Chapter 11 Postscript (1)

First published in 1938, it is the late and more mature work of Irene Nemirovsky's short life.After the author was massacred in a Nazi concentration camp, this novel, like her more than a dozen works, remained dusty for more than half a century. No one in the post-war generation knew the author. After her work "French Suite" won the 2004 French Reynolds Literary Prize, people rediscovered the literary status of this talented female writer who was active in the 1930s and the value of her works. The novel takes the Great Depression in the 1930s as the background, and describes the story of a young man from a humble background who is struggling in society, longing for success, and self-destruction because of the failure of his love fantasy.

World history will never forget that after the "Black Thursday" broke out on Wall Street on October 24, 1929, the economic crisis spread rapidly from the United States to Europe like a plague. France experienced financial collapse, industrial production retreated, unemployment increased sharply, and agricultural product prices fell. The national budget ran into a severe deficit, and hundreds of thousands of families fell into poverty.For the economic crisis that began in the United States, American writers may be more painful. Faulkner once recalled that due to the impact of the Great Depression, his financial situation was not good. He wrote as many as forty movie scripts, but he still couldn't get rid of the economic pressure.Another American writer, John Steinbeck, used blood and tears as the background to write "Between Mice and Men" and other works, reflecting the tragic fate of farmers in that era.Looking at the history of French literature in the first half of the 20th century, although you can find many works describing the two world wars, you can also see Romain Rolland declaring that "the whole of Europe is a madhouse" and "there is no longer any hope for Europe." However, there are few novels that directly set the background of the Great Depression, which caused serious chaos in social and economic life.Fortunately, Irene Nemirovski truly recorded this special period of history and the impact of the economic crisis on the lives and destiny of people from all walks of life in France, although the author did not directly Describe that period of history accurately, but we can easily see at a glance what a tragic era it was from the encounters of the main characters in the work.Let's first take a look at Jean-Luc Dagerne, the protagonist who the author has written about the most.

The protagonist Jean-Luc Dagerner lost his mother when he was a child. At the age of eight, his father Laurent Dagerner remarried and went to the battlefield. Since then, Jean-Luc was locked up in school and became a A veritable "orphan".He spent his entire childhood in boarding schools, alone, and only another classmate, Dourdan, who had the same poor background, sympathized with him and formed a friendship.During his imprisonment in Germany, Laurent Dagener suffered from a lumbar spasm. After the last operation, his disease has become incurable, and the family income has been pitifully small since then.The father knew that he could give nothing to his son, "For two years, I couldn't afford his tuition fees, and I couldn't even give him money for meals."Jean-Luc also knew very well that he couldn't ask for anything from his weak, sick, bankrupt father. In order to survive and complete his studies without anyone to depend on, he had to work hard, wash cars, use two He spends one night translating detective novels, gives lessons at extremely low fees, earns money through hard work, completely gives up material comforts, and has done everything. "Since dawn, he's been scheming in the streets, trying to sell his model vacuum cleaners, solder for radios, and cheap soaps from defunct cosmetics stores . Nothing, be it a distinguished diploma, courage, or a job, gave him the slightest sense of security he could have hoped for, nothing that satisfied his least desires. It's like when people say about American girls that 'beauty is Cheap 'like, likewise, in Europe, in this fall of 1933, human intelligence is worth nothing." Nowhere to find work, nothing is possible, not too much desire for promotion, realization of the most modest All wishes are hopeless and impossible.He desperately cut down on food and clothing, and only got a few diplomas, "did you know that the weight of a diploma is only measured by the weight of the thin paper with a few words printed on it."This is all that life has given him.In this age of the famous financial collapse, when even money is fleeting and ephemeral, he often thought, "Julien Saurel can still count on a certain class of society. But what about us? . . . What can I rely on today? ... Everything is crumbling. Even money itself is unreliable. Around me, there is nothing, no one to rely on."

Jean-Luc's living conditions are a true portrayal of the living conditions of people in that era, especially young people.It is against the background of the times that "everything is crumbling", the work unfolds Jean-Luc's love story and struggle.Young and lonely souls yearn for love more. In the corridor of Sorbonne University, Jean-Luc fell in love with the rich lady Etty at first sight. His thin face and beautiful eyes attracted Etty. Etty's blond hair and beautiful The face also makes him very obsessed, he loves her, he wants to make her his wife, but at the same time he also feels that she is too glamorous as a rich daughter, her whole life is far from his, and his own ideal woman "Being 'princess of Racine,' and kneeling before me", being true to him, obeying him, except that he is dependent on no one, and belongs to him alone, and regards him as all happiness and all ease ... They are "so happy" together, but this happiness is as short-lived and fleeting as money.After dating for a year, Jean-Luc saw the news of the engagement of Eddie and Bertrand Boroucher, the son of a large consortium, in the newspaper. The feeling of being cheated made him gnash his teeth and became furious. All strength, with rage, shame, and contempt, to refuse to suffer for a woman, to find this shameful and hateful love a shameful emotion.After experiencing this incident, he no longer had any tenderness for Ai Di, but he was not willing to fail like this, and decided to "use her first, and then, let her go to hell"!Using his own wisdom, he successfully turned Eddie into his mistress and conceived a child, causing Eddie to break off the engagement with Boroucher, and he himself became the "son-in-law" of banker Sarah.However, Jean-Luc was not happy after marriage, because this was not what he had imagined. She shared weal and woe with him, and she regarded him as the source of all happiness and comfort. She was not at all like the lover of her dreams: love Dee is all about sensuality, no brains, no better than the coldest rag doll! "Just a vulgar girl, just a little woman..." After every pleasure, Jean-Luc felt nothing but sadness and disillusionment hidden in caresses like a fruit Like a bitter heart.And when Eddie wanted to die, she obeyed everything, but Jean-Luc found that what she obeyed was not him, but the devil in his heart—sensuality.The daughter married a poor boy, and the vain Abel Sarah felt shameless, so he gave her no dowry. The only gift he gave to the young couple was a thousand shares in the bank, and under Sarah's intervention, Jean-Luc couldn't find any work, and in the eyes of all those daily retinues who followed his father-in-law, Jean-Luc was still just an insignificant kid.He hardly existed in their eyes.They hardly spoke to him except in vague politeness, and he himself felt too strange among them to successfully play the role of half-brother in the family.As the days passed, he was horrified to find himself motionless while the world revolved around him, and despite his best efforts, it was a joy in vain.Time flies, youth is gone, and he has nothing; nothing but bread, shelter, and a woman he no longer loves.On the second day after the child was born, Sarah's bank collapsed, and Sarah swallowed two bottles of barbiturates to commit suicide.After Sarah died, the banking family had nothing left.In a few weeks, Sarah's car, furniture and house were sold one by one, making Luke's future even more bleak.

Just when Jean-Luc was worried about his livelihood and was at a loss for the future, someone wanted to buy his wife's worthless one thousand shares at a high price of 40,000 francs.Although he was living a tight life at this time, he felt that this matter was no small matter, and there was a lot to do, and it could become a turning point in his life and destiny.Through analysis, he wittily discovered that the purpose of other people's acquisition of stocks was to bring down Lan Kun, the current Minister of Finance who had served as a director of Salar Bank.So, he seized this opportunity to get close to Lan Kun, served him on horseback, and helped him out of many crises, and finally became Lan Kun's secretary, and Lan Kun promoted Jean-Luc as the director of the minister's office.The world finally opened a door for him, a door that could lead to success and prosperity.