A Few Notes on Drieu & "Le Feu Follet" on Youtube

One purpose for writing in the wake of disaster is to restore some stable order so as to make sense out of the disruption and reorient oneself with respect to the world. Later, we'll consider the fact that this can be construed as an essentially conservative orientation. One literary technique that can be used toward this end is the use of structure as a stylistic element. In Will 'O The Wisp we can see that Drieu divided the novel into twelve episodes, and in the context of the pervasive references to time, this recalls the twelve hours of the clock - a manner of ordering and domesticating time. Given that the novel deals with a past event, this is not insignificant. Moreover, episodes often mirror one another, in particular the opening and closing scenes - in the bed at Dr. de la Barbonais' clinic.

In the manuscript version of Will 'O The Wisp (pictured below), Drieu in fact numbered the episodes. Why would he have deleted them upon publication. (It's interesting to note that the earlier English translation, entitled "The Fire Within" restores this numbering).

It is also important to note that Farewell to Gonzague was not published in the original edition of 1931. It was found among his papers after his death (some of these papers pictured below), and it is attached to Will 'O The Wisp because Gonzague refers to the same person, Jacques Rigaut, as Alain, and it is chronologically later.

 

 It does appear that he may have planned to publish it, as he did produce a dactylograph (typed version - below). Why did he not publish it?

 

Finally, as we may or may not finish the film in class tomorrow (hopefully we will), I found that it is available in 10 segments on youtube. Here is the first segment.