Littérature et Collaboration: le cas de Paul Morand, romancier vichyssois

Abstract

Between 1942 and 1944, Paul Morand, writer-diplomat, served the government of Vichy regime, which had to collaborate with Hitler's Germany. But as a writer, what was his involvement in Vichy politics? Indeed, it has put its name and its great reputation to serve Petain and its ideology of the National Revolution, notably by writing journalistic chronicles that orchestrate the themes of this policy: that of moral renewal, the return to the earth, etc. He also held important administrative positions, including that of ambassador of France in Bucharest. But in his fictions the writer has remained aloof from any commitment. The presence of an ideology of law is more noticeable in his pre-war writings than in those of the period of the occupation. The Vichy experience will leave traces in the writings of the post-war period, which the writer begins with a Swiss exile for about ten years. The Morand case makes it possible to observe different figures as regards the relations between literature and politics. For him, literature must stay away from political commitments and positions. It must retain a special status that disengages it from direct current events in order to enter into an artistic dimension, which gives it its full force.