Gabriel MATZNEFF - Manuscript – The Three Little Pigs.

Gabriel MATZNEFF (1936-)

Signed autograph manuscript – The Three Little Pigs.

Eight pages in-4° in turquoise ink. (Paris. End of November 2015)

Rich manuscript in which the author delivers his feelings about the Bataclan generation born from the Parisian tragedy of November 13, 2015.

Trafalgar Square and Waterloo Station are in London. The Gare d'Austerlitz and Rue d'Arcole are in Paris. Places and monuments are named after victories, not defeats. Likewise, in military schools the promotions of young officers take the names of victorious soldiers: “Maréchal de Turenne”, “General Lassalle”, “Lieutenant-Colonel Amilakvari”. When, extraordinarily, it comes to the defeated, they are the defeated who fought heroically to the end, were defeated with all the honors of war: one of the promotions of Saint-Cyr is called “Those of Diên Bien Phu.”

Who is the suicidal moron who gave the name “Bataclan generation” to young women and young men who are the age of the victims of Friday November 13, 2015? It is the Islamic State which must give this name to its young citizens, not France, for whom this Friday, November 13, 2015 will remain the date of one of its most spectacular and depressing defeats.

This choice of “Bataclan generation” expresses a masochism, a staggering self-contempt. And we are overwhelmed by the petty-bourgeois mediocrity, the insignificance of the comments made by the survivors of this “Bataclan generation” when they are questioned by journalists or express themselves on social networks. The zozo who put a belt of hearts around his waist, the other idiot who walks around with a sign “You're all great!” », the third who proudly declares that his goal in life is to continue to have fun, to see his friends, these little bourgeois who consider it an act of courage to dine at a restaurant on Friday evening.

If they were twelve year olds, it would be admissible. Alas, this is not the case. Those who behave so stupidly, so mediocrely are adults, bearded people. I said “staggering,” but the right word is “appalling.” How dismaying was the ceremony honoring the victims in the Cour des Invalides. I love Barbara and I know some of her songs by heart, but that day, it was the “Dies irae” which, after La Marseillaise, should have sounded in this high place, not a nice ditty, and we would have been otherwise gripped by the guts if, instead of Mr. Hollande's dull speech, an actor from the Comédie-Française had read us the Sermon on the death of Bossuet.

This stupidity, this mediocrity can be explained by the total spiritual emptiness of so many of our compatriots. They do not live, they exist, they have a horizontal view of beings and things. These are the three little pigs from a song that Mr. Hollande should have had Les Invalides sing, it fits him like a glove: “Who's afraid of the big bad wolf? It's not us, it's not us! We are the three little pigs dancing in a circle. »

Apart from the Pope of Rome and the Patriarch of Moscow, who in Europe appeals to the forces of the Spirit, invites people to transcendence? Person. In any case, no one in France where political leaders whine against the rise of Islamism, but their only response, to stem this rise, is to ban Christmas nativity scenes in town halls. Soon, I bet, the exciting celebration of the Nativity, of the mystery of the incarnation, of the Word who became Flesh, of Christ God and man, will be, as in the Soviet Union at the time of anti-Christian persecution , replaced by a celebration of Bonhomme Hiver, Diadia Moroz, Leninist version of Santa Claus.

In the past, from General de Gaulle to François Mitterrand, certain heads of state knew how to speak of transcendence to the little pigs in Basque berets and baguettes, inviting them to surpass themselves, to read Seneca, Plutarch and Pascal. Today, the State does not invite the French to reconnect with the invigorating treasures of their Greco-Roman and Christian heritage, it is incapable of doing so. The State never speaks of their soul to the French of the "Bataclan generation", and they persist in having no other concern than earning money, giving as little as possible, going on vacation and... have fun. The three little pigs hold on to their cushy life, tragedy horrifies them, they do not want to hear about death, nor eternity, nor the salvation of their souls, nor asceticism, nor fasting, nor of God ; what they want is to continue drinking beer and above all, above all, for the evil terrorists of the evil caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to leave them alone, na!

Meanwhile, in our suburbs where we are bored, where instead of inviting young French people of North African origin to – as young French people of Armenian, Russian, Spanish, Italian origin once did, Polish – read The Three Musketeers, visit the Louvre, see Children of Paradise, the State only teaches football and abstract “republican virtues” which don’t make anyone hard, it’s the evil Caliph who talks to them about their soul; teaches them transcendence; explains to them that what makes man great, as the Buddha, Epicurus and Christ once taught, is not the Sum, but the Sursum; not the self, but the surpassing of the self; not comfort, but sacrifice. This is what these rebellious adolescents, flayed alive, as sensitive adolescents have always been, thirst to hear. Educated, instructed, they could become luminous Alyosha Karamazov, but, growing up among adults as flat as flounder, they fall on the side of the caliph, the black archangel of death, the big bad wolf. You have to be very stupid, or extraordinarily bad faith, to be surprised by this.