Georges Thinès, Le Tramway des officiers–le jeu du miroir et de la mémoire

Abstract

Can contemporary literature cocreate History? Can it interpret it through its involvement? The present article offers a discussion on the extent to which Le Tramway des officiers is a historical novel; does is use historical memory and if so, how does it do it? This labyrinthine novel with its complicated structure takes place in a specific time of the German occupation, in an unnamed city, and its characters are ambi-guously interpreted. These factors seem to suggest that the objective interpretation of history is impossible.

Keywords

• historical memory
• the "untold"
• german occupation
• pacifism