It Was the War of the Trenches(Colecção Novela Gráfica #4)

It Was the War of the Trenches(Colecção Novela
Gráfica #4)
by Jacques Tardi
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.|É
bom regressar a este livro tão fundamental para se compreender a história do século XX. Noutros tempos
Unquestionably an essential volume for any serious comics library, and one that is now embedded in my mind.|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.|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 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 outage at
the architects of war, the masters of war (Dylan) 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 even before many of them die, using language he finds and
sometimes of course invents to help us feel what they may have felt at the end. He shows 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 stories 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, and probably all wars.|This is Tardi working at the absolute peak of his creative
powers. The passion he derives from the subject matter -- the sheer waste, futility and stupidity of trench warfarethe arrogance and ignorance that resulted in the horrible deaths of millions over the five year span of WWI- the
cataclysmic mistake that war, and probably all wars.|This is Tardi working at the absolute peak of his creative
powers. The passion he derives from the subject matter -- the sheer waste, futility and stupidity of trench warfarethe arrogance and ignorance that resulted in the horrible deaths of millions over the five year span of WWI- the
stupid old fucks who gave the orders from an aristocrat's mansion a mile away, watching through spyglasses and
talking about 'the glory of battle' and 'the burden of leadership' -- is reflected 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 avoided. This is the masterpiece of an artist who is among the sequential art
elite.
[P.S.: 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.
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.
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.
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'?]|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 "corbeaux 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.
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.