On the other hand, I want J. Marie and Hubert to be thrown in jail by the Germans for different reasons. That way it would be possible to have the German die afterwards. Lucile could think of going to him to save J. Marie? All this is very vague. Think about it.

On the one hand, I would like a kind of general idea. On the other… Tolstoy, for example, with one idea spoils everything. Must have people, human reactions, and that's all…

Let's make do with important businessmen and famous writers. After all, they are the real kings.

For Dolce, a woman of honour can admit without shame "these unexpected emotions that reason can tame," as Pauline would say (Corneille).

2 June 1942. Never forget that the war will be over and that the entire historical side will fade away. Try to create as much as possible: things, debates… that will interest people in 1952 or 2052. Reread Tolstoy. Inimitable descriptions but not historical. Insist on that. For example in Dolce, the Germans in the village. In Captivity, Jacqueline's First Communion and Ariette Corail's party.

2 June 1942. Starting to worry about the shape this novel will have when finished! Consider that I haven't yet finished the second part, and I see the third? But that the fourth and fifth are in limbo and what limbo! It's really in the lap of the gods since it depends on what happens. And the gods could find it amusing to wait a hundred or even a thousand years, as the saying goes[18]: and I'll be far away. But the gods wouldn't do that to me. I'm also counting a lot on the prophecy of Nostradamus.

[18] Undoubtedly a reference to the German statement that the Third Reich would last a thousand years.

1944-Oh, God![19]

[19] These words appear in English in the notebook.

While waiting to see the shape… or rather I should say the rhythm: the rhythm in the cinematic sense… how the parts relate to each other. Storm, Dolce, gentleness and tragedy. Captivity? Something muffled, stifled, as vicious as possible. After that I don't know.

What's important-the relationship between different parts of the work. If I had a better knowledge of music, I suppose that would help me. Since I don't know music, then what is called rhythm in films. All in all, make sure to have variety on one hand and harmony on the other. In the cinema, a film must have unity, tone, a style. E.g.: those street scenes in American films where you always have skyscrapers, where you can sense the hot, muffled, muggy atmosphere of New York. So unity for the film as a whole but variety between the parts. Pursuit-people in love-laughter, tears etc. It's this type of rhythm I want to achieve.

Now for a more basic question and one to which I cannot find an answer: won't people forget the heroes from one book to the next? It is to avoid this problem that I would like to create one large volume of 1,000 pages rather than a work made up of several volumes.

3 July 1942. Definitely,[20] unless things drag on and get worse as they go! But please let it be over one way or the other!

[20] Refers to previous paragraph regarding one large volume.

Only need four movements. In the third, Captivity, collective destiny and personal destiny are strongly linked. In the fourth, whatever the result may be! (I UNDERSTAND WHAT I MEAN!), personal destiny is extricated from the other. On one side, the fate of the nation, on the other, Jean-Marie and Lucile, their love, the German's music etc.

Now, here is what I pictured:

1 Benoît is killed in a revolution or fight or an attempt at resisting, according to what seems realistic.

2 Corte. I think this might be good. Corte was very afraid of the Bolsheviks. He is extremely collaborationist but, following an attack on one of his friends or out of wounded pride, he gets the idea that the Germans are finished. He wants to commit himself to the extreme left! He first thinks of Jules Blanc, but after seeing him, he finds him [illegible word in Russian], he turns resolutely to a young activist group, that has formed… [unfinished sentence].

For Captivity:

Begin with: Corte, Jules Blanc visiting Corte.

Then a contrast: Lucile perhaps at the Michauds'.

Then: the Péricands.

As many meetings as possible but not historical, rather the masses, social events or battles in the streets or something like that!

Arrival

Morning

Departure

These three episodes must be stressed even more. The movement of the masses must give the book its worth.

In the fourth part, I only know the death of the German in Russia.

Yes, to do it well, should have five parts of 200 pages each. A 1,000-page book. Ah, God![21]

[21] These words appear in English in the notebook.

Remark. The theft of Corte's dinner by the proletarians must have, for the future, a great influence. Normally, Corte should become extremely pro-Nazi, but I could also if I want, if I need to, do it in such a way that he says to himself: "There's no point kidding myself; that's where the future lies, the future belongs to this brutal force which stole my food from me. Two possible positions then: fight against it or, the opposite, from now on be a leader of the movement. Let himself be carried along by the wave, but on the front line? Even better, try to lead it? The official writer of the party. The great man of the Party, ha, ha, ha!" even more so since Germany is on good terms with the USSR and will come to tolerate it more and more. As long as the war lasts, this in fact will be madness on the part of Germany etc. Later on, it will be different… But later on people will see. They'll fly to the aid of the strongest.

Could someone like Corte have such cynical ideas? Of course, at certain times. When he's been drinking or after making love his favourite way, a way that a mere mortal could barely begin to understand, and even if he did understand, it would cause only amazement and panic. The difficulty here is, as ever, the practical side of things. A newspaper, a kind of radio. Freedom, the Germans secretly paying him a subsidy.[22] We'll see.

[22] "Some of the most notorious figures of the occupation were the Frenchmen who led political groups or published newspapers in Paris in return for the high life of the occupied capital and, in many cases, direct subsidies from the German Embassy (Robert O. Paxton, Vichy France, p. 49).

All action is a battle, the only business is peace.[23]

[23] These words appear in English in the notebook.

The pattern, is it less[24] a wheel than a wave that rises and falls, and sometimes on its crest appears a seagull, sometimes the Spirit of Evil and sometimes a dead rat. Accurately reality, our reality (there's nothing to be proud about there!).

[24] These words appear in English in the notebook.

The rhythm must be here in the movements of the masses, everywhere where the crowds appear in the first volume, the exodus, the refugees, the arrival of the Germans in the village.

In Dolce: the arrival of the Germans, but it must be re-examined, the morning, the departure. In Captivity, the First Communion, a demonstration (the one that happened on 11 November '41), a fight? We'll see. I haven't got there yet and I'll approach it realistically.

If I show people who "influence" events, that would be unacceptable. If I show people act, that is certainly more realistic, but at the expense of keeping it interesting. Nevertheless, must limit myself to that.

It's quite fair (though banal, but let's admire and embrace banality), what Percy says-that the historical scenes are the best (see War and Peace), the ones that are seen from the perspective of the characters. I tried to do the same thing in Storm, but in Dolce, everything to do with the Germans, all that can and must be separate.