NOTES

A Reader

11   Cette France qu’on oublie d’aimer, English title: This France We Forget to Love: An essay by Andreï Makine about his geographical and linguistic exile from Russia and his point of view on the French national identity, the image of France and its culture abroad, and the image that the French have of their own country.

11   Médaille militaire: A military decoration of the French Republic for other ranks for meritorious service and acts of bravery in action against an enemy force. It is the third highest award of the French Republic. Jean-Claude Servan-Schreiber received his metal for services rendered during the battle at Dunkirk.

A Wandering Soldier

13   Pétain: Henri Philippe Benoni Omer Joseph Pétain, known generally as Philippe Pétain or Marshal Pétain, was a French general officer who reached the distinction of Marshal of France, and later served as the Chief of State of Vichy France, also known as the French State from 1940 to 1944. His government voted to transform the discredited French Third Republic into the French State, an authoritarian regime. After the war, Pétain was tried and convicted for treason. He was originally sentenced to death, but because of his outstanding military leadership in World War I, particularly during the Battle of Verdun, Pétain was viewed as a national hero in France and was not executed. His sentence was commuted to life in prison and he died in 1951.

The Museum of a Man

23   RPR: The Rally for the Republic (RPR) was a Neo-Gaullist and conservative political party in France. Originating from the Union of Democrats for the Republic (UDR), it was founded by Jacques Chirac in 1976 and presented itself as the heir of Gaullist politics. On September 21, 2002, the RPR was merged into the Union for the Presidential Majority, later renamed the Union for a Popular Movement.

The Identity of a Soldier

27   “thanks to the Servan-Schreibers’ extraordinary fame”: The Servan-Schreibers have been notable figures in French media for several generations, with many members becoming journalists. Émile Servan-Schreiber, Jean-Claude’s uncle, founded the French newspaper Les Échos with his brother Andre; Jean-Claude founded the weekly paper L’Express along with his cousin Jean-Jacques, before helping to create the French Publicity Board which manages the TV advertisements that show on channels run by the French public broadcasting service; and Jean-Claude’s daughter, Fabienne Servan-Schreiber, is an award-winning French film and television producer.

28   The Hexagon: A casual synonym for the mainland part of Metropolitan France for its approximate shape, usually understood as metropolitan only, except in topics related to the foreign affairs and national politics of France as a whole.

29   député: Members of The National Assembly, lower house of the bicameral Parliament of France under the Fifth Republic, are known as députés, translating to “delegate” or “envoy” in English.

Beyond Wars

50   “How many more Oradours …”: The village of Oradour-sur-Glane was destroyed on June 10, 1944, after 642 of its inhabitants, including women and children, were massacred inside the village church by the Second Waffen-SS Panzer Division.

Impure Luck

72   valisards: Literal translation is a “suitcase carrier,” but in context this was slang used by the Resistance to indicate a person involved in the black or gray market.

A Character in Search of a Book

91   “Masaryk, Herriot, Laval, and Daladier …”: Notable politicians in the years leading up to World War II. Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (March 7, 1850–September 14, 1937) was a Czech politician, statesman, sociologist, and philosopher who was instrumental in gaining Czechoslovak independence after World War I through meetings with the Allied Powers; Édouard Marie Herriot (July 5, 1872–March 26, 1957) was a French Radical politician of the Third Republic who served three times as Prime Minister and for many years as President of the Chamber of Deputies; Pierre Laval (June 28, 1883–October 15, 1945) was a French politician. During the time of the Third Republic, he served as Prime Minister of France twice; Édouard Daladier (June 18, 1884–October 10, 1970) was a French left-of-center politician and the Prime Minister of France at the start of the Second World War.

92   Autofiction: A term coined in 1977 by Serge Doubrovsky to refer to fictionalized autobiographies.