Philippe Boxo contextualises writing in the trenches in an enlightening way: “The First World War is the first time we have a war where soldiers are capable of writing. Education was mandatory. They wrote letters, with such calligraphy that we don’t see anymore today. It was very beautiful literature, a form embodied by the average person. It wasn’t the nobles who were sent to combat. The nobles, they were in the rear”. The forensic doctor wonders why Violaine Lison focused on these specific letters.
Violaine Lison expresses the immense poetic beauty of these writings: “What struck me was the beauty of the language. I am more of a poetry person. So, I immediately felt at home, as if it was my country, in this language of Léonce. I was drawn to it, because it’s a text that talks about war, but it also talks about nature, birds. And he is a farmer’s son, he knows the landscapes like the back of his hand. And then, there is this incredible love story that he tells”.
The two authors share and meet in their similarities and differences, for an unexpected discussion: they both admit, they talk to the dead.
Listen above to the full interview in the special podcast of the show, “En avant, Belges”.
