Marie-Louise Gagneur, Chair à canon [Cannon Fodder]

Cecilia Beach (Alfred University)

Ed. by Nigel Harkness, University of Newcastle upon Tyne
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.5.2.05: French Writing and Culture: The Nineteenth-Century , 1800-1900.
Vol. editors: David Elwyn Evans (University of St Andrews), Edward Forman (University of Bristol), Elisabeth Gerwin (University of Lethbridge), Nigel Harkness (University of Newcastle upon Tyne), Tim Unwin (University of Bristol), David Williams (University of Sheffield), Jennifer Yee (University of Oxford)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1872

Places

France (Publication/ performance)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

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Chair à canon

[

Cannon Fodder

] by Marie-Louise Gagneur is a complex novel about the tragic events of 1870-1871: the Franco-Prussian War and the Paris Commune. Like many followers of Charles Fourier, Marie-Louise Gagneur was a pacifist. Her novel

Chair à Canon

is a virulent condemnation of war in general, and a requisitory against the political and military leaders of the period. Published in 1872, this novel describes in graphic detail the horrors of war both on and off the battlefield, as well as the tribulations of the post-war period.

The story begins on 14 July 1870, on the eve of the declaration of war, and finishes in May 1871 as Paris burns. In a hundred-page Prologue, Gagneur first exposes the causes of the war and a variety of reactions to it. The French vary from the

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1930 words

Citation: Beach, Cecilia. "Chair à canon". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 05 January 2017 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=35750, accessed 22 November 2024.]

Marie-Louise Gagneur, Chair à canon [Cannon Fodder]

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