The Pork Butcher
Encyclopedia
The Pork Butcher is a novel by English
writer David Hughes
, first published in 1984 by Constable & Co
, and winner of the 1985 WH Smith Literary Award
.
and the subsequent memorialisation of the razed village, the novel recounts the return of a former German soldier, Ernst Kestner, a Lübeck
pork butcher dying of lung cancer, to the village of Lascaud-sur-Marn where he was quartered, where he fell in love, and where he participated in an unthinkable atrocity. Dealing with themes of guilt and reparation, and memory and its exploitation, the book centres less on the horror of war - which is by no means absent - than on the paradoxical nature of human relations. Kestner's attempts to expiate his remorse collide with his daughter's resistance to know on the one hand, and what one survivor, the local mayor and national deputy, has made of having his own personal history reduced to ashes from one day to the next. A short novel which eschews character development for paradoxical dialogue and plot twist, it is one of Hughes' most successful, having been filmed as Souvenir
. In his characterisations of Kestner, his daughter Louise, her husband Henri, and the deputy Lorion, Hughes also attempts to seize upon salient aspects of German and French character, sometimes more to the detriment of the latter than the former.
"I came back home to find what you had left", Lorion said. "The place was still alive, but only because the fires you started took days to die down. The corpses were so black as to have no human relevance. They inspired not feeling, not even rage - but determination. (...) I thought only that history had made one of those rare wonderful mistakes, so offensive to the hearts of our people that history could never be the same or as bad again." (p 100)
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
writer David Hughes
David Hughes (novelist)
David Hughes was an English novelist. His best known work included The Pork Butcher and But for Bunter, published as The Joke of the Century in the United States....
, first published in 1984 by Constable & Co
Constable & Robinson
Constable & Robinson Ltd. is an independent British book publisher of fiction and non-fiction works. Founded in Edinburgh in 1795 by Archibald Constable as Constable & Co. it is probably the oldest independent publisher in the English-speaking world still operating under the name of its...
, and winner of the 1985 WH Smith Literary Award
WH Smith Literary Award
The WH Smith Literary Award was an award founded in 1959 by British high street retailer W H Smith. Its founding aim was stated to be to "encourage and bring international esteem to authors of the British Commonwealth"; originally open to all residents of the UK, the Commonwealth and the Republic...
.
Outline
Based by the massacre of the inhabitants of Oradour-sur-GlaneOradour-sur-Glane
Oradour-sur-Glane is a commune in the Haute-Vienne department in the Limousin region in west-central France.The original village was destroyed on 10 June 1944, when 642 of its inhabitants, including women and children, were massacred by a German Waffen-SS company...
and the subsequent memorialisation of the razed village, the novel recounts the return of a former German soldier, Ernst Kestner, a Lübeck
Lübeck
The Hanseatic City of Lübeck is the second-largest city in Schleswig-Holstein, in northern Germany, and one of the major ports of Germany. It was for several centuries the "capital" of the Hanseatic League and, because of its Brick Gothic architectural heritage, is listed by UNESCO as a World...
pork butcher dying of lung cancer, to the village of Lascaud-sur-Marn where he was quartered, where he fell in love, and where he participated in an unthinkable atrocity. Dealing with themes of guilt and reparation, and memory and its exploitation, the book centres less on the horror of war - which is by no means absent - than on the paradoxical nature of human relations. Kestner's attempts to expiate his remorse collide with his daughter's resistance to know on the one hand, and what one survivor, the local mayor and national deputy, has made of having his own personal history reduced to ashes from one day to the next. A short novel which eschews character development for paradoxical dialogue and plot twist, it is one of Hughes' most successful, having been filmed as Souvenir
Souvenir
A souvenir , memento, keepsake or token of remembrance is an object a person acquires for the memories the owner associates with it. The term souvenir brings to mind the mass-produced kitsch that is the main commodity of souvenir and gift shops in many tourist traps around the world...
. In his characterisations of Kestner, his daughter Louise, her husband Henri, and the deputy Lorion, Hughes also attempts to seize upon salient aspects of German and French character, sometimes more to the detriment of the latter than the former.
Quotes
"Kestner looked pleasantly across the spaces of the bare stone floors. (...) In his gaze, as the story developed, lay an ingenuous hope that at the last minute, when things became too much, he could personally step into the action as a redeeming hero and by lying, by editing, and by taking control, divert the truth from the unspeakable conclusion of the tale. So often at home, in the tram, chopping up meat, lying in bed next to a wife, he had done just that: permitted fantasy, in the nick of time, to keep him sane, to give him hope of a tolerable tomorrow." (p 59)"I came back home to find what you had left", Lorion said. "The place was still alive, but only because the fires you started took days to die down. The corpses were so black as to have no human relevance. They inspired not feeling, not even rage - but determination. (...) I thought only that history had made one of those rare wonderful mistakes, so offensive to the hearts of our people that history could never be the same or as bad again." (p 100)