Monsieur le Commandant

By Romain Slocombe

French Academician and Nazi sympathiser Paul-Jean Husson writes a letter to his local SS officer in the autumn of 1942. Tormented by an illicit passion for Ilse, his German daughter-in-law, Husson has taken a decision that will devastate several lives, including his own. The letter is intended to explain his actions. It is a dramatic, sometimes harrowing, story that begins in the years leading up to the war, when following the accidental drowning of his daughter, Husson's previously gilded life begins to unravel. And through Husson's confession, Romain Slocombe gives the reader a startling picture of a man's journey: from pillar of the French Establishment and World War One hero, to outspoken supporter of Nazi ideology and the Vichy government.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gallic Books
• Release date: Sep 16, 2013
• ISBN: 9781908313645

Romain Slocombe

Romain Slocombe began his career as an illustrator working on comics and counter-culture magazines such as Métal hurlant in the late seventies and early eighties. As an artist, he was closely involved with the punk Bazooka collective, having studied alongside many of its members at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. In 1983 he wrote a graphic novel, produced by the same publisher as Métal hurlant. He went on to write many books for children and young adults, returning to novels for adults after his numerous trips to Japan in the 1990s. Un été japonais was published in 2000 as part of Gallimard’s série noire, inaugurating a prolific writing period which saw another 15 novels published. Common themes run through Slocombe’s various fields of work, with the different artistic disciplines – visual and literary – informing one another. His interest in pre-1960 photography, cars and clothing allowed him to build a very clear picture in his mind when writing Monsieur le Commandant, his first novel to be published in English. War, eroticism and medical fetishism, in particular the notion of female beauty under threat, are photographic interests which have also made their way into his writing.

Reviews for Monsieur le Commandant

[opinionated_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The best novel I have read this year, and at times, not easy reading. Paul-Jean Husson is a writer, a member of the Academie Francaise, and a believer in the values of "Old France", a France that has long since disappeared. He is also an anti Semite - but an anti semite based not on race hatred per se, but as he sees it, based on on what he sees as sound intellectual analysis even if he can't help referring to Jews - other than those he personally knows of course - as kikes, hooknoses, and Israelites. His world starts to come apart as he feels increasingly attracted to, and then obsessive about, his daughter in law Ilse, a former German actress. As the attraction becomes deeper he is torn between his need to protect her (in order to exploit her later) and his anti semitic views and the commitment to the Vichy regime. In the end of course the reality of his intellectual choices are brought into the open in a horrible scene involving the French Gestapo, possible resistance operatives, and a deserted cottage. But the horror of this scene does not change his views, and lead to an astounding betrayalThis is a wonderful book. In modern literature, the French narrative of the war has focused on the Resistance. Slocombe has no time for this - of course there were many brave Resistance fighters but there were an awful lot of others who were either "11th hour resisters" or truly believed that collaboration with Germany represented the best hope for a revived France. It is this group that Slocombe mercilessly pursues. His book is not subtle but it feels honest and true. If you read nothing else this year, read this. Remarkable