An Untranslated Chapter
An Untranslated Chapter is a translation written by Clifford S. Goldfarb published in the A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society (Vol. 3, 1992).
This is the translation of chapter XIX "L'histoire humoristique : Le Brigadier Gerard et Rodney Stone" from Pierre Nordon's biography "Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: L'homme et l'oeuvre" which was not added in the English editions.
xxx
"Come out, you rascal"
From Pierre Nordon's CONAN DOYLE: L'Homme et L'Oeuvre; Paris, Libraire Marcel Didier, 1964.
Translated by Clifford S. Goldfarb
CHAPTER XIX (1)
The Humorous Treatment of History: Brigadier Gerard and Rodney Stone
Among the characteristics which Conan Doyle shares with the preceding generation, one may note his romantic attraction to the Napoleonic legend. The historical narratives reserve a very considerable place for the latter: Uncle Bernac, The Great Shadow, the Brigadier Gerard stories, and, in a certain sense, Rodney Stone. The Great Shadow, the first of this series of works, dates to 1892. It contains a description of the battle of Waterloo, but the plot unfolds mainly on British soil, in the Tweed region. This was a quite indirect manner of landing the imperial epic. A new means of access was soon to present itself. In March 1892, Conan Doyle was, accompanied by James Barrie, the guest of George Meredith at Box Hill. The latter had just read the translation of the Mémoires of Marbot, which, published the previous year, had aroused a renewed interest in the Napoleonic period. Meredith recommended it to Conan Doyle, who purchased the first edition (2).
This work is the principal, but not the only source, of the Gerard stories. In fact, the author's notebooks in which preparatory notes have been jotted, show that he also referred to Taine, to Houssaye, to Madame de Rémusat; and the Preface to the 1903 edition refers to yet other sources (3).
Why Gerard, and why did Conan Doyle forsake the romantic form to adopt one, more brief, which had just served so efficaciously to popularize Sherlock Holmes? Precisely: this hero found himself on the eve of his long eclipse. Why, then, not profit from this circumstance to offer a new idol to the readers of the Strand Magazine? The adventures of Gerard, notably in their first phase, present analogies with those of Sherlock Holmes, analogies which we can not fail to note (4). 'How the Brigadier came to the Castle of Gloom' is a story of a 'vendetta', as well as 'How the Brigadier slew the Brothers of Ajaccio' where, equally a precursor in this domain. Napoleon is supposed to have used the ruse à la Sherlock Holmes of employing a double to unmask his enemies, as we see the detective make use of a wax dummy. In 'How the Brigadier played for a kingdom', finally, Gerard did his utmost to thwart the plottings of a secret society. The collection of stories hence does not in any manner make up the episodes of a historic novel, they don't add together as the chapters of The White Company add up, for example. As well, one doesn't find in them the same care for proof, that serious and somewhat obsessive quest for a bygone era. Gerard, and Gerard alone, imposes himself on our consciousness. We must. with regard to the name given to him by the author, guard ourselves against confusion. We are not concerned here with an imaginary portrait of Marshal Etienne Gérard, who furthermore was, we know, from the Meuse and not Gascony, as is our hero (5).
The personality invented by Conan Doyle is largely designed on the impression which the narrator of the memoirs of Marbot has given us. In the two collections of stories we find a first-person singular narration and a consistent stage setting: Gerard is now a veteran and his wars have been over for a long time; in the café, in the middle of a circle of habitués and attentive friends, he tells of one of his numerous exploits, one of the extraordinary adventures of his military career. These unfolded in the most varied climates and we find Gerard now in Poland, in Russia or in Prussia, now in Italy, in France, in the Iberian peninsula, or in England during the extent of a captivity which brought him a few surprises. But however the locale changes, the outline of the plots scarcely varies and always returns to very simple elements. Being, among all the officers of the Grand Army, the bravest and most loyal, Gerard is invariably ordered to accomplish a mission of great delicacy and danger. After having brushed with death, escaped or evaded his enemies, he ends up against all expectations fulfilling his mission. The plot elements are at the same time more romantic and more conventional than in the Sherlock Holmes cycle. More conventional because they are identical with the pattern which is most frequently that of the telling of the stories; more romantic because, on the plane of the imagination, they impose on the reader concessions of the same nature as children's literature. This is why the narrative effort tends to create an atmosphere of heroic burlesque which is in harmony with the particular humour which impregnates the character of Gerard.
With only two exceptions, where Marbot served as the source for Conan Doyle (6), the latter invented the plots of his tales. Nevertheless, the author's scruples for historical accuracy and for military history in particular, led to the appearance in his stories of an unexpected mixture of fancy and precise notations (7).
The characters of the Gerard cycle are silhouettes, living and picturesque, desirable silhouettes, but perfunctorily cut out. It could not be otherwise, because if we were permitted to become acquainted with them, quite rightly, that would conflict with Gerard's descriptions or impressions. Now the latter is quite concerned with psychology! It is difficult for us to establish a clean line of demarcation between the field of his memory and that of his imagination. This uncertainty in which the world of Gerard is bathed is truly indispensable, inseparable from the humorous effect which it produces and which is present from the very beginning of the stories. May one not read, at the head of one of the very first drafts by the author this revealing note: The Brigadier's opinion about the different nations of Europe from a thoroughly French point of view. There are scarcely any characters here who stand out as much as Gerard. Among the most successful, we must however mention those outlaw mountaineers (8), of whom the most picturesque, 'El Cuchillo, has, with his least sinister attributes inspired George Bernard Shaw with the character of Mendoza in Man and Superman (9). But the stories certainly contain characters whom Conan Doyle has scarcely invented. On the other hand, his English characters are fabricated in a more ingenious and subtle way. The most lively is the young officer whose first appearance occurs in the story called 'How the Brigadier held the King'. To the extent that the text can be treated as historical fiction, we could have here a sketch of Lord George William Russell who, during the 1812 campaign, was Wellington's aide de camp:
- 'I have hardly ever met,' said Gerard, 'a Frenchman who could repeat an English title correctly. If I had not travelled I should not be able to say with confidence that this young man's real name was Milor the Hon. Sir Russell. Bart., this last being an honourable distinction, so that it was as the Bart that I usually addressed him, just as in Spanish one might say "the Don." (10)
In fact, 'Bart' is no more than the British counterpart of Gerard. By chance, he delivered Gerard from the hands of El Cuchillo's outlaws, by whom he had been ambushed. The two officers then accompanied each other along the road:
- As we rode beneath the moonlight in the lovely Spanish night, we spoke our minds to each other, as if we were brothers. We were both of an age, you see. both of the light cavalry also (the Sixteenth Light Dragoons was his regiment), and both with the same hopes and ambitions....He gave me the name of a girl whom he had loved at a garden called Vauxhall, and, for my own part. I spoke to him of little Coralie, of the Opera. (11)
After having exchanged long confidences, they are suddenly struck by the curious situation in which they find themselves and each claims the other as his prisoner. The brotherly friendship which has just been born between them makes a contest of arms repugnant as a way of solving their impasse. They prefer to take their chances over a game of écarté: from whence comes the title of the story. The high stakes of the game and especially the skill of the players, makes of this card game a truly exceptional duel. Alas, at the crucial moment when everything hangs in the balance, the arrival of Wellington, escorted by two of his officers, cuts the dispute short, to the acute mortification of Gerard, who becomes a prisoner of the king of England. The character of 'Bart' is such a lively and rivetting godsend that Conan Doyle again. gives him to us in another of the stories. He and Gerard are no longer friendly enemies but brothers in arms, united with their respective troops against a third party: 'Marshal Millefleurs'. The latter is the leader of a band of English and French deserters. French, who is fighting his own little war. It is thus here, in the Gerard cycle, that we find, in its first version, the theme evoked in Sir Nigel, in which, again, we see the two adversaries, Nigel and Raoul de la Roche, unite their efforts against the Lord of la Brohinire. But if these two situations are compared, Gerard is no more than a French Nigel. His character is very little concerned with defending any system of values. It would be unjust to say, however, that Conan Doyle only wanted to make of him a pure and simple caricature of a 'Frenchman'. His Gerard is an exaggeration of a certain temperament or 'humour', that which emerges from the memoirs of Marbot (12), Gerard, we see, is a Gascon; translation: braggart, but we must immediately add: honest and brave. At one or two points, his purpose even makes us believe that there is, after all, some kinship between him and the knights of the fourteenth century (13).
In short, a satisfied innocence, a thoughtless affectation, makes up the essence of this simple and juvenile silhouette (14).
His disarming candour and youthfulness of heart are simmered with a generosity that gives a uniform gloss to his universe of trappings: parents, friends, countrymen and fellow soldiers. His impassioned lyricism is diffused with a warm gleefulness:
- ...it was said of us in the army that we could set a whole population running: the women towards us, and the men away. (15)
The animating force of imagination appears as fast as Gerard tells his adventures; he isolates them from the heart of the imperial epic and they become his own. History and events are ordered to permit him, as a man of destiny, to allow his exceptional qualities to flower. Only the too rapid concatenation of cause and effect prevents everything from happening for the best:
- Had the wars had lasted another two or three years, I might have grasped my baton; and the man who had his hand upon that baton was only one stride away a throne. (16)
The wars had also earned for Gerard an incomparable opportunity to learn. He not only learned strategy, but geography and most of the languages of Europe, although, on this latter point, his understanding didn't always find an adequate field of application. My business, for example, has usually been with soldiers and peasants, and what advantage is it', he asked himself, 'to be able to say to them that I love only them, and that I will come back when the wars are over'17? The most important lesson of this grand tour' is, in the final analysis, a human lesson. Gerard can now speak with full understanding of the claims of the different peoples he has observed:
But when one has seen as much as I have done, one understands that there is no very marked difference, and that although nations differ very much in discipline, they are all equally brave — except that the French have rather more courage than the rest. (18)
One recalls how the good Doctor Watson practiced the art of allusion in order to exalt the infallibility of Holmes. In the same way. Gerard often gives the impression of saying much less than he knows. Thus, he gives us to understand that the Emperor sometimes confides in him, more often than the stories permit us to believe (19). Exciting our curiosity without satisfying it, he briefly mentions, in passing, missions he carried out which he cannot tell us of and about which we would love to know more (20).
Even though he writes directly in the tradition of Fanfan la Tulipe (21), Gerard is far from having a popularity in France comparable to that of Sherlock Holmes. Now there is no doubt that Conan Doyle wanted to reach the French public, to become one of them, as it were (22). The humour with which the stories are impregnated possesses an essentially international quality: having imagined a French character, an English writer brings to him a certain number of judgments on foreigners. The game becomes exclusively French-British when Gerard finds himself among English speakers. In the traditional perspective of English humour, the character of Gerard serves as a mediator, reflecting a caricatured version from the image he receives. As well, independently of their themes, we see that some of the Gerard stories produce a comic effect akin to that of traditional humorous cartoons, such as those we find in the pages of Punch, or better yet, in the celebrated series by Richard Doyle, The Foreign Tour of Brown, Jones and Robinson. The characters that he draws make us smile because they are set off in relation to the foreigners who see them, especially because they are not the least conscious of their eccentricity. This is why Gerard comes to see England solely in the habits of its fox hunters or boxers: transplanted to an English milieu he acquires a vaguely Pickwickian allure. The anecdote of the foxhunt — 'How the Brigadier slew the fox' —, resembles the brief episode in Micah Clarke in which Hector Marot throws himself into pursuit of the hunters (23), but here we find a more satisfying ending.
The scene shifts to Spain and Gerard has been sent on a reconnaissance mission into enemy territory. He goes a little too far and barely eludes capture: he escapes in the nick of time after having taken the mount of an English officer. He covers several leagues and soon hears the horns of a group of hunters in hot pursuit of a fox.
Gerard's horse reacts to the horns and, by itself, sets off in the direction of the hunters, while Gerard tries in vain to restrain him. This is how our hero finds himself, against his will, in the middle of a troop of enemy officers. The latter are so excited that they fail to notice the colour of Gerard's uniform. Because the latter has the fastest horse and he is, as he has told us, the best horseman in Europe, he is soon at the head of the chase, and then, not without having trampled and eviscerated several hounds, he is ahead of the pack:
Ah, the joy and pride of that moment! To know that I had beaten the English at their own sport. Here were three hundred all thirsting for the life of this animal, and yet it was I who was about to take it. I thought of my comrades of the light cavalry brigade, of my mother, of the Emperor, of France. I had brought honour to each and all. Every instant brought me nearer to the fox. The moment of action had arrived, so I unsheathed my sabre. I waved it in the air, and the brave English all shouted behind me. (24)
The best of the Gerard stories is in these anecdotes, in those pieces in which Conan Doyle forbears putting the strictly historical aspect first. This aspect is muted about the hero and to his profit. One must, more than ever, underline the importance played by style in the composition of the character. Not only does Gerard present himself and get placed into the scene, but, as much as he is a literary creation, he reflects the image that Marbot's style had suggested to Conan Doyle. His most visible language mannerism is the abuse of the personal pronoun I:
I am an excellent soldier. I do not say this because I am prejudiced in my own favour, but because I really am so.(25)
This excess would be unpardonable if Gerard's egocentricity was anything else than childishness, if it was not necessary to the caricatured image that we must keep in mind. He accompanies this with other falsely unsophisticated behaviour, for example, the awkward and superfluous reiteration of but:
But it is of Venice that I would speak. The folks there live like water-rats upon a mud-bank; but the houses are very fine, and the churches, especially that of St. Mark, are as great as any I have seen. But, above all... (26)
One must, in this connection, note the quite frequent and open use of expletive phrases, supposed to distinguish the southern temperament of Gerard:
For myself, I am fond of horses (...) It is my habit, you see, to talk of that which interests myself. (27)
The pseudo-gallicism that which interests myself' is a supplementary touch. It can be compared with expressions attributed to other French characters, and which consist of a literal translation of familiar interjections: 'name of a pipe', 'my faith', 'name of a name', 'sacred name of a dog' (28). One last remark: a good part of the picturesqueness of Gerard attaches to the person who speaks and not to the person of whom he speaks, to the storyteller and his manner more than the hero and his exploits. Thanks to a good many references that one could almost call scenic instructions, Conan Doyle encamps him in the surroundings of his peaceful Gascon village, surrounded by a circle of kindly, indulgent, slightly incredulous listeners. If wine is needed to quench his thirst: Gerard interrupts his story-telling to ask for another glass or sometimes to boast of one of his favourite vineyards (29); another time he will turn to the tavern-keeper and ask him for a deck of cards so he can better explain the famous game of écarté (30). Soon, finally, he will call on his audience to be witnesses, evoking at the same time a little stage setting and some easy to imagine stage business:
- You start my friends! You stare! (31)
Never has an English writer discerned so precisely the atmosphere of the 'café du commerce', as excellently as it has been depicted by some of our southern writers. With its specifically scenic qualities, its verve and ingeniousness, the Gerard cycle is, above all accessible and good-natured. As if by some strange prescience, this incursion into the hero-comic mode seems to be in keeping with the mood which would soon support the conclusion of the Entente Cordiale (32).
In the second Brigadier Gerard story, Conan Doyle introduces several English eccentrics and sporting characters and, notably, a boxer ('How the King held the Brigadier', 1895). This is the departure point for a group of stories dedicated to the pugilistic 'art' and particularly of a tale both historic and sporting, Rodney Stone, published in 1896... (33)
Translation © Clifford S. Goldfarb, 1992.
REFERENCES
1. [Nordon's original French version was not completely translated into English (London: John Murray, 1966, trans. Frances Partridge). In particular, this Chapter, which is Chapter 19 of the original work has been entirely omitted by Partridge. (The other Chapter which was entirely omitted was Chapter 21, 'Style'. The bibliographic material at the end has also been largely omitted.) This translation is of pages 368-376 of Nordon. This material has been translated for research purposes only and no consent has been sought or obtained from the copyright holders. Therefore, this translation may not be republished, copied or otherwise disseminated. Translator's notes and references in the footnotes have been indicated by the use of '[]']
2. cf. MAG [Through the Magic Door, London: Smith, Elder. 19071, p. 165: Here is Marbot at this end the first of all soldier books in the world. This is the complete three-volume edition, with red and gold cover ... This example, annotated in Conan Doyle's hand, figures in the bibliographic archives.
3. The Cavalry were particularly happy in their writers of memoirs. Thus De Rocca, in his Mémoires sur la Guerre des Français en Espagne, has given the narrative of a Hussar, while De Naylies, in his Mémoires sur la Guerre D'Espagne, gives the same campaigns from the point of view of the Dragoon. Then we have the Souvenirs Militaires du Colonel de Gonneville, which treat a series of wars, including that of Spain, as seen from under the steel-brimmed, hair-crested helmet of a Cuirassier. Pre-eminent among all these works, and among all of the military memoirs, are the famous reminiscences of Marbot (...) Among other books which help one to an understanding of the Napoleonic soldier, I would specially recommend Les Cahiers du Capitaine Coignet, which treat the wars from the point of view of the private of the Guards, and Les Mmoires du Sergeant Bourgoyne [the correct spelling is 'sergent'], who was a non-commissioned officer in the same corps. The Journal of Sergeant Fricasse and the Recollections of de Fezenac and of de Ségur complete the material...' (Preface pp.9-10.)
4. Exploits of Brigadier Gerard, 1895. The second collection, Adventures of Gerard, was published in 1902.
5. cf NAP. (The Complete Napoleonic Stories, London: John Murray, 1956, reprinted 1967. Story names will be given following Nordon's page references to this edition, unless the story is identified in the text), p.438: 'Duplessis was a Gascon, like myself, and he was a very fine fellow, as all Gascon gentlemen are.' ['How the Brigadier saved an army']
6. cf. the story of the taking of Saragossa and 'How the Brigadier took the field against the Marshall Millefleurs', drawn respectively from the Memoirs of Marbot, chapters XL and LXIII. (There are, in fact, quite a few plots and plot elements in the Gerard stories which can be traced back to Marbot. For example, in 'How the Brigadier captured Saragossa'. Gerard mentions the 'tale of how I had guided the army across the Danube', an episode which clearly refers to one of Marbot's most famous adventures.]
7. See on what terms the historian Archibald Forbes commented on the first collection of the stories: ... The spirit and go of this last series is very remarkable, and the accuracy in regard to people and places proves how much pains you have taken. Very few people, I am sure, will detect any error, and I, who have a keen scent for slips, find scarcely anything to take exception; one or two points, it may be worth while to amend in future editions; but they surely deserve no comment. On page 123 you mention General "Crawford" of the eight Division in the Peninsula. The name should be "Crawfurd". On page 127 occurs the following sentence: "Except Lasalle, and Labau and Drouet, I can hardly remember any one of the generals who had not already made his name before the Egyptian business." "Labau", I assume is a misprint for Lobau; but there was no Lobau until after Aspern in 1809. Mouton, who after that victory became the Count of Lobau, had made some name before the Egyptian campaign, in the capacity, first of A.D.C. to Meusnier in 1795, and later, in 1798, as A.D.C. to Joubert. "Drouet" mentioned in the same sentence, is more commonly known as "Drouet d'Erlin ..." (Letter from Archibald Forbes to Sir Arthur, 28 February 1896, unpublished, C.D.B.A.) [Conan Doyle Biographical Archives, maintained by Adrian Conan Doyle and made available to Nordon] cf. 'How the Brigadier held the King' and 'How the Brigadier saved an army'.
9. cf. Man and Superman, 1903, Preface, p. XXVII and Act III. pp. 84-86.
10. NAP., p. 237
11. Ibid.
12. The text doesn't explicitly permit the identification of Gerard with the author of the Mémoires since Marbot is evoked in the capacity of a distinct person: ... so I rode past Marbot's vedettes and on in the direction of the wood... (NAP.. p. 504) ['How the Brigadier bore himself at Waterloo'], but this allusion certainly doesn't contradict what we otherwise know about the source of Gerard's character.
13. cf.:... it is a pity to miss even the smallest affair, for one never knows what opportunity for advancement may present itself." (NAP. p. 330) ['How the Brigadier won his Medal']: 'Sir,' said I, 'permit me to remark that the greater the danger, the greater the glory... (NAP, p. 404) ['How the Brigadier captured Saragossa'].
14. cf. NAP., p. 386: 'They advanced upon me and for an instant I thought of resistance. It would have been a heroic death, but who was there to see it or to chronicle it?' ['How the Brigadier lost his ear']
15. NAP., p.172 ['How the Brigadier came to the Castle of Gloom']
16. NAP., p. 194 ['How the Brigadier slew the Brothers of Ajaccio']
17. cf. NAP., p. 377 ['How the Brigadier lost his ear']
18. NAP., p. 275. ['How the Brigadier took the field against the Marshall Millefleurs']
19. cf. NAP., p. 365: 'That was always the way with the Emperor. He would chat with you as with a friend and a brother, and then when he had wiled you into forgetting the gulf...' ['How the Brigadier was tempted by the Devil']
20. cf. NAP., p. 174: 'Everybody had heard of me since my duel with the six fencing masters.' ['How the Brigadier came to the Castle of Gloom'); p. 197: it might be that he wished to reward me for my affair with the aide-de-camp of the Russian Emperor.' ['How the Brigadier slew the Brothers of Ajaccio']
21. [Fanfan la Tulipe is the legendary hero of a popular French song written in 1819 by Emile Debraux. He is a soldier who loves his wine, women and glory, and who is always ready to defend a just cause. The song engendered a number of vaudevilles and comedies, of which the best known was a romantic comedy, Fanfan La Tulipe, by Paul Meurice. presented in 1858, about a rough but chivalrous soldier in the bodyguard of Madame de Pompadour: Petit Larousse, Paris: Librairie Larousse. 1959, The Oxford Companion to French Literature, Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1959. The similarity between this character and Gerard is evident.]
22. Was he not aware of the special restrictions concerning rights of translation, as early as 1894? cf. letter to Arthur Waugh, Dec. 18, 1894 (C.D.B.A.) (Conan Doyle Bibliographical Archives]:... I think of doing a series of six Brigadier Gerard Adventures, after the model of the one which I recently sold to Mr. Bacheller. I can't bind myself to a date, but have every hope that they would be ready in the Spring... My terms would be £250 each, for the complete serial use, reserving only the right of French translation to myself. I should like them to appear in the Strand in England..."
23. cf. Micah Clarke, chapter 30.
24. NAP. p.434
25. NAP., p.326 ['How the Brigadier won his Medal']
26. Ibid., p.376 ['How the Brigadier lost his ear']
27. Ibid., p. 171 ['How the Brigadier came to the Castle of Gloom']
28. Ibid., pp. 331 'How the Brigadier won his Medal'), 341 [ibid.], 348 ['How the Brigadier was tempted by the Devil']. 369 [ibid.]. 506 ['How the Brigadier bore himself at Waterloo'], etc.
29. cf. Ibid. pp. 378 ['How the Brigadier lost his ear'], 477 ['How the Brigadier rode to Minsk']
30. Ibid., p. 241 ['How the Brigadier held the King']
31. Ibid. p. 450 ['How the Brigadier saved an army'], cf. also pp. 174 ['How the Brigadier came to the Castle of Gloom'], 428 ['[[How the Brigadier slew the fox'].
32. [Literally a friendly understanding. In this context, an understanding between Britain and France reached in 1904 and in force ever since.]
33. [The untranslated balance of the Chapter deals with Rodney Stone, and there is no further discussion of the Brigadier Gerard stories. The balance of Nordon, as translated by Partridge, contains very few references to the Gerard stories. Marbot is not mentioned at all in the index to Partridge. At page 180, it is mentioned that Doyle visited his sister and Nelson Foley on their isle in the Gulf of Gaeta in April, 1902, then went to Venice, where he wrote one of the Gerard stories, which one is not stated. The story set in Venice, 'How the Brigadier lost his ear', appeared in the issue of the Strand for August, 1902, so it would be tempting to make the connection here. At page 268, Nordon tells us that Watson is necessary to Sherlock Holmes as otherwise the exploits of Holmes could not be personally told. As Conan Doyle shows in The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard, a hero cannot sing his own praises without making his readers smile'. At page 311, he says that the description of the bandits in Exploits is not as justifiable and convincing as the description of the peasants of the Jacquerie in chapter 30 of The White Company. Finally, at page 324, he tells us that Uncle Bernac was Doyle's chance to write a full-length portrait of Napoleon, something that was missing from both Rodney Stone and the Brigadier Gerard stories.)
- Article courtesy Christopher Roden, founder of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society (1989-2003).
