Le Silence de la mer
Encyclopedia
Jean Bruller
Jean Marcel Bruller was a French writer and illustrator who co-founded Les Éditions de Minuit with Pierre de Lescure and Yvonne Paraf. During the World War II occupation of northern France he joined the Resistance and his texts were published under the pseudonym Vercors.Several of his novels have...
under the pseudonym Vercors. It was published secretly in Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
-occupied Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. The book quickly became a symbol of mental resistance against German occupiers.
Plot summary
In the book, Vercors tells of how an old man and his niece show resistance against the GermanGermany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
occupiers by not speaking to the officer
Officer (armed forces)
An officer is a member of an armed force or uniformed service who holds a position of authority. Commissioned officers derive authority directly from a sovereign power and, as such, hold a commission charging them with the duties and responsibilities of a specific office or position...
, who is occupying their house. The German officer is a former composer, dreaming of brotherhood between French and German nations, deluded by the Nazi propaganda of that period. He is disillusioned when he realises the real goal of the German army is not to build but to ruin and to exploit. He then chooses to leave France to fight on the Eastern Front
Eastern Front (World War II)
The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945...
, cryptically declaring he is "off to Hell."
Adaptations
The book was translated into English by Cyril ConnollyCyril Connolly
Cyril Vernon Connolly was an English intellectual, literary critic and writer. He was the editor of the influential literary magazine Horizon and wrote Enemies of Promise , which combined literary criticism with an autobiographical exploration of why he failed to become the successful author of...
and published in 1944 under the title Put out the light.
An English language adaptation called The Silence of the Sea was transmitted by the BBC TV service on 7 June 1946 as part of their first evening's programming following the resumption of TV broadcasting after the end of World War Two.
A film, Le Silence de la mer
Le Silence de la Mer (film)
Le Silence de la mer is a 1949 film by Jean-Pierre Melville that takes place in 1941 and concerns a Frenchman and his niece's relationship with a German lieutenant who lives in their house during the German occupation of France...
, based on the book and directed by Jean-Pierre Melville, was released in 1947, with a further version directed by Pierre Boutron released in 2004.
A second English language TV adaptation was broadcast by the BBC in 1981, and a stage version by John Crowther was performed by The Heywood Society in the theatre at Peterhouse, Cambridge in 1985, with the (presumably ironic) title Talking in the Night.
See also
- Code Name MelvilleCode Name MelvilleCode Name Melville is a feature length documentary about Jean-Pierre Melville, directed by Olivier Bohler and produced by Raphaël Millet for Nocturnes Productions in 2008. Its world premiere took place in November 2008 at the Golden Horse Film Festival in Taipei...
- French ResistanceFrench ResistanceThe French Resistance is the name used to denote the collection of French resistance movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and against the collaborationist Vichy régime during World War II...
- Le Mondes 100 Books of the CenturyLe Monde's 100 Books of the CenturyThe 100 Books of the Century is a grading of the books considered as the hundred best of the 20th century, drawn up in the spring of 1999 through a poll conducted by the French retailer Fnac and the Paris newspaper Le Monde....
- Les Éditions de MinuitLes Éditions de MinuitLes Éditions de Minuit is a French publishing house which has its origins in the French Resistance of World War II and still publishes books today.-History:...
- Suite FrançaiseSuite française (Irène Némirovsky)Suite française is the title of a planned sequence of five novels by Irène Némirovsky, a French writer of Ukrainian Jewish origin. In July 1942, having just completed the first two of the series, Némirovsky was arrested as a Jew and detained at Pithiviers and then Auschwitz, where she allegedly...
, another novel with a German composer/officer character quartered in a French home during World War II. - Vichy FranceVichy FranceVichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...