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http://worldcat.org/entity/work/id/1407406348

The great swindle

"The year is 1918, the war on the Western Front all but over. An ambitious officer, Lieutenant Henry D'Aulnay-Pradelle, sends two soldiers over the top and then surreptitiously shoots them in the back to incite his men to attack the German lines. When another of D'Aulnay-Pradelle's soldiers, Albert Maillard, reaches the bodies and discovers how they died, the lieutenant shoves him into a shell hole to silence him. Albert is rescued by fellow soldier, the artist Edouard Péricourt, who takes a bullet in the face. The war ends and both men recover, but Edouard is permanently disfigured, and fakes his death to prevent his family from seeing him as a cripple. In gratitude for Edouard's rescue, Albert becomes the injured man's companion and caregiver. Finding that the postwar gratitude for the soldiers' service is nothing more than lip-service to an empty idea, the two men scramble to survive, ultimately devising a scam to take money for never-to-be-built war memorials from small towns. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Pradelle has married Edouard's sister Madeline and is running a scam of his own that involves the exhumation of war victims. In this sorrowful, heart-searching novel, the interwoven lives of these three men create a tapestry of the human condition as seen through the lens of war, revealing brutality and compassion, heroism and cowardice, in equal measure."--provided by publisher.

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about

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  • "Au revoir là-haut"@it
  • "Au revoir là-haut"@pl

author

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description

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  • "In November 1918, just days before the armistice, Lieutenant d'Aulnay-Pradelle ordered an absurd offense that will culminate with the soldiers Albert Édouard Péricourt Maillard and seriously injured in a confusing and dramatic incident that bind their fates inexorably. Édouard, of wealthy and exceptional talent for drawing family has suffered a horrible mutilation and refuses to meet his father and sister. Albert, of humble origin and cowardly character falls asleep hugging a horse head cardboard and willing to unspeakable provided to compensate Édouard, who owes his life. And Pradelle, aristocrat rundown, cynical, womanizing, is obsessed with recovering their social status. Back in Paris, the three veterans will rebel against a reality that condemns them to poverty and oblivion. Thus, an ingenious scam by Édouard to avenge his father, who always repudiated by their sensitivity and their artistic skills. Incidentally wants to help the faithful Albert, whose pruritus is to flee to the antipodes to forget Cécile, his lost love. Although perhaps more ambitious Pradelle, that will shake the conscience of France by a monumental crime entire operation designed to quickly amass a fortune. The pitfalls are considerable, but the will of the three seems endless. In a brilliant fusion of high literature and popular literature, Pierre Lemaitre has created a thrilling story progresses the rhythm of a detective story. Masterfully integrating elements from genres as diverse as adventure story, psychological drama, social and political events and the antiwar argument, the story is a waste of humor, anger and compassion that will surely captivate all readers."
  • ""The year is 1918, the war on the Western Front all but over. An ambitious officer, Lieutenant Henry D'Aulnay-Pradelle, sends two soldiers over the top and then surreptitiously shoots them in the back to incite his men to attack the German lines. When another of D'Aulnay-Pradelle's soldiers, Albert Maillard, reaches the bodies and discovers how they died, the lieutenant shoves him into a shell hole to silence him. Albert is rescued by fellow soldier, the artist Edouard Péricourt, who takes a bullet in the face. The war ends and both men recover, but Edouard is permanently disfigured, and fakes his death to prevent his family from seeing him as a cripple. In gratitude for Edouard's rescue, Albert becomes the injured man's companion and caregiver. Finding that the postwar gratitude for the soldiers' service is nothing more than lip-service to an empty idea, the two men scramble to survive, ultimately devising a scam to take money for never-to-be-built war memorials from small towns. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Pradelle has married Edouard's sister Madeline and is running a scam of his own that involves the exhumation of war victims. In this sorrowful, heart-searching novel, the interwoven lives of these three men create a tapestry of the human condition as seen through the lens of war, revealing brutality and compassion, heroism and cowardice, in equal measure."--provided by publisher."@en
  • "Il romanzo comincia nel novembre del 1918 in una trincea dove due soldati assistono al gesto infame compiuto da un ufficiale. Costui, un nobile decaduto, cercherà in tutti i modi di eliminare i testimoni del suo delitto. I due soldati, divenuti amici, cercheranno in qualche modo di sopravvivere ma il prezzo che hanno pagato alla guerra è stato altissimo sia nel corpo (mutilazioni, deturpazioni) che nella mente (droghe, psicosi). Eppure riescono alla fine a trovare un modo (cinico e geniale) per riscattare favolosamente le loro esistenze. (da Il Corriere della Sera)."@it
  • "Beinahe wäre Albert wegen der Machtgier von Leutnant Pradelle ums Leben gekommen. Doch in letzter Sekunde bewahrt Édouard ihn vor dem Tod. Albert fühlt sich seinem Retter verpflichtet und erfüllt ihm seinen größten Wunsch: eine falsche Identität. Pradelle durchschaut den Betrug und deckt sie, um sein hinterhältiges Manöver zu vertuschen. So werden die verfeindeten Männer zu Komplizen. Während Pradelle in den Nachkriegsjahren das große Geld mit der Umbettung von Toten macht, entwickeln Albert und Édouard ein illegales Geschäft mit Kriegsdevotionalien. Pierre Lemaitre entwirft das schillernde Panorama einer Gesellschaft, in der unablässig von Ruhm und Ehre die Rede ist und zugleich Profitgier und krumme Geschäfte vorherrschen."
  • "La couverture mentionne : "Rescapés du premier conflit mondial, détruits par une guerre vaine et barbare, Albert et Edouard comprennent rapidement que le pays ne pourra rien pour eux. Car la France, qui glorifie ses morts, est impuissante à aider les survivants. Abandonnés, condamnés à l'exclusion, les deux amis refusent pourtant de céder à l'amertume et au découragement. Défiant la société, l'Etat et la morale patriotique, ils s'imaginent une arnaque d'envergure nationale, d'une audace inouïe et d'un cynisme absolu.""
  • "Rescapés du chaos de la Grande Guerre, Albert et Edouard comprennent que le pays ne veut plus d'eux. La France glorifie ses morts et oublie les survivants. Condamnés à l'exclusion, et refusant de céder à l'amertume, ils imaginent, ensemble, une arnaque gigantesque qui va mettre le pays tout entier en effervescence...--[Memento]."

genre

http://schema.org/genre

  • "Romans (teksten)"
  • "Novel·la francesa"
  • "Belletristische Darstellung"
  • "French fiction"
  • "Francouzské romány"
  • "Fiction"
  • "Erzählende Literatur: Gegenwartsliteratur ab 1945"
  • "Historical fiction"@en
  • "Verhalend proza"

name

http://schema.org/name

  • "Wir sehen uns dort oben Roman"
  • "Do svidanii︠a︡ tam, naverkhu : roman"
  • "Au revoir là-haut"
  • "Nos vemos allá arriba"
  • "Nos vemos allá arriba"@es
  • "Do zobaczenia w zaświatach"
  • "Do zobaczenia w zaświatach"@pl
  • "До свидания там, наверху : роман"
  • "Wir sehen uns dort oben"
  • "Wir sehen uns dort oben : Roman"
  • "Tot ziens daarboven"
  • "Ci rivediamo lassù"@it
  • "Vi ses deroppe"@da
  • "Na shledanou tam nahoře"
  • "Au revoir là-haut : roman"
  • "Ci rivediamo lassù : romanzo"@it
  • "Ci rivediamo lassù : romanzo"
  • "The great swindle"@en

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