Publication Date: October 8, 2024
Print Length: 208 pages
Long-listed for the Prix Goncourt
Previous Publications
Paris dans la Collaboration (2019)
Ville lumiere, Annees noires: les lieux du Paris do la Collaboration (2008)
SYNOPSIS
In this riveting autobiographical novel, Cecile Desprairie recounts how her mother collaborated with the Vichy regime when France was occupied by the Germans during World War II. In the early days of the war, Desprairie’s mother idolized the German soldier whom she married. After he died, she remained devoted to the Nazi cause and created propaganda material to support the German war effort.
In the decades after World War II ended, Desprairie describes a childhood during which her mother and her mother’s relatives remained true believers in the German cause as they reminisced over how the German Occupation was a time of opportunity.
Prior to publishing her family’s story, Desprairie established a career as an acclaimed historian who researched the grim details regarding the Vichy collaboration with the Nazi occupiers. By researching how her relatives collaborated with the Germans during World War II, Desprairie describes the beliefs and attitudes that led some French to justify their commitment to the Fascist cause, a mindset that persisted well after World War II was over.
REVIEWS AND AUTHOR INFORMATION
Camhi, Lesile, “The mordant intimacy of Cecile Desprairie’s “The Propagandist,” The New Yorker, October 11, 2024. https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-mordant-intimacy-of-cecile-desprairiess-the-propagandist,
Grey, Tobias, “How a “National Family Secret in France’ inspired her novel,” The New York Times, October 9, 2024. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/09/books/cecile-desprairies-the-propagandist.html.
Soltes, Ori, “Book Review: “The Propagandist” – The power of flawed memory.” The Arts Fuse. October 8, 2024. https://artsfuse.org/298950/book-review-the-propagandist/
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Why did Desprairie choose to tell the story of her family’s real-life collaboration during World War II in novel form? Does this format make the account more engaging?
Desprairie tells her family’s story from the perspective of a child who is trying to see behind the half stories her relatives tell her. Does this device provide a sense of mystery regarding what the adults are trying to cover up? What does Desprarie’s narrative reveal about how French collaborators tried to disguise their wartime activities after the war was over?
In the novel, Lucie, a stand-in for Desprairie’s mother, lives in the past after losing her first husband when she was twenty-four. How often do ghosts from our family’s past continue to live on in a family’s memory decades later?
Does Desprairie’s family narrative offer insight into how those who collaborate with Fascist causes justify their actions? What is the allure of the Fascist parties that continue to be active in the present time?
