Dear Editor
DEAR EDITOR DEGAUIXE'S DESIGN I have read with utmost interest the debate on "De Gaulle's Grand Design" between Messrs. Bernard K. Gordon and John R. Thomas and Walter F. Hahn (NL, March 18)....
...It seems to me that Gordon and Thomas are mistaken when they write that "De Gaulle wants a strong Europe in which France and Germany are the leading forces...
...as a rival or counterbalance...
...It should be added that de Gaulle I) wants a strong France towering above the other countries of the "small Europe...
...Everybody in France (and permit me to recall that I was in charge of building the first French A-bomb) knows that, even if the country were submitted to a back-breaking effort which it can ill afford, a purely French nuclear force would be, at best, a token weapon, and largely obsolete when it is realized several years hence...
...he likes to wear a mask...
...As a Frenchman who is a patriot but not a nationalist, I detect in all this policy the too well-known pattern of old-fashioned jingoistic nationalism masquerading in "modern" garments...
...Beckett and the Theater of the Absurd are mentioned—she concludes: "Purdy's talents are such that one hopes to see him move out of the bitter vignette, the transitory yet significant, small yet deep insight, into a more spacious field...
...This sentence should be reworded: "De Gaulle wants a strong Europe in which France is the leading force"—period...
...Indians are too genuflecting...
...Continued on next page Similar words were used by Leopold Amery —and not, as Shahani has written, Winston Churchill—during the debate of May 7. 1940 on the conduct of the war in the Norwegian campaign, and, again, not during any Parliamentary justification of the Munich Agreement of September 30, 1938...
...I must say that all the straws in the wind point to the contrary...
...It is uttered in deadly earnest...
...Ranjee Shahani, in his review of After Nehru, Who...
...What it boils down to is that France is pouring more billions into a dictatorial, misery-stricken, neutralist Alegria than it ever spent for the French Algerian territory...
...The quote Shahani seeks is Cromwell's words to the Long Parliament upon his expulsion of it: "You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing...
...To mistake the result of a misplaced, misattributed misquote is to reflect adversely on the competence of an author...
...Children Is All ("The Limits of Miniature," NL, April 1...
...that 900.000 homeless, pennyless...
...I must add that I do not quite like the tone of Meehan"s letter...
...The Algerian problem has not been solved...
...After several tortured reservations and some handsome name-dropping—Joyce...
...de Gaulle's) exclusive leadership...
...Not to say anything about the anti-"Anglo-Saxon" trend, the oft-repeated propaganda theme of "Europe from the Atlantic to the Urals" is not to be taken as what we call in France des paroles en l'air...
...To misplace fin time and circumstance) a misattributed misquote is to write with little regard for the reader's knowledge...
...Vituperation is not criticism...
...Jacques Soustelle Former Vice Premier of Fronce MISPLACED MISQUOTE To misquote is to write poorly...
...Its only importance to de Gaulle's designs lies elsewhere: If the small Europe of the six countries is placed under a nominal FrancoGerman leadership, and France is the only power with a nuclear force, then the apparent Franco-German leadership boils down to pure and simple French hegemony...
...It would be childish to let ourselves be tricked by de Gaulle's sham anti-Soviet statements or by the vociferous utterances of the The New Leader welcomes comment and criticism on any of its features, but letters should not exceed 300 words...
...To misattribute a misquote is to write sloppily...
...Kremlin about the Paris-Bonn pact for the benefit of Russia's Slavic satellites...
...It is true that political instability, such as the Fourth Republic knew it, has disappeared— as it had disappeared in Trujillo's "'democracy"—thanks to the establishment of a police state which keeps 11.000 political prisoners in jail (the highest number this side of the Iron Curtain), kidnaps political opponents abroad, turns the State-owned radio monopoly into a Fascist-style brainwashing and stultifying machinery, and spends twice as much for its secret police, gendarmerie, and other repressive forces than for public education, scientific research and cultural achievements...
...But has he...
...In the name of God, go...
...One of Gordon and Thomas' main points is that "de Gaulle is a worthy partner" because 1) he has solved the Algerian problem, 2) he has given France a renewed economic strength, and 3) he has put an end to political instability...
...Miss Rau tells us that she is still not certain of her opinion of Purdy's talent...
...Chicago, III...
...May I be allowed to add a footnote to those articles...
...It was good of The New Leader to print the dispatches from the New York Times while the newspaper strike was on...
...Ranjee Shahani replies: I am grateful to James Meehan for pointing out that I have indulged in a "misplaced quote...
...it remains, like a ghost which haunts metropolitan France's nights...
...hopeless refugees are waiting in vain for jobs and a decent life in metropolitan France...
...Depart, I say, and let us have done with you...
...and that French public opinion, the main State bodies and the Army are deeply divided...
...Chamberlain resigned as Prime Minister, and Churchill was asked to form a new government on May 10, 1940...
...But does my error touch the main issue...
...is an example of a curious and unfascinating phenomenon that occurs all too often in book reviewing —a good deal of useless literary chit-chat accompanied by copping out on any serious judgment of the book in question...
...NL, March 18), has managed to do all of this, and all in the first paragraph...
...I think Hahn hits the nail on the head when he writes: "What de Gaulle fears, pure and simple, is the entry of Britain on any terms...
...No matter who used the words I have put in the mouth of Churchill, the fact remains that English politicians have the courage to tell their Prime Minister what they think of him...
...I was relying on my memory, which has played me false...
...He violently denounced the blood-smeared leaders of the FLN, and was violently attacked by them, at the very moment they were in cahoots with him behind the scenes to hand over Algeria to the terrorists...
...After reading Children Is AH," she writes, "I am not at all sure that I can either answer my critic friend [who abhorred Purdy] or fall in with the Edith Sitwell crowd [which greatly admires him...
...That is the heart of the whole matter...
...The second sentence of Shahani's review implies a causal relation between Chamberlain's resignation and Amery's quotation...
...Don't forget de Gaulle's Machiavellism, as exemplified by his Algerian policy...
...But did you really have to throw in the Times Book Review too...
...LIMITS OF MINIATURE' Santha Rama Raus review of James Purdy's book...
...It means that a French-led, or rather de Gaulle-led, Europe would indeed make a deal with Russia, a deal which by its very nature would exclude the Western side of the Atlantic Ocean...
...He himself writes in a style that is neither literary nor parliamentary...
...It means a neutralist Europe...
...The economic revival of France is being sapped by inflation and strikes, and smothered by absurd "prestige" spending...
...Early in her review...
...Much has been said about the force de frappe...
...Even so rephrased, this statement would still be far from accurate...
...French workers are crushed by the soaring prices while the "Guide" squanders public money on Ben Bella, countless petty African chieftains and, of course, the force de frappe...
...Such a policy can only be fatal to Europe and the Western world...
...Is it safe to assume, as do Gordon and Thomas, that de Gaulle "would not make a deal with Russia" at the expense of Western interests...
...James E. Meehan, Jr...
...Mea culpa...
...New York City Michael Field...
...Actually, ChamberIain resigned because he thought himself unable to lead the nation unless he had a coalition government, and he could not form such a government under his own leadership because of the sentiment of the House of Commons, an indication of which was Amery's remarks...
...and 2) opposes British entry into Europe because the very fact of its entry would jeopardize France's (i.e...
...That was the point I was trying to make...
...Can it be a real deterrent, and is it intended to be one...
Vol. 46 • April 1963 • No. 8
