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It Was the War of the Trenches
World War I, that awful, gaping wound in the history of Europe, has long been an obsession of Jacques Tardi’s. (His very first—rejected—comics story dealt with the subject, as does his most recent work, the two-volume Putain de Guerre.) But It Was the War of the Trenches is Tardi’s defining, masterful statement on the subject, a graphic novel that can stand shoulder to shoulder with Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front and Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms.
Tardi is not interested in the national politics, the strategies, or the battles. Like Remarque, he focuses on the day to day of the grunts in the trenches, and, with icy, controlled fury and disgust, with sardonic yet deeply sympathetic narration, he brings that existence alive as no one has before or since. Yet he also delves deeply into the underlying causes of the war, the madness, the cynical political exploitation of patriotism. And in a final, heartbreaking coda, Tardi grimly itemizes the ghastly human cost of the war, and lays out the future 20th century conflicts, all of which seem to spring from this global burst of insanity.
Trenches features some of Tardi’s most stunning artwork. Rendered in an inhabitually lush illustrative style, inspired both by abundant photographic documentation and classic American war comics, augmented by a sophisticated, gorgeous use of Craftint tones, trenches is somehow simultaneously atypical and a perfect encapsulation of Tardi’s mature style. It is the indisputable centerpiece of Tardi’s oeuvre.
It Was the War of the Trenches has been an object of fascination for North American publishers: RAW published a chapter in the early 1980s, and Drawn and Quarterly magazine serialized a few more in the 1990s. But only a small fraction of Trenches has ever been made available to the English speaking public (in now out of print publications); the Fantagraphics edition, the third in an ongoing collection of the works of this great master, finally remedies this situation.
Tardi is not interested in the national politics, the strategies, or the battles. Like Remarque, he focuses on the day to day of the grunts in the trenches, and, with icy, controlled fury and disgust, with sardonic yet deeply sympathetic narration, he brings that existence alive as no one has before or since. Yet he also delves deeply into the underlying causes of the war, the madness, the cynical political exploitation of patriotism. And in a final, heartbreaking coda, Tardi grimly itemizes the ghastly human cost of the war, and lays out the future 20th century conflicts, all of which seem to spring from this global burst of insanity.
Trenches features some of Tardi’s most stunning artwork. Rendered in an inhabitually lush illustrative style, inspired both by abundant photographic documentation and classic American war comics, augmented by a sophisticated, gorgeous use of Craftint tones, trenches is somehow simultaneously atypical and a perfect encapsulation of Tardi’s mature style. It is the indisputable centerpiece of Tardi’s oeuvre.
It Was the War of the Trenches has been an object of fascination for North American publishers: RAW published a chapter in the early 1980s, and Drawn and Quarterly magazine serialized a few more in the 1990s. But only a small fraction of Trenches has ever been made available to the English speaking public (in now out of print publications); the Fantagraphics edition, the third in an ongoing collection of the works of this great master, finally remedies this situation.
118 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1993
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2963 people want to read
About the author
Jacques Tardi
297 books210 followersJacques Tardi is a French comics artist, born 30 August 1946 in Valence, Drôme. He is often credited solely as Tardi.
After graduating from the École nationale des Beaux-Arts de Lyon and the École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs in Paris, he started writing comics in 1969, at the age of 23, in the comics magazine Pilote, initially illustrating short stories written by Jean Giraud and Serge de Beketch, before creating the political fiction story Rumeur sur le Rouergue from a scenario by Pierre Christin in 1972.
A highly versatile artist, Tardi successfully adapted novels by controversial writer Louis-Ferdinand Céline or crime novelist Léo Malet. In Malet's case, Tardi adapted his detective hero Nestor Burma into a series of critically acclaimed graphic novels, though he also wrote and drew original stories of his own.
Tardi also created one of French comics' most famous heroines, Adèle Blanc-Sec. This series recreates the Paris of early 20th century where the moody heroine encounters supernatural events, state plots, occult societies and experiments in cryogenics.
Another graphic novel was Ici Même which was written by Jean-Claude Forest, best known as the creator of Barbarella. A satire, it describes the adventures of Arthur Même who lives on the walls of his family's former property.
Tardi has produced many antiwar graphic novels and comics, mainly focusing on the collective European trauma of the First World War, and the pitfalls of patriotism spawned several albums (Adieu Brindavoine, C'était la guerre des tranchées, Le trou d'obus, Putain de Guerre...). His grandfather's involvement in the day-to-day horrors of trench warfare, seems to have had a deep influence to his artistic expression. He also completed a four-volume series on the Paris Commune, Le cri du peuple.
Fantagraphics Books translate and publish in English a wide range of Tardi's books, done by editor and translator Kim Thompson.[3] The books released so far are West Coast Blues (Le Petit bleu de la côte ouest), You Are There (Ici Même), and It Was the War of the Trenches (C'était la guerre des tranchées); a single album collecting the first two Adele Blanc-Sec volumes has also been published.
->http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_...
After graduating from the École nationale des Beaux-Arts de Lyon and the École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs in Paris, he started writing comics in 1969, at the age of 23, in the comics magazine Pilote, initially illustrating short stories written by Jean Giraud and Serge de Beketch, before creating the political fiction story Rumeur sur le Rouergue from a scenario by Pierre Christin in 1972.
A highly versatile artist, Tardi successfully adapted novels by controversial writer Louis-Ferdinand Céline or crime novelist Léo Malet. In Malet's case, Tardi adapted his detective hero Nestor Burma into a series of critically acclaimed graphic novels, though he also wrote and drew original stories of his own.
Tardi also created one of French comics' most famous heroines, Adèle Blanc-Sec. This series recreates the Paris of early 20th century where the moody heroine encounters supernatural events, state plots, occult societies and experiments in cryogenics.
Another graphic novel was Ici Même which was written by Jean-Claude Forest, best known as the creator of Barbarella. A satire, it describes the adventures of Arthur Même who lives on the walls of his family's former property.
Tardi has produced many antiwar graphic novels and comics, mainly focusing on the collective European trauma of the First World War, and the pitfalls of patriotism spawned several albums (Adieu Brindavoine, C'était la guerre des tranchées, Le trou d'obus, Putain de Guerre...). His grandfather's involvement in the day-to-day horrors of trench warfare, seems to have had a deep influence to his artistic expression. He also completed a four-volume series on the Paris Commune, Le cri du peuple.
Fantagraphics Books translate and publish in English a wide range of Tardi's books, done by editor and translator Kim Thompson.[3] The books released so far are West Coast Blues (Le Petit bleu de la côte ouest), You Are There (Ici Même), and It Was the War of the Trenches (C'était la guerre des tranchées); a single album collecting the first two Adele Blanc-Sec volumes has also been published.
->http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 285 reviews
February 25, 2022
In case you might have a tendency to romanticize war, any war, or maybe the century-distant WWI in particular, read this book. How could one come to romanticize a war that killed and maimed millions, the reverberations of which are felt even today? Maybe it might come about through a certain approach to history, or military history, one focused on battle strategies, the invention of particular weapons, the biographies of military commanders and politicians. This text, which I take to be the still prolific Tardi's masterwork, is also one of the great texts in any format on war, and certainly of the literature of WWI. Consistent with the impulses of all great anti-war literature, of Crane, Hemingway, Remarque, and so many others, this text, dedicated to the author's grandfather, whose stories he grew up listening to, focuses on the soldiers, and vilifies, castigates, the commanders, the generals, the politicians, the engineers of destruction with their stupid abstract strategies that they go ahead with in spite of catastrophic evidence. Bad decisions are featured on every page that wreak havoc on ordinary boys--teenaged boys--that after all the horror, just want to go home to their mamas.
Tardi's book, meticulously researched and drawn and respectfully written to honor the dead, is a cry of outrage at the architects and masters of war (as Dylan called them) whose names we read in our history books. We memorize these names, and biographies are made about them and movies are made to honor them. But Tardi honors the foot soldiers and brings them to life through their stories, using language he finds and sometimes of course invents to help us feel what they may have felt at the end. He shows us the amputees, the disfigured, the families left to mourn.
As he says, this isn't a coherent history of the war or of even individual battles. Tardi only cares about the suffering we bring upon ourselves through the rich and powerful's decisions to sacrifice the poor for political and financial gain. Mesmerizing, horrifying. As with all of the best comics ever done, this is a text to demonstrate to the world what comics are capable of illustrating. I was really angry and deeply sad when I read this through today. I think that was his purpose, and it worked for me. Highly recommended. I also recommend you read it with Joe Sacco's The Great War panorama open, and along the way, with the poetry of Sassoon and Owens. What a stupid cataclysmic mistake that war was, and probably most if not all wars.
Dylan's "Masters of War":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEmI_...
Tardi's book, meticulously researched and drawn and respectfully written to honor the dead, is a cry of outrage at the architects and masters of war (as Dylan called them) whose names we read in our history books. We memorize these names, and biographies are made about them and movies are made to honor them. But Tardi honors the foot soldiers and brings them to life through their stories, using language he finds and sometimes of course invents to help us feel what they may have felt at the end. He shows us the amputees, the disfigured, the families left to mourn.
As he says, this isn't a coherent history of the war or of even individual battles. Tardi only cares about the suffering we bring upon ourselves through the rich and powerful's decisions to sacrifice the poor for political and financial gain. Mesmerizing, horrifying. As with all of the best comics ever done, this is a text to demonstrate to the world what comics are capable of illustrating. I was really angry and deeply sad when I read this through today. I think that was his purpose, and it worked for me. Highly recommended. I also recommend you read it with Joe Sacco's The Great War panorama open, and along the way, with the poetry of Sassoon and Owens. What a stupid cataclysmic mistake that war was, and probably most if not all wars.
Dylan's "Masters of War":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEmI_...
January 23, 2020
This was touching, sad, and heart wrenching. Thank you for your sacrifice.
This was not a light read. It will have an effect you. The way this book was written and drawn was very poignant. The author focused on one soldier at a time, and told his story until his tale ended, and then he would start the story of the next soldier, and so on. Focusing on one person at a time contributed to why it was so emotionally stirring for me. All of the main characters have distinct personalities and depth, so when things get personal you really feel for each character. The art was really good, but there were a few times where I couldn't tell certain people apart and I got a little confused. It was beautifully done though, in rich black and white, using what I consider to be a French cartoon style. Overall, I recommend this to anyone who likes graphic novels, short stories, black and white art, French cartoons, WWI, soldiers, or Europe.
This was not a light read. It will have an effect you. The way this book was written and drawn was very poignant. The author focused on one soldier at a time, and told his story until his tale ended, and then he would start the story of the next soldier, and so on. Focusing on one person at a time contributed to why it was so emotionally stirring for me. All of the main characters have distinct personalities and depth, so when things get personal you really feel for each character. The art was really good, but there were a few times where I couldn't tell certain people apart and I got a little confused. It was beautifully done though, in rich black and white, using what I consider to be a French cartoon style. Overall, I recommend this to anyone who likes graphic novels, short stories, black and white art, French cartoons, WWI, soldiers, or Europe.
July 1, 2020
Jacques Tardi vs. Otto Dix, & The Horrors of The War that Should Have Ended All Wars
This is Tardi working at the absolute peak of his creative powers. The passion & righteous hatred he derives from the subject matter:
01. The sheer waste, futility, and soul-crushing injustices of war, never more devastatingly demonstrated than during the protracted 4-year nightmare of trench warfare.
02. The arrogance and ignorance of the senior officers responsible for ordering hundreds of thousands of men to horrible deaths for the sake of a strategically insane plan to gain 50 meters of mud, rats & rotten corpses; if an officer's plan worked, he was honored & promoted & celebrated in the Rococo decadence of a long-dead aristocrat's mansion, while the 50% of soldiers who survived the pointless slaughter celebrated by trying to bury the 50% who didn't, but beneath the foot-&-a-half of sucking mud hides near-frozen earth... and nothing will keep the already ravaged bodies of their friends & comrades from being violated by the swarming rats; if the plans fail, the officer will still be praised for his iron resolve, and for being unafraid to make hard, bold decisions. The officer will blame the failure on the soldiers themselves, and order that the surviving 35% who retreated back to their lines be labelled cowards & traitors... sentencing the remaining regiment or company to old-school Roman Decimation - a random selection of every 10th man, sentenced to death by firing squad as traitors and deserters.
03. All of the insanity triggered by stupid old men who would never pick up a weapon, and whose children & grandchildren would never approach the Front; the stupid old fucks who gave the orders from the long-dead aristocrat's mansion a mile away - watching dots & sparks & smoke through spyglasses and talking about 'the glory of battle' and 'the burden of leadership' - never ventured close enough to see the faceless cadavers in tattered uniforms, the scattered limbs & organs inside the impact craters; to be assaulted by the stench of bodies in every stage of decomposition; or hear the screams & desperate entreaties for help, soldiers intentionally gutshot and left to a long, agonizing death... bait for any stretcher-bearing friends mad enough to rush into the cross-hairs of the .50 caliber meat-grinders, and join the chorus of suffering, serving to utterly demoralize the enemy. The stupid old fucks had no idea of what this utter hell on earth they helped create was really like. There was a vast, unbridgeable disconnect between 19th Century ideas about war, and the modern reality of war... airplanes, tanks, machine-guns, mustard-gas: between the Napoleonic romance of war as a forge for the heart of man to be beaten into shaped steel & hardened in the blood of the enemy; and the industrialized slaughter of the 20th Century. There is no glory to be won dying from one of the countless varieties of pestilence in the trenches, shitting your life out your asshole of cholera. And there is no honor in charging across a No Man's Land of barbed wire & mines, every inch pre-sighted by snipers & machine-gun emplacements, when the Lieutenant is executing anyone refusing to go over-the-top.
And all of this is reflected with vivid clarity in the artwork. Tardi is no slouch, but his use of tones and textures here is exquisite, allowing him to portray the muck and slime and rotting corpses with a level of detail that he usually avoids. This is the masterpiece of an artist who is already among the sequential art elite, and has had an incalculable influence on younger cartoonists, in particular Joe Sacco and Ivan B. It belongs next to Erich Maria Remarques' All Quiet on the Western Front & Stanley Kubrick's 'Paths of Glory'* as the most emotionally devastating narrative masterworks about the physical, psychological & existential horrors of The Great War.
*['Paths of Glory' was written almost entirely by the great hard-boiled crime novelist Jim Thompson, then subjected to an insubstantial rewrite by Kubrick that allowed him to steal the writing credit for his first major work as an auteur... theft was apparently Kubrick's 'Path to Glory'. ALSO: One of 2019's most critically lauded films, Sam Mendes' '1917', is another excellent fictional/fictionalized account of one soldier's experience on the battlefield & behind enemy lines; but even with all the green screen depictions of exploding bodies & the visceral nature of the cinematic medium, Tardi's 'IWtWotT' & 'Goddamn This War', along with the War works of Otto Dix, remain the definitive visual statements on The War th End All Wars.]
Reading some of the other reviews, the question was raised of how anyone could have lived through the sheer horror of the trenches and still be hungry enough for battle to start WWII? Who would want a rematch? As is always the case, the 'loser' of the first fight.
There are very few things worse than the butchery of war, seeing men's lives sold so cheaply... except knowing that it was all for nothing. The loss made the horror of it all that much worse. And it made veterans defensive and insecure. Otto Dix spoke about his experiences in WWI as if it were a rite of manhood, an inevitable test of the steel in one's soul. But his art told another story: 'Trench', his tryptychs from the early 30's, and his many paintings of the legless, armless, grievously deformed war vets who were a constant reminder of Germany's futile sacrifices, all seem to indicate that WWI was much more than an education or crucible.
Otto Dix, 'The War Triptych(Central Panel 1929-34)' -- Dix fought in the trenches for Germany in WWI, depicting the carnage with a cool eye, recording the horrors without judgement:
The person most responsible for WWII was another veteran of the trenches, a war hero and stretcher bearer who couldn't let the humiliation Germany suffered at the treaty of Versailles go unanswered. To be clear: Hitler was not admirable, and his cause was not just. But I think much of his appeal to the German people related to his understanding of the way that WWI gnawed at the sleeping minds of veterans, made them imagine people saw them with accusing eyes, thought them to be cowards who had surrendered Germany's honor, and worse, betrayed the men whose bones still littered the battlefield. Hitler promised them a chance to avenge the 'betrayal' of Versailles, and a chance to restore German pride.
Otto Dix, 'The Seven Deadly Sins'(1933):
I think WWII and the genocidal madness of the Third Reich could have been avoided if it weren't for the ridiculously harsh demands of Article 231, the notorious 'War Guilt Clause': military disarmament, the loss of territory, and forced reparations that would have amounted to nearly half-a-trillion dollars US in today's currency. The economic drain of WWI was exacerbated by Article 231, sending Germany into a financial crisis. There was a pervasive opinion in the Weimar years that the nation had been betrayed by its leaders. It was believed that after a long stalemate, German politicians had surrendered while the military had been determined to fight. Rich and powerful Jewish interests were at the center of a conspiracy theory that implicated them as scapegoats.
Otto Dix, 'Flanders'(1934):
In reality, Germany had been beaten. The Hundred Days Offensive launched by the Allies had decisively crushed the Germans on the Western front; the worsening economy led to massive worker strikes that shut down much of the necessary production; desertion was weakening the army, the Imperial German Navy suffered a mutiny at Kiel, and this triggered further domestic chaos and the 'German Revolution'. Blaming rich Jews and foreigners was preferable to facing such ugly truths.
The Treaty of Versailles served to nurture a seething resentment among the German people, and inflicted economic injuries that aggravated the insults, but were not enough to cripple the nation's ability to rebuild itself militarily. I wonder, if the treaty had been done differently, allowing Germany to retain some modicum of its wounded pride, would it have been enough to keep the national socialists from rising to power? Would it have been enough to prevent WWII? Or would the 'losers' have still wanted their 'rematch'?
This is Tardi working at the absolute peak of his creative powers. The passion & righteous hatred he derives from the subject matter:
01. The sheer waste, futility, and soul-crushing injustices of war, never more devastatingly demonstrated than during the protracted 4-year nightmare of trench warfare.
02. The arrogance and ignorance of the senior officers responsible for ordering hundreds of thousands of men to horrible deaths for the sake of a strategically insane plan to gain 50 meters of mud, rats & rotten corpses; if an officer's plan worked, he was honored & promoted & celebrated in the Rococo decadence of a long-dead aristocrat's mansion, while the 50% of soldiers who survived the pointless slaughter celebrated by trying to bury the 50% who didn't, but beneath the foot-&-a-half of sucking mud hides near-frozen earth... and nothing will keep the already ravaged bodies of their friends & comrades from being violated by the swarming rats; if the plans fail, the officer will still be praised for his iron resolve, and for being unafraid to make hard, bold decisions. The officer will blame the failure on the soldiers themselves, and order that the surviving 35% who retreated back to their lines be labelled cowards & traitors... sentencing the remaining regiment or company to old-school Roman Decimation - a random selection of every 10th man, sentenced to death by firing squad as traitors and deserters.
03. All of the insanity triggered by stupid old men who would never pick up a weapon, and whose children & grandchildren would never approach the Front; the stupid old fucks who gave the orders from the long-dead aristocrat's mansion a mile away - watching dots & sparks & smoke through spyglasses and talking about 'the glory of battle' and 'the burden of leadership' - never ventured close enough to see the faceless cadavers in tattered uniforms, the scattered limbs & organs inside the impact craters; to be assaulted by the stench of bodies in every stage of decomposition; or hear the screams & desperate entreaties for help, soldiers intentionally gutshot and left to a long, agonizing death... bait for any stretcher-bearing friends mad enough to rush into the cross-hairs of the .50 caliber meat-grinders, and join the chorus of suffering, serving to utterly demoralize the enemy. The stupid old fucks had no idea of what this utter hell on earth they helped create was really like. There was a vast, unbridgeable disconnect between 19th Century ideas about war, and the modern reality of war... airplanes, tanks, machine-guns, mustard-gas: between the Napoleonic romance of war as a forge for the heart of man to be beaten into shaped steel & hardened in the blood of the enemy; and the industrialized slaughter of the 20th Century. There is no glory to be won dying from one of the countless varieties of pestilence in the trenches, shitting your life out your asshole of cholera. And there is no honor in charging across a No Man's Land of barbed wire & mines, every inch pre-sighted by snipers & machine-gun emplacements, when the Lieutenant is executing anyone refusing to go over-the-top.
And all of this is reflected with vivid clarity in the artwork. Tardi is no slouch, but his use of tones and textures here is exquisite, allowing him to portray the muck and slime and rotting corpses with a level of detail that he usually avoids. This is the masterpiece of an artist who is already among the sequential art elite, and has had an incalculable influence on younger cartoonists, in particular Joe Sacco and Ivan B. It belongs next to Erich Maria Remarques' All Quiet on the Western Front & Stanley Kubrick's 'Paths of Glory'* as the most emotionally devastating narrative masterworks about the physical, psychological & existential horrors of The Great War.
*['Paths of Glory' was written almost entirely by the great hard-boiled crime novelist Jim Thompson, then subjected to an insubstantial rewrite by Kubrick that allowed him to steal the writing credit for his first major work as an auteur... theft was apparently Kubrick's 'Path to Glory'. ALSO: One of 2019's most critically lauded films, Sam Mendes' '1917', is another excellent fictional/fictionalized account of one soldier's experience on the battlefield & behind enemy lines; but even with all the green screen depictions of exploding bodies & the visceral nature of the cinematic medium, Tardi's 'IWtWotT' & 'Goddamn This War', along with the War works of Otto Dix, remain the definitive visual statements on The War th End All Wars.]
Reading some of the other reviews, the question was raised of how anyone could have lived through the sheer horror of the trenches and still be hungry enough for battle to start WWII? Who would want a rematch? As is always the case, the 'loser' of the first fight.
There are very few things worse than the butchery of war, seeing men's lives sold so cheaply... except knowing that it was all for nothing. The loss made the horror of it all that much worse. And it made veterans defensive and insecure. Otto Dix spoke about his experiences in WWI as if it were a rite of manhood, an inevitable test of the steel in one's soul. But his art told another story: 'Trench', his tryptychs from the early 30's, and his many paintings of the legless, armless, grievously deformed war vets who were a constant reminder of Germany's futile sacrifices, all seem to indicate that WWI was much more than an education or crucible.
Otto Dix, 'The War Triptych(Central Panel 1929-34)' -- Dix fought in the trenches for Germany in WWI, depicting the carnage with a cool eye, recording the horrors without judgement:
The person most responsible for WWII was another veteran of the trenches, a war hero and stretcher bearer who couldn't let the humiliation Germany suffered at the treaty of Versailles go unanswered. To be clear: Hitler was not admirable, and his cause was not just. But I think much of his appeal to the German people related to his understanding of the way that WWI gnawed at the sleeping minds of veterans, made them imagine people saw them with accusing eyes, thought them to be cowards who had surrendered Germany's honor, and worse, betrayed the men whose bones still littered the battlefield. Hitler promised them a chance to avenge the 'betrayal' of Versailles, and a chance to restore German pride.
Otto Dix, 'The Seven Deadly Sins'(1933):
I think WWII and the genocidal madness of the Third Reich could have been avoided if it weren't for the ridiculously harsh demands of Article 231, the notorious 'War Guilt Clause': military disarmament, the loss of territory, and forced reparations that would have amounted to nearly half-a-trillion dollars US in today's currency. The economic drain of WWI was exacerbated by Article 231, sending Germany into a financial crisis. There was a pervasive opinion in the Weimar years that the nation had been betrayed by its leaders. It was believed that after a long stalemate, German politicians had surrendered while the military had been determined to fight. Rich and powerful Jewish interests were at the center of a conspiracy theory that implicated them as scapegoats.
Otto Dix, 'Flanders'(1934):
In reality, Germany had been beaten. The Hundred Days Offensive launched by the Allies had decisively crushed the Germans on the Western front; the worsening economy led to massive worker strikes that shut down much of the necessary production; desertion was weakening the army, the Imperial German Navy suffered a mutiny at Kiel, and this triggered further domestic chaos and the 'German Revolution'. Blaming rich Jews and foreigners was preferable to facing such ugly truths.
The Treaty of Versailles served to nurture a seething resentment among the German people, and inflicted economic injuries that aggravated the insults, but were not enough to cripple the nation's ability to rebuild itself militarily. I wonder, if the treaty had been done differently, allowing Germany to retain some modicum of its wounded pride, would it have been enough to keep the national socialists from rising to power? Would it have been enough to prevent WWII? Or would the 'losers' have still wanted their 'rematch'?
November 27, 2015
According to Art Spiegelman, Jacques Tardi’s It Was the War of the Trenches “is one hell of a book,” and that description hits the nail right on the head. With a merciless eye for detail, it explores the depths of human depravity... and made me sick to my stomach. The tone throughout is one of existential despair: bleak, demoralized, absurd, macabre, dehumanized. The images of World War I feel both authentic and nightmarish, both historically accurate and timeless: “It’s not so much a matter of the 1914-1918 War as of WAR,” Tardi himself comments. “It’s the upcoming one that worries me.”
Essential reading, the All Quiet on the Western Front of comics.
Essential reading, the All Quiet on the Western Front of comics.
April 9, 2019
Grande leitura e de grande importância para que o passado não seja esquecido e não se repita. Esta leitura foi feita hoje (9/4/2019) em homenagem ao meu bisavô, soldado Joel Rodrigues, e a todos os militares do Corpo Expedicionário Português que combateram na Batalha de La Lys.
February 28, 2024
It's crazy, nearly 10 years later I give this a re-read and I basically remembered the whole book. So much of this is seared into my brain. Even just random panels.
That said I have also re-read portions of this in Raw and D+Q anthologies.
The book is made of vignettes. The last half is more structured with some short stories, and I think is stronger than the first half which doesn't seem to have as much structure.
It was one of the first books I read that just said, yeah war sucks. It's something will all know, but it's rare a project of this calibre will just take that message head on.
Tardi does take it one step further suggesting that the soldiers are slaves in the battle, but he backs that up with some pretty gruesome tales of soldiers being forced to fight - civilians are beat up for not supporting the war, soldiers are shot in the back for not running into battle fast enough, fresh soldiers are forced to shoot their fellow soldiers who didn't fight hard enough (or got to exhausted to continue on their suicide missions).
My favourite story is the one of an injured French soldier running into a lost German soldier. They both agree to peace - and when their respective armies come one will be taken as a POV. Unfortunately for the German the French come and shoot him on site... and then shoot the French soldier as a traitor! The only peace that can be had is between two people.
There's a scene early on where citizens gather around a poster announcing the war. These people that all sort of hate each other on a regular day are now bound together and excited to take on this new enemy. The poster says the worst thing in the world is about to happen - war - but the crowd is excited.
That said I have also re-read portions of this in Raw and D+Q anthologies.
The book is made of vignettes. The last half is more structured with some short stories, and I think is stronger than the first half which doesn't seem to have as much structure.
It was one of the first books I read that just said, yeah war sucks. It's something will all know, but it's rare a project of this calibre will just take that message head on.
Tardi does take it one step further suggesting that the soldiers are slaves in the battle, but he backs that up with some pretty gruesome tales of soldiers being forced to fight - civilians are beat up for not supporting the war, soldiers are shot in the back for not running into battle fast enough, fresh soldiers are forced to shoot their fellow soldiers who didn't fight hard enough (or got to exhausted to continue on their suicide missions).
My favourite story is the one of an injured French soldier running into a lost German soldier. They both agree to peace - and when their respective armies come one will be taken as a POV. Unfortunately for the German the French come and shoot him on site... and then shoot the French soldier as a traitor! The only peace that can be had is between two people.
There's a scene early on where citizens gather around a poster announcing the war. These people that all sort of hate each other on a regular day are now bound together and excited to take on this new enemy. The poster says the worst thing in the world is about to happen - war - but the crowd is excited.
March 4, 2021
“Lo que llamó mi atención es el hombre, sin importar su color o su nacionalidad, el hombre del que se puede disponer, cuya vida no vale nada en las manos de sus amos... esta banal observación sigue siendo vigente al día de hoy.”
Terminé este libro y sigo sin poder asimilarlo del todo. Estamos frente a una novela gráfica que narra pequeñas historias independientes dentro del periodo en el que se vivió la Primera Guerra Mundial. GRÁFICA, quizá demasiado, pero reconozco que el autor hizo un buen trabajo al retratar las atrocidades que se vivieron en tales circunstancias.
No puedo usar adjetivos positivos para calificar esta novela gráfica, más que nada por el tema que aborda, sin embargo, solo diré que el lector debería estar en un buen momento para leerla, y quizá pueda soportar en parte lo que se narra en ella. Es difícil de digerir, cruda y muy explícita; además, lo que le interesa mostrar a Tardi en sus dibujos es al hombre y sus sufrimientos durante la guerra, propósito que cumple totalmente.
En resumen y de manera objetiva recomiendo leer este libro; por otro lado, advierto que no es una lectura para todos.
Terminé este libro y sigo sin poder asimilarlo del todo. Estamos frente a una novela gráfica que narra pequeñas historias independientes dentro del periodo en el que se vivió la Primera Guerra Mundial. GRÁFICA, quizá demasiado, pero reconozco que el autor hizo un buen trabajo al retratar las atrocidades que se vivieron en tales circunstancias.
No puedo usar adjetivos positivos para calificar esta novela gráfica, más que nada por el tema que aborda, sin embargo, solo diré que el lector debería estar en un buen momento para leerla, y quizá pueda soportar en parte lo que se narra en ella. Es difícil de digerir, cruda y muy explícita; además, lo que le interesa mostrar a Tardi en sus dibujos es al hombre y sus sufrimientos durante la guerra, propósito que cumple totalmente.
En resumen y de manera objetiva recomiendo leer este libro; por otro lado, advierto que no es una lectura para todos.
April 4, 2019
Opinião em https://youtu.be/Q7H1PUJtwO8
Genialmente visceral.
Entra diretamente para a lista de favoritos.
Genialmente visceral.
Entra diretamente para a lista de favoritos.
March 9, 2023
I was so glad to come across this book and discover Jacques Tardi. Puts you in the trenches as brave men try to escape the 'maze of death' that they must run through every day...only to find the next day they are still in the maze; their dead comrades the only proof that they have 'survived.'
July 19, 2019
Qual a melhor forma de retratar um momento tão abjecto quanto repetitivo da história da humanidade como a guerra? Se a maldade corroe o âmago de cada um de nós, condenando a uma escuridão fractal, uma novela gráfica, plena de um negrume consumptivo, surge-me como óptima opção, após uma óptima indicação
Tardi esquadrinha, a cru, a Primeira Guerra Mundial, dando-nos a perspectiva dos afectados soldados perdidos nas justificações que os moveram até à Terra de Ninguém. Para engrandecer tão esquecidos protagonistas cadavéricos, constrói cenários abjectos, trespassa cheiros nauseabundos e pinta paisagens com árovres de ossos e flores de arame e vísceras. Entre os pratos desta balança, destaca os mentecaptos juízos dos comodistas comandantes de bancada e as estatísticas que impactam quem as queira objectivar.
O texto extenso bem fundamentado cimenta as ideias a vincar e complementa as imagens, criando uma relação perfeita, como uma fita de Mobius, de um lado apenas. A vida nas trincheiras já era meio morta - a terra tinha sido apartada e a vala tornava-se palpável, consumindo quem daqueles queiram nela cair. Espantem-se mas não se esqueçam!
Tardi esquadrinha, a cru, a Primeira Guerra Mundial, dando-nos a perspectiva dos afectados soldados perdidos nas justificações que os moveram até à Terra de Ninguém. Para engrandecer tão esquecidos protagonistas cadavéricos, constrói cenários abjectos, trespassa cheiros nauseabundos e pinta paisagens com árovres de ossos e flores de arame e vísceras. Entre os pratos desta balança, destaca os mentecaptos juízos dos comodistas comandantes de bancada e as estatísticas que impactam quem as queira objectivar.
O texto extenso bem fundamentado cimenta as ideias a vincar e complementa as imagens, criando uma relação perfeita, como uma fita de Mobius, de um lado apenas. A vida nas trincheiras já era meio morta - a terra tinha sido apartada e a vala tornava-se palpável, consumindo quem daqueles queiram nela cair. Espantem-se mas não se esqueçam!
July 8, 2012
This war comic—absolutely a war comic, which is to say a profoundly antiwar comic—is an awful masterwork of aggrieved and wounded humanity. Hovering between blunted affect, righteous fury, and pitch-black, absurdist humor, it is one of a very few comics to, and I mean this literally, give me the shakes. Tardi's barrage of fictional (though obsessively researched) soldiers' vignettes about the first World War goes off like a bomb in slow motion, the precise, pitiless unraveling of each anecdote like the ticking of a cruel clock.
The book's total effect strikes me as paradoxical. On the one hand it deemphasizes specific human "drama" through the very interchangeableness of the hapless soldiers: the whole book reads as a just that, a whole, each new vignette simply continuing the mood of the previous. The book gives off the air of helplessness before vast forces that I associate with literary naturalism at its bleakest. On the other hand, each tale is keenly, piercingly, specific; each is personalized and particularized with exquisite care, down to the varied likenesses of each and every doomed man. The result is stunningly powerful.
Tardi combines a searching moral imagination with ice-cold unsentimentality and an animating rage that he has sublimated into art. That the book succeeds in being a narrative about war rather than merely an obvious diatribe against it does not in any way lessen its angry, heartsore quality, its fury at the nightmarish self-destructive pointlessness of mass human slaughter. What makes all this work is the slight emotional remove of Tardi's narration (which alternates between third and first person but never gives in to mere sympathizing).
Above all, the book rests on Tardi's cool, measured formalism and the extraordinary vividness of his compositions: there are some staggering drawings and pages here. These make It Was the War of the Trenches a relentless black masterpiece.
Unquestionably an essential volume for any serious comics library, and one that is now embedded in my mind.
The book's total effect strikes me as paradoxical. On the one hand it deemphasizes specific human "drama" through the very interchangeableness of the hapless soldiers: the whole book reads as a just that, a whole, each new vignette simply continuing the mood of the previous. The book gives off the air of helplessness before vast forces that I associate with literary naturalism at its bleakest. On the other hand, each tale is keenly, piercingly, specific; each is personalized and particularized with exquisite care, down to the varied likenesses of each and every doomed man. The result is stunningly powerful.
Tardi combines a searching moral imagination with ice-cold unsentimentality and an animating rage that he has sublimated into art. That the book succeeds in being a narrative about war rather than merely an obvious diatribe against it does not in any way lessen its angry, heartsore quality, its fury at the nightmarish self-destructive pointlessness of mass human slaughter. What makes all this work is the slight emotional remove of Tardi's narration (which alternates between third and first person but never gives in to mere sympathizing).
Above all, the book rests on Tardi's cool, measured formalism and the extraordinary vividness of his compositions: there are some staggering drawings and pages here. These make It Was the War of the Trenches a relentless black masterpiece.
Unquestionably an essential volume for any serious comics library, and one that is now embedded in my mind.
August 15, 2019
P. 5- "(...) Não há quaisquer "heróis ", nem "protagonista", nesta horrenda "aventura" colectiva que é a guerra. Nada além de um gigantesco e anónimo grito de agonia."
P. 110- "Cadáveres, cadáveres por todo o lado... (...). Era isto, basicamente. A PRIMEIRA GUERRA MUNDIAL em todo o seu "esplendor"! 35 países participantes, vindos de todo o lado! O quê, querem números? Uma contabilidade histórica para futura referência? 10.000.000 de mortos! Quantos anos de esperança enterrados na lama? (...) Se os mortos franceses fizessem um desfile militar pela avenida no Dia da Bastilha, passariam pelo menos seis dias e cinco noites até que passasse o último rosto pálido."
P. 110- "Cadáveres, cadáveres por todo o lado... (...). Era isto, basicamente. A PRIMEIRA GUERRA MUNDIAL em todo o seu "esplendor"! 35 países participantes, vindos de todo o lado! O quê, querem números? Uma contabilidade histórica para futura referência? 10.000.000 de mortos! Quantos anos de esperança enterrados na lama? (...) Se os mortos franceses fizessem um desfile militar pela avenida no Dia da Bastilha, passariam pelo menos seis dias e cinco noites até que passasse o último rosto pálido."
January 7, 2017
It was the war of the trenches
This classic graphic novel could not really engage me. The stories were too fragmentary to be really compelling. Tardi's prose didn't appeal to me (it could be the dutch translation) and I also found the illustrations unattractive. All men looked very much the same, like caricatures.
Nevertheless it delivers a poignant message about the futility and cruelty of WW I.
This classic graphic novel could not really engage me. The stories were too fragmentary to be really compelling. Tardi's prose didn't appeal to me (it could be the dutch translation) and I also found the illustrations unattractive. All men looked very much the same, like caricatures.
Nevertheless it delivers a poignant message about the futility and cruelty of WW I.
April 29, 2019
Qualquer guerra é estúpida e inútil. Tardi mexe connosco ao mostrar-nos essa realidade injusta de uma forma muito crua, é como entrar numa espiral de sofrimento. Contudo, é maravilhoso. Uma obra que nos faz sentir que lá estivemos e que nos faz sentir gratos por nunca lá termos estado, e se tudo der certo, nunca lá estaremos: genial e bastante lúcida.
January 23, 2021
3.5
Considero que es muy buena obra pero ahora mismo no creo que haya sido el momento adecuado para leerla.
Reseña más adelante.
Considero que es muy buena obra pero ahora mismo no creo que haya sido el momento adecuado para leerla.
Reseña más adelante.
September 12, 2022
Obra brutal!
Vídeo de opinião no meu cantinho (a partir do minuto 10:55):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WpwG...
Vídeo de opinião no meu cantinho (a partir do minuto 10:55):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WpwG...
July 26, 2011
In case you missed the memo, World War I was a nightmare of pointless suffering for millions upon millions of people. This beautifully produced (and translated) reprint of a 1993 French graphic collection takes you there via a loose collection of personal stories from the French trenches. There's no protagonist, no plot, no narrative, just, as the author writes in his foreword: "Nothing but a gigantic, anonymous scream of agony." Each of these "screams of agony" is the story of a French soldier and the madness he encounters at the front lines. There are about 8-10 stories, ranging from 2-15 pages each, and they march across the mind with relentless horror. Tardi drew heavily upon archival photos and research in drafting these stories, and it certainly shows both in the detail and emotional truth of the images. In another part of the preface the author wrote, "The only thing that interests me is man and his suffering, and it fills me with rage." and that rage comes across very directly. This is not a book to be read for fun, but to be studied in conjunction with other seminal works on World War I such as Goodbye to All That, Paths of Glory, and many many more books and films (which are listed in the excellent bibliography in the rear of the book). The book occupies the uneasy but vital space between pure documentary footage, memoir, and fiction, and could be an excellent teaching tool for the classroom.
September 22, 2017
Jacques Tardi's sombre and unrelenting graphic novel on WWI hit me like a slap in the face.
The way he recounts tale after tale of dehumanising brutality, of normal lives thrown into the gaping crater of the trenches of the Western Front, is poignant and brutal but also enriched by an undercurrent of quiet black humour and humanity.
The artwork is stunning - overwhelmingly black and grey, the background to each frame is a nightmare of barbed wire, mud and decaying corpses.
The characters are finely portrayed with the right balance of details and broad strokes so as to make them at a time easily identifiable and universal symbols for all the lives lost in the trenches and in the No Man's Land. Scott McCloud's idea of 'amplification through simplification' seems to me to be a very powerful force in a book such as this.
I'll be on the hunt now for Tardi's second volume on the First World War - Goddamn this War! - and also for his illustrated version of Celine's Journey to the End of the Night.
Highly recommended!
The way he recounts tale after tale of dehumanising brutality, of normal lives thrown into the gaping crater of the trenches of the Western Front, is poignant and brutal but also enriched by an undercurrent of quiet black humour and humanity.
The artwork is stunning - overwhelmingly black and grey, the background to each frame is a nightmare of barbed wire, mud and decaying corpses.
The characters are finely portrayed with the right balance of details and broad strokes so as to make them at a time easily identifiable and universal symbols for all the lives lost in the trenches and in the No Man's Land. Scott McCloud's idea of 'amplification through simplification' seems to me to be a very powerful force in a book such as this.
I'll be on the hunt now for Tardi's second volume on the First World War - Goddamn this War! - and also for his illustrated version of Celine's Journey to the End of the Night.
Highly recommended!
August 15, 2017
Tardi gives everything he has in this comic book. Driven by his absolute hate for every type of warfare, he uses his grandfather's experiences and transforms them to pure war brutality on paper. A must have for every WWI enthusiast who wants something more than big explosions and poetic sacrifice. 5/5
January 24, 2016
"O dia começa com a artilharia a disparar tonelada após tonelada de explosivos. As bocas dos canhões ficam rubras e os artilheiros surdos."
5 Estrelas Gráficas
”Foi Assim a Guerra das Trincheiras” do argumentista e desenhador francês Jacques Tardi (n. 1946) é mais uma excelente edição da colecção de Banda Desenhada “Novela Gráfica” do jornal Público em parceria com a editora Levoir.
No Prefácio da edição portuguesa Jacques Tardi refere: ”Foi Assim a Guerra das Trincheiras” não é a obra de um “historiador”… Não se trata da história da Primeira Guerra Mundial contada através da banda desenhada, mas sim de uma sequência de eventos não-cronológicos, vividos por homens que foram puxados de um lado para o outro e arrastados para a lama… desejando apenas que a guerra terminasse! Não há quaisquer “heróis”, nem “protagonista”, nesta horrenda “aventura” colectiva que é a guerra. Nada além de um gigantesco e anónimo grito de agonia.”
"Homens vão sendo alvejados... até aqui, nada de novo, visto que a guerra nas trincheiras já durava há uns bons três anos..."
Jacques Tardi constrói a história de ”Foi Assim a Guerra das Trincheiras” unindo fragmentos de pequenas “histórias”, uma “colecção” de contos curtos situados, quase sempre, nas trincheiras, recriando uma atmosfera dominada pelo caos e pelas condições de vida atrozes dos soldados, submetidos a uma violência física e psicológica desumana, onde a crueldade dos oficiais superiores domina.
"Passei novamente pelo meu espantalho. Eram impressionantes, o mal que se podia fazer aos homens e aos animais... Aos homens, ainda vá que não vá, já que era a guerra deles."
Com a ”Foi Assim a Guerra das Trincheiras”, Jacques Tardi, pretendeu homenagear o seu avô, que combateu na Primeira Grande Guerra e que ”… não voltou dela a mesma pessoa.”; descrevendo a vida quotidiana dos soldados franceses, um sofrimento diário e permanente, enfatizado pelos incessantes bombardeamentos, paisagens totalmente devastadas, ”no man´s land”, onde os corpos se vão acumulando, no chão ou nas árvores, num horror indescritível, representada por “desenhos” e por “palavras” que reflectem a crueldade da guerra, que propiciam a actos desesperados e inexplicáveis.
No final Jacques Tardi resume em “números” as atrocidades da Primeira Guerra Mundial (1914 – 1918), num trabalho gráfico excepcional, a preto e branco, recriando uma atmosfera verdadeiramente realista, efectuando uma profunda reflexão sobre o absurdo e a barbárie da guerra, onde milhões de pessoas, sobretudo homens, na sua maioria jovens, acabaram condenados a uma morte quase certa.
As últimas páginas da edição portuguesa incluem inúmeros esboços, posters e múltiplas ilustrações que Jacques Tardi efectuou para exposições e eventos, desde 1994 até 2013.
”Foi Assim a Guerra das Trincheiras” de Jacques Tardi é um livro excepcional, para ler e reler, para ver e rever...
April 24, 2011
I'm probably giving this a perfect rating because it is EXACTLY the kind of book I like - finding the human stories in the face of "history." I don't know that I've ever read anything that shows you quite like this how war is just so totally stupid. The one that sticks with me the most is when a German and French soldier both get lost from their regiments and concoct a plan. If the German soldiers find them first, they'll say the German soldier captured the French and vice versa. That way, the found soldier will be a hero and the "captive" will be just that, a captive, and not have to go back to the front. In the meantime, they just hang out. Of course, it doesn't work that way. Heartbreaking. Also, I wonder what my Dad would have thought of this.
April 18, 2010
I have a strong interest in first world war history (and graphic novels too) but I have yet to see the brutality and horrors of life in the trenches portrayed so vividly in any other visual medium. Tardi works with actual testimony, and has a meticulous eye for detail. And he is also an outstanding artist - one of the best French graphic artists. Outstanding, and further evidence of the power of comics as a communications medium.
May 16, 2022
This is a brutal, unflinching depiction of the experiences of ordinary soldiers in a 4-year war that saw some 10 million young men sent to their deaths for no demonstrable gain (not to mention a similar number of civilians killed). It’s about human beings forced to live in filth, cold and undernourished, surrounded by death and mutilation, in near-constant terror and despair. It’s about peaceful men forced to kill others and to put their own lives at immense risk, facing death by firing squad for even the slightest hesitation to do either. It’s a close-up view of a man-made hell on earth.
Whenever I hear about a highly acclaimed work that deals with a terrible historical event, I can’t help but cynically suspect that the acclaim is due more to the subject matter than to real merit. “Of course work about the First World War is powerful,” I think to myself with contempt, “that war was so cataclysmically tragic that even its Wikipedia article could bring a reader to tears.” There may be some trace of a legitimate critique behind these smug sentiments, but when I started reading It Was the War of the Trenches, all of my sneering quickly fell at the wayside. Sure, a major part of this comic’s power comes from the sheer horror of trench warfare, but it would be patently absurd to dismiss it on these grounds.
Indeed, it feels inappropriate to even try to review a work like this. Jacques Tardi is a great artist and a masterful storyteller and here he succeeds in imparting a sense of just how awful it must have been to live through one of the most atrocious episodes in European history. What else can I say? Truly sobering stuff.
Whenever I hear about a highly acclaimed work that deals with a terrible historical event, I can’t help but cynically suspect that the acclaim is due more to the subject matter than to real merit. “Of course work about the First World War is powerful,” I think to myself with contempt, “that war was so cataclysmically tragic that even its Wikipedia article could bring a reader to tears.” There may be some trace of a legitimate critique behind these smug sentiments, but when I started reading It Was the War of the Trenches, all of my sneering quickly fell at the wayside. Sure, a major part of this comic’s power comes from the sheer horror of trench warfare, but it would be patently absurd to dismiss it on these grounds.
Indeed, it feels inappropriate to even try to review a work like this. Jacques Tardi is a great artist and a masterful storyteller and here he succeeds in imparting a sense of just how awful it must have been to live through one of the most atrocious episodes in European history. What else can I say? Truly sobering stuff.
November 14, 2024
Waarschijnlijk de graphic novel die mij het meest gevormd heeft als kind en mijn interesse in geschiedenis heeft gewekt. Ik heb dit kapotgelezen, ik ken elke prent vanbuiten haha
Nog eens herlezen voor de eerste keer in 10 jaar voor 11nov. Hoe ouder ik word hoe meer lagen ik vind, hoe meer ik mijzelf zie, hoe dieper dit mij raakt.
Nog eens herlezen voor de eerste keer in 10 jaar voor 11nov. Hoe ouder ik word hoe meer lagen ik vind, hoe meer ik mijzelf zie, hoe dieper dit mij raakt.
July 21, 2014
Phew! Reading this harrowing book sitting in the shade under a tree in our garden on this lovely summers day was really strange. After a few panels I was totally into the scary, dysfunctional world of WWI, almost feeling the cold, the rats, the fleas, the angst. And then I would look up into suburban bliss and see my little daughter playing on the lawn. And then down into the darkens again...
There's no hiding the fact that I really, really like the art and storytelling of French comics master Jacques Tardi. I've read his comics for more than three decades now, and own copies of most of the things he's done, in one language or another. There's probably no other comics artist alive today who has such distinctive line as he does. OK, so Tardi's style was once inspired by among others Hergé, and there are, after a long and successful career, generations of artists that have been inspired in turn by Tardi. But despite all of this, there's no denying that you can usually tell that a drawing is by Tardi by just a glance.
Tardi has been obsessed with WWI for a long time and produced book after book about that specific era in history. This graphic novel is his tour de force, though. It doesn't trivialise the subject by introducing adventure elements into it, as with some other works by Tardi. In fact, this book is all about war, and as far as this is possible, the war is even the main character. We get to follow a number of soldiers in a kind of slice-of-life stories, and though Tardi is very specific with their stories and the details both in the narrative and in the visuals, they feel more or less interchangeable. This is of course the effect Tardi is looking for, as it points towards the inhumane aspect of war in general and of WWI in particular.
You can feel the anger Tardi harbours towards the horrific things that happened during "The Great War", but he never allows the story to turn into simple didactic anti-war propaganda. Tardi is much more subtle than that. The feeling after having read this book is one of disgust but also of some understanding of what it was like to actually be there. Tardi's use of first and third person storytelling, combined with his incredibly evocative, artistic yet detailed and realistic images are very efficient in transporting you to the front, transmitting the very essence of war. This is a master storyteller at the hight of his game, penning the end-all graphic novel about the senselessness of war.
Again, I'm really thankful to the Swedish publisher, in this case newly started Placebo Press, for giving me the occasion to revisit this story. Makes me realise that I really need to re-read the rest of Tardi's oeuvre. The fun never ends!
There's no hiding the fact that I really, really like the art and storytelling of French comics master Jacques Tardi. I've read his comics for more than three decades now, and own copies of most of the things he's done, in one language or another. There's probably no other comics artist alive today who has such distinctive line as he does. OK, so Tardi's style was once inspired by among others Hergé, and there are, after a long and successful career, generations of artists that have been inspired in turn by Tardi. But despite all of this, there's no denying that you can usually tell that a drawing is by Tardi by just a glance.
Tardi has been obsessed with WWI for a long time and produced book after book about that specific era in history. This graphic novel is his tour de force, though. It doesn't trivialise the subject by introducing adventure elements into it, as with some other works by Tardi. In fact, this book is all about war, and as far as this is possible, the war is even the main character. We get to follow a number of soldiers in a kind of slice-of-life stories, and though Tardi is very specific with their stories and the details both in the narrative and in the visuals, they feel more or less interchangeable. This is of course the effect Tardi is looking for, as it points towards the inhumane aspect of war in general and of WWI in particular.
You can feel the anger Tardi harbours towards the horrific things that happened during "The Great War", but he never allows the story to turn into simple didactic anti-war propaganda. Tardi is much more subtle than that. The feeling after having read this book is one of disgust but also of some understanding of what it was like to actually be there. Tardi's use of first and third person storytelling, combined with his incredibly evocative, artistic yet detailed and realistic images are very efficient in transporting you to the front, transmitting the very essence of war. This is a master storyteller at the hight of his game, penning the end-all graphic novel about the senselessness of war.
Again, I'm really thankful to the Swedish publisher, in this case newly started Placebo Press, for giving me the occasion to revisit this story. Makes me realise that I really need to re-read the rest of Tardi's oeuvre. The fun never ends!
March 28, 2015
É bom regressar a este livro tão fundamental para se compreender a história do século XX. Noutros tempos observar-se-ia que isto é algo estranho para se dizer de um livro de banda desenhada, mas esperemos que as consciências tenham amadurecido o suficiente para compreender a BD como forma artística de direito próprio e não mero contar de historietas aos quadradinhos. É um preconceito que se observa cada vez menos, felizmente.
O lado de documento para compreensão da história do século XX prende-se com o rigor com que Tardi recria o horror inútil da guerra nas trincheiras. As histórias ficcionais baseiam-se nos relatos dos antigos soldados, e nem consigo imaginar as horas passadas às voltas com documentação fotográfica para que o seu retrato das trincheiras seja tão real. Apesar deste fortíssimo lado documental, este não é um livro de retratos historiográficos. Tardi assume desde logo uma posição contra a guerra, contra o desperdício e inutilidade de uma acção militar que arruinou o velho mundo, mas essencialmente contra a falta de humanidade dos responsáveis políticos e militares que, confortáveis nas suas assunções e ideias fixas, não hesitaram em ordenar a morte de milhões em operações militares que caso fossem bem sucedidas medir-se-iam na conquista de mais alguns metros quadrados de terreno. É essa forte consciência anti-militarista e pacifista que, aliada ao retrato preciso das condições de sobrevivência e morte no front, dá carácter a este livro tão especial.
Parte de uma série de obras que Tardi dedica a este tema e o tornaram um dos mais notáveis olhares contemporâneos sobre a I guerra. Tão notável que chegou a ser medalhado pelo governo francês, distinção que o autor recusou veementemente. Estas histórias são a sua homenagem ao avô, poilu sobrevivente para uma vida de trauma, o que ajuda a explicar a sua dureza crítica.
Sempre me intrigou a escolha narrativa que fez. Estruturalmente estas histórias são de um enorme rigor. Tardi divide a prancha em três tiras e é aí, de uma forma panorâmica mas claustrofóbica, que faz desenrolar as suas histórias. Talvez para sublinhar a pequenez dos personagens face à vasta desumanidade do teatro da guerra. O traço expressivo do autor afasta-se do realismo didáctico e confere ainda mais carácter a esta obra essencial que a Levoir nos trás para, finalmente, tradução portuguesa. Daquelas que gostaria de dizer, se acreditasse nestas coisas, que deveria ser de leitura obrigatória, mas como acho que a obrigatoriedade destrói o gosto por ler, não digo.
O lado de documento para compreensão da história do século XX prende-se com o rigor com que Tardi recria o horror inútil da guerra nas trincheiras. As histórias ficcionais baseiam-se nos relatos dos antigos soldados, e nem consigo imaginar as horas passadas às voltas com documentação fotográfica para que o seu retrato das trincheiras seja tão real. Apesar deste fortíssimo lado documental, este não é um livro de retratos historiográficos. Tardi assume desde logo uma posição contra a guerra, contra o desperdício e inutilidade de uma acção militar que arruinou o velho mundo, mas essencialmente contra a falta de humanidade dos responsáveis políticos e militares que, confortáveis nas suas assunções e ideias fixas, não hesitaram em ordenar a morte de milhões em operações militares que caso fossem bem sucedidas medir-se-iam na conquista de mais alguns metros quadrados de terreno. É essa forte consciência anti-militarista e pacifista que, aliada ao retrato preciso das condições de sobrevivência e morte no front, dá carácter a este livro tão especial.
Parte de uma série de obras que Tardi dedica a este tema e o tornaram um dos mais notáveis olhares contemporâneos sobre a I guerra. Tão notável que chegou a ser medalhado pelo governo francês, distinção que o autor recusou veementemente. Estas histórias são a sua homenagem ao avô, poilu sobrevivente para uma vida de trauma, o que ajuda a explicar a sua dureza crítica.
Sempre me intrigou a escolha narrativa que fez. Estruturalmente estas histórias são de um enorme rigor. Tardi divide a prancha em três tiras e é aí, de uma forma panorâmica mas claustrofóbica, que faz desenrolar as suas histórias. Talvez para sublinhar a pequenez dos personagens face à vasta desumanidade do teatro da guerra. O traço expressivo do autor afasta-se do realismo didáctico e confere ainda mais carácter a esta obra essencial que a Levoir nos trás para, finalmente, tradução portuguesa. Daquelas que gostaria de dizer, se acreditasse nestas coisas, que deveria ser de leitura obrigatória, mas como acho que a obrigatoriedade destrói o gosto por ler, não digo.
January 16, 2021
Un des nombreux ouvrages de Tardi consacré à la première guerre mondiale.
Tardi étant anarchiste, antimilitariste et anticlérical, rien d'étonnant à ce que la guerre 14 - 18 soit un de ces sujets de prédilection. En effet, ce conflit illustre à merveille les excès auxquels ont pu conduire l'ultra-nationalisme, savamment orchestré par l'Eglise, l'armée et l'école de la IIIe République, la fameuse alliance des "hussards noirs de la République" (les instituteurs) le sabre et le goupillon.
L'album, entièrement en niveaux de gris, donne un ton assez sinistre (et de circonstance) aux différents récits qui y sont relatés.
Car il ne s'agit pas d'un récit, mais DE récits. Ceux de jeunes hommes partis "passer noël à Berlin" et qui se retrouvent enterrés dans des tranchées boueuses qu'ils partagent avec les rats, les poux et la vermine ; ceux de soldats laissés à la merci des gaz, des mitrailleuses, des snipers, des obus... ceux enfin de pauvres types qui se retrouvent embringués dans un conflit qu'ils n'ont pas voulu, dont ils ne savent au fonds pas grand chose sinon que "l'ennemi, c'est le boche", et qui doivent endurer au quotidien l'ineptie de leur état-major, la suffisance des officiers (souvent bien-nés) et les ordres absurdes d'une hiérarchie confite dans ses certitudes et ses rêves d'offensives.
Une bande-dessinée qui remue les tripes et qui ne peut pas laisser indifférent.
Tardi étant anarchiste, antimilitariste et anticlérical, rien d'étonnant à ce que la guerre 14 - 18 soit un de ces sujets de prédilection. En effet, ce conflit illustre à merveille les excès auxquels ont pu conduire l'ultra-nationalisme, savamment orchestré par l'Eglise, l'armée et l'école de la IIIe République, la fameuse alliance des "hussards noirs de la République" (les instituteurs) le sabre et le goupillon.
L'album, entièrement en niveaux de gris, donne un ton assez sinistre (et de circonstance) aux différents récits qui y sont relatés.
Car il ne s'agit pas d'un récit, mais DE récits. Ceux de jeunes hommes partis "passer noël à Berlin" et qui se retrouvent enterrés dans des tranchées boueuses qu'ils partagent avec les rats, les poux et la vermine ; ceux de soldats laissés à la merci des gaz, des mitrailleuses, des snipers, des obus... ceux enfin de pauvres types qui se retrouvent embringués dans un conflit qu'ils n'ont pas voulu, dont ils ne savent au fonds pas grand chose sinon que "l'ennemi, c'est le boche", et qui doivent endurer au quotidien l'ineptie de leur état-major, la suffisance des officiers (souvent bien-nés) et les ordres absurdes d'une hiérarchie confite dans ses certitudes et ses rêves d'offensives.
Une bande-dessinée qui remue les tripes et qui ne peut pas laisser indifférent.
June 17, 2012
Some graphic novels and collections transcend their medium and this is a prime example, becoming literature which happens to also be illustrated.
Effective story-telling on a subject and time that is all but forgotten, it magically humanizes an incredibly dehumanizing time for Europe and the world with an obviously French-centric emphasis. Tardis shares vignettes and tales related to him by his late grandfather and doesn't embellish or wax romantic but only reminds readers that war should not be a time of great nationalism, but is in fact, only a showcase of sophisticated means to eliminate fellow human beings. In this, man has only really evolved.
It's so honest that it hurts, but in this case, a necessary reminder.
I don't recommend this book because it is a joy or a fun, enjoyable read, but because the relevance still holds true more than 80 years later.
Effective story-telling on a subject and time that is all but forgotten, it magically humanizes an incredibly dehumanizing time for Europe and the world with an obviously French-centric emphasis. Tardis shares vignettes and tales related to him by his late grandfather and doesn't embellish or wax romantic but only reminds readers that war should not be a time of great nationalism, but is in fact, only a showcase of sophisticated means to eliminate fellow human beings. In this, man has only really evolved.
It's so honest that it hurts, but in this case, a necessary reminder.
I don't recommend this book because it is a joy or a fun, enjoyable read, but because the relevance still holds true more than 80 years later.
October 21, 2016
This is a bleak, grim picture of several soldiers in World War I.
“My name is Jean Desbois. I belong to the 3rd Company which is going to charge as soon as the artillery holds its fire. We’ll climb over the edge of the trench and we’ll be out in the open, exposed to the German machine guns… I am afraid of being killed. Yesterday I had a near miss.”(34) For twenty panels the 3rd Company, dies, wanders, and dies some more. “For the third time in forty-eight hours, their charge has been broken. Demoralized, haggard, and disgusted, having lost all fight, they seek shelter.” (41) Their general aims their artillery on them, and wants to have the entire company shot. Three men, including Desbois, are killed by firing squad.
This is followed by an impressive filmography and biography. I borrowed this from my public library.
“My name is Jean Desbois. I belong to the 3rd Company which is going to charge as soon as the artillery holds its fire. We’ll climb over the edge of the trench and we’ll be out in the open, exposed to the German machine guns… I am afraid of being killed. Yesterday I had a near miss.”(34) For twenty panels the 3rd Company, dies, wanders, and dies some more. “For the third time in forty-eight hours, their charge has been broken. Demoralized, haggard, and disgusted, having lost all fight, they seek shelter.” (41) Their general aims their artillery on them, and wants to have the entire company shot. Three men, including Desbois, are killed by firing squad.
This is followed by an impressive filmography and biography. I borrowed this from my public library.
January 29, 2016
Okumak için biraz geç kaldım gerçi ama Tardi'nin çizgisini çok sevmesem de hikaye anlatımı müthiş. Son zamanlarda okuduğum en iyi grafik romanlardan biri.
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