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 able to write. Education was mandatory. They wrote letters, with such calligraphy that is no longer found today. It was very beautiful literature, a form embodied by the common man. It wasn’t the nobles who were sent to fight. 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, immediately, I found myself on friendly ground, as if it was my country, in this language of Leon. I felt drawn to it, because it is a text that talks about war, but it also talks about nature, birds. And he’s 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 speak with the dead.
Listen above to the full interview in the special episode podcast, “En Avant, Belges”.
