Guilt and the War Within: The Theater of Jean-Paul Sartre and Jean Giraudoux by Mary Ann ...

316 Pages·2008·1.46 MB·English

Guilt and the War Within: The Theater of Jean-Paul Sartre and Jean Giraudoux
by
Mary Ann LaMarca
Department of Romance Studies
Duke University

Date:_______________________
Approved:

___________________________
Professor Alice Y. Kaplan, Supervisor

___________________________
Professor Mary Ann Frese Witt

___________________________
Professor Paol Keineg

___________________________
Professor David F. Bell

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of
the requirements for the degree of Doctor
of Philosophy in the Department of
Romance Studies in the Graduate School
of Duke University

2008
ABSTRACT
Guilt and the War Within: The Theater of Jean-Paul Sartre and Jean Giraudoux
by
Mary Ann LaMarca
Department of Romance Studies
Duke University

Date:_______________________
Approved:

___________________________
Professor Alice Y. Kaplan, Supervisor

___________________________
Professor Mary Ann Frese Witt

___________________________
Professor Paol Keineg

___________________________
Professor David F. Bell

An abstract of a dissertation submitted in partial
fulfillment of the requirements for the degree
of Doctor of Philosophy in French Literature in the Department of
Romance Languages in the Graduate School
of Duke University

2008
Copyright by
Mary Ann LaMarca
2008
Abstract
The moral and ethical choices made during the Nazi Occupation of France
would echo for generations: they served as a source of pain and pride when the
French sought to rebuild their national identity after the ignominy of the defeat,
and acted as the foundation for the intellectual legacy on which post-war life
stands.
In my dissertation I examine the diverse trajectory of two writers, Jean-
Paul Sartre and Jean Giraudoux, during the Occupation by focusing on their
dramatic works. During this period, no writer could legally exercise his vocation
and receive compensation without submitting to certain legalities designed to
monitor the content of artistic output. Therefore, any author who published did, at
least in some small way, collaborate. This particular line in the sand has become
blurred with time and usage. Critics and intellectuals, not to mention the legal
system, have initially categorized artists(cid:146) politics, then, when the boundaries (or
public opinion) have shifted, they have chosen to reclassify. Collaborationist,
resistant, or neutral (cid:150) these three convenient labels cannot do justice to the vast
array of colors in the Occupation-era landscape.
Writers, like the public at large, responded to the Occupation by becoming
extreme collaborators, opportunists, simply earning their daily bread, or becoming
fierce resistants, with an infinite number of various roles in between. Although
critics have historically attempted to evaluate Jean-Paul Sartre(cid:146)s and Jean
Giraudoux(cid:146)s actions in order to classify them as (cid:147)resistant(cid:148) or (cid:147)collabo,(cid:148) this is a

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reductive act. Both men, like so many Frenchmen of this period, made an infinite
number of small and large decisions that refracted their post-war image according
to which critic held the prism. The historiography with regards to this era has
dramatically changed. Must the manner in which we (cid:147)categorize(cid:148) these two
authors not change accordingly?
With this question in mind, I have carefully studied the authors(cid:146) primary
texts (plays, essays, critiques, memoirs, and letters). In particular, I focus on their
theatrical offerings: Les mouches, Huis clos, and La Folle de Chaillot, as these are
their best-known works of the era. Next, I examined biographies of the Sartre and
Giraudoux (as well as other major historical, political, and literary figures) in
order to gain as much background information as possible, and moreover, to
identify both tendencies and discrepancies with regards to the authors. After this I
sifted through the contemporary press related to these two authors, including
theatrical reviews of their plays, their own publications in order re-evaluate the
Occupation-era theatrical offerings of Sartre and Giraudoux. I have chosen to
focus mainly on their plays from the era, as it those are their best-known works,
and the those which had the most influence, in creating their political legacy and
reputation during the Occupation. Finally, I applied the theories from
contemporary historians (cid:150) Robert Paxton, Henry Rousso, Philippe Burrin, and
GisŁle Sapiro among others (cid:150) in order to develop my own analysis of the theater
of Sartre and Giraudoux and their post-war legacy.

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Themes centering on guilt and condemnation abound during the war,
especially in these three works. Fueled by De Gaulle(cid:146)s myths of an almost
unilaterally resistant French population, the immediate post-war period focused
on deliverance from an exterior enemy. However, contrary to popular
interpretation, the plays in my corpus condemn the enemy within, the French
betrayal of the French.

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Dedication

This dissertation is dedicated to my parents, Richard and Ann LaMarca, who always said
I could do whatever I set my mind to, and who gave me the strength, confidence, and
moral support that I needed. It is also dedicated to my sister Roxanne, whose many
phone calls and help though any number of moves kept me smiling. And also to the
friends who kept me sane through this process. I love you all!

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Contents

Abstract(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)..(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)..(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)..iv
Acknowledgements(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)ix
Introduction(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)....10
1. Chapter One: Sartre: Engaged Opportunist, Opportunistically Engaged, or Belated
Prise de Conscience?.............................................................................................29
2. Chapter Two: Les Mouches: Flies and Existentialist Freedeom(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)..82

3. Chapter Three: Huis clos: Sartre Smacks Vichy with Its Own Satin Slipper(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133).139
4. Chapter Four: Giraudoux: Collabo, RØsistant, or None of the Above? ....................183
5. Chapter Five: La Folle de Chaillot: Crazy Like a Fox(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)..(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133).(cid:133)(cid:133)..238
Conclusions(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)..289
Bibliography(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)....299
Biography(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)(cid:133)315

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Acknowledgements
I would like to thank my director, Professor Alice Kaplan, whose wise advice, patience,
and guidance helped make this possible. I have learned so much from you in so many
areas, I cannot thank you enough. You have have pushed me when I needed pushing, and
thanks to you, I have surprised myself with what I could accomplish. I would also like to
thank Professor Mary Ann Frese Witt, who was more of a co-director than a second
reader, and who offered such valuable insight into French theater during the Occupation.
I feel truly blessed to have worked with such knowledgeable women, whose specialities
complimented each other so well. I would also like to thank Professor Paol Keineg and
Professor David Bell for their support and willingness to help with this project. Thank
you to Professor Linda Orr for all her guidance when I was writing the course description
for my (cid:147)French Theater Under the Occupation(cid:148) class. I also have to acknowledge
Professor Michael Berkvam at Indiana University, whose courses sparked my interest in
Sartre as an undergraduate and who started me off on this journey. And finally, Professor
MichŁle BoularŁs, whose patience and dedication I admire, and wish to emulate. Thank
you all!

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Introduction
The German Occupation forced artists, politicians, factory workers, teachers,
housewives (in fact, the entire population) into ethical gray areas. Many activities taken
for granted before the war were suddenly illegal. For example, if you wrote a letter to the
newspaper criticizing a decision by a certain member of the government, you might hear
a knock at the door and find two policemen waiting. Or if your neighbor disliked you
they might send an anonymous letter denouncing you with the same result. If you were a
Jew, you suddenly lost any government contracts or could not exercise your profession.1
What was right? What was moral? Indeed, how does one even define the word (cid:147)moral(cid:148)
when it is so open to interpretation given an individual(cid:146)s religious, social, ethnic, and
political background?
A writer, for example, had to pass a wide variety of censors, both German and
French. Post-war critics have often categorized these criteria in the same manner. Nazi
and Vichy censors did not necessarily impose the same restrictions. Vichy censors were
in a sense even stricter, in that they also tried to impose a convoluted Catholic sense of
morality on published texts or performances.2 For example, Cocteau(cid:146)s Les parents
terribles, although famously lambasted for its immorality by the Collaborationist press in

1 AndrØ Kaspi, Les Juifs pendant l(cid:146)Occupation (Paris : Seuil, 1991), 114-117. Kaspi details the situation
of the Jews of both French and foreign origin, and explains the social, personal, and economic effects of the
economic Aryanisation in France. RenØ Ch(cid:226)teau also explains the effects the Aryanisation of the cinema,
including the take-over of such cinematic firms as PathØ, as well as the vilification of its former president,
Bernard Natan, in the press. Ch(cid:226)teau., RØnØ. Le cinema Fran(cid:231)ais sous l(cid:146)Occupation: 1940-1944.
(Courbevoie: Editions RenØ Ch(cid:226)teau et La MØmoire du CinØma, 1994), 120.

2 Patrick Marsh, Eds. Gerhard Hischfeld and Patrick Marsh, (cid:147)The Theatre(cid:148) in Collaboration in
France:Politics and Culture during the Nazi Ocupation, 1940-1944 (New York: Berg, 1989). According to
Marsh, the Germans at first attempted to reestablish (cid:147)an air of normality to the capital,(cid:148) but in Paris Jews
and foreign nationals were prohibited from working in the theater. Texts had to pass German and Vichy
censors, and authors of Jewish orgins or suspicious political leanings were automatically banned. Parisian
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