"Goodbye to Heaven" begins with the fierce scenes of war, but it depicts the scenes of life after the war, and uses a crazy and beautiful revenge to laugh at this cruel and absurd world.
This book is the first of Pierre Lemet's "Goodbye to Heaven Trilogy", which has won the Goncourt Literary Award, the supreme honor of the French literary world, the French "Reading" magazine 2013 French Novel and the French Television Novel Award, and other 8 literary honors, has been translated into 35 languages, sold well worldwide, with annual sales of more than 1 million copies, and the film of the same name swept the César Awards 5 awards, which is a cruel epic that truly deserves to be read by all mankind.
The novel begins at the moment when France is about to win victory in World War I, Lieutenant Ornay-Pradelle, for his own selfish interests, sends two soldiers to the 113 heights to spy on the Situation of the Germans at close range on the occasion of the armistice, Albert and Edward are unfortunately selected, a shell is shot down and Albert is buried deep in the ground, and Edward is also blown up to save Albert. At the end of the war, the soldiers returned from the battlefield, but the country and the people forgot about them, and the cowardly officers and deserters went straight to the clouds and lived a happy life. A sense of justice in their hearts forced the dispossessed soldiers to embark on a frantic plan of revenge—"If we cannot fight the evil of the world, then we will die separately and see you in heaven." ”
Pierre Lemet is one of my favorite writers, and Goodbye from Heaven is the work I read after The Color of Fire, and the shock of it can only be reached through careful tasting. Under his simple and unpretentious brushstrokes, he painted us a picture of the life scene of France after the baptism of the First World War, telling the sinister and dark nature of human nature, and the insignificant truth of small people in front of the world, which caused me to think strongly. Therefore, I will analyze the French society behind "Goodbye to Heaven" with you today.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > the history behind the novel</h1>
Located in western Europe, France is a capitalist country with pleasant scenery, romantic atmosphere and economic development. During the First World War, France joined the war as the main force of the Allies, was the main force against the German Army, and won the war with tenacious perseverance.
While war brought disaster to mankind, it also forced the economy to retreat. After the baptism of the First World War, France's industry and infrastructure suffered severe damage, which directly led to the decline of French industry. Taking steel production as an example, France's steel production was 4.687 million tons before the war, which fell rapidly to 1.8 million tons at the end of the war. Despite efforts to resume production, production was still only 57 per cent of what it was before the war. The decline of industry also directly led to a decline in exports, exacerbated the French fiscal crisis, and agricultural products were also in trouble, and famine became the first task of the French government to solve.
The people are in dire straits, and it is necessary for the government to rescue them. Importing grain in large quantities, and in World War I, France depleted huge amounts of foreign exchange, and owed the United States $3.991 billion and Britain $3.03 billion. What bothered France the most was that due to the collapse of the Tsarist government, the debt that Russia once owed France hundreds of billions of francs was completely destroyed overnight.
In 1918, the French government's fiscal deficit was as high as 18 billion francs, and in order to maintain daily operations, the French government could only make up for the damage caused by the fiscal deficit by issuing public bonds, borrowing from abroad, and increasing taxes. But this in turn triggered social contradictions in the country, leaving France in turmoil for a long time.
"Goodbye from Heaven" is based on the product of such a social background, the novel depicts the social chaebol Perigau, Pradelle by military titles to get rich, Albert, Edward by opportunistic fortune of the people, in fact, each of them has a trace of France after the baptism of World War I, the rise of the society relying on war, economic decline and other factors.
Pierre Lemet himself once said in the afterword: "The so-called Memorial of the Dead scam itself is fictional, inspired by reading famous articles about the Monument to the Dead." On the contrary, a large part of the crime of embezzlement and fraud imposed on the character of Henri Ornay-Pradelle came from the "military cemetery excavation scandal" that broke out in 1922, one was based on real events, the other was not, and the opposite was true. ”
When you look at the book "Goodbye from Heaven", it is not difficult to find that it is based on such a historical reality, and the society depicted in the book is the social landscape that France faced after the First World War. Everyone strives to climb up, completely disregarding the lives and deaths of others, and human nature shatters the appearance at this moment, leaving an immutable historical reality.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > second, the character symbol in the novel</h1>
The novel depicts five main characters, Namely Perriguer, Pradelle, Albert, Eduardo and Madeleine, each with a different symbolic meaning, encompassing almost the social phenomena of France's entire recovery from World War I.
While war brings disaster to mankind, it is also a process of primitive accumulation of capital. The Western powers launched the war of aggression against China in the early days in order to meet their own needs for insufficient spices; in modern Times, Japan's invasion of China, in addition to its own ambitions, is more that Japan is located in an island country, mountainous, which is not conducive to agricultural production and the need to expand its territorial territory; the reason why Germany launched the First World War is also that its own economic and military strength has greatly surpassed that of the old capitalist countries and demanded the need to redivide the world. It can be seen from this that behind the war, it is actually the process of the primitive accumulation of capital.
Perriguer was a great chaebol in French society, and he symbolized France's pre-World War I economic status. People who are superior to other social classes in all aspects, who control the economic lifeblood of the country, even the president of the country needs to be kind to him, and the contacts are elites of all classes. At the east window of the Pradelle Cemetery incident, he asked his father-in-law, Perry Gu, for help, and he said bluntly, "The minister is my man, and he still owes me a lot of human kindness." Later, after failing to buy the Soldier's Monument, he was able to bow his head and ask Pradele for help. Perrigu's type of person symbolizes the primitive accumulation of French society before the First World War, the world's most famous usury empire, and after the baptism of the First World War, the national treasury deficit had to bow its head and ask for help from other countries.
Perigau's son-in-law, Pradelle, was originally born into the nobility, and because of the family's misfortune, he had to join the army and was eager to revive the family business through military ranks. The impure purpose made him only care about the promotion and wealth of his life on the battlefield, did not care about the lives of soldiers, and finally relied on his position in the army to win the favor of Perrigu's daughter Madeleine and go to the peak of his life. Playing with the power in their hands, for the sake of profit, hiring Chinese workers who can't read French to dig graves for soldiers who died on the battlefield, the corpses are chaotic, the phenomenon of cutting corners is very serious, just save as much money as possible. Pradelle symbolizes a time of social unrest, when politicians in power do not think about how to resolve conflicts, but seize the opportunity to win their own interests.
After entering capitalist society, the social classes of various countries are reshuffled, and politicians and capitalists always belong to the same camp, are each other's appearance and interdependence. Although they are in different social classes, the ideas for profit are surprisingly consistent. To highlight this aim, Pierre Lemet deliberately made Perrigu and Pradère a family, and the two promoted the development of French society in a constant collision and reconciliation.
Pierre Lemet's favorite woman, Madeleine, has always appeared as a cynical big lady from "Goodbye to Heaven" to "The Color of Fire". In the context of the Economic Downturn in France, they have to get by, do not care about the world, self-avoidance, and can live a comfortable day. In fact, here Pierre Lemet mainly emphasizes that in the money society, people tend to lose their fighting spirit, and they should maintain a correct view of money and a positive attitude towards life.
The protagonists of the novel, Albert and Edward, symbolize the oppressed kind of people who are at the bottom of society, have no money, power or status, and live a life of starvation all day long, and are the repressed generation. When the motherland needed it, they stepped forward and went to the battlefield to kill the enemy; when they returned, they were forgotten by the motherland and the people. The final resentment made them grab the weapon in their hands, use their sharp minds, and do the helpless feat of empty gloves and white wolves, silently protesting to those in power. This is the most effective way to do it, and Perigour is disgraced by the purchase of a large number of fake soldier monuments, and it is also the best way to save himself in the face of disaster. How many people have made a fortune because of war and economic crisis, and have been free from hunger. However, because of its egregious and deceptive methods, it is difficult to escape the people's trial in the end.
Here highlights the ultimate theme of Pierre Lemet, if we cannot fight the evil of the world, then each of us will die and see you in heaven. The philosophical principles that show man's powerlessness in the face of the world, and the tragedy of being born irreversible.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > third, self-loss and redemption during the French economic downturn</h1>
The primitive accumulation of capital in France originated in the 16th and 18th centuries, and the French Revolution removed obstacles to the development of capitalism and accelerated its industrialization process, and by the 1870s, French primitive accumulation had reached the world's leading level, second only to Britain. At the end of the 19th century, it transitioned from capitalist society to monopoly capitalism, forming an imperialist state known for its usury, and the state assets were controlled in the hands of "two hundred family enterprises". After the First World War, the Second World War and the two world economic crises, the French economy suffered a severe blow and developed very slowly. "Goodbye to Heaven" is based on such a special historical period, not to praise the great achievements of France in victory in World War I, but to shift its attention to the dark parts of society, to describe the chaebols, soldiers, and low-level figures in a criminal case, highlighting the economic downturn in French society, social turmoil and human loss.
The economic lifeblood of the country determines the stability of society. As soon as the smoke of World War II was extinguished, the French government implemented the state's macro-control of the economy, transferred power from the hands of social chaebols to the central government, and adopted temporary measures such as raw material rationing and freezing prices and wages. On the other hand, nationalization was promoted, many enterprises and banks related to the livelihood of the people were nationalized, and the development of capitalism was guided by state monopolies. At the same time, the French government began its first economic development program in 1947, focusing on the restoration of basic industries and obtaining huge loans through the American "Marshall Plan", which made up for the lack of the national treasury. It was these policies and measures that enabled the Rapid Recovery and Development of the French Economy.
Pierre Lemet chose this historical background to develop, in fact, he wanted to discuss with the reader the right and wrong of the means of capital accumulation in France during the economic downturn, and how to proceed. The novel gives us the answer to the wrong, but we can also understand the direction of how to go from between the lines. The economic lifeline of the country cannot be handed over to a small number of people, and only when the country has strength can the people live and work in peace and contentment.