Novel cover “Dans le ventre de Klara” by Régis Jauffret
[For the presentation of this book published in French, I did my best to translate some sentences in English, but a professional translation would have better reflect the quality of Régis Jauffret’s writing].
“In July 1888, around Saint James’s Day, Uncle made me pregnant”. So begins Régis Jauffret‘s novel “Dans le ventre de Klara” (In Klara’s Belly) , that master of punchlines and synthesis. The Klara in question is Klara Hitler, who at the time of the story is carrying within her an Adolf Hitler already capable of infusing her on occasion with visions of the disaster he would orchestrate years later.
The author has found a unique way to position Klara’s terrible premonitions in the text. They are suddenly imposed in the midst of the mother-to-be’s daily reveries, often right in the middle of a paragraph or sentence.
In this tale of fact and fiction, the wife must stay in her place and hope for nothing. The writer has Klara say: “I’m afflicted with the mania of hoping for something other than my fate“. The husband decides everything. The local church’s confessor would love to have as much control as the spouse, but this proves more difficult than expected. The husband and abbot are a good example of the excessive power they wield over women in this era. A military officer with little combat experience who dictates his conduct to his wife as if she were a soldier, and a fanatical abbot who imposes the arbitrary rules of a sickening religion, enslaving women and imposing his dogmas on couples from a distance.
Back cover of the novel “Dans le ventre de Klara” by Régis Jauffret
Speaking of God and women, the author writes: “A Christian woman must bear children, help to populate the Earth He has given us as a theater for our sins”. And when Klara finds herself back in the confessional and being chastised by the priest: “Far from the voice of Christ gone, it was now Abbé Probst who was busy putting me through the wringer of language. Sentences as long as straps. Words as heavy and blunt as bludgeons. Subtle, sharp words, in places bristling with reddened spikes. Punctuation like broken glass […].” You get the idea…
I particularly appreciate Régis Jauffret’s writing, having read many of his works, including “La ballade de Rikers Island“, “Le dernier bain de Gustave Flaubert“, “Papa” and the three volumes entitled Microfictions, published respectively in 2007, 2018 and 2022. He even won the Goncourt short story award for the 2018 edition.
Régis Jauffret explains the intention behind his latest novel in a video on Youtube, if you’re interested in digging deeper into the subject.
The novel “Un monde au-delà des hommes” by Catherine Hermary-Vieille.
The novel ” Un monde au-delà des hommes” will be of particular interest to readers whose knowledge of early Antarctic expeditions is limited. If you don’t know whether Norway’s Roald Amundsen or Britain’s Robert Scottreached the South Pole in Antarctica first, don’t do the research before opening this book. You’ll find it much more interesting.
In the days of the great conquests of the planet’s uncharted territories, explorers risked their lives for the glory of their country. Here, Norwayand Great Britainrace to reach the South Pole first.
This historical novel runs to just 134 pages, allowing the author to concentrate on the essentials. She has divided the book into two parts. The first focuses on Amundsen, the second on Scott. The two men used very different methods to achieve their ends. At the beginning of the book, she includes a map showing the routes chosen by each team and the stopovers they agreed on.
Author Catherine Hermary-Vieille discusses the preparation of the journey, the strategic choices made regarding objectives, the obstacles encountered along the way, not to mention the mental attitude adopted by each explorer and the members of the expedition.
Back cover of the novel “Un monde au-delà des hommes” by Catherine Hermary-Vieille.
On this trip, one of the two expedition leaders will use sledge dogs as their main means of transport, while the other will try to make progress with mules. One will have only one objective in mind, the other will have several goals to achieve. One will behave as a flexible leader, the other will be more intransigent. The choices and attitude of each explorer will have a direct impact on the success of the expedition.
It’s worth noting that the two competitors don’t start their journey to Antarctica at the same time, so there’s an imbalance right from the start as to when they’ll arrive at the South Pole. But even so, once you know this, there’s still a frozen continent to cross, men to feed, crevasses to avoid and frostbite to treat. You also have to be able to come back alive.
A novel like this can be read in a day. We can forgive a few sketchy descriptions and even a small error like the one on page 19, where the name of the Inuit dog “Funcha” appears twice in the list. These distractions don’t detract from the intensity of the story. These are, after all, the stories of men who went to the very end of themselves for the glory of their country.
Today, we’re witnessing a similar race between countries to send humans to the planet Mars. Which country will get there first? And once it gets there, will it have the right to claim a planet for itself at the expense of Earth’s other humans?
Click on the link for more biographybooks on my blog.
Through drawings and superb photographs, this graphic novel recounts the events that contributed to the creation of Magnum, the famous international photography agency.
Before Magnum, there were only photographers trying to make a name for themselves and earn a meagre living in the face of media giants like Time. These big companies reframed original images, did not recognize copyright and made gigantic profits on the backs of photographers like Robert Capa, David “Chim” Seymour, Gerda Taro, Henri Cartier-Bresson and George Rodger. It was in reaction to this abuse that these photographers created the new agency.
The book makes us aware of the enormous risks involved in bringing back images of the world’s various conflicts. Robert Capa and Gerda Taro lost their lives in the heat of the action.
A page from the graphic novel “Magnum Generations”.
Magnum’s evolution, its internationalization and the change in its primary vocation are brought to life. From an initial focus on war coverage, photographers gradually turned to diversifying their activities, to accommodate the specific needs of both the media and film productions.
The agency now protects them from abuse. However, photographers remain mindful of the need of support from contractors to survive financially. Still, they reserve some leeway for pure creativity, depending on each photographer’s personality and the mood of the day.
Keeping this agency alive, made up of professionals with different ambitions, is no small task. There are crises, schisms and reinventions, all essential to the evolution of this internationally renowned institution.
For those who know nothing about Magnum, this graphic novel offers a very accessible first approach.
The graphic novel “Jours de sable” by Aimée de Jongh.
The graphic novel “Jours de sable” is a historical reminder of the famous Dust Bowl which struck the central United States between 1930 and 1940. These were ten years of misery that inspired John Steinbeck for his work “The Grapes of Wrath“.
Add to these factors linked to the economic crisis and multiple epidemics, and we can understand the mass exodus of American households. They left everything behind, including many family members who died of dust-related respiratory complications. Most headed for the West Coast, but this massive influx of people only served to increase the region’s already high unemployment.
A page from the graphic novel “Jours de sable”.
The strangest thing is that, decades later, the climate changes experienced today in these same states could help to repeat the phenomenon, without it necessarily covering such a long period.
Author Aimée de Jongh uses fictional characters, but the scenario respects the reality experienced by the population. In her story, a young photographer leaves New York in 1937 to report on the Dust Bowl. He has been briefed on the subjects to be covered, but soon realizes that he is dealing with a human tragedy of unsuspected proportions.
The main character in the graphic novel tries to do his job in the sandstorm.
Asking suffering people who have lost everything to pose for the New York media was not as simple as he had thought. The situation becomes even more complicated when he gets to know these people and experiences their difficulties first-hand.
In addition to the deftly drawn panels that delight the reader, there are plenty of period photos gleaned from various museums, as well as official historical content. I loved this award-winning book.
Dornier DO X stops its engines on a Swiss lake with Microsoft’s flight simulator
Microsoft has made the famous German Dornier DO X seaplane available to flight simulation enthusiasts. Designed in 1929 by Claude Dornier, this seaplane far surpassed anything else on the market at the time, in terms of weight, length and power.
Flyingboat Dornier DO X.
Unfortunately, the Germans couldn’t make a commercial success of it, as the aircraft was really too heavy to cover long distances at high altitude in an economical way. What’s more, bad experiences were piling up during the various stopovers: the left-wing canvas caught fire in Portugal, there was some problems with tropical weather, the tail was torn off during a poorly-planned ditching in Passau. What remains of the empennage after the accident can now be seen in the Dornier Museum in Friedrichshafen.
The Germans built the three DO X models at Altenheim, on the Swiss side of Lake Constance, to get round the restrictions imposed by the Treaty of Versailles.
Inside the flyingboat Dornier DO X with Microsoft flight simulator
One crew member was in charge of controlling and monitoring the engines. He obeyed the captain’s instructions.
Dornier DO X engine control
Dornier DO X engine room with Microsoft flight simulator
The layout of the engines caused headaches for the mechanics. Six propellers pulled the aircraft forward, while another six pushed the DO X. The engines driving the rear propellers received less air than those in front of the aircraft. This led to cooling problems, which reduced reliability on long-distance flights.
Dornier DO-X flyingboat over the Atlantic ocean with MSFS 2020 flight simulator.
The seaplane made its first test flight from Lake Constance (Bodensee) in 1929. Below, a screenshot of the flight near Lake Brienz in Switzerland.
Dornier DO X flyingboat over Lake Brienz in Switzerland with Microsoft flight simulator.
On its international routes, the DO X made stopovers in several European countries, Africa, South America, Miami, New York and Newfoundland. At the time, Newfoundland was not yet part of Canada. Newfoundlanders issued a stamp to commemorate the plane’s passage through Hollyrod. Naturally, those who kept a copy of the stamp have seen its value rise sharply over the years.
This legendary seaplane is still admired by aviation enthusiasts today. It’s available as a glue-on model, a desktop model and even as a remote-controlled model.
While in L’Islet, a stop at the Musée maritime du Québec is a must. Above, the icebreaker Ernest Lapointe, responsible for clearing the St. Lawrence River between Montreal and Trois-Rivières for 37 years.
The Bras d’Or hydrofoil at the Musée de l’Islet
Also on the grounds is the famous HMCS Bras d’Or. This hydrofoil was created in Canada during the Cold War to monitor Canadian waters against possible Soviet submarine intrusion. As this museum boat explains, “it was compulsory to have a dual pilot’s licence for aircraft and navigation in order to operate this self-supporting winged craft“.
HMCS Onondaga submarine museum in Pointe-au-Père, Québec 2023
A little further east, we reach Pointe-au-Père, in the Rimouski region. Here you’ll find Canada’s only submarine museum.Visitors can tour the interior of the HMCS Onondaga, used until 2000. Travelers pass through 17 stations to learn about life aboard a submersible.
Inside the canadian submarine HMCS Onondaga in Pointe-au-Père
The mechanic worked for periods of two months at a time, monitoring the engines in this noisy, diesel-smelling environment. A German spy disembarking from a submarine at night in Gaspésie was spotted in a bus because it smelled strongly of diesel.
Empress of Ireland museum in Pointe-au-Père, Québec 2023
Above, a shot of one of the rooms in the Museum of the Empress of Ireland. Her sinking in the St. Lawrence River was the second most costly in human lives after the Titanic. Among all the objects recovered from the wreck is this porcelain skeleton that one of the passengers had in his cabin.
The graphic novel “La disparition de Josef Mengele” is a wonderful surprise for me, both in terms of the scenario and the graphics. Anyone interested in true stories will devour this book as it represents a goldmine of astonishing information on the life, or rather the survival, of the Nazi criminal in Latin America.
Who provides him with the money he needs? How does he protect himself? Does he lead the existence of a pasha? How does he behave abroad? Does his thinking on race show any sign of evolution, or is it still sclerotic? Why does Argentina encourage the arrival of these fugitive assassins?
For the general public, there are two categories of National Socialist criminals: the first concerns the names that received most media coverage at the Nuremberg Tribunal. The second involves Nazi criminals who fled abroad, thanks to political or family support. Josef Mengele belongs to both groups. He is holed up in Latin America and knows that several organizations are seriously looking for him, including Mossad.
How does he remain roaming for so long? It soon becomes clear that the Mossad is not only concentrating on Nazi criminals on the run. The book introduces us to some other priorities for the agency, one of which is very urgent: the elimination of former German scientists working in Egypt to create radioactive waste weapons designed to destroy Israel. The secret services must choose between Mengele, a past threat, or a more immediate danger. With limited resources, they have to adjust and deal with the most pressing situation.
Nazis were integrated into the new German government.
There is, however, a third category that the public has heard very little about, and which is also discussed in the graphic novel: these are Nazis who rejoined the new German government a few years after the end of the Second World War.
Indeed, the Allied powers of the time – the USA, Great Britain, France and the Soviet Union – administered the occupation zones of the German territory after the Second World War. But tensions between East and West grew rapidly. Each side accused the other of imperialist or communist expansionism.
To offer a better-organized resistance to the Soviet Union, Germany’s autonomy had to be quickly restored. The former Nazis had experience of governance that was immediately available.
If the Allies adopted the clear-cut position of preventing the Nazis from attaining essential functions in the public apparatus of the future Bonn Republic, then people with little or no knowledge had to be trained to carry out the more complex tasks. Time was short, as was the will to bring all possible war criminals to justice.
So, many Nazis found work in government agencies. One thing led to another, and some of these former Nazis recycled as government agents became part of the inner circle protecting the most prominent war criminals who had fled abroad. Josef Mengele benefited from this high-level support.
But several additional Germans, also in high places, acted in the opposite direction, striving to flush out the biggest criminals, at the risk of their own health and safety. One such person is introduced in the book: Fritz Bauer. This man contacted Mossad with information that eventually help to capture Adolf Eichmann. The latter went on trial in Israel and sentenced to hanging.
Eichmann and Mengele meet each other.
Mengele reads the newspapers and suspects that his end will resemble that of Eichmann. The graphic novel shows him as a hunted animal, talking to himself. His racist, backward-looking words drive away the individuals who could support him most in the last years of his life. He withered slowly and died on a beach in Brazil. But it was not officially known until 1985.
The book covers a period of several decades. It features a brief summary of Mengele’s actions as a doctor at Auschwitz. He is not alone, even if he remains very high-profile to the general public. A large number of scientific assistants carried out experiments on humans, including one who became rector of the University of Münster after the end of the Second World War.
The authors mention in passing the idea of a Fourth Reichpursued by Mengele and his ilk. In short, readers won’t get bored with this skilfully constructed graphic novel.
When they hear the name Mohammed Ben Salmane (MBS), most people don’t react, as they can’t associate him with anything. If they are told that it was he who had a journalist cut up into small pieces and stuffed into garbage bags in the Saudi Arabian embassy in Turkey, it resonates more.
The graphic novel “MBS— L’enfant terrible d’Arabie Saoudite” introduces us to the life of this implacable ruler who tries to forge links with the great powers. By negotiating his support with the United States, Russia, China, India, or France, he seeks to position his country as a major player on the world stage.
The book is also a very interesting first approach to the history of Saudi Arabia, especially with regards to the Saud family and its reign. We realize the importance of alliances and radical decisions by MBS if he wishes to attain supreme power and hold to it.
Back cover of the graphic novel: MBS L’enfant terrible d’Arabie Saoudite
Domestic and regional stability remains a top priority for MBS. Even if he wants to modernize society and appeal to young individuals, he must at the same time avoid upsetting the Wahhabi clerics too much. The latter enjoy ancestral prestige and have a marked influence on the way people behave and think.
When it comes to imposing his ideas, MBS hasn’t invented a thing. Like most rulers of the world’s major countries, he has learned to use the media and spares no expense to achieve the desired results.
Top managers of intelligence and news organizations know very well the limits within which they can operate. You won’t see any photos of MBS spouses, or articles that would enlighten the public about the nightlife of the leader and his friends.
This graphic novel maintains interest by interspersing surprising anecdotes with pertinent information accessible to all. As the back cover of the book states, “This ambitious prince happens to be our ally in the Middle East : oil, the fight against terrorism, Arab-Israeli peace, arms sales … we need him. But what price will we pay?”
These machines, which were not designed to operate from an aircraft carrier, would not be able to reach their targets and return safely to port for lack of sufficient fuel. All the pilots were well aware of this, and volunteered.
The fleet of sixteen aircraft, commanded by Jimmy Doolittle, successfully achieved its objective of confusing the enemy and showing that Japan remained vulnerable to surprise attacks. The Japanese wondered how it was possible that American bombers could have reached and hit their country. Where did they take off from? They know that the B-25 Mitchells were not designed to take off from an aircraft carrier, and that they were incapable of landing on one.
The genius of the operation laid in the combination of a number of highly risky decisions which, taken together, took the enemy by surprise. Firstly, as it was impossible to land the planes on the Hornet, they were installed with a crane, knowing full well that they would never return to the ship.
In addition, the captains were trained to take off over distances unthinkable for them, using a technique pushed to the extreme. The ship sailed at high speed into the wind, improving the headwind component so essential for such perilous maneuvers.
The pilots had to be extremely skilful to keep to the departure trajectory on a platform that moved from left to right in the middle of a storm. Buildings on the Hornet’s side had to be avoided at all costs, and the available gap between the wing tip and the ship’s tower was no more than two meters. Despite all the obstacles, all the B-25s managed to take off. It was to be a one-way mission to Japan.
Doolittle piloted the first B-25 to take off from the carrier. He had only a very small portion of the deck to work with, as there were still fifteen other bombers waiting their turn to take off. The second pilot to leave the deck narrowly avoided a water landing, as the aircraft sank slightly and a landing gear wheel touched the water. But the plane gained just enough speed to stay airborne.
Bombers and crews suffered different fates once the bombing raids on Japanese targets had been completed. The authors conclude: “The raid destroyed 112 buildings and killed 87 people, in about 6 minutes. […] The destruction of 15 of the 16 B-25s, unable to reach Chinese airfields for landing, was nevertheless to be deplored, the 16th B-25 having landed safely in the USSR. Also to be deplored was the accidental death of three airmen (planes 3 and 6) and the capture of 8 others (planes 6 and 16) by the Japanese, 4 of whom never returned home, 3 having been executed as “war criminals” and the 4th having died in captivity. Worse still, the Japanese took revenge on the Chinese, who had helped all the surviving airmen, by organizing the massacre of some 250,000 civilians in the Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces then under their control. This was to leave its mark…”.
Landing and takeoff tests on an aircraft carrier, the Forrestal, were also made decades later for a C-130 Hercules. I tried to repeat the experience in flight simulation. The flight can be found in the “challenging virtual flights” section of my blog. As the Forrestal is not available in virtual mode, I used the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise.
The graphic novel “Accidental Czar: The life and lies of Vladimir Putin”.
Note: The excerpts are taken from the French version of “Tsar par accident” and re-translated into English using DeepL.
Author Andrew S. Weiss has worked at the White House, the Pentagon, the State Department, and so on. He points out: “If someone had told me at the time that a former KGB non-commissioned officer – who had never really shone – a certain Vladimir Putin […] – would be promoted from the back rooms of the Kremlin directly to the head of the country, I would have told you to get yourself treated”. He adds: “What we think we know about him is often a clever mix of counter psychology and misinterpretations of Russia‘s thousand-year-old history “. His staging as a tough guy “allows him to come across as more intelligent – and more competent – than he really is. […] “.
The graphic novel “Accident Czar” tells the story of how Vladimir Putinfound himself in power at a time when his rather lacklustre career was destined for a lesser position. But the same could be said of some of the world’s dictators, presidents, kings and ministers over the ages who have been blessed with good fortune. They too have taken advantage of favorable opportunities to climb the ladder too high for their natural talent. The nation then pays the price until the person’s overthrow, exile or death.
Still, we have to give Putin credit for persisting, for hanging on, despite setbacks and rejections. To join the KGB, he was told to study or join the army. He did so and received his diploma.
In 1975, he joined the KGB. But it wasn’t the big missions he had dreamed of that awaited him, but local fieldwork. He failed to impress his superiors with the results he achieved. Following a brawl in the subway, he was transferred to Dresden in 1985, where his missions were meaningless due to lack of budget. In 1999, President Clinton was told that Putin would be the next Russian president. What had happened between 1985 and 1999 for Putin to suddenly emerge from obscurity and become President of Russia?
Credit must be given to his work ethic, but above all to his loyalty to his bosses in an organization that favors personal ties. Yeltsin, the president at the time, sensed his end was coming and offered Putin a deal. The author writes: “He would make him president if he agreed to protect him and his family“.
Just as Hindenburg believed he could manipulate Hitler by giving him access to the highest echelons of government, so Yeltsin thought he could do the same with Putin. In both cases, it was a costly mistake for Europe and the world.
The book reviews the rise of the Russian oligarchs, and the rapprochement of power for Putin’s friends. Andrew Weiss points out: “One of the points that foreigners don’t always grasp is that Russia is a society that operates on the basis of personal ties, rather than within the framework of institutions or the rule of law.“
In the years following the fall of the Berlin Wall, important sectors of the Russian economy were taken over by corrupt officials and KGB agents, as well as by the mafia. As the author writes: “Vladimir Kumarin, all-powerful boss of the notorious Tambov gang, ruled the country“.
Vladimir Putin’s support for the United Statesafter the attacks of September 11, 2001 brought him closer to George W. Bush and his father George H. W. Bush, with whom he even went fishing in Kennebunkport. He hoped to revive the moribund Russian economy and gain the freedom to control the Russian media.
What’s most astonishing to me is that, during this period, Putin approved the highly controversial establishment of American and NATO bases across the former Soviet Union(Uzbekistan,Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan). With this gesture, he was seeking stabilization with the West. With the causes of the September 11th 2001 attacks still being debated around the world today, especially in the most informed circles, Putin was later forced to reflect on the relevance and consequences of his decision to authorize new American and NATO bases near Russia.
The Russian president quickly realizes that he doesn’t carry much weight in the diplomatic balance against a superpower like the United States. He is not recognized as a player to be reckoned with. With a view to better understanding between the West and Russia, the author stresses the importance of better understanding the grievances of both sides. He points out that this is sorely lacking.
Especially since the Kremlin is convinced that “demands for political change are always the result of Western-backed conspiracies“. All the major nations, by dint of monitoring each other and trying to influence the internal management of other countries, are projecting their intentions and no longer believe that a protest can come from the bottom up, based on a serious desire to improve certain detestable policies.
The author takes a look back at the problems surrounding Russia’s territorial security through the ages, invaded in turn by the Mongols, Napoleon and Hitler: “[Russia] traditionally relies on annexed territories to act as a buffer between the motherland and any external threat“. He also discusses the Chechen conflict, the fight against terrorism, political interference in neighboring states and Russian involvement in the 2016 US elections.
Andrew S. Weiss covers a lot of ground, and other themes find their way into the book: the history of the Cold War, Trump, Snowden, Wikileaks, the Sochi Olympics and the work of Maria Butina, a Russian agent who managed to penetrate the upper circles of the American Republican Party.
It was his belief in the irreversible decline of the West that enabled Vladimir Putin to invade Ukraine.
The author concludes with a remark on the invasion of that country and the indiscriminate bombing of civilian targets: “The world is beginning to understand that Putin was never the strategist he claimed to be. He is an improviser caught in his own trap”.
Allow me to make a comment about the invasion of Ukraine. This country is to receive fighter planes from the Allied States to protect its territory, which deeply offends Russia. However, I would like to remind you that during the Second World War, the Soviet Union accepted a great deal of outside help for its defense on the Eastern Front. To name just one aircraft and country, the Soviet Union obtained 877 B-25 Mitchell bombers from the USA.
