{"id":1508,"date":"2025-06-09T11:43:58","date_gmt":"2025-06-09T10:43:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/volkanartz.w23.fr\/?p=1508"},"modified":"2025-06-09T13:44:56","modified_gmt":"2025-06-09T12:44:56","slug":"nouvelle-le-duel-de-joseph-conrad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/volkanartz.w23.fr\/en\/nouvelle-le-duel-de-joseph-conrad\/","title":{"rendered":"Short story : \"The Duel\", by Joseph Conrad"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hello !<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following the reading of \"\u00a0Heart of Darkness<\/a>\", by Joseph Conrad - an almost phantasmagorical short story - I borrowed in the public library an enormous compilation of short stories, by the same author, and dived my way in\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As you might know, from previous posts, I especially enjoy short stories, with works by Chekhov, Zweig<\/a>, Andersen<\/a>, Tolstoy (here<\/a> or there<\/a>), Daudet<\/a>, Erich Maria Remarque, or contemporary authors, like Pete Fromm<\/a>I confess willingly that I (like most people) don't have a very broad literary culture, so I try to rebound on good vibes when possible, and get to know as many good authors as I can.
Having felt deep vibrations, through \"Heart of Darkness\", I wanted to know if it had happened merely by chance\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the stories already found in this 1400 pages book, all benefiting from a very fine writing style, I keep in mind \"The Anarchist\", where we have this colonial atmosphere, specific to the XIXth century, together with this tragic touch (the typical wasted life theme) ; and then I found \"The Duel\".
Published in 1908, this short story deals with the Napoleonic times, from 1800 to 1815 and even a little bit beyond the second period on restoration (as we call it in France) of the Monarchy (with Louis the XVIIIth), first for a couple of months in 1814, then back in 1815 for fifteen years or so\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The author guide us into an epoch, or even some kind of epic, where the personal stories run along History, with two men as different as military officers (hussars) could be.
Those officers get somewhat trapped by circumstances, habits and customs, standards of the times, pride \/ vanity (depending upon the viewer), into a life long duel, which happened out of nowhere<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I feel this is true essence of this drama, with those strange destinies, rather than in the suspense of combats - knowing it somewhat resembles a game of dice, as the two men share similar fighting skills. In the midst of historical events, how do these two souls go their own ways, along military campaigns, promotions and defeats (of course, victory seems logical, but defeats come with a good deal of bitterness and life lessons).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Graphical vision of \"The Duel\", by artist Bastian Kupfer <\/em>https:\/\/fr.pinterest.com\/bastiankupfer\/books\/<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Recovery of d'Hubert, by Bastian Kupfer<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Gunfight in the woods, by Bastian Kupfer<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Considering these times and the link between epochs and destinies, it's very interesting to evoke a conversation between one of the duelists, d'Hubert, with a neighbor of his, an old aristocrat, once stripped of his social position, then rehabilitated.
The old man is between 65 and 70 years old, and had to flee at the time of the French revolution in the 1790's (it's still hard, especially for Frenchmen, to understand the terror of that time). As emigrant in Germany, he had to work as a bootmaker (hard to imagine for the upper class, right ? ;) and could get back in France 25 years later, after the fall of Napoleon, in 1814.
The man feels estranged by the younger generation of Napoleonic military men : those men were sometimes \"extracted\" (so to say) from the poorer parts of the population, country yokels as they were initially called, who then happened to become generals. From his specific viewpoint, that looks inacceptable and impossible to understand\u2026
And it is true that the revolutionary period (including the 1st Empire of Napoleon) offered a unique possibility of \"social mobility\". For a very limited period of time, origins didn't matter as much as courage, loyalty, abnegation. Let's think of Marechal Michel Ney (son of a cooper-an artisan) and quite a few others\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ney, at his time within the hussars<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I'm sorry to write it, but it seems that such perspectives are quite lost since the time. Nowadays, it's still possible to evolve professionally, thanks to hard work and studies, but if we consider things carefully, the \"social elevator\" (as we say in France) is quite blocked : people going for studies generally have parents who did the same, and it seems that the real difference lies in the presence (or absence) of a personal library at home. In other words : did you parents were interested (or not so much) into intellectual works ? Of course, this observation isn't judgmental, as I personally don't think that it defines anyone's value ; yet, I deplore a matter of social realities\u2026 In economic terms, it's even worse, as it is mostly a question of inheritance in the first place (let's just think for a minute about the prices of land and real estate). In his own way, someone like Bernard Arnault (owner of LVMH) demonstrates this : even if he truly was audacious when he sold the family business for some millions, he didn't begin out of nothing, far from it\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyway, to get back to this story, this historical anomaly of the first French revolution swept one or two generations, sometimes in full fanfare (from 1795 to 1812), only to abandon them on the pavement after a while\u2026
To me, that's what this novel is about. I truly recommend its discovery, even for those not particularly interested in History, nor in this military world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Globally, it all gives the impression that - like Anton Chekhov writings - the author trusted the intelligence and sensitivity of the readers, and that feels like a true refreshment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What about the movie, directed by Ridley Scott (1977) ?<\/strong> ?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In the movie version, the folly of those times appears quite clearly. It is indeed close to the short story, at least in that respect, and show a number of qualities : the image style (very 80s or even early 90s, and hence forerunner), a good dynamic in the drama, fine musical backing and honest acting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It appears clearly that Ridley Scott fully trusted his actors.
Of course, there's something great about that, but it has also some limits : to me, it's obvious that the director didn't bother to deepen the psychological questions of the characters. I guess that the actors had to deal with it on their own, using their personal capacities only, without any help nor drive from the director.
I'm pretty sure that, with such talents, if there had been a real actors direction, it would have been possible to open hidden perspectives between the beginning and the end of the story (here, there is very small evolution only), as well as deeper, subtler dimensions\u2026 with a more moving end result.
As it is, we look and enjoy the movie, which is sometimes interesting, but we aren't moved in any way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With such a simple but dense story, there was a true emotional potential. But, on that front, Scott remained quite basic - a missed opportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Some scenes remain pretty good, most notably during the retreat from Russia. The two enemies (wearing what they could find on dead bodies to resist the cold) face some Cossacks. Then, d'Hubert remains alone and looks at a bunch of frozen soldiers, who seem to be at the border between life and death\u2026
Here, the image does its job very well, and Scott was good at it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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For the rest, the movie falls back on the same old tracks and tricks, in the same and only atmosphere : within the fog. It all looks as if happening during the same season, as one and only duel, rather than the span of two lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I feel it's a shame, especially when remembering what the book offered. For instance, near the end of the book, the last duel happens in a Mediterranean forest, in the pine trees, with an already hot and thick atmosphere (despite the morning). The tension is palpable as the stakes are higher than ever : for one protagonist, because he now wants to marry ; the other one because he sees it as a final revenge for all that happened to him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consequently, concerning the movie version, I can't help but ask : in the end, why did they make this movie for ?
The theme looks like a pretext, as it is often the case with Ridley Scott (and a few others, like Martin Scorsese, for instance) : we've been told a good story, with lot of action and great looking images\u2026 but what for ?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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That's the main difference between entertainment and art.
If the movie doesn't give much more that esthetical satisfaction, the short story feels more like a rough diamond, which opens the readers imagination and invite to some thinking. With this strange story, an inner world opens on its own, a window on others people lives, and, finally, some kind of resonance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PS : you can find the text :
- in English : https:\/\/www.gutenberg.org\/ebooks\/2305<\/a>
- in French : https:\/\/fr.wikisource.org\/wiki\/Gaspar_Ruiz_et_autres_r\u00e9cits\/Le_Duel_(Conrad)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

PPS : for an alternative view about the movie, you can have a look there : http:\/\/moviessansfrontiers.blogspot.com\/2013\/11\/153-british-filmmaker-sir-ridley-scotts.html<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Following a (brief) analysis of \"Heat of Darkness\", by Joseph Conrad, please find some impressions about \"The Duel\"... as well as some thinking about the movie version.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-impressions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/volkanartz.w23.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/volkanartz.w23.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/volkanartz.w23.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/volkanartz.w23.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/volkanartz.w23.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1508"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/volkanartz.w23.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1508\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1532,"href":"https:\/\/volkanartz.w23.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1508\/revisions\/1532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/volkanartz.w23.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/volkanartz.w23.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/volkanartz.w23.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}