Louis Pergaud

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Louis Pergaud

Louis Pergaud
Born 22 January 1882(1882-01-22)
Belmont, Doubs, France
Died 8 April 1915 (aged 33)
Marchéville-en-Woëvre, France

Louis Pergaud (January 22, 1882 – April 8, 1915) was a French writer and soldier, whose principal works were known as "Animal Stories" due to their rooting in the flora and fauna of the Franche-Comté. His most famous work was the humorous yet powerful novel La Guerre des boutons (English: "War of the Buttons"), written in 1912. In April 1915, whilst serving with the French Army near Marchéville-en-Woëvre, Pergaud was killed in action, aged 33.

Born in Belmont, Doubs, the son of a parish schoolmaster, Pergaud followed his father into the profession, teaching at Landresse following his training at Besançon. In 1905 he resigned following protests from local people over his refusal to attend Mass or follow Catholic doctrine in his teachings, and moved to Paris, where he worked as a clerk and then a schoolteacher, all the time devoting his greatest passion towards writing, a pastime which consumed him. He was in many ways affiliated with the Modernist movement, once declaring "A pox on Latin purity: I am a celt".

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[edit] Works

His first published work appeared in the Mercure de France in 1910, and this was followed by a book of poetry and short stories named De Goupil à Margot the same year, which won the Prix Goncourt. His work focused on the similarities between the amoral instincts of animals with the immoral activities of humans, a stance guided by his fervent anti-militarism, an attitude he developed during his National service in 1902. In 1911 his first collection of short stories about animals, La Revanche du corbeau appeared, followed by the novel Le Roman de Miraut along the same theme. He wrote numerous other stories about the animal kingdom which would be published posthumously.

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In 1912 La Guerre des boutons was published, a tale of a play-war between the small boys of two neighbouring villages. Those "killed" would have their buttons removed as trophies before being sent home. The novel begins humorously and harmlessly enough, but becomes more sinister as the lines between play-war and reality become blurred for the children. It has been described as having a "touch of Lord of the Flies" in tone, although the book obviously substantially pre-dates that novel. Pergaud's works are still enormously popular in France, with the La Guerre des boutons having been reprinted over thirty times.

There is a Paris society especially devoted to him and his works, named Les Amis de Louis Pergaud.

[edit] Death

In the ultimate irony for a pacifist, Louis Pergaud was conscripted into the French Army at the outbreak of the First World War, having been placed in the active reserve following his national service twelve years before. In this capacity, he served in Lorraine on the Western Front during the German invasion. On 7 April 1915, Pergaud's regiment launched an attack on German lines near Fresnes-en-Woëvre, in which Pergaud was shot and wounded, falling into barbed wire, where he was trapped. Some hours later, German soldiers rescued him and took him and his comrades to a temporary field hospital behind their lines. It was there, on the morning of the 8 April, that Pergaud was killed with many of his compatriots in a French artillery barrage which destroyed the hospital.

[edit] Adaptations of his works

La Guerre des boutons has been made into a film three times:

[edit] References

  • Cross, Tim, The Lost Voices of World War I, Bloomsbury Publishing, Great Britain: 1988. ISBN 0-7475-4276-7

[edit] External links

Persondata
NAME Pergaud, Louis
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION French writer
DATE OF BIRTH January 22, 1882
PLACE OF BIRTH Belmont, Doubs
DATE OF DEATH April 8, 1915
PLACE OF DEATH Marchéville-en-Woëvre