Will O' The Wisp Response- Juan Turcios

Will O’ The Wisp by Pierre Drieu la Rochelle presents the reader with the last couple of days of a man’s life. The man is Alain a drug user who is in rehabilitation and has the intention of committing suicide. I view the novel as a stylized literary version of a real event. The reader instead of being exposed to Alain’s inner thoughts in solitude is taken on one last “night on the town” with Alain in Paris. Instead of attempting to understand the thoughts and memories that must be racing through Alain’s mind, the reader is taken on a literal journey making a number of stops in places which are, or rather were of importance to Alain.

The majority of people are not aware of what truly goes through your mind before that moment of death. Most people assume some sort of flashback consisting of the most important moments of your life occurs. Rochelle does not use flashbacks in the novel, however the reader is well aware of Alain’s past life. The trip through Paris mirrors a trip through his past. One stop after another brings to the forefront old friends and old memories. I believe this is an attempt to demonstrate the frantic pace at which someone’s mind must be racing, in the moment before death. Going from one place to the next, shuffling in between old memories of friends and relationships.

Another aspect of the novel which captured my attention was that even when Alain was surrounded by groups of people on his final night out, he still appeared to be alone. Alain was a stranger to his former friends, and did not belong to any place or to any group. He did not belong with reformed friends such as Duborg, addicts such as Praline, or wealthier people like the group at the Lavaux household, even though he coveted money. Alain kept on continuously finding himself alone in a crowd, which a majority of the time is worse than being alone in solitude. Again Rochelle tries to show the level of loneliness that perhaps his friend Jacques Rigaust was undergoing at the time of his death which may have drove him towards suicide. The feeling of loneliness that resides within Alain is magnified by placing him in the company of a number of lively people, yet his demeanor remains that of an extremely solitary man.

Farewell to Gonzague is another interesting part of the story, although it is separated from the rest of the novel. Many of the references in this short do seem to correspond to events in Will O’ The Wisp, such as the mentions of his vices and telegrams from New York. However, this story takes on a different voice, it is the voice of what appears to be a confused, somewhat proud and angry mourner. The person is mourning the suicide of a friend who could possibly be Alain. Yet, the mourner never mentions the name of the deceased in the story, and we are unsure of who Gonzague could be. It is a rather harsh look back on a person’s life, not filled with the fondness of memory often associated with remembrances of the recently departed. Perhaps it was Rochelle’s manner of releasing anger, coming to terms and even being able to justify Jacques Rigaut suicide. Farewell to Gonzague feels authentic, the true emotions of a suicide from the perspective of the one left to mourn. The letter Consist of a combination between a few words of understanding mixed together with words of anger, to express the true sentiment of the one who is left alive. It appears to take the form of a letter which is directly addressed to someone who is deceased. Perhaps, a friend who is writing to Alain after his suicide, may mirror the emotions of a letter that could have been written by Rochelle to Jacques Rigaut.

Rochelle does successfully create a stylized image of the real world and of a real event. He does not make the event, which is suicide, as dark, violent and depressing as it may truly be when experienced or imagined. Yet, he maintains the overall essence of a man who has last all of his hope and faith in humankind throughout the novel.