Introduction and Background
“Murder in Memoriam” is a literary work attributed to an author of French descent called Didier Daeninckx. Initially published in 1984 and later hailed for winning the “French Detection Fiction” in the same year, the novel mirrors diverse events ranging from the Nazi occupation/activities in France, the Algerian War, as well as the Vichy regime and the latter’s connection with the Nazis. The plot/main story in “Murder in Memoriam” tracks the murder of a history teacher by the name of Rodger Thiraud in an Algerian demonstration in Paris. Thiraud’s son, who is a journalist, along with a police inspector by the name of Cadin, are trying to unravel the mystery of Thiraud’s death. This essay takes an analytical approach, trying to analyze a passage from “Murder in Memoriam.” Specifically, it tries to find the main themes in the passage, what the passage is all about, as well as the effects that the passage is likely to have on the reader and how it realizes those effects. The essay also significantly dwells on the narrative voices as well as literary styles employed in the passage. The passage that will be analyzed is an excerpt from pages 41 and 42 in which Thiraud’s son, Benard, and Cadin have gone to the Préfecture of Police in Toulouse to look at some documents that his father, Thiraud, wanted to study prior to his killing.
Analysis
Some of the main overarching themes that immediately come out in the passage are the hidden connection between the past and the present, the search for truth and justice, and corruption/cover-ups in French administration/officials (Didier., 1991). A search by Bernard (Thiraud’s son), who also happens to be a journalist, and a police inspector (Cadin) had taken them to the Préfecture of Police in Toulouse to look at documents that Bernads’s father (Thiraud) was preoccupied with before he was murdered. The connection between the past and the present lies in Bernard and Cadin going to look at past documents to allow them to solve a present case involving the murder of Bernard’s father. (Didier., 1991). Justice comes as a result of Benard and Cadin’s quest for the reasons behind Thiraud’s death. At the same time, corruption/cover,p especially with regards to French officials,s arises from the classification of documents in the archive and the seemingly sinister secret meanings attached to those classifications like DEmarcation, Deliberation,s, etc. Their search has led them to a damning discovery of a close connection between Nazis, the Vichy regime, and the Algerian War. The setting of the passage is, thus, the Préfecture of Police in Toulouse, and it describes activities around the Nazi Germany occupation in France. Within the Préfecture lies the headquarters of police and archives, and it can be argued that it is a symbolic connotation of the Buerocratic aspects of Bernard and Cadin’s investigation (Brozgal, 2014).
Away from the main themes as well as the setting of the passage, the effect of the passage on the reader is a combination of shock, curiosity, indignation, and even humor. The shock comes from a reader’s realization of the shocking collaboration involving the Vichy regime and Nazi Germany (Brozgal, 2014). Curiosity comes from the need to know more not only about Thiraud’s murder but also the damning revelation regarding the collaboration between the Vichy regime, the Nazis, and even the Algerian War, something that also leads to feelings of indignation and anger. However, it is also safe to argue that these feelings are also carefully wrapped in humor, wordplay, and puns that are evident in the passage’s description of aspects like the Director of Administrative Archives at the Préfecture (M. Lécussan): “a wrinkled old functionary disabled by a club foot…… with his lopsided rhythm” Didier (1991), referring to the disability that the director suffers. This pun and humor can also be seen in the passage’s description of the varied documents that Bernard and Cadin had to go through in which they say: “ We were soon experts on sanitation problems in Muret and Saint-Gaudens or the complaints registered in the district of Montastruc and Leguevin…” (Didier., 1991). This shows they had to go through administrative documents on things like city sanitation, complaints, and even road repairs during their search.
It is also worth noting that the passage employs a combination of third-person omniscient as well as first-person plural voices in its accounts of events. More specifically, the feelings, events, and even thoughts of characters are brought more clearly to the reader through the third-person omniscient narrative voice (Gulddal et al., 2022). On the other hand, the main characters in the passage, Bernard and Cadid, employ the first-person plural narrative voice not only to describe their own perspectives and preferences but also to target readers and address them directly. As a consequence, it is safe to argue that since the story is being told from two perspectives, there are shifting focalizers for the story. However, Every narrative has only one focalizer in that when the third person omniscient is taken, only one focalizer is apparent, and when first person plural is taken, the other focalizer becomes apparent (Gulddal et al., 2022).
The characters can be described as portraying mixed characteristics comprising those of flat characters as well as those of round characters. For example, M. Lécussan, who is the administrative director of archives, is both a minor and flat character since not very much of the plot changes because of him(Liam, 2018). At the same time, the narrator’s description of his physical appearance constitutes direct characterization. On the other hand, Bernard can be thought of as a main and round character as he moves from a mere journalist to an investigator mainly out of curiosity. His personality is revealed via his interaction with others, constituting indirect characterization. Likewise, Cadin is main and round in the passage, as seen by his transformation from skepticism and cynicism to a courage-filled officer of the law. His relationship with Bernard, as well as his application of first-person narration, reveals much of his identity and makes him a symbol of justice (Liam, 2018). It is also worth noting that the choice of words and the overall lexis in the passage brings a realistic and vivid picture, while the fact that the verbs are in the past tense creates a sense of narration. At the same time, figurative language, along with smiles like: “..disability was like a club of foot,” and even the use of punctuation and rhythm, give the passage a structure while maintaining its overall message (Liam, 2018).
Conclusion
The passage employs a myriad of literary techniques to not only elicit specific feelings in the reader but also convey its overall message in the right way. Ranging from the narrative voices, the literary style, and even the narrative itself, the overarching themes of the page, such as the connection of the past and the present, justice, and even corruption, come to light.
Bibliography
Brozgal, L. (2014) ‘In the absence of the archive (Paris, October 17, 1961)’, South Central Review, 31(1), pp. 34–54. doi:10.1353/scr.2014.0004.
Didier., D. (1991) ‘Murder in Memoriam, trans’, London: Serpent’s Tail [Preprint].
Gulddal, J., King, S. and Rolls, A.C. (2022) The Cambridge Companion to World Crime Fiction. Cambridge: NY.
Liam , W.J. (2018) ‘Interrogating the Crimes of the Twentieth Century Detecting and Policing in Perec and His Peers’, Doctoral dissertation, University of Huddersfield [Preprint].
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