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A Cool Head and a Hard Heart: Irène Némirovsky's Fiction
Hudson Review, The, Autumn 2006 by Lewis, Tess
The second section, "Dolce," though dark, is more serene, a stately Allemande dance interval. The Germans have arrived and are billeted in the small Burgundian village of Bussy, closely modeled on Issy-l'Evêque. The Germans are correct and cultured, carrying out their orders of requisitioning and control with discipline, even regret. They serve as another foil against which the French bourgeoisie reveals its true nature, not to particular advantage. A young woman, Lucile Angellier, is relieved that her boorish husband has been sent to the front but distressed by his capture. She falls in love with Captain Bruno von FaIk, the handsome and refined German officer living in their home. Even though eminently correct, both suffocate under the close scrutiny of Lucile's mean-spirited, judgmental mother-in-law. When forced to choose between this first and perhaps only chance for love and her sense of duty, however, Lucile opts for the latter. Némirovsky presents Lucile's emotional conflict with great nuance and power. Hers is just one of the many variations Némirovsky plays on the theme of resistance, fraternization, and collaboration. Responses to the enemy range from women willing to be kept by German officers, to those like Lucile's mother-in-law who, as long as her son is a prisoner of war, refuses to acknowledge the Germans as anything but brutes. In between are a farmer who kills the German officer billeted in his home as much out of jealousy as patriotism, and others who maintain their distance from the enemy but are moved by simple compassion. There are also members of the privileged classes who, once appointed to positions of authority by the occupiers, feign indignation at having to endure contact with the Germans. Privately, they are relieved to see their status respected. "What separates or unites people," a Viscountess muses, "is not their language, their laws, their customs, their principles, but the way they hold their knife and fork."
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Némirovsky had tentatively titled the following sections "Captivity," "Battles," and, optimistically, "Peace," but had only begun outlining "Captivity," the third. The characters from the first two sections were to become increasingly intertwined around the central story of Jean-Marie Michaud's capture and escape. Némirovsky's plan was ambitious. All five parts were to illustrate the "struggle between personal destiny and collective destiny" through the choices her characters must make in extraordinary circumstances. Their choices, mostly between personal gain or the greater good, seem almost predestined. One narrative aside posits that "[i]mportant events-whether serious, happy, or unfortunate-do not change a man's soul, they merely bring it into relief." While Némirovsky does not deny her characters free will, it is a scarce commodity indeed.
Individual souls interest Némirovsky far more than grand abstractions like égalité, fraternité, or la patrie. While planning the novel, she reminded herself that
