Document Type : Original Article

Author

• roohollah roozbeh

Rafsanjan

Abstract

The novel Suite Française bears a remarkable affinity with Savushun, as its author was herself a direct witness to and victim of the war (the Nazi occupation of France). A key parallel between this novel and Savushun lies in their depiction of the daily lives of ordinary people in a small town under foreign military occupation. Like Daneshvar, who chronicled the Allied occupation of Shiraz, Némirovsky portrays the occupation of a French village by German soldiers. In her novel, Némirovsky explores the relationships between French women and the German occupying soldiers, a theme that closely mirrors the moral sensibilities present in Savushun (for instance, the relationship of Zari's family with English officers). Similar to Savushun, Suite Française paints a broad social tableau of the populace's varied responses—from collaboration to resistance—in the face of occupation. Both novels are set against a similar historical backdrop (World War II and the occupation of their respective countries by foreign forces) and both focus on the civilian experience, particularly that of women. The central axis of each narrative is everyday life under the shadow of occupation—the quiet resistance, the moral choices, and the portrayal of national occupation as a kind of sickness. Rather than depicting battlefield scenes, both works expose the creeping, corrosive effects of occupation on normal life.

Keywords

• Suite Française
• Savushun
• colonialism
• occupation
• resistance