Of Jean Giono and Collaboration: A Response to Meaghan Emery
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Even though Jean Giono's admirers, including his biographer Pierre Citron, insist that Giono was neither a collaborator nor favorably disposed to Vichy's National Revolution and that he was in fact a resister, his activities and wartime writings confirm that he was not only sympathetic to the occupant's presence but also ideologically complicit with the principles of the National Revolution. Giono's Journal de l'Occupation as well as his prewar pacifist writings also reveal a dangerous historical nihilism that refused to recognize the bellicosity of Adolf Hitler's Germany. Giono's blindness in this instance lasted until the end of the war.Bien que ses admirateurs, y compris son biographe Pierre Citron, insistent sur le fait que Jean Giono n'etait ni collaborateur ni favorable a la Revolution nationale de Vichy, et qu'il etait effectivement un resistant, les activites aussi bien que les ecrits de l'ecrivain pendant l'Occupation confirment non seulement une sympathie a l'egard de l'occupant, mais une complicite ideologique avec les principes de la Revolution nationale. Son Journal de l'Occupation et ses essais pacifistes d'avant-guerre font preuve egalement d'un dangereux nihilisme historique refusant de reconnaitre le bellicisme fondamental de la dictature nazie. Cette cecite de la part de Giono durera jusqu'a la fin de la guerre.
