Today, I returned to the San Francisco Public Library to pick up an interlibrary loan request. Another contemporary French novel which I had requested had arrived, and was "ready for pick-up." The book was Michel Mohrt's La Guerre Civile, published by Gallimard in 1986.
La Guerre Civile is the second book by this now elderly French writer which mentions Louise Brooks. The other is his 1991 novel Un Soir, à Londres, which I blogged about on February 1st.
Though I don't read French, I paged through (aka visually skimmed) the novel on the streetcar on the way home from the library and found the page which includes the reference to the actress. It's page 49. Here it is.
I would certainly appreciate it if any French speaking Louise Brooks fans could provide a quick translation into English of the sentences around the reference to the actress. And do any readers of this blog have contact with the author, Michel Mohrt? I would love to know about his interest in Louise Brooks. The search goes on . . . .
La Guerre Civile is the second book by this now elderly French writer which mentions Louise Brooks. The other is his 1991 novel Un Soir, à Londres, which I blogged about on February 1st.
Though I don't read French, I paged through (aka visually skimmed) the novel on the streetcar on the way home from the library and found the page which includes the reference to the actress. It's page 49. Here it is.
I think it is just a reference to Louise's style.
ReplyDeleteIt says (starting from "Les hommes..."):
The men were in blazers and white (not sure what this is, probably some kind of garment), the women bare-skinned covered with jewels, tiaras on their hair cut short a la Louise Brooks, like in Vogue, Vanity Fair...
Thank you again!
ReplyDeleteBlazer: some kind of jacket in a typical "sailboat captain" style.
ReplyDeleteSpencer: a short straight jacket, mainly for parties.
For Louise, that's it: just a reference to her hair style.
PascalP