Le Sang noir
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 | |
| Author | Louis Guilloux |
|---|---|
| Original title | Le Sang noir |
| Translator | Samuel Putnam (1936), Laura Marris (2017) |
| Language | French |
| Publisher | Robert M. McBride & Co |
Publication date | 1935 |
| Publication place | France |
Published in English | 1936 |
Le Sang noir (literally "The Black Blood"; published in English under the titles Bitter Victory and Blood Dark) is a 1935 novel by Louis Guilloux that has been described as a "prefiguration of Sartre's La Nausée",[1] because of its concentration on the psychological alienation of an individual.
Le Sang Noir was based in Guilloux's memories of his philosophy tutor, Georges Palante, an anarchist thinker who eventually killed himself in 1925. It is notable for its departure from the author's earlier, more straightforwardly socialist literature, since it contains elements of what was later associated with an existentialist or absurdist vision.
Plot
One day in 1917 an aging philosophy tutor, nicknamed Cripure,[2] feels unable to give advice to a student who is departing for the front in World War I. Amidst the horror of the war, he feels increasing disgust at life. He remembers how, years ago, he lost his wife. He is now living alone, supported only by Maïa, his slovenly housekeeper. His youthful promise as a writer and thinker has long since evaporated, and his body is becoming disturbingly abnormal as his feet become excessively large due to an illness. He hates himself, his colleagues and his students. He takes a class at which the students play up. In the afternoon he consoles himself with drink.
As the evening wears on he learns about disasters and local tragedies, deaths, robberies and betrayals which convince him of the irredeemable corruption of humanity. French soldiers are becoming mutinous as the war continues without hope of an end. Cripure becomes involved in an altercation at the railway station as disaffected soldiers riot. He hits a jingoistic "patriot" and is challenged to a duel, which he accepts, as he is convinced that it will put his miserable life to an end. To his surprise local people rally round to support him, including his housekeeper and old friends. Cripure's challenger is discovered to be a hypocrite and is forced to back off but Cripure feels that he has been robbed of his death.
Saved from death, Cripure has nevertheless to face the destruction by his dogs of his notes for what he considers his final book and revenge on the stupidity of the world. Unable to stand up to this new ordeal, he shoots himself.
