Street singer reservists, Paris.
Thanks to Todd Colby for recommending the remarkable Diary of the Dark Years, 1940-1944: Collaboration, Resistance, and Daily Life in Occupied Paris, by writer & intellectual Jean Guéhenno (1890–1978). I don't think it's melodramatic to see the parallels to what's going on right now in America, judging by a couple of excerpts:
Yesterday's barbarian is merely today's celebrity: people want to see the circus.
Stupidity and hypocrisy reign triumphant—the Moral Order, the virtue of the rich. The bourgeois ladies are rejoicing. In the market, they won't have to compete for chickens with women in house dresses anymore. At last, everyone will be able to eat according to his rank.
More to come of his comments on writers' responsibilities. I have underlined something on almost every page so far. I feel like my blog may be given over to this book for the indefinite future...
Yesterday's barbarian is merely today's celebrity: people want to see the circus.
Stupidity and hypocrisy reign triumphant—the Moral Order, the virtue of the rich. The bourgeois ladies are rejoicing. In the market, they won't have to compete for chickens with women in house dresses anymore. At last, everyone will be able to eat according to his rank.
More to come of his comments on writers' responsibilities. I have underlined something on almost every page so far. I feel like my blog may be given over to this book for the indefinite future...