Charlotte Delbo: la vie retrouvée by Ghislaine Dunant

Abstract

Reviewed by: Charlotte Delbo: la vie retrouvée by Ghislaine Dunant Virginia Osborn Dunant, Ghislaine. Charlotte Delbo: la vie retrouvée. Grasset, 2016. ISBN 978-2-246-85995-6. Pp. 593. In paying homage to Delbo, Dunant has created a substantial biographical work based on over seven years of research, which fill in many of the gaps concerning Delbo's life and texts. Through extensive research into Delbo's recently archived writings and correspondences (Fonds Delbo and Fonds Jouvet) donated to the Bibliothèque nationale in 2013, and thanks to interviews with Claudine Riera-Collet between 2010 and 2013, Dunant retraces Charlotte's extraordinary life and literary journey. Dunant adds to her archival information a long list of contacts from whom she was able to gather personal information and anecdotes. Dunant also visited Auschwitz-Birkenau and Raisko, as well as "l'ancienne gare de Breteau" which was Charlotte's "maison de campagne" since 1961 (7–8). Dunant's work received the Prix Femina essai in 2016. Dunant traces Delbo's life from her humble beginnings as the grand-daughter of Italian immigrants—riveters, who passed the tradition down to Charlotte who"choisira de riveter les phrases" (18). Dunant provides additional insight into Charlotte's first writings in Les cahiers de la Jeunesse, a monthly journal created in 1936 under the direction of Georges Dudach, and explains how an interview with Louis Jouvet turned into a lifetime friendship and inspiration for many of her texts. Dunant discovers that in 1946 Charlotte was asked to write about her experiences, which become part of her larger project Auschwitz et après (105–10) published over two decades later. During the summer of 1959, Charlotte was sent to the USSR by the [End Page 252] United Nations as an administrative secretary and interpreter. It is during this journey that Delbo kept a detailed journal of her travels and observations: "[E]lle gardera ces impressions à chaud, des phrases entières, dans le récit qu'elle va écrire à son retour. [...] c'est une voix qui lui vient, sa voix qu'elle écoute et restitue" (185). Dunant notes that Charlotte's writing style established itself after these travels: "Charlotte écrit vite, pense vite, observe, analyse and synthétise immédiatement [...] sa mémoire a gardé tout ce qui l'a frappée, ses réactions, ses réflexions et le ton vient au moment d'écrire" (193). Dunant underlines the continuous difficulty Charlotte had in publishing and selling her books in France, which she juxtaposes to the excitement and rapidly growing interest in the United States, particularly during the 1970s and 80s. What is ultimately revealed in this biography is exactly what the title suggests: a richer understanding of Charlotte Delbo, her upbringing, her motivations, what inspired her as well as haunted her, and how her writing actually began quite early in life rather than after the war. For scholars of Delbo, most will be familiar with the research presented, except for unpublished manuscripts and personal anecdotes from interviews. Dunant's text will appeal to a large reading public, particularly in France where she is less well-known, and to those who study literary responses to World War II and twentieth-century French women writers. Virginia Osborn Florida State University Copyright © 2018 American Association of Teachers of French