The Forests of the Night
Encyclopedia
The Forests of the Night (1947; French: Les Forêts de la nuit) is the second novel by French author Jean-Louis Curtis
. It is critically his best, and his best selling after it won the 1947 Prix Goncourt
, France's most prestigious literary prize. The novel is set in Curtis' native region of Pyrénées-Atlantiques
. It is the story of a village under Nazi occupation, centering on the fortunes of French Resistors and Collaborators.
The historical context is that in the years immediately after the war, the myth in France was that most Frenchmen had been "Resistors" to the Nazi occupation (as opposed to being "Collaborators" who supported the occupation), fighters who took up arms or committed acts of civil disobedience and noncooperation. The mythology of a nation of Resistors would be seriously discredited and revised in the early 1970's through the work of historian Robert Paxton
, but Jean-Louis Curtis' 1947 novel was one of the first to raise some doubts, to expose cracks in the lie, thus winning it the attention of France's literary establishment with the Prix Goncourt. It was the first post-war novel to portray France during the war as it really was, as James Kirkup
observed, an "acid portrait of those who played at being members of the [French] Resistance
".
The novel's motto, and source of its title, are the opening lines to William Blake
's poem "The Tyger
": "Tiger, tiger, burning bright - in the forests of the night."
The Forests of the Night was translated in 1951 into English by Nora Wydenbruck; it has not been re-printed since.
Jean-Louis Curtis
Jean-Louis Curtis , pseudonym of Louis Laffitte, was a French novelist best known for his second novel The Forests of the Night , which won France's highest literary award the Prix Goncourt in 1947. He has authored over 30 novels.Curtis was born in Orthez, Pyrénées-Atlantiques...
. It is critically his best, and his best selling after it won the 1947 Prix Goncourt
Prix Goncourt
The 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"...
, France's most prestigious literary prize. The novel is set in Curtis' native region of Pyrénées-Atlantiques
Pyrénées-Atlantiques
Pyrénées-Atlantiques is a department in the southwest of France which takes its name from the Pyrenees mountains and the Atlantic Ocean.- History :...
. It is the story of a village under Nazi occupation, centering on the fortunes of French Resistors and Collaborators.
The historical context is that in the years immediately after the war, the myth in France was that most Frenchmen had been "Resistors" to the Nazi occupation (as opposed to being "Collaborators" who supported the occupation), fighters who took up arms or committed acts of civil disobedience and noncooperation. The mythology of a nation of Resistors would be seriously discredited and revised in the early 1970's through the work of historian Robert Paxton
Robert Paxton
Robert O. Paxton is an American political scientist and historian specializing in Vichy France, fascism and Europe during the World War II era...
, but Jean-Louis Curtis' 1947 novel was one of the first to raise some doubts, to expose cracks in the lie, thus winning it the attention of France's literary establishment with the Prix Goncourt. It was the first post-war novel to portray France during the war as it really was, as James Kirkup
James Kirkup
James Falconer Kirkup, FRSL was a prolific English poet, translator and travel writer. He was brought up in South Shields, and educated at South Shields Secondary School and Durham University. He wrote over 30 books, including autobiographies, novels and plays...
observed, an "acid portrait of those who played at being members of the [French] Resistance
French Resistance
The French Resistance is the name used to denote the collection of French resistance movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and against the collaborationist Vichy régime during World War II...
".
The novel's motto, and source of its title, are the opening lines to William Blake
William Blake
William Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age...
's poem "The Tyger
The Tyger
"The Tyger" is a poem by the English poet William Blake. It was published as part of his collection Songs of Experience in 1794 . It is one of Blake's best-known and most analyzed poems...
": "Tiger, tiger, burning bright - in the forests of the night."
The Forests of the Night was translated in 1951 into English by Nora Wydenbruck; it has not been re-printed since.