{"id":29477,"date":"2024-03-04T09:58:40","date_gmt":"2024-03-04T09:58:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=29477"},"modified":"2024-03-04T09:58:40","modified_gmt":"2024-03-04T09:58:40","slug":"horizontal-collaboration-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2024\/03\/04\/horizontal-collaboration-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Horizontal Collaboration"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy Navie & Carole Maurel<\/strong>, translated by Margaret Morrison<\/strong> (Korero Press)
\nISBN: 978-1-91274-001-7 (HB)<\/p>\n

With its world-shaking reordering of society and all the consequent, still-felt repercussions World War II remains very much in people\u2019s minds. This translated European tale is a potent counterpoint to the usual commemorative bombast, devoting much-delayed attention to the ever-dwindling last of \u201cThe Few\u201d. Here, as well as the valiant men, we see acknowledgment of the nigh-universally disregarded contributions of women caught up in the conflict, not to mention unsung heroes of all nations who were drawn into the horror.<\/p>\n

Horizontal Collaboration<\/strong> is not about heroes. It deals with people: civilians and fugitives, women and invading occupiers: the ones who are seldom celebrated but who also confronted the triumph of global darkness, all in their own small, unnoticed way\u2026<\/p>\n

France was taken by the Nazi war machine in 1940: occupied and partitioned on June 22nd<\/sup>, with the Germans holding the industrial north and central regions whilst Marshal Philippe P\u00e9tain<\/em>\u2019s puppet protectorate R\u00e9gime de Vichy<\/em> was allowed to govern the south and pacified colonies such as Algeria. When France was liberated in September 1944, a wave of retaliation began against those who \u201ccooperated\u201d with the conquerors in all ways great and small.<\/p>\n

A sordid time of scores (real, imagined or fabricated) settled and cruel abuses arbitrarily inflicted on guilty and innocent alike plagued France for years afterwards. The most telling indignities were perpetrated upon women – wives, mothers, sisters or strangers – accused of fraternising with or giving comfort to the enemy. Such liaisons were called \u201cCollaboration Horizontale\u201d<\/em> and even the most nebulous or unfounded accusation carried a heavy and immediate price\u2026<\/p>\n

Just about now, a grandmother listens to her granddaughter unload about her current amour and her mind drifts back to the war and a secret she has never shared with anyone\u2026<\/p>\n

In 1942, a large apartment house on Passage de la Bonne-Graine is filled with families, all dealing with the German conquerors in their own way. Despite the change in their fortunes, they have not found any way to overcome the petty grudges and ingrained social difficulties that have always kept them at odds with each other\u2026 even before war broke out.<\/p>\n

Surly aged crone Madame Flament<\/em> is rude to everyone. She spends all her time complaining or disappearing into the cellars to feed her cats. What secret is she really hiding?<\/p>\n

Old Camille<\/em> is deemed the man of the house, but he is gentle, ineffectual and blind: blithely letting life go on around him and apparently noticing nothing. His wife is the building\u2019s concierge. Brusque matron Martine<\/em> Andrae<\/em> is a snooping busybody loudly championing decency and family values, but her home life is nothing to envy and her sharp tongue scores points off family, friends and foes indiscriminately. She despises the younger women and their families in the building, especially pretty Jos\u00e9phine Borgeon<\/em> who makes ends meet through her theatre act. Surely, everybody knows what she really<\/em> does to survive?<\/p>\n

Also viewed with suspicion is young mother Rose<\/em>. Her husband Raymond<\/em> has been taken away to work for the Nazis, so his friend and neighbour Leon<\/em> – a gendarme – has been keeping a \u201cfriendly\u201d eye on her, even though his own pregnant wife Judith<\/em> keeps clumsily falling and hurting herself and certainly needs proper supervision\u2026<\/p>\n

Strangely boyish artist Simone<\/em> keeps to herself as much as she can and – originally – there was also a Jewess called Sarah Ansburg and her little son<\/em>. They somehow disappeared before the Germans could find them. That must be the reason Abwehr intelligence officer Mark Dinklebauer<\/em> spends so much time in the building. It couldn\u2019t possibly be that he has fallen in love with one of the occupants, or that this most forbidden of passions is dangerously, illegally reciprocated, can it?<\/p>\n

Crafted with deft incisiveness by media writer and historian (Mademoiselle) Navie and rendered in a beguiling style (powerfully reminiscent of Will Eisner in his later years) by seasoned illustrator\/author Carole Maurel (Luisa: Now & Then<\/strong>, Waves<\/strong>, L\u2019apocalypse selon Magda<\/em>), this is a meditative but uncompromising glance at ordinary lives under relentless pressure: an ensemble piece of human drama taking as its heart and centre point an unlikely flowering of true but doomed love\u2026<\/p>\n

Moving, beguiling and evocatively rewarding, Horizontal Collaboration<\/strong> is a beautiful tragedy and potent reminder that love takes no prisoners while enslaving all it touches.
\n\u00a9 Editions Delcourt – 2017. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Navie & Carole Maurel, translated by Margaret Morrison (Korero Press) ISBN: 978-1-91274-001-7 (HB) With its world-shaking reordering of society and all the consequent, still-felt repercussions World War II remains very much in people\u2019s minds. This translated European tale is a potent counterpoint to the usual commemorative bombast, devoting much-delayed attention to the ever-dwindling last … <\/p>\n

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