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Le Rivage des Syrtes by Julien Gracq

August 27, 2012 by Nathaniel

A novel set in an imaginary land where a frozen conflict has lasted over the past three centuries.  Published in English as the Opposing Shore, this is a tale of a young man Aldo who is sent to a coastal town over-looking the sea and the world of his enemies.  There he waits for his own country, Orsenna, to collapse into oblivion or to suffer the fate of a conquered nation.  In effect, the waiting is the novel, which creates surreal moments where nothing much happens.  Gracq was a friend of Breton, and keen to create a novel which used surrealism and an  apophasistic style to create a suggestion of tension through-out the narrative.  The novel in fact one the Prix Goncourt in the 1950s, which Gracq promptly refused, since as with all good card carrying surrealists, he did not believe in official prizes and accolades.

The novel reminds me of the many frozen conflicts around the world (think Cyprus, Georgia, Armenia, North/South Korea) – where an entire mythology has been created by the locals watching each other over their opposing borders – the aim of which no longer to seek resolution but  to ensure that claims and counter claims feed on each other so that the natural order remains, the maintenance of an unresolvable frozen state of conflict.   States and Governments often share this need to ensure the status quo remains unchanged, as the risk or uncertainty created by a sudden resolution of a frozen conflict can often seem to outweigh the benefits of ensuring a more durable peace.  Hence the perceived need to maintain the green line in Cyprus or the DMZ between the Koreas, and the added requirement for both sides to create a narrative to reinforce notions of an ever existing threat, to ensure that all foreign or multilateral diplomatic strategies will crash against these entrenched borders, just as the waves break against the shores of Orsenna in Gracq’s novel.

Posted in The List | Tagged Julien Gracq, Le Rivage des Syrtes, Review | Leave a Comment

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