C'est le 16 Juillet je scrute le Journal du Ciel. Je note le nom de ce jour, ce matin il vit encore. Dans quelques jours, une semaine, au plus tard, il ne sera plus, j'aurai oublié son nom, je ne saurai plus son âge. It was prudent to inquire in the morning of 16 July, at 5:30 a.m., this time another étoile, seule, nue, pure, un infime trou de lumière dans les ténèbres. Scintille comme le clin d'œil de l'actualité, un pétillement d'En-Haut. My imagination can bring the Ukraine back to the West. Je ne l'exerce pas. L'étoile et my nous nous parlons. Je suis dans l'état de la disciple d'un Virgile du tout premier siècle des apocalypses, qui reçoit une lettre celeste.
This is the appeal of Virgile. Rien ne nous separate. Jadis il m'arrivait de parler avec la lune. Amie et témoin, Virgile suit with fuites, with courses, with apartments. Je pense à Virgile comme Baudelaire pense à Andromaque. Pas de quoi s'étonner de ces accompagnements. Baudelaire and my family and my family, our sons come from Tombeau, the sous-pensées who communicate and communicate so that the earth is comme au ciel. Je n'invente rien. Virgil n'a rien inventé, il était là when the premier incendie de Troie a éclaté. On n'invente pas l'Incendie. Contrairement aux féeries de l'Apocalypse, the Grand Incendie is an Apocalypse without hallucination, a phenomenon that arrives as impossible totalement concrete, totalement imprevisible cependant on reconnaît qu'on y avait toujours pensé mais comme impossible justement, vague vaporeuse silhouette de catastrophe éphémère, l'ombre d'une seconde,
and voilà that materializes in real and fléau dont seuls the Bible et l'Aeneid avaient jusqu'ici fait mention concrètement. Cela begins with a certain number of symptoms of the senses, of the symptoms, and a dérangement of the nez qui ne reconnaît pas a odeur nouvelle, a creté dense, and dessèchement vite étouffant des muqueuses de la Gorge, des Narines, on boit un peu d'eau en vain, le nez n'a rien à dire, il est comme une bête craintive d'un danger étranger. Ce qui surprend c'est que this odeur (ce n'est pas un parfum) est une hostilité. Elle frappe. C'est elle qui réveille Énée en sursaut alors que le fire dévore déjà la maison d'Ucalegon son voisin, et pas le bruit et les déploiements de toutes les couleurs brûlantes. On sent. Vous sentez?
In the night of the black lights, which are substituted for the night, the alarm messages are circulating in chance in the suie douloureuse. Les SMS is réveillent SOS: « You also, est-ce que vous avez thistte odeur de cramé dehors ? Maintenant elle entre ! » Ici, in the Sud-Ouest, où la mère forêt se tord en vomissant ses hurlements de fumées colossales, on utilise le mot “cramé”. Je n'avais encore jamais senti this odeur crématoire. All the animals are on their feet. « Vous also vous entendez ces galops, ces froissements ces fouissements ces millions de halètements ? » Il n'y a plus de musique. This atrophy of the mots, this language coupée, this is what happens to the child
La plupart des fugitifs des forests n'auront pas atteint le salut. On le saura plus tard
La cache était trop loin. Ils ont pris leur course trop tard. Certain things are parvenus en sûreté. Surtout les sauteurs and bondisseurs de sexe masculin
Je pense aux animals. My children! Les chats me suivent partout. Ils ont la confiance within de tout doute. The confiance of Oran when the great people met me and soothed me. I also have conversations with chats Hélène Cixous, Incendire: qu'est-ce qu'on emporte ? (Gallimard, 2023)
Le monde est attaqué.
It is July 16th. I am perusing the celestial journal. I note the name of this day; this morning it is still alive. In a few days, in a week at the latest, it will be gone; I will have forgotten its name, I will no longer know its age. With deliberate haste, I write it down in the morning freshness of July 16th; it is 5:30 a.m., I see an Star, alone, naked, pure, a tiny opening of light in the darkness. It twinkles like the blink of the day's news, a twinkle from the heavens above. Only my imagination can pretend to hear Ukraine dying in the west. I don't use it. The star and I are conversing. I am in the state of a student of Virgil, from the very first century of the Apocalypses, receiving a heavenly letter.
This celestial body is obviously named Virgil. Nothing separates us. I used to sometimes talk to Lady Luna. As a friend and witness, Virgil follows my escapes, my paths, my wanderings. I think of Virgil as Baudelaire thinks of Andromache. These companions are not surprising. Baudelaire and my family and I are neighbors in the grave; there are subconscious thoughts that communicate with one another by spreading underground as they do in the sky. I invent nothing. Virgil invented nothing; he was there when the first fire broke out in Troy. One does not invent the Great Fire. Unlike the myths of the Apocalypse, the Great Fire is an apocalypse without delusions, an event that is impossible and yet occurs, totally concrete, totally unpredictable, although one must recognize that one had always thought of it, but precisely as an impossible event, vaguely shimmering outlines of a transient catastrophe, shadows of a second.
And now a plague is actually manifesting itself, which until now only the Bible and the Aeneid as specifically mentioned. It begins with a series of sensory disturbances, symptoms: a disruption of the nose, which cannot recognize a new smell; a dense, sharp sensation; a rapidly suffocating dryness of the mucous membranes in the throat and nostrils; one drinks a little water in vain, the nose is powerless, it is like an animal afraid of an unfamiliar danger. What is surprising is that this smell (it is not a fragrance) is an attack. It strikes suddenly. It is this smell that startles Aineías when the fire is already engulfing his neighbor Oukalégôn's house, and neither the noise nor the dazzling, burning colors. One can smell it. Can you smell it?
In the night of black ash that replaces the starry night, alarm messages circulate, faltering, through the agonizing soot. The text messages startle like SOS messages: "Do you also smell that burning outside? It's getting in now!" Here in the southwest, where Mother Forest writhes as she spews forth her colossal howl of smoke, the word "charred" is used to describe the forest floor. burnt, used. I had never smelled such a crematorium odor before. All the animals fled. "Do you also hear this galloping, this rustling, this rooting, this panting of a millionfold?" There is no more music. This desolation of words, this disconnected language, it drives my fear mad.
Most of the forest refugees will not have reached rescue. We will find out more later.
The refuge was too far away. They had started running too late. Few made it to safety. Especially the males, those capable of jumping and running.
I think of the animals. My children! The cats follow me everywhere. They have a trust that has remained untouched by any doubt. My trust from Oran, when grown-ups still smiled at me. I smile at the cats too.
The world is under attack. 1
Reference / Citation suggestionNonnenmacher, Kai. "Virgil and the Scent of the Great Fire." Rentrée littéraire: contemporary French literature. 2023. Accessed on May 9, 2026 at 16:17. https://rentree.de/2023/11/01/vergil-und-der-geruch-des-grossen-brandes/.This article is written in German and can be found at https://rentree.de. Automatic translations into English and French are available. English, French.
Notes
- “World War II, the pandemic, the heat wave, the fires, the mega-forest fires… all states of siege that shake the world, objects, landscapes, and people to their core. A tremendous breath transcends the centuries,” I said, “a rainbow of ash connects Dresden 1942 and Arcachon 2022, Oran 1942 and Spain 1492. At the center of Incendire The Great Fire of La Teste-de-Buch in July 2022, the forest fires in the Gironde, in the midst of which Hélène Cixous was trapped, stands as a reminder. The dilemma that arises in Arcachon—to go? To stay?—revives the Dresden Dilemma of 1942, the dilemma that grips the Jonas family in Osnabrück, and Aeneas, when Troy is nothing but prey to the flames.” (Translated from the review by Véronique Bergen, “Hélène Cixous: Le feu d'Atalante d'HC (Incendire)“, Diacriticism, October 17, 2023.>>>