain approach the human. Wrong-doers, animal as well as human, get only one chance. Everyone and everything

is absolutely responsible for what they do or do not do.

The mar*chal-ferrant is the epitome of adult male life in this

closed world. He is tho strongest man in the village. He is called in

to make the "cabots de fer" for the children when they begin to walk

since Clementine insists they will be raised sinply.^® Ho also forges metal as he did with the androxde and it is he who is called in at the end of the novel to build the steel cages for the children. The inhabi­

tants of the village are fixed in a semi-permanent iron ago dominated by

tho blacksmith who lives with iron; this is a world in which evil done to

others gives a clear conscience since a good part of the gold saved by

economy measures can then be given to la Gloire.

^Vian, 11Arrache-coour, p. 89 Ibid., pp. 82-8*1. It is this incident that sends Jacquemort racing off to church to hear the choir sing. He nay have forgotten what church this was (albeit ho states at the beginning of the novel that he never goes to mass nor does he believe in religion), p. 55.

^°Ibid.. pp. 77 and 87. 2kS

The adolescents are only a littlo better off than tho aged, but

thon only because their resistance may be initially greater. The rate of

attrition c.ust be awesome. Tho carpenter coriplaino that Jacquemort wants i.achine-cado beds for tho enfantc, explaining that tho apprentices can bo

had for nearly nothing but that tho tools wear out and are expensive to

replace. Jacquemort slaps ("a contrc-cocur") the choirboy who seats

him at tho boxing rantch because local custom has dotermiiied that those who wish a tip should pet vhat is coming to the/d. The villagers come to

tho spectacle alone, being careful to beat the apprentices soundly be-

iorcliand so that the latter will not feel they will miss anything and be 92 glad to stay behind to nurse thoir hurts. Whan Jacquemort visits the btackC'fith1 s chop bofuro seeing thiwrouge, ho slaps at tho apprentice,

"... car e'etait la jovialo coutune dos visitcurs que do lui en assoner un au passage: CilJ tapait sur la ferraille et il etait juste qu'il en- QA cnisoat en retour." It is clear that the survivors in this difficult

school will graduate as toughened believers in the system of the survival

p. 37. All the inhabitants of the villa?ige who are rrmed, h?vc then with the trana; in Greek, it meant "deux.x trous" (cf. M .bert, 1 h ti<;onu ire j'.r_!nq n ix~:), The villagers behavior generally implies 'we encec . heir* world irom and wo will leave it by entering another (tro’i); as r.uoh as you can from this world while here.’ The r -r;:ohnl-.i'-t-rajvt, who eratenices the world of tho village, uses deux the blind eyes of tho r.orc tore to reo the material signs of Cli ..lerttir.e (hor dresses) so as to une deux t reus Gir,oitauoously, with his i'ccuc on the braes and iron portions of ta; oody. Clementine uses tbo ta ;,a r.ji- hor children's names, but the chilarcn arc anomalies. Her asaault cn I'Horj.co do Terre is an invitation to violation fron a dis­ tance by the blacksmith. Culblnnc doos not have the trc a in her name, but her sexual posture is a material manifestation of the image.

92lbid.« pp. 148-1^9.

Ibid., p. 118. la Gloiro receives friendly curses from the villagers; bncquomort does not participate at first. 2^9 of the strongest and will do anything they can to remain that way for as long as possible. The adolescents do all the backbreaking work; the adults save themselves for the practice of their art.

Enfanta are taught acceptance of the principle from the begin­ ning: they get the aged for toys. But they must die off like flies also. Jacquemort sees a anall child going to the well singing, carrying an earthenware crock that is as big as she is. He reflects that begin- aL ning with the return trip, she will sing no more. Before going off to his first session of analysis with Jacquemort, la Gloire pauses to fish a tiny ink-stained hand from the f,ruissoau rouge." He identifies it as belonging to "... le gosse da Charles Cquij a encore rcfUsa de faire ses # 95 pages d^criture." Children get two chances, perhaps.

It began differently with the three jumoaux. They are described repeatedly as being advanced for their age. They also have a world in microcosm as a playground and Clementine evidently has enough means not to have to think about finding apprenticeships for them. Had they been twins the strain might have been greater, but the third child, who is like the other two yet different, adds the cohesiveness necessary to make continual growth possible for all three children. Using the raw materi­ als of the animal, vegetable and mineral worlds, they are able to take the basic ingredients ar.d summon up an imaginative experience that can be repeated with variations if and when they will it. Here exposure to an element in their world is enough to allow them to formulate some use for

^Ibid., p. 39.

" i b i d .. p. 136 . 250 it. Their exploration ia also systematic. It is Citroen who seems to know beforehand what all those elements are used for. The *irony' is that Clomontine begins to develop hor fantasies immediately after the children begin to discover tho world, making discovery of their possi­ bilities in the world more difficult. It it they havo learned to fly before they ore caged. They also know how to make thcmsolveo as email ao fleas — but that process is irreversible. Citroen also knows how to grow tails and how to grow two additional fingers. These discoveries wara possible only in an environment that was absolutely open to them.

With tho closing off of everything in tha natural world the process has to be- retarded. Cut Viun believed that enfants belong to a species dif­ ferent fr*.n human beings; given, the oyaa amity to develop, they are more intelligent tlian their parents. Allowing this capacity to realize pos­ sibilities to grow ie the only means by which the tpacies can evolve, can transcend itself. The thrc-c children thus resemble the figure of the three iintomorpheses of the spirit tint i.'iotzncha used in Thus Spako Zara- tiustre.) symbolized by the cr.mol, the lien and tho child, Tlie camel, as a beast of burden, must lift up all that is valuable and viable, carrying his burden off into tho wilderness (Joel, the 'normal' child); the struggles for survival there will call forth the lion in hin to do battle with tho dragon of competitive wealth, i.mccspetitive cruelty and lip service to a Deity that proneancon ,fthoa ...belt" (f:c"-*l has had to do battle with Clementine from the third day of his life); only after the lion has overcome tho dragon may the metamorphosis of the child occur and the self become tiuly creative (Kvon at ago six, Citroen is transforming 251 96 his brothers)* It is clear that the potentials for the three metamor­ phoses are present in the three jumeaux and simultaneously so. By extension, the potential for simultaneous realization of possibilities is increased many times for all three children* The test of whether further development will be possible depends on the ability of tho three mutants to survive the technological "wilderness" created artificially by their mother. Their disadvantageous position with respect to their mother argues against any pure continuation of their development thus far. But their position is preferable to that of children from the village who have to cope with a collective will to enslavement (of which ClSraentine'a version must be seen as a partial import to the serai-closed world of her children).

From this point of view, Jacquemort began as a child-adult who

'in the beginning' had a nearly absolute affinity with the children and particularly Citroen; but because of his mania for absorbing tho passions of others, his gentillecse, he acquiesced too much in the viorld of the villagers. Thus his revolt could readily be connected to acceptance of la Gloiro's estate, effectively reversing the nietzschean process of

"overcoming." The day before he assumes his now duties, Jacquemort'a disclaimer only measures the distance he has come since 'the beginning':

"Vide au depart, j'avais un handicap trop lourd. La honte, e'est tout de * 97 rame ce qu'il y a de plus repandu." Compare the preceding statement with Jacquemort's pronouncement about the shoeing of the children and

96 The Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche, [no translator given] (Hew York: Modern Library, 195V)", FP* 25-25. 97 Vian, 1 'Arrache-coeur. p. 215. 252

Clementine's right to decide: "Je contests ... qu’une chose ausoi inu­

tile que la ecuffranco puisce dormer dec Uvoits quels qu'ils coicnt, a °3 qui quo ce soit, air quoi que ce coit."^ The two statements effectively measuiv tho inner sraoo of the cluiracter frctn 7 naif year , to 1*1 rarillet: ____. Jacquemort is ratrqc a la hcnte, has nihilatod hinself, perpetuates tho tyranny of the adult villagers and effectively does

"enferurr le3 autres."

Tho novel as structured also facilitates a comparison of the

" .'ill to power" as interpreted by the world (the village) and the broader meaning as borr.o cut b y the be'mvior of tho children in the garden. The

"overce:!i:\q" that finally dctcrMues "who c; :ahs?" begins with tho inner

Eiotnmore: osis that ult:: mutely errands the hor icon of possibilities for the species. That "ovaroo i.-ng' and that "will to power" is individually creative and cannot, by definition, rest on the slavery (however metapho­ rical) of othorG. i’re n that point of view, Vian began a critique of 99 Nietzsche's critique of Jnnguogo oof ore Foucault's appeared. Every­ thing si-1 everyone in oho world of 1 * A r r n . rhe-comir is alive and that life is verbal. Fvoa that point of view, the uovel is a projection of the possible coincidence of "les I'lots et les chosen," Vian, in contrast to

Nietzsche and Mailer-.!;, object? fi. =a the question "who speaks?11 in his chiractcrs. The silence tliat ???. spends the text innlies that thoir

lb i d ., p. oO, Cy) r ' Michel Foucault, Lqn jhtu et J.eo chores: une archoologiodes sciences I--' ulncs, "M;Miotheque ties sc ic no0/3 hurnaineu" "Charia: Galli- rrai'd, pp. U 16-317* 253 100 possibilities are the same question. The flway up and the way down" are not yet one and the same.

100 A variation on a paradox from Heraclitus, quoted in Bertrand Russell, A History of Western Phil ocophy (Hew York: Simon and Schuster, 1967), p. i&l CONCLUSION

Vian'e double characters belong to three more or less distinct groups. Tho first group reflects the fissure that develops in the indi­ vidual as ho discovers that the world is not made in his own image.

Antioche Tanbrotambre and Jacques Loustalot in Trouble dans les Andaina form a solid tandem to combat the values of a world on the verge of dis­ solution. The assumption implicit in their behavior is that the doubling of their possibility of reaction increases geometrically their chances of getting beyond the first square: becoming pawns in a game not of their own choosing is a death to the self that must be counteracted frcn the beginning. In Vercoquin et lo p]ancton the same characters begin from a position of apparent strength. Relative control of life in the Garden, however, does not at all proparc them for the quagmire of conflicting interests which submerges soundlessly any attempt to impose the structure of the Garden upon the broader environment. As existence becomes more complex, individual differences not previously noticed crop up; the space of existence is filled with their struggle to come abreast of each other.

They do well to survive physically. The fundamental transformation of the self that was foreseen at the cutset of conscious existence is veri­ fied as necessary when they refer to the new environment, but that single transformation can novor be sufficient.

25k 255

Tho second group of doubles that was created in the name of

Vernon Sullivan bo longs to a two-dimensional wox'ld that remains fixed.

For Lee And ere on there was never a tirue in the Garden. Dan Parker, the

* interloper, 1 discovers that borrowed time is only long enough to destroy the phantom who can never bo a brother, No hegelian synthesis is pos­ sible in such a world. California may be the land of cocaine, but even with an apparent double, tho pressure of existence is such that sexuality also cernes into question. The falsa double's failure to evolve is a possibility the membera of tho first group do not necessarily escapo.

The doubles cx tho third group admit that the adult is already lost, ox3oot on tho level of tho imagination. Colin mid Chick discover chit th ‘j -j are separated oven fro a themselves by a latent egocentricity which its;'If founders on a concern for others (whether tliat concern is misdirected or not). Economic and social realities may allow Nicolas to survive-, but tho boruior betwa -u him and Colin appears in surmountable.

The an t agon ism that becomes uppiceat as a factor so painting the doubles of 1 des jour Li flowers as tho necessity for tho suppression of Anne or Angel in 1 'futauno a Ft kin. The doubles are dyv functional and Claude

Leon lives in a world apart.

A fundamental re-examine I Ion of tho self btcomes necessary in

1 ’’•farfo rcur.'Q. Wolf and Saphir are isolated iron each other and discover that as individuals their possibilities are foreign to them. Their indi­ vidual fragmentation is revealed as suicidal nines they have neither the will nor the lucidity bo reconcile themselves to themselves. Even a re­ constructed Garden on the edge of Uio city does not spark a resurrection of tho self* tho doubling of effort is completely out of tho question. 256

The interior dialogue continues in both Angel and Jacquemort in l'Arrache-

coeur, hut the results are inconclusive. Their encounter takes place within the space of the novel and the possibility of communication be­

tween them is doomed from the beginning. Apparently freed -- or evolved

from — the demons that inhabited the protagonists of l'Herbe rouge.

Angel and Jacquemort fail to come to grips with their immediate world, to which they are present as a lack. Clementine'c astonishing three juneaux may yet find a viable path to successful transformation of self — and through the imagination. Yet it must be remembered that the ''Garden" that remains to them has been reduced to their imaginations. Their strength is that they are three, have been together since birth and com­ plement each other perfectly. But freedom — if they can accept it — will probably thrust them into another dimension. The silence that sus­ pends the text leaves the question open.

If the male double finds accomodation with his male counterpart difficult, rapport with the female is impossible. She appears complete, opaque, and may not ultimately live in terns of the same reality. Ado­ lescent exuberance with nothing at stako quickly gives way to the fatal step toward, at best, a Chloe; but then the path of tho couple is down­ hill at an accelerating pace and leads inevitably to a Clementine, The circle is complete. The resulting apparent metamorphosis of the self is inevitably other. Children bolong to themselves and the father is thrust out of the land.

The treatment of myth is analogous to the treatment of the double. For a time, it appears that new myths may be created that have their ground in the self. The first stop out of the Garden in Vercoquin 2 5 7 ct pi e.nct cn reveals that individuals rust first discover a way to com­ bat tho force of tho old myths or bo destined to live in terms of them.

That these old myths arc in conflict with each other in no way lessens the debilitating drain on tho would-be revolutionary in whom they neces­ sarily focus, and en paare> Their combined weight determines the extent of fissure between tho 'ter,,pie1 of the self as dreamed possibility and the coif as a functional cog in a vast mechanism where physical survival r.uot bo paid for.

The resulting split in the self is truivjfurred to the world of

Vernon Sullivan for v/but should bo rocnite from serious consideration of a viable solution to tho split, hut the myths of this second world have bocc::o so encroached that they have bocn (or arc) laiced to the level of ricpn and have bcccne tho ground for being rather than for existence.

Tho split between, tho selves is deep enough to inu.iro pertn.ar.eut lack of c a n , uni cat ion. Action is reduced to suicidal gccturc for tho loss for­ tunate, nearly theatrical gesture for tho more advantaged. Tho additional luvicn of questionod sexuality — eolonivcly potential, even if muted -- is transported back to the ’wo r l d of the nature novels.

The fi;;.aro between the Garden and the city that renal ted in a fiecu.re in tho self is continued in 1 1 hepne dos _,h:ar >. Once adolescence is overthrown, tho naked day to day Cviiscquencos of such an unstable equilibrium arc fatal, The individual is inevitably pushed ovor the edge, the full weight of the shouldered myths (zsot of one's making) accelerating descent at a speed greater than si;rtccn feet per second per second. Tho removal from the city to tho desert in l Mutcru:o a Pekin offers no release. Not only is the fractured self transported intact, but the myths that prevailed in the city increase their weight with myths that are still older. Adolescence must he permanently buried — and at a

'crossroads' created by the meaning of the city and the desert. The sub­ group formed by these two novels discloses the relation between the individual and the machine and mirrors the awareness that technology as a vehicle into another dimension must await the death of economic rapacity and tho birth of man as mutant. From that point of view, 1 'Kerbe rouge and most of l'Arracho-coeur form an interlude that demonstrates that the moment of mutation has not yet arrived. Resettlement in a manicured

Garden does not heal the splintered self, but rather emphasizes the fact of the split. The vehicle that could provide transportation to a liber­ ating dimension is perverted to the annihilation of an imagined past and thus nullifies the future. The birth of the potential mutants that finally occurs is unstably balanced by the weight of the past in the form of the Mother and the signs aro not hopeful. The necessity for beginning young -- and before the birth of Eexuality -- has been demonstrated.

There is no time to lose; the leap into perpetual metamorphosis cannot be imagined. The work ends on a quostion mark.

The youthful exuberance of language mirrors initially the unim­ peded flight of tho double and the dream of myths that will be solf- croating, creations of the self* In Vercoquin et 1c plancton, language is a rofugo from the realization of partial failure in the world and a potential weapon for reshaping that world. The continuation as written by Vernon Sullivan is a dead letter informed by the dead time levied by the double in a taboo-ridden, hardened magma. It could not be otherwise in such a world. The completed birth of language as the external 259 expression of an imagined escape is already present in i/Ecimo dea jours and is becoming one with the world of the defeated double and the pea>- petuatod subservience to old myths in 1 1 Antonne a Pekin. Thepath through I 'Herhc rouge and into 11Arrac!:e • -c o3ur in an inexorablefor la n ­ guage as it has been for tho double and tho dream of livablemyths. The final text is tho imagined defeat of the first two where there is no difference between imagination and its tool.

Vian scorns to have alao v/orked along scientific principles in tho construction cf his novels. The en/ironuont of each is controlled; the i1*:suit of the n.TzvitiYe in each care in a function of the elements placed in each ivrginod sotting. There is a logic ia the progression of set­ tings from Trccbl-'v dans 1- c. And Tins to 11Arrachc-cconr with the Sullivan experiment providkig an educational interlude. ilia charactersare first tr-uv;f erred to tho greater 'world of V’cr'-ouuin et lo planeton andtheir d e fe a t ia inevitable give a ike elements with which they naict deal. Tho

Sullivan novels allow fcr tho same kind of exrerimputation even when no way out can be i.ucgined: the fatality moving the universeof th e four texts is generic end Vian could not (did not third: it worthwhile to) trrur;form that universe. Tho aat of variable3 inherited from Vorcoquin at Je plaueton ware ropersoraj ized and. allowed to operate under the best possible circa mac uicos in l'iVucc des h'urs; only the resultinginevi­ table dootruction cculd be i. *c gined. The last threenovels aro essentially theoretical changes of environment where the same factors create tho same I’ceult in accordance with a chemistry determined more and more by the interaction of tho factors involved in each of the worlds. 260

L 1 Arrache-coeur appears to be different in that a country — or a sepa­

rate planet — is the theater in which the characters behave. Trained as

a scientist, Vian seems to have believed in progress as a continuation of

the revolution in science promised by relativity theory, but could not

see that revolution continuing. His novels are, from that point of view,

the story of the failure of man to realize that potential in himself.

At this juncture, another paradox blossoms from Vian's works. I

cannot determine the direct influence of Nietzsche's thought on Vian, but

the hope provided by 1 'Arrache-coeur certainly is structured (in the

three children) like the parable from Thus Spake Zarathustra where the

author is concerned with the coming of the superman. The paradox is

that for Nietzsche, creative being stopped with the pro-Socratics.

Vian's worlds — especially in the later novels — sound medieval while

the sentiment that informs them is future. Vian's reliance on the Hcre­

d i t ian paradox suggests meeting in "the middle of the way" for the two

writers.

Hopefully, this study will open into more detailed analyses of

Vian's texts as literary entities and in a way not imagined by his

biographers. SELECTED

BIBLIOGRAPHY SfcTKCV.D j^BICCnATrtY

TI13 UCk.CS OF BORIS VIAN

L 1 Arrr:oka-cocur. FrSsante par Raymond Queneau, Paris: Jean-Jacques Pauvc-rfc, 1962.

II ■> art a vitchor. Translated by Stanley Chaprxan. London: Rapp and ,-riting, 1568.

Dor Au.o dra J'l-ar^csicohon ins Dcutcohe ubertrngen von Dorecht. Dussaldorf: Ranch, 1966.

^c:'?'X\r.to':j. Trad”'.i one dal francos 3 di August o Bonandy. I Milano: i«in::olit 1)55.

L'Au’-.c ^ a p/kin, Suv?i d 1 !*■; poetface d-3 i'rnnqcu 1 Cara dec, ,!Avant do j..Jiro V ‘ :;eyno A ^jiu, Le Haute cn 10/13. Paris: Union GetierrJ.e <) ' --J.it torn;, I _?c6,

Iferb'ji in Pnkij':'. Aua dor Ikac ^oziiexk ni ins Deutsche ubertrayon von Ant jo leant. L'-i^aold'r.C: Ranch, '965.

C-a't fl'Vior on i;-" ' u P ty ' 1 *' ” vi Jo ycedva-i ran oraver, Vin^t a :< " , i, ■ ' > ru C ■ :■! ■ . . ^ djj 5 th : ; 1 P'' lit i.vJ1 -V t*... ea ;■■.■ J \ _ ■ .’.j, 1c >-.>!.do en 10/ io, Paris: Union G „■1;;'.’ale O, ’ .1 it ten J, 1;; <0* fiM-y>vnics do .Tan?:* Text a Stabli ot preeentS par Lucion llalcou. Paris: aa oounu Parquo, 196/*

I,o Eciri-T don n-Cd;i'’rfjf Sveryi y uc-Jv ona.roa* Paris: Jesn-Jacquea taavert, '*965.

L'acnao. jour.;. Snivi d'mio ponlfaco da Jacques Dtrna, ’Un Tonnage- u".:ivers,f. T,e Horde c.i Iu/18. Paris; Union General© d ’Halt ions, 1965.

Froth on tho Paydrvnn. Trnns.luiad by Sta.iJ.ey Chapman. London: Rapp and Carroxi, 1967.

Mood Indigo, Translated by John GUirrce'-:, How York: Grove Press. 1953.

P .6 ? . 263

Schiuna di giorni (in) Sterpacuore. Traduzione dal francese di Augusto Donaudy. Milano: Riszoli, 1965.

Chi00. A u g dem Franzosischen ins Deutsche ubertragen von Ant je Pehnt. Dusseldorf: Rauch, 196^.

En Avant la zizitme . *. et par ici les gron sou s. Paris: La Jeune Parque, 1$66.

Fiesta* OpSra en un acte* Livret de Boris Vian; musique de Darius Milhaud. Paris: Heugel, 1953.

Les Fourmis. Le Terrain Vague, Paris: Eric Losfeld, 1966.

Die Aitieieen. Sciben Erzahlungen. Ubersetzen von Irmgard Ilartig und Klaus Folxer. Berlin: Wagenbach, 1967.

L fRerbe rouge, Suivi des Lurettes fourrees. PrSoentS par Pierre Kast et Francois Caradcc. Paris: Jean-Jacques Pauvert, 1965*

La Fierba ro.ja. [No translator given], Barcelona; Editorial Pomaire, 19677“

Je voudraia pas crcver. Paris: Jean-Jacques Pauvert, 1962.

Le Loup-parou. Suivi de douga autres nouvelles. Le Monde en 10/18 . Paris: Union cSuorale d'Editions, 1970*

Motn* Propos* Aphorismcs. Presente par Noel Arnaud. Collection "En Verve". Paris: Pierre Horay, 1970.

"Un Nouveau genre littSraire: la science fiction." Les Temps Mod ernes, (1951)* pp. 618-627. [With Stephane Spriel],

Text eg et Chansons. Avant-propos de Noel Arnaud. Collection "Refua d'Obtemperor". Paris: Rene Julliaxd, 1966,

Theatre: Les Batisseurs empire. Le 0outer des genoraux. L'Erruar- riscage pour tons. Preface de i1. liilletdoux. Paris: Jean- Jacqucs Pauvert, 1565.

The Empire Builders. Translated by Simon V/atson Taylor. New York: Grove Press, 1967*

The Generals' Tea Party. Translated by Simon V/atson Taylor. New York: Grovo Press, 1967.

The Knacker's ABC. Translated by Simon V/atson Taylor. New York: Grove Press, 1968. 2 6 k

Theatre inedit: ric Poll1 no. oj^Ie PI. eia. Le Chasseur Franqais. 'l1 ?xt-.-u utabiis par hobT Arru.ud. laris: Christian Bourgois, 1970.

Trouble dans les And gins. Palis: La Jcuue Parque, 1966.

,fUn dici-niScle de jazz." In Parioiunnc, I!0 2 (isvrier 1953)* PP» 250- 256.

"f'n In'tiit de Boris Vian: Petite ;-eo;;vaohia humaine de St. Germain-dea- Pr6s. C.uelqucG autcctitonoa authenticities." Arts et Loisira, I*o 2k (7-15 mars 1966), pp. 66-60.

Yerco.avi n c;t lo jnl^ncton. Le Terrain Vaguo, Paris: Eric Losfeld,

Collection "Lon Films Arquovit". Paris: College de Mvi.'.apriyaiuuo, 1762. (With liichel Arnrud and Raymond Que- noau].

Sullivan, Yemen, ITllnn - mrherd; m;; ccryitc. Traduit de l TaznSricain par Boris Vian. Lo Terrain Va.yau. Paris: Eric Losfeld, 1966.

______, 7 °n ci r m ' ''o cento. Traduzior.e dal francese di Clara Eanou, diiono: Ccn-.va, 15-6.

__ , Et on 1 vera t m ; ley nfLmur. Traduifc de 1'anSricain par Boris V m . r? ’j -rrain Vaquo. Paris: I>ic Losfeld, 1965*

-• o' _;in-~-Tdereqio t’.-j tj. i lyn^Lion i. Trad uni one dal francese di Clara L-'.uoii. Lil.-ao: Ce-.itvu, 1556.

, J ’i r 1 praci'or m_v vcvs J:crt^n, Trurtuit do l ’americain par Boris V.i-ii, Edit ions du Scorpion, 19^+S.

• hSS' rnJ- ‘C'-'-s P’Till' Suivi dcs Chiens, le do sir ot la j'-j Suiv.t d *use r,outface do Boris Vian. Traduit de i ,cj j.:nv;5.n pur Bor:; 3 Vian. Paris: Editions du Scorpion, C15V93.

i u^T-C.tPs A![B b v /i l w s

A l-g re, Jacques. "Quand ils ntaient t o o l i e r s . ., L'Education Ratio­ nale, 22° annoc, V,° 501 (20 ootoLre 1966), p. 25.

Arnaud, Pool. "Boris Vian, c e le b re et raeconnu. .* ." Paris Theatre, IJO Z2k (1 9 6 5 ), PP* 2 2 -2 7 - 2 6 5

Arnaud, Noel. ,rGn ecrivain qui s*en remet aux mote." Le Honda dee livrea. N° 80**1 (20 novembro 1970), pp. 20-21,

Audcuard, Yvan* "Boris parmi nous," La Canard EachainS, 52e annSe, If° 2 W 5 (20 jsepter.bre 1967), p, 7.

"Au Festival de Berlin: Epiphanies rhinocerotiques et schnurzicaleB." Cahiers du College de 'Patarhysique. NO 13 (25 sable 88 [1960}), pp. 67-70.

"Au jour le jour: Arts, lettres, spectacles." Lo H envoi Obnervateur, n.s. II° 13 (11 fcvrier 1965), pp. 26-27.

. Le Houvel Obsorvateur, n.s. N° 18 (18 mars 1965), pp. 25-26,

"A vingt ans. Boric^Vian." Le Houvel Observateur. n.s. H° 89 (2? juillet-2 aout 1966), p. 29.

B., J. "Du cote de choa Sullivan." Cahiers du c jnema. H° 192 (juillet- aout 1967), p. 7.

Baby, Yvonne. "L'Ecume deg jours." Review of tho film, Le Monde. H° 7215 T2R 5 mars 19^7, p. 15.

Baccolo, Luigi. "Letterc franceeo: Boris Vian riscoperto." II Hondo, XVII, fl° ^6 (16 noviembre 1965), p. 9.

Balakian, Anna. "Threnody in Blue." Review of Hood Indigo. Saturday Review, December 28, 1568, pp. 3^ and 38.

Barber, Dulan. f*Truth and Reality." Review of Froth on tho Daydream. Tribune, vol. 32, no. 6, February 9, 1963, p*. 11.

Bauchore, Jacques. •'Boris Vian: Les Batisscurs d*empire, cu l'angoiss© a I'ctat pur." Confluent, Mo 3~Xju in- j u i 1let 19^0 ), pp. ^77-^78.

Belmont, Charles, "Entretion, Charles Belmont: Boris Vian, la ten- dresse et 1*humour noir." Le Mouvol Observatcnr, M° 1227 (27 mars-2 avril 1968), p. 22.

Bens, Jacques, "Boris Vian." Ia Monvoile Revue Frangaise, n.e, vol. ' 1*i (octobro-decembro 1959) / pp. 7^9-751 •

. "Boris Vian: En Avant la sir.ique." La Hauvelle Revue Fran- qaiso, n.s. vol. 13 (janvier-mars 1959), pp. 3**9—5^5.

Beseo, Jean. "Boris Vian au Theatre Populaire do Lorraine," Review of les Batisseurs d'ennire. Lee Lettres Franqaiges, N° 1182 (11- 17~mai 19 67), pp.”25^25. ■

"Bibliographie." Lo Monde deo livres. H° 80*f1 (20 novembre 1970), p. 21. 266

Biruii, l ~ri franco. "Doric Vian: K ncc-idcrc-vi tnhtl i rncchioni; Ease non ni rondce.o con to .11 li.VLCV Oi j t, all an translations. II ro.ijtoi vol. 25, Li0~£ ( 3 0 aprile 19'87), p. 5^7.

'•Boris Vian: Chrcni.T’cu do Jcts.z,11 Lltiernire, N° 12 (novcmbre 1307), 5P.“^>3 o.

"Boric Vian nt Alain Toroinot: Iv; on tuern tree los affreux. 11 Magazine hi 1 1 erairet ii° 12 (noverPrc 1 5 oV), p. 30.

Boat, Jacques-I-aurent. "Annivorivairo: la pronosse de Boris Vian." Le i£jtyel C ec^atcur, K° 263 (7-13 jnillot 1369)* pp. 31-32.

______, "Lee Paana.jc de Boric Vion," L.? I c a vcl Obcorvateur, N° 66 ( 1 6 - 2 2 fivricr 1566), pp. 32-33.

Bcurdiev, Dane, "Vi on et lea sicns." Lea i. - itrc-c Ernr c a j s e s , (1 avril 1SS3), P- 11*

Boyer, P-y:ic. "he to et ijms de rots chez Pv5vort, Cuenenu, Vian, Iones­ co, £a~ai tl';’’tud--> it/ul : Iqueu." 5 V ri in ■ P■ a■ i lologica, N° 2 (1566), rp. 3 67-353.

Prcel-d1.ol M rg—Tea jc, A drian. *"■’> a and G.-'ai-c,u The T a b le t, v o l. 220, 66CO (Movcrrber 19, 1556), p. 1 3 0 9 .

Eryden, i'auld. "Goneral.o at Play." Bevir-j oi' The Generals1 Tea Party. T, :1 Au 9,157 (-1. Ai&t 21, 'i 556), p.~ 1 6 V

Ci-avancc, L ouie. "dee.ui V ian ." r.a Fujr, 2 ° (lic 6 trimoGtro 1969), rp. 39-^2.

Cheese:/:, Jacquoti. "Doris Vian: 1 'Arr u-Io •ror:'jr. 3.'Karbj5 rouge." La "prvjlJe, P".v 9 l' yrrrgait.o, n.s. voi.. 20 , N° 120 (juiilet- a; ccii'.ore ‘iy j2 ), pp. 1 l^p-IICo.

Clirictia, Pierre. ’MVrire pent- no et con* do cacse: Boris Vian lan e la raei5ce franca i : ■> ccutcnpcnu.r, " LVF rr it Cr eat cur, vol. 7, no, 2 (Sur.ncr, 1 5 >7 ), pp. 135-1^5.

Ccctcau, Jo-m. "Preface." Tho v : poker* c 1^1* Nc.; York: Grove Press, 1563, pp. 7-3.

______. "Solut a Boric Vian." l'JWnnt .Icjo, N° kcG (1 juillet 1368), p. 8.

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"Considerations de 1Pataphyeigne doctrinal© a propos de la grande et bonne presco et dea Eiticoeur3 d Empire,11 Cahiora du College de ^ataphyoique, U° 13(^9 cable $8 [/19&0] ), pp. 72-737

Cornu, Daniel. "Boric Vian: ’Laisce-raoi courir les rues'." Journal de Geneve, Supplement litteraire, 20-21 fevrier, 1965* p. 1. d'Actorg, Bertrand. "Les Faussaires de l'obscenite," Ksprit. 16« annoe, N° 2 (iSvrier 19^7), PP. 337-3^*0.

Darnal, Jean-Claude. "Adieu a Boris." Cahiers des Saicons. N° 18 (automne 1959)* pp. 32^-325.

Dumur, Guy, **Un Boris irresistible." Review of Le pouter des gSnS- raux. Lo Mouvel Obcorvatcur. H° ko (29 septembre-5 octobre 19^5), P. W.

. "L'eau a la bouche," Le IJauvel Cbscrvateur, N° kk (15- 21 septembre 1965)* PP. 2^25.

Durozoi, G?*rard, 1fBoris Vian et sec critiques." Review of Boris Vian, by H. Bnudin, and of .Boris Vian, by J. Clouzet. Le Hondo, N° 6731 C3 septembre 1 p. 9.

"Etude; le pheuoralne Boris Vian." Le Konde des livres. No 80^1 (20 novenbre 1970)* p. 20.

Fernand©z-Molina, Antonio. "Boric Vian, poeola y furia de vivir." La Torre, ano XVII, NO 6k (abril-junio 1969)* pp. 100-108.

Foote, Audrey C. "Pretty Girls and Dixieland, that is all ye need to know," Review of Hood Indigo. Chicago Tribune Book World, III, no, 9 (March 2, 19'69")’* p. 10.

France, Henry de. "Taut lo long de la sc3ne," Review of le Gouter des ffonoraux. La Revue Hodarnc de3 Arta ot de la Vie,~Tler Janvier 19o6), p. 35.

Galey, Hattbieu. ,fUn anarchistc sentimental -- Boris Vian et sa legende." Le Monde, H° 1C95 (16-22 octobre 1969), p. 13.

Gatine, Gilbert, "Un Boris Vian <;a trompe." (in) Interviews Inpubliableo, Paris: Plon, 1965. PP» 79-85.

Garcin, Thierry. ,lQui etait ce Boris Vian?" l£ Nation francaioe. N° 5k$ (5 nai 1966), p. 6.

Geelon, Jan van. ,fHet goedkope boek: Frankrijk," Litterair Pacpoort, 22* Jaarg., Nr. 205 (April 1967), pp. 82-83. 268

Gerrard, Charlotte Frnrhol, "Anti-militarism in Vian's Minor Texts," The French Luvi'W, vol. XLV, no, 6 (May, 1972), pp, 1117-112^,

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