The Dreyfus Affair: The Story of the Most Infamous Miscarriage of Justice in French History in Reading Proust's In Search of Lost Time in 2014

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May 21, 2014 Renato rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2014, reviewed, proust

Marcel Proust introduced me to the Dreyfus Affair. While reading his masterpiece À la recherche du temps perdu, I grew interested on this political scandal who seemed to have divided France in two opposing sides - the Dreyfusards and the anti-Dreyfusards - because, for being such an important part of French history, it was largely present throughout Proust’s story and characters.

The Dreyfus Affair, by Piers Paul Read, depicts the sad but unfortunately true story of French captain Alfred Dreyfus, Marcel Proust introduced me to the Dreyfus Affair. While reading his masterpiece À la recherche du temps perdu, I grew interested on this political scandal who seemed to have divided France in two opposing sides - the Dreyfusards and the anti-Dreyfusards - because, for being such an important part of French history, it was largely present throughout Proust’s story and characters.

The Dreyfus Affair, by Piers Paul Read, depicts the sad but unfortunately true story of French captain Alfred Dreyfus, Jewish descent and military involved in a trial and conviction for treason for having sold Army secrets to a member of the German Embassy in Paris. Only he was innocent.

Before jumping into Dreyfus’s trial in 1894, the author rightly gives us a political and religious context of France some years before it all happened, going back to the French Revolution that took place from 1789 to 1799. This context helps us to understand, among other key aspects, how the Jewish community stood on the society and how the Frenchmen held their Army really high in prestige.

As a result of his wrongful conviction, Dreyfus was sentenced for life imprisonment and deported to the Devil’s Island, which is located off the coast of the French Guiana, in South America. There, he had to live under inhumane conditions (isolation, bad diet, later he had to sleep shackled to his bed...) Throughout all of this, his wife Lucie kept corresponding with him through letters - although she was not permitted to write about the case itself -, and this communication helped Alfred get through, in hope to prove his innocence and to once again return to the arms of his wife and children.

Two years later of his conviction, in 1896, there was some evidence showing that the real culprit was indeed someone else. It was fascinating yet immensely exasperating to find out how the High Command of the Army and members of the Government, once aware of the wrongful conviction of Dreyfus and knowing the identity of the true ‘spy’, major Esterhazy, fought to keep the unlucky captain in the Devil’s Island while protecting the vile major, trying to save the honor of the institution by not admitting their horrid mistake.

The press also played a big part in the affair, not so much by describing the events taking place at the time, but ultimately by being used through leaks and made-up stories to divide the public's opinion and influence the case towards whatever their objectives were. Émile Zola, the famous French novelist, also entered the game in the Dreyfusard side by writing an open letter titled J’accuse…! to President Faure in a newspaper L'Aurore, for he was tired and outraged after major Esterhazy was acquitted on his court martial. He would end up being tried and convicted for criminal libel in 1898.

Piers Paul Read also succeeds in not making his account of events a mere dispute of Semitism vs. anti-Semitism. He takes time to give us profiles on everyone involved and tries to explain why each person took the decisions they did and what were their agendas. Also, being impartial, he goes through the book without creating vilans and never placing Dreyfus up in a pedestal. Although I couldn't help but loathe most of the people involved in this “miscarriage of justice”, as the Dreyfus Affair became known.

Rating: aside the unfortunate subject (or maybe because of it), this is a great read. The ‘plot’ is so intricate I felt sometimes I was reading a great novel which was impossible to put down. 4 stars. ...more

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Apr 02, 2014 Jonathan rated it really liked it

Shelves: about-history, own-ebook, group-read, author-male, about-and-by-zola, 21st-century, book-type-non-fiction, about-france

The Dreyfus Affair pops up time and again when reading French books from the end of the nineteenth century. I've recently been reading Proust's In Search of Lost Time in which the characters keep discussing the Affair and anyone who has read anything about Zola will realise that Zola played a significant part in the Affair. Up to now I've just read around the Dreyfus Affair and have only been aware of the bare bones of the story; but the topic is a fascinating story in its own right and I though ...more

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Apr 13, 2015 Travis Wood marked it as to-read · review of another edition

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