Adrien Bertrand
Encyclopedia
Adrien Bertrand was a French
novelist whose short career was punctuated by a series of striking surrealist anti-war
novels, written as Bertrand lay dying from complications involved in a wound he suffered whilst serving with the French Army
in the First World War.
. For the next three months he was continuously engaged in the Battle of the Frontiers
against the German Army and made a name for himself in his unit with some daring exploits.
Late in October 1914 a German shell burst amongst his unit, and a slice of shrapnel tore into Bertrand's chest, causing irreparable damage to his lungs. Bertrand survived the immediate aftermath of the wound, and was eventually transferred to the lowest grade of military hospital, into what was effectively a hospice
. Doctors had informed him that his lungs would never work properly again, he was permanently bedridden and that death was inevitable in his condition. Faced with long periods of enforced bed rest, Bertrand returned to his writing and ompleted two works before he finally succumbed to his wounds over three years after he received them.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
novelist whose short career was punctuated by a series of striking surrealist anti-war
Anti-war
An anti-war movement is a social movement, usually in opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict, unconditional of a maybe-existing just cause. The term can also refer to pacifism, which is the opposition to all use of military force during conflicts. Many...
novels, written as Bertrand lay dying from complications involved in a wound he suffered whilst serving with the French Army
French Army
The French Army, officially the Armée de Terre , is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces.As of 2010, the army employs 123,100 regulars, 18,350 part-time reservists and 7,700 Legionnaires. All soldiers are professionals, following the suspension of conscription, voted in...
in the First World War.
Biography
Bertrand was born in 1888, and after attending his local school, he departed for Paris, where he worked as a journalist on a number of papers, including Paris-Midi and L'Homme libre. During this period, he also began a literary magazine named Les Chiméres, which he used as a vehicle to publicise his socialist ideas and surrealist poetry, as well as give a voice to people of a like mind. Bertrand was a confirmed pacifist and just short of his 26th birthday when the First World War began, but nonetheless joined the French Army immediately, being given a position in the cavalryCavalry
Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...
. For the next three months he was continuously engaged in the Battle of the Frontiers
Battle of the Frontiers
The Battle of the Frontiers was a series of battles fought along the eastern frontier of France and in southern Belgium shortly after the outbreak of World War I. The battles represented a collision between the military strategies of the French Plan XVII and the German Schlieffen Plan...
against the German Army and made a name for himself in his unit with some daring exploits.
Late in October 1914 a German shell burst amongst his unit, and a slice of shrapnel tore into Bertrand's chest, causing irreparable damage to his lungs. Bertrand survived the immediate aftermath of the wound, and was eventually transferred to the lowest grade of military hospital, into what was effectively a hospice
Palliative care
Palliative care is a specialized area of healthcare that focuses on relieving and preventing the suffering of patients...
. Doctors had informed him that his lungs would never work properly again, he was permanently bedridden and that death was inevitable in his condition. Faced with long periods of enforced bed rest, Bertrand returned to his writing and ompleted two works before he finally succumbed to his wounds over three years after he received them.
Career
- In 1916, Bertrand was awarded the Prix GoncourtPrix GoncourtThe Prix Goncourt is a prize in French literature, given by the académie Goncourt to the author of "the best and most imaginative prose work of the year"...
for his novel L'Appel du sol about a group of soldiers thrust into the war Bertrand himself had fought, during which they experience horrors none ever expected to just a few weeks before. These soldiers study the motives behind their march to war, representing all France in their make-up and ideals, but also unpicking the reasons behind the French will to fight and the destructive nature of blind patriotismPatriotismPatriotism is a devotion to one's country, excluding differences caused by the dependencies of the term's meaning upon context, geography and philosophy...
.
- His second work was named L'Orage sur le jardin de Candide, and was a collection of four short stories, collected and finished in the weeks before his death, and reflecting that ominous state of affairs very strongly. They are frequently surreal and often heavily introspective, perhaps reflecting the world that Bertrand found himself in.
- The first story is entitled , and purports to be the memoirs of one Auguste Rousset, a soldier in the French Army during the French Revolutionary War. His character is largely based on Bertrand himself, and the tale is semi-autobiographical in many of the experiences Rousset endures. This highlighted one of Bertrand's favourite topics, the cyclical nature of historyCyclic historyCyclic history is a theory which dictates that the major forces that motivate human actions return in a cycle.Among these forces are religion/spirituality, politics, science, philosophy, curiosity, creativity, psychology, morality and astronomical conjunctions. D. H...
, or as he put it, History repeats itself. - The second story is set in RomanAncient RomeAncient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
times, named , and is based on a story by TacitusTacitusPublius Cornelius Tacitus was a senator and a historian of the Roman Empire. The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals and the Histories—examine the reigns of the Roman Emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero and those who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors...
. In the tale, the main character Mucius, a Roman ChristianChristianA Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
, attempts to preach the GospelGospelA gospel is an account, often written, that describes the life of Jesus of Nazareth. In a more general sense the term "gospel" may refer to the good news message of the New Testament. It is primarily used in reference to the four canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John...
amongst the Germani tribes, resulting in a battle very similar in tone to that of the Battle of the MarneBattle of the MarneThere were two Battles of the Marne, taking place near the Marne River in Marne, France during World War I:* First Battle of the Marne * Second Battle of the Marne...
, where Bretrand was wounded. - The third story is the most bizarre, named , it tells of a meeting in the garden of CandideCandideCandide, ou l'Optimisme is a French satire first published in 1759 by Voltaire, a philosopher of the Age of Enlightenment. The novella has been widely translated, with English versions titled Candide: or, All for the Best ; Candide: or, The Optimist ; and Candide: or, Optimism...
between AchillesAchillesIn Greek mythology, Achilles was a Greek hero of the Trojan War, the central character and the greatest warrior of Homer's Iliad.Plato named Achilles the handsomest of the heroes assembled against Troy....
, Don Quixote, FaustFaustFaust is the protagonist of a classic German legend; a highly successful scholar, but also dissatisfied with his life, and so makes a deal with the devil, exchanging his soul for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures. Faust's tale is the basis for many literary, artistic, cinematic, and musical...
, Mr Pickwick and the lead character of Bertrand's first novel L'Appel du sol. These fictional characters then discuss the previous work by Bertrand, and attempt to shape an ideal future for the war-ravaged world. - The fourth story, , is a more mainstream piece, in which several fables of La Fontaine are reworked to question the pomposity and arrogance of those in the French literary elite, especially Romain RollandRomain RollandRomain Rolland was a French dramatist, novelist, essayist, art historian and mystic who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1915.-Biography:...
, who believed that art and literature should rise above the war rather than compromise themselves for it.
- The first story is entitled , and purports to be the memoirs of one Auguste Rousset, a soldier in the French Army during the French Revolutionary War. His character is largely based on Bertrand himself, and the tale is semi-autobiographical in many of the experiences Rousset endures. This highlighted one of Bertrand's favourite topics, the cyclical nature of history
- In addition to these more famous pieces, he also wrote a large body of poems and short stories as well as a short playscript. Most of these works were posthumously published .
Works
- The Call of the Soil, Adrien Bertrand, Translator James Lewis May, John Lane company, 1919; BiblioBazaar, LLC, 2009, ISBN 978-1-113-63880-9
- E. Brieux. , 1910; BiblioBazaar, LLC, 2009, ISBN 978-1-113-99392-2
- Catulle Mendès, E. Sansot et cie, 1908