THE IMPACT OF THE GERMAN OCCUPATION OF FRANCE UPON FOUR FRENCH INTELLECTUALS: CHARLES MAURRAS, PIERRE DRIEU LA ROCHELLE, HENRY DE MONTHERLANT, AND FRANCOIS MAURIAC

The dissertation examines the influence of the German occupation of France (1940-1944) on four prominent French writers. Its objective is to emphasize their reactions, their attitudes, their stances, and their roles during these four fateful years of French history. An introductory first chapter deals with the dilemma of the French intellectuals in general and with the choices open to them at the very beginning of the Occupation, when German and French censorship imposed restrictions on all publications in the occupied and unoccupied zones. The four main chapters of the dissertation are devoted to the lives of Charles Maurras, Pierre Drieu la Rochelle, Henry de Montherlant, and Francois Mauriac. These intellectuals have been selected because their respective attitudes before and during the Occupation reflected the spectrum of the French Rightists' political division. Each chapter contains an analysis of the authors' political convictions between the two world wars and a summary of the solutions they each proposed to heal France's political and social problems. But the essential theme of the dissertation is to highlight the frustrations and the plight of these writers who dared to commit themselves in unusual and dangerous circumstances. The conclusion is an attempt to evaluate the consequences of their commitment in the realms or moral responsibilities and justice. Although the bibliographies of these authors are very extensive, their works have not yet been studied in this context. Some of the articles and political essays which they wrote have never been translated into English. The statements they made have often been cited out of context and misinterpreted in the heat of the revengeful years of the purge which followed the occupation of France. The dissertation attempts to separate truth from fiction and reality from slander. The methodology consists in the textual and bibliographical study of the authors' original works in the French language.