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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
In this rare scholarly page-turner, Kaplan (a professor of Romance Studies at Duke and author of the acclaimed memoir French Lessons) employs the skills of a biographer and literary critic to flesh out the life of Robert Brasillach, a prolific and controversial French critic who was executed for treason, at age 35, after France's liberation from the Nazis. A fascist-leaning writer known for his defense of Nazi crimes (in 1942, he wrote his most incriminating phrase, "We must separate from the Jews en bloc and not keep any little ones"), Brasillach was the only distinguished writer put to death by the postwar French government. Kaplan looks closely at the trial itself and asks big questions about artistic accountability and Brasillach's legacy (he is, according to Kaplan, a martyr to Holocaust revisionists). Meanwhile, she doesn't shy away from the topic of Brasillach's homosexuality. She deftly describes his relationship with a German intellectual--a "Franco-German alliance expressed in miniature"--and looks at how the prosecutor used metaphoric allusions to Brasillach's homosexuality as a weapon against him in court. Everyone in the courtroom comes to life here: Kaplan examines the friendship between the prosecuting and defense attorneys as well as the jurors who convicted Brasillach. She also delineates the conflicted reactions of French intellectuals, many of whom criticized the verdict even though they abhorred Brasillach's beliefs. Throughout, Kaplan--whose father was a prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials--brilliantly demonstrates how a trial, and the lives of individuals, can serve as a metaphor for an entire nation. (Apr.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Although not as well known in the West as the trials of Marshal Petain and Pierre Laval, Brasillach's is in many ways more interesting for academics since he was a prominent author rather than a politician. As Kaplan (Romance studies and literature, Duke Univ.; French Lessons) vividly illustrates by using archival sources and interviews, Brasillach practiced denunciatory journalism while editor of a pro-Fascist newspaper and in contributions to other publications. He called for the expulsion of Jews from France, praised collaboration with Germany, and encouraged violence against Jews, resistance members, and the leaders of the previous Republic. While Brasillach was viciously anti-Semitic, that played little part in his trial, for he was tried, convicted, and executed for treason. (He was tried after the liberation of Paris but before the end of the war.) Brasillach has since become a hero for both Holocaust revisionists and followers of Le Pen. This study of his work, trial, and conviction is fascinating and well written. Recommended for academic collections and large public libraries.
-John A. Drobnicki, York Coll., CUNY
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
See all Editorial Reviews
In this rare scholarly page-turner, Kaplan (a professor of Romance Studies at Duke and author of the acclaimed memoir French Lessons) employs the skills of a biographer and literary critic to flesh out the life of Robert Brasillach, a prolific and controversial French critic who was executed for treason, at age 35, after France's liberation from the Nazis. A fascist-leaning writer known for his defense of Nazi crimes (in 1942, he wrote his most incriminating phrase, "We must separate from the Jews en bloc and not keep any little ones"), Brasillach was the only distinguished writer put to death by the postwar French government. Kaplan looks closely at the trial itself and asks big questions about artistic accountability and Brasillach's legacy (he is, according to Kaplan, a martyr to Holocaust revisionists). Meanwhile, she doesn't shy away from the topic of Brasillach's homosexuality. She deftly describes his relationship with a German intellectual--a "Franco-German alliance expressed in miniature"--and looks at how the prosecutor used metaphoric allusions to Brasillach's homosexuality as a weapon against him in court. Everyone in the courtroom comes to life here: Kaplan examines the friendship between the prosecuting and defense attorneys as well as the jurors who convicted Brasillach. She also delineates the conflicted reactions of French intellectuals, many of whom criticized the verdict even though they abhorred Brasillach's beliefs. Throughout, Kaplan--whose father was a prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials--brilliantly demonstrates how a trial, and the lives of individuals, can serve as a metaphor for an entire nation. (Apr.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Although not as well known in the West as the trials of Marshal Petain and Pierre Laval, Brasillach's is in many ways more interesting for academics since he was a prominent author rather than a politician. As Kaplan (Romance studies and literature, Duke Univ.; French Lessons) vividly illustrates by using archival sources and interviews, Brasillach practiced denunciatory journalism while editor of a pro-Fascist newspaper and in contributions to other publications. He called for the expulsion of Jews from France, praised collaboration with Germany, and encouraged violence against Jews, resistance members, and the leaders of the previous Republic. While Brasillach was viciously anti-Semitic, that played little part in his trial, for he was tried, convicted, and executed for treason. (He was tried after the liberation of Paris but before the end of the war.) Brasillach has since become a hero for both Holocaust revisionists and followers of Le Pen. This study of his work, trial, and conviction is fascinating and well written. Recommended for academic collections and large public libraries.
-John A. Drobnicki, York Coll., CUNY
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
See all Editorial Reviews
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