Novel
The Flanders Road
La Route des Flandres
Claude Simon · 1960
Synopsis
In May 1940, during the rout, Captain de Reixach is killed. Georges, a mere trooper and the captain's cousin, has survived. A prisoner in Germany with his comrade Blum and Iglésia, a former jockey in the captain's service, Georges tries to find out whether this death was intended. After the war, he meets Corinne, Reixach's young widow, again, and the memories of the defeat, of captivity and of the captain intermingle and answer one another.
Context
The book draws on lived experience: during the retreat from Belgium in the spring of 1940, the author, a mere trooper, escaped the massacre of his squadron before being captured, and this episode marked all his work. The narrative does not follow the order of events: it follows the movement of memory and constantly passes from one period to another, from the roads of the defeat to the prison camp and the post-war years. The book was published by Éditions de Minuit in 1960.
Who it is for
An anachronic narration that reconstructs a single event in fragments; it demands slow, attentive reading.
Prizes and reception
Prix de L'Express on its publication, in 1960; Richard Howard translated it into English under the title The Flanders Road.
Sources for this page 5
The pages consulted to check this page.