Chapter 33 II Departure from Montparnasse to Battle (I) Women and Artillery

what!My dear darling, if I die at the front, you will cry for me one day. Guillaume Apollinaire Apollinaire has joined the army, and the poet is going to fight.The flower of glory on the point of his spear is straighter than that of others.To retain his place on the Stateless Soldier's Honor Roll, he had to erase a photograph from memory, published in newspapers in the fall of 1911, of him being led handcuffed on his way to prison.His greatest wish is to be recognized as a permanent citizen by the country that hosts him, so that photo has become a great shame for him, and he must completely wash away this shame.

He didn't get to the front line as soon as he had hoped.Despite his good intentions, he was stymied by red tape: he was born in Rome to a Polish mother and an unknown father.This type of family situation deserves serious scrutiny.There are many people who sign up to join the army, and the rejection rate is very high. During the study and decision of the leading authorities, Apollinaire went to Nice to meet his friends. One day, three weeks after arriving in Nice, he was dining at a restaurant in Old Nice.He was invited to take a seat at a table where a young woman of 30 stood out.It didn't take long for the poet to forget Anne Braden and Mary Laurenson.After she betrayed him, she went to Spain with her husband, Otto von Wirtger, whom she had been married to for only six weeks.

The breezy, pretty, brunette woman who rekindled the fire in him was a man of wit and articulateness, a man who was "bold and frivolous at the same time" as she dealt with guests and crystal goblets.Her eyes are passionate and energetic, but useless.Her humble childhood suffocated her, she got married at the age of 23, and divorced quickly, with a special name that clearly smelled like a female adventurer-Louise Corigne-Shadion.On the one hand, she is a voluntary nurse, and on the other hand, she is letting herself go on the road of highly liberated indulgence of women.Apollinaire saw it in his eyes, was happy in his heart, and was so excited that tears filled his eyes.

On the second day of their first meeting, Apollinaire couldn't wait to announce his passionate love to her.Five days later, he had all his works sent to her, and promised her to write a book just for her.Then tackily invites her to take a solitary walk with him.From this moment on, he became her "slave for life". Soon, they began to tryst in the smokehouse.Later, it gradually developed to go to restaurants, the seaside, the deserted beach, and any place other than restaurants.Whenever Apollinaire wants to open a door, Louise always whispers that they are friends and they should stay outside.When she was lying on the couch with a big pipe in her mouth, she asked him to hold her hand and make her some promises.Apollinaire, who later became an artilleryman, often recalled those wonderful scenes:

How I long for the two of us to lie alone on the cigarette couch in my small office and let me caress you! ... [Excerpt from Guillaume Apollinaire's "Poems to Louise" published in 1956] After the drug was over, they were arm in arm, and maybe there was a further act, but in any case, it wasn't enough.Especially when the young woman admitted that half of her love and her heart had been handed over to an artilleryman nicknamed "Doo", Apollinaire's desire became stronger, and he asked: "So what's the matter?" "Nothing, I'll give it to others too."

"Well then, come on." "No, no." After two months of this, Apollinaire was exhausted and could no longer continue.He stepped up the procedures for joining the army and made all preparations for departure.At this point, Louise backed down.They were so crazy in love that after a few days, Apollinaire was reluctant to part, and even had the thought of regretting joining the army.When the war broke out, a friend suggested that he flee to Switzerland, but he refused.He was transferred to Nimes, and he agreed to go, but against his will. The next day, Louise came to the gate of the barracks.She asked to see Guillaume Kostrowitzky, the second artillery driver of the 78th company of the 38th artillery regiment, Apollinaire's original surname. .

He came out to meet her. They went to the hotel. They spent nine nights there. Then, Apollinaire started class. He discovered the joys of training, cooking, and calling rolls.He started to learn to ride a horse, and his ass hurt from riding.He also has troubles: lack of money.He grew a beard, which was a requirement.In his letters to his sweetheart, while expressing his passionate love to her, he did not hide any details of his soldier's life.He asked her not to worry that the war lasted for a maximum of one year, and if Picabia's words were to be believed, it could have been shorter.Because five months before the general mobilization, he had already predicted the outbreak of the war and said that the war would end in February.Apollinaire is a patriot who trusts France very much. He said: "The value of France and the strength of France must win. We are all men, and others, even if they count, can only be regarded as butter at best."

When Lou (Louise's nickname) didn't write back to him soon (up to three days), Gunner was disappointed, moaning, and writing to her reminiscing about the nights when they fell in love deeply.Of course, not always in love, sometimes he threatened her with a belt and a whip... She wrote back to him that she bundled up his letters and "handcuffed" them. As for him, he didn't contradict her either.He sent her Picasso's portrait of him. On January 1, 1915, he was granted two days' permission to visit his Louise in Nice, and they spent the happiest two days in bed.On the train returning to the army from Nice to Marseille, Apollinaire met a lady.He was a literature teacher at the Oran Girls' High School, and his name was Madeleine Barges.They will meet again in the future.

Five days after returning to Nîmes, Apollinaire honorably joined the officer reserve.He practiced horseback riding more regularly and also took courses in artillery technique.Why can he become an artilleryman?His answer is because he is an artist.Here the word artilleur and the word artiste have the same first four letters, thus forming a special form of anagram. —— Annotation The military training course is not difficult for him, and it is not a burden.He received a package from Sonia Delaunay, a sweater from Alcipenco, 100 sous from Paul Leotto and a letter from Bryce Sandras.Sandras wrote in the letter: "I can't tell you where we are." Apollinaire is very happy: the ban is so strict, and he still tries to contact me.He was ashamed that he had not acted so far, and felt guilty that he still hadn't been to the front lines.But at least the delay inadvertently gave his mistress ample opportunity to enjoy life.When he doesn't see her, he thinks back on the good times they had together.She is his lifelong woman.Arnie Brydon, Mary Lorenson, and all the women he'd ever had a relationship with, though all very nice and endlessly good in bed, were worth nothing compared to her.

When she detailed to him her debauchery with other people, he tried to hide his jealousy.Two, okay; three, barely; any more would be a sin.One day, she was talking about Italy in a letter, and he asked her a question tactfully: "Is there an Italian in your little vase at this moment?" He sometimes makes comparisons: he, A pure artillery soldier who lived an ascetic life, and she, her heart and her bed were open to all, their home seemed to be a brothel.A tooth for a tooth, an eye for an eye, evil for evil.He warned her to be careful, because his life of debauchery had begun to discredit him.

When he was angry, he didn't talk to his dear, sweet, sweetheart, "dear friend" or "old friend" Louise any more; It was signed "Guillaume Apollinaire"; he also pretended to be very honest and honest, pretending to be pure friendship; in order to arouse her jealousy so that he could feel more at ease, he described to her some He can definitely pull the young girl into the hotel... When he felt that the love between them was irretrievable, he stood straight in front of her, not as a temporary lover, but with a status and status He reasoned with her in a manly way; he also sent her money; he lent her his house in the Rue Saint-Germain when she went to Paris.Because he was a poet, he asked her to keep both his letters and his poems, since he planned to publish them after the war.He showed that he was very far-sighted: from then on, no matter what he wrote, he only wrote one side of the paper, on the one hand, it was convenient for future publishing and printing, and it was also convenient for adding personal privacy content in the future.He has already prepared the title of the book: "The Shadow of My Love". On the Assumption Day, Guillaume Apollinaire went to the front.It was one of the few moments in his life when he could think that he was not French but Polish.He was very sympathetic to his own country which was so cruelly ravaged by the war, and he felt that the people of his country were the noblest and most unfortunate people.He went to the front line also to defend her. On April 9, he wrote a will to Louise.He suggested that she sign a contract with the French Courier for his work entitled Alcohol.He thought it would get her some money.He listed in detail the list and addresses of his literary works publishing houses, and the publishing houses with which he had signed contracts.In case one day he can't go in person, she can ask for the advance payment and his due part in his name.Before that, she had to stay in St. Germain's home in a well-behaved manner.Partly because there was a senator living in the same building, and partly because he hadn't paid rent during the war, he wanted her to pledge to stick to it.Finally, he said it was inappropriate for Paris to organize celebrations while others were dying on the battlefield of Verdun. When Louise told him that she was anemic, he said, sometimes as a husband (whom he aspires to be), get vaccinated; and sometimes said in a jealous and angry tone: If you don't kiss typhoid patients, you won't get sick... Except for the last, he always spoke to her in the same tone as his mother Kostowska had written to him.His mother always demanded that he tell her where she slept, and who was the "Countess" of Corigny, a young man, an old woman, or a widow?She told him what to do at length, but in fact she didn't know all aspects of his son's situation.It can only make people think that she doesn't really care about her son, she is just blindly domineering and selfish, and the first and only thing she cares about is herself.It was in the same vein a decade ago that she told her son, 34, to be careful of the bombs, which were said to create particularly large craters, as he rode through the forest. "If you fall into such a pit with a man and a horse, it's okay! Even if you don't have a horse, you can't do it!" In Aunt Kostowiska's mind, only a bomb exploding in the forest is the most terrible thing.Because the bomb can blow down the tree, she added two more: "Be careful not to hurt the tree!" "Be sure to pray to Our Lady to bless you every day!" On April 11, the poet officially became a warrior.It was a great honor for him to be appointed as a liaison officer.He could ride a horse in the wild, he became a leader among his peers, and he could write under the dim light of a butter lamp.It seems that war is not terrible. He and "Toot" - Louise's other artillery lover - became each other's "accomplices".When Louise saw one, she asked him to say hello to the other.Through her relationship, Apollinaire interacted with his opponents as he interacted with his comrades: he told Dudu about the progress he had made in shooting.When there was no news of Louise, he did not hesitate to send a postcard to Dudu, asking him to tell some latest news about their mutual sweetheart... As for her, he only said lightly that the purpose of joining the army was to defend his motherland. It's a pity that the beauty Louise seems to be less enthusiastic, and is consciously avoiding him.The poet is still in love, but the other party does not respond at all, or hardly at all.They still use "My Ji" or "My Dear Lu" to address each other, and they seem very affectionate on the surface.Apollinaire continued to send her money without showing the suspicion in his heart.On the rings made by the soldiers with shell casings, Apollinaire engraved some words of love, and he reminded Miss Louise not to forget that she belonged to him completely. Apollinaire suggested that she look through his bookcase and find "11000 Moss Whips" from it, and only allow her to read and enjoy it by herself, and not to tell others.When Louise lived in Apollinaire's house, she could also read a set of "Woman's New Lover" co-written by Apollinaire. She occasionally wrote back to him, and he wrote to reproach her for her indifference to their relationship.When she sent him brick tea (because he knew that brick tea could only be drunk with boiled water, and there was absolutely nowhere to find boiled water on the battlefield), he was patient, calm, and silently swallowed the anger in his heart.The poet alternately rages and swears his everlasting love to her, reflecting the pain in the poet's heart, and he is once again mocked by others.He knew very well that Louise was now gone from him, as had Anne Brydon and Mary Lorenson.She agrees that they remain friends, they can correspond, maybe they can be lovers, but this "maybe" is very disappointing to the artilleryman, who wants everything.Men are masters, women should obey, people are together for life, love is mutual, not a gift from one party to another. The relationship with Louise was irretrievable, and he had to look elsewhere for someone willing to accept his love. elsewhere?Where is it?A girlfriend of a friend's sister had been writing to him frequently since April 1915, with whom perhaps a lost love could be recovered.Her name was Jeanne Bouguer Brown, and she had published a novel and several poems under the pseudonym of Eve Blanc.When Apollinaire first went to the front line and at the end of the front line, she served as his wartime mother Marraine, and was responsible for writing condolence letters and sending packages to soldiers fighting on the front line of the war. .Artillery Apollinaire once tried to pull her into his heart, but the young lady resolutely refused, and she said decisively: There is no fate between us.Not even a photo was given to him.Despite his repeated requests, she never gave him her picture.The exchanges between them have always been limited to literature.They did not meet until after the war at a celebration organized in the Luxembourg Gardens. Well, he had to give up this one. Anyway, he had another one. It was a young girl with long eyelashes whom he met on a train in 1915.She was very young, barely twenty years old.He had just returned to Oran after spending Christmas with his brother in Nice.Apollinaire hugged Louise in the train aisle.As the train started, he sat down opposite the unknown lady.They talked for a while, talking about Nice, Veron, and his book "Alcohol", which had just been published two years ago.When getting out of the car in Marseilles, he helped her get the suitcase out of the car.Then he asked for her address.Since then, there has never been any contact between them. If you don't enter the tiger's den, how can you get tiger cubs. In April, after Louise hadn't written to him for three days, he wanted to irritate Louise, so he sent the stranger a postcard, paying her respects and kissing her hand.Two weeks later, his stones were answered: a pack of cigars had arrived from Oran.Much more than he expected, he had to write her back.He wrote very earnestly, and put a lot of thought into it: he talked a little about the war, said a general greeting, wrote a little poem to praise her, and how wonderful that train journey was!With all due respect.Signed: Guillaume Apollinaire. Six days later, he received a postcard.It is very rare for a "lady" to take such a warm first step on her own initiative.Apollinaire hopes that the relationship between them will progress faster.He wanted to get to the bottom of it, and he wrote to her. After talking about many writers in Germany, England, France, and Russia, including writers of romance novels, he changed the subject and suggested to the girl to wear a ring for her, asking if she could give her a ring. The size of its fingers told him?Not the index finger!Not the middle finger!Ring finger of course!If possible, send him a small photo of her, and he will put it next to his sword and pistol, protecting it like a life. Perhaps because he was too impatient, the girl's reply was not as natural as the previous few letters. She was still sincere, but her enthusiasm dropped sharply.Fortunately, the indifference didn't last long.The girl sent chocolates again.Apollinaire inlaid copper "M" Madelaine with rose petals and another, the first letter in Madeleine.ring to answer. He chided her for signing off with the icy "MP," and he called her "my sweet little angel" in a reply five weeks later.A few days later, it was changed to "My Beloved Little Angel". On July 5, 1915, Apollinaire was ecstatic.He finally got the chance to visit his "little angel".When he got off the train, he couldn't wait to rush forward and said, "From the moment I saw you, I fell in love with you deeply." The next day he wrote to the girl who still lived at his home in St. Germain, beginning with "My Dear Road".However, if it is said that his heart is still with Louise, the tone of the letter has changed a lot... Between France and Algeria, gifts came and went like front-line bombs: the artilleryman received cologne, he sent a pen holder he made himself out of "two shell casings"; Madeleine gave him handkerchiefs, silk shoelaces, cigarettes, Pralines and crumbled honey cubes symbolize kisses.He also presented her with pencils, inkwells made of bullet casings, forged letter openers, hearts cut out of enemy belts, magazines, French military caps, butterfly wings, books and poems.As usual, he still cautiously asked her to save it for later publication. Many of these poems were received by Louise and his surrogate mother, Jeanne Bourgogrown, but this is irrelevant, the purpose is the most important.However, he gave them to different people with different purposes: to Louise these poems out of passion, physical desire; Impatient, Apollinaire tried his best to control his physical desire, and slowly influenced her with his poet's works.Except for kissing the young lady's breast once later, as Apollinaire himself admitted, he has always maintained warmth, rationality, majesty, politeness and sincerity towards her. He was a braggart during his time with Louise because he needed to show off.In a letter in July 1915, he confessed that he had admired, and has always admired, the talent of Marie Laurence, at the instigation of "Pont Mirabeau" and "The Region." , Inspired by successful creation.He admitted that he did love Louise, but she was only the woman he was eagerly looking forward to at the critical moment when Mary Laurence left him.It was Louise who accompanied him smoothly through the period that made him miserable.He also sympathized with Louise very much, because she was just a plaything in the hands of men.He used to be very attached to her physically, but there was always a gap between him and her in thought. Madeleine?He could talk frankly with her about Gogol (1809-1852), the Russian writer.His works had a great influence on the development of Russian realist literature.The merits of the work and Henry Bordeaux Henry Bordeaux (1870-1963), a French writer, is a representative of the traditionalists in French literature.The shortcomings of the work.One of the central contents of their correspondence was literature, and they also talked about war and love.He advised her to have many children.Then she became his fiancée. On August 10, 1915, he wrote to Madeleine's mother to propose to her daughter, asking her to agree to marry her to him.Then he behaved exactly like a typical model husband: claimed that he loved his wife's mother very much, although they had never met; he promised to see her often, and finally kissed her affectionately... From then on, this pair of young people in love will be called you.Madeleine sent him photos by mail, and he asked her to be generous and not always so shy. For example, he asked her to satisfy his olfactory needs in the future and spray some of her perfume on the letter paper.As a token of gratitude, he sent her a book of poems called "Cannon Carts" (the "Cannon Carts" were named after the 75mm cannon transporter), with the inscription on the cover: "To the Army of the Republic".He also sent Louise the same work and a list of subscribers, with the postscript: "You should try to save them. The money you get back will be at your disposal. If you can save 20 francs, the money for going to the dentist It's solved..." On August 25, Apollinaire had just been promoted to lieutenant, and he was very proud to report the good news of his promotion to his future parents-in-law.A month later, he put on his new blue military helmet (this kind of military helmet is shining in the sun, and when the enemy sees it from a long distance, it is red light), and put on a new sky blue military uniform, he is naturally Hold your head high, hold your toes high, and feel extremely proud.The new military uniform can not only better protect Apollinaire's safety, but also the silky texture further satisfies his vanity of dressing up. Soon after, in November, he volunteered for the infantry and was appointed deputy commander of the 96th Company at the front.From then on, he lived a life in the trenches and truly experienced the suffering of French soldiers. Poets become warriors. Up to that time, he still maintained a very effective correspondence with these or those women, and he did not forget his friends in Paris.He sent some articles to the French literary magazine "French Courier" or other newspapers and magazines, and he was concerned about whether they were published and how they were reflected.In the article, he described life on the front line like this: the sound of the shells like kittens meowing made him happy; the shells of the artillery unit exploded like fireworks in the city festival; He often sees: snakes lying coiled around his feet, mice escaping from between his legs, flies with noses as big as those of a bulldog, and spider webs hanging above his head... He only complains that he is upset and feels too idle boring.Friends of Montmartre and Montparnasse are worried about how a writer who pays attention to clean and comfortable life like him can adapt to such difficult living conditions, but he himself does not feel difficult. He found the sound of cannon firing "very wonderful", and in 1915 he engraved the poem "How beautiful war is!" on a toothpaste box.However, it soon became apparent that was just his mood when he first arrived on the front line. Actually, real life at the front was something else entirely.The deputy company commander Kostowski suddenly faced signal flares and machine guns, and the ruthless shells rained down from the sky. All the poetic and picturesque images disappeared in the blink of an eye, and the reality of trench life was vividly presented in front of him.The German soldiers were right in front of them, less than two meters away; the ground was blown up by bombs and lifted up; he was on the front line, facing the muzzle; he lay in the blood-stained soil and mud for a long time; Sometimes he couldn’t fall asleep and was shaking all the time; the rain was regarded as their bathing; he was always facing bayonet attacks and poison gas attacks; barbed wire, plus mosquito bites; he crawled forward under the cover of sandbags and piles of corpses; He learned to dig trenches at night like a shadow caveman.In just a few months, his regiment lost thousands of men.He watched helplessly as the comrades around him fell down one after another.Apollinaire wrote a letter to Madeleine from the front, in which he begged that even if he was captured, she hoped that she would wait for him to return.He decided to make her the heir to all his property in place of Louise. He naturally thought of death too, but he was not afraid.He never regrets, never complains.The only thing he is dissatisfied with is that the military authorities have to hold a military meeting regardless of the size of the matter.When it came time to fight, he was always the first to emerge from the trenches, showing the courage of a very remarkable man.His men loved him because he had the courage to protect them and did everything possible to keep them fed.He can share weal and woe with his subordinates, share blessings, share difficulties, roast together with fire, share the parcels when they receive them, and let others cover them if his quilt is drier than others. "Kostowski", so complicated, they all called him "Kostow" or "Can-Whiskey". In the smoke of war, "can-whiskey" is also fighting against itself.Whenever I had a few minutes to spare, I wrote to Madeleine.Despite his uncontrollable love urges, he still managed to maintain his usual sanity. In December, he wrote her a letter madly in love.From the depths of her mind, she opened the door he had been asking her to open for so many months. She promised to see him by Christmas, which was the best holiday gift for him.The deputy company commander left the front line. He had so many friends in Paris, so he went straight to Marseilles without staying.After several months of arduous correspondence, the only thing he had to do was to reach Ramul, Algeria as soon as possible to meet the 22-year-old girl whom he had proposed but who had been married a year earlier. When I was not a cavalry soldier, I only met the girl who met me for a few hours on the train...