The Shameful Peace: How French Artists and Intellectuals Survived the Nazi Occupation - Softcover

Frederic Spotts

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0300163991 ISBN 13: 9780300163995

Publisher: Yale University Press, 2010

Synopsis

The German occupation of France from 1940 to 1945 presented wrenching challenges for the nation's artists and intellectuals. Some were able to flee the country; those who remained--including Gide and Céline, Picasso and Matisse, Cortot and Messiaen, and Cocteau and Gabin--responded in various ways. This fascinating book is the first to provide a full account of how France's artistic leaders coped under the crushing German presence. Some became heroes, others villains; most were simply survivors.

Filled with anecdotes about the artists, composers, writers, filmmakers, and actors who lived through the years of occupation, the book illuminates the disconcerting experience of life and work within a cultural prison. Frederic Spotts uncovers Hitler's plan to pacify the French through an active cultural life, and examines the unexpected vibrancy of opera, ballet, painting, theater, and film in both the Occupied and Vichy Zones. In view of the longer-term goal to supplant French with German culture, Spotts offers moving insight into the predicament of French artists as they fought to preserve their country's cultural and national identity.

About this title

Review:

?A fascinating account of how famous writers, artists, and intellectuals living in France during the war survived the Nazi occupation; a whole spectrum from heroes to collaborators.? -- Marcel Berlins "The Guardian G2" (03/04/2009)

"Spotts provides a detailed, intimate account of French artists in nervous co-existence with the Nazis." -- Robert Fulford "National Post" (01/31/2009)

"A fascinating account of how famous writers, artists, and intellectuals living in France during the war survived the Nazi occupation; a whole spectrum from heroes to collaborators." -- Marcel Berlins "The Guardian G2" (03/04/2009)

"Admirably forensic and entertaining . . . a set of refreshing opinions on familiar figures such as Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir and the rest of the crowd clustered around the cafes of Saint-Germain-des Prs. . . . [A]n excellent book." -- Andrew Hussey "New Statesman"

Book Description:

"... a fascinating study of a little known aspect of World War Two."

About this edition

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0300163991
• ISBN 13: 9780300163995
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 296