Posts on ‘February 17th, 2007’

Suite Francaise is an amazing piece of literature – a work in progress by a woman who lost her life in a German concentration camp before she could complete her masterpiece. Irene Nemirovsky had intended to write a 1000 page novel consisting of five parts: Storm in June, Dolce, Captivity, Battles, and Peace. Because of her untimely death at Auschwitz in August 1942, she drafted only the first two parts of the novel – a story with the promise of greatness. After turning the final page, I was left with the feeling of sorrow that we will never get to read Irene Nemirovsky’s finished work.

Both Irene Nemirovksy and her husband died in Auschwitz. Their two children, hidden from the Nazi’s by a family friend, survived the war – and in so doing, saved Irene’s work, Suite Francaise, to be published 64 years after her death.

As a Jewish writer living with her husband and two children in France at the time of the Nazi occupation, Nemirovsky brings the reader a unique perspective of the war. She indicates in her notes a desire to write a novel not merely about history, but one with a greater depth of experience:

Nemirovsky’s writing is beautiful. She captures a sense of place and time with ease. Her descriptions of nature seem almost surreal when contrasted with the reality of war:

The novel opens with Book I (Storm in June) on the eve of the Nazi invasion of France. Nemirovsky introduces a cast of characters who include a writer, a priest, a family of the upper class, a working class couple – all fleeing Paris. They have lives which seem parallel to each other, and yet their stories intersect in surprising ways.

The contrast between the rich upper classes and the poor or less fortunate, is stark.  We know from the author’s meticulous notes that this is intentional:

Nemirovsky deftly shows these class differences between characters and how this impacts relationships:

In Book II (Dolce), the setting is a French village which has just become occupied by the Germans. It is here that Nemirovsky’s novel begins to soar as she weaves together the stories of the people – the Mayor and his snotty wife, the farmers, the women who are mourning the loss of sons and husbands, and the soldiers. Amazingly, given that Nemirovsky wrote this novel as the war was unfurling and she was being victimized by the Nazis, she portrays the German soldiers without hatred or malice. With honesty and skill, she deconstructs the idea of the Nazi invader – revealing men with the capacity to think and feel as all humans do.

Although Suite Francaise is a novel – a piece of fiction – it trembles with a sense of truth; an almost autobiographical feel that I could not shake and which touched me deeply. There were moments when the reality of Nemirovsky’s life resonated within the pages of her book.

There is no doubt that had Irene Nemirovsky survived the war, she would have gone on to polish and finish her book. She established herself as a writer of exceptional quality having already published her highly acclaimed novel David Golder. Suite Francaise is an important story which deserves to be read and savored. It is heartbreaking to read the author’s notes, as well as the frenzied communications shared between her husband and friends following her arrest.  Irene Nemirovsky writes in her notes dated 1 July 1942, only days before her deportation to a Nazi concentration camp:

By reading Suite Francaise, we insure that her art lives on.

To read more reviews or discussions on this book, please visit The NYT Most Notable Book Blog.