Chapter Text
Hi! Welcome to this chapter, which brings together the ideas from the previous one and all the possibilities that were created or imagined but not kept for the final version. Including the illustrations.
Let us begin this brief journey with the narrative point of view.
Initially, I had considered using multiple points of view. One with the United Kingdom, but also one with America. With a look back at their disagreements, the tense relationship between them.
I also considered using a narrative through images, always from the United Kingdom's point of view, and which would build up to a crescendo of his madness, image after image. Inspired by several paintings, such as Munch's The Scream with America as the screaming character, in the background a setting reminiscent of his childhood such as a farm or a cotton field, merging with his scream. Another painting that inspired me was Otto Dix's Skat Players, for which I made several sketches and drafts, one of which I include below.
Representing three children of France, as the United Kingdom would imagine them in his madness. (This is one of the least rough/gore illustrations in this category.) The two women are New-France and Guinevere.
Here are the notes I wrote on one of the sketches representing this scene (with some modifications and additions for more coherence):
"His judgment should have taken place, the day he committed his sins, for the sole purpose of having the love of a woman. He allied himself with the worst/detestable rascals of the one he cherished more than anything. Not caring about the pain he would cause her. Cruelly tearing away what was dearest to her in the world. He broke her.
Seated at a table, the three judges await his reaction. The one on the right, Guinevere, held firmly against her neck a Joker card, representing her only son, who became an executioner like his late father. When she looked at the accused, she murmured to him "Why?".
The man did not answer.
The other woman, turned her blind eyes towards the country and asked in turn, "Why?"
He still did not answer.
It was then the turn of the masked man. He declared to the accused:
"Remember your sins and repent! The day your beloved learns of the enormity of your crimes, her love for you will turn to hate!""
Another idea in the United Kingdom's obsession with the one he loves, was to create portraits of France in different styles, from Rococo to Cubism. An important point was that in each of the portraits, France should never look in the direction where the United Kingdom was located.
Example:
The old country wandered through the museum in search of a simple painting, which would go unnoticed in the face of the immensity of the raft of the Medusa. At arm's length, he pushed all these bourgeois who clustered together in front of Géricault's work. Who pushed him back with enthusiasm, taking him with force to the front, he thus accidentally hit a velvet bench, a large woman in pink, and narrowly avoided a slap. On all fours, the United Kingdom finally reached the painting he hoped to see so much. A portrait of his beloved, his sweet France, who posed naked on a bed like an odalisque. He could not tear himself away from the finesse of her curves, and her beautiful gray eyes that looked at an action taking place in the background behind her. He would have liked to tear her away from this painting, to take her in his arms.
One of the odalisque I worked on, the illustration is not finished.
One of the scenes to start the chapter, should have been an illustration of a chair in front of a window with a small title, here it is:
"A van was moving away in the distance, a man watched it from its departure, in complete silence."
Another note on this page:
"He closed his eyes, thinking back to his life. At what moment had everything changed? Was it when he met her, his sweetheart?"
In his memories, he saw France smiling in front of the executioner, seeing her body press against the one who was going to take her life.
This illustration was to either represent France, in the grip of the United Kingdom's passions, or it was to represent New-France (her daughter), a few weeks before her death.
The scene in the church was normally accompanied by a painting of France with her two daughters, Célanie and Russia, the problem being that I can no longer find where I put it, which bothers me a lot, it was a watercolor/gouache painting. I will include it in the chapter as soon as I find it.
For the diary, here are a few paragraphs found on a loose sheet, some pieces or ideas have been applied in the precedent chapter:
"Today, few events were worth noting have occurred. No news from France since her disappearance, dated "...". I regret that she left for the USSR with this man. She never knew how to choose her husbands, after all. I remember that awful bird*, of the Holy Roman Empire. Women found him handsome, like an Apollo supposedly. A man resembling more a beast than a human being. And to think that she was married, to such a being."
"...America seems to have returned from this other world. The one of the dead, from what I've heard. This does not please his replacement. A small insignificant human... He seems to be upset? He will get over it quickly. Not like my dear France, who will never recover from the Revolution. I find it unacceptable that a mass of people decide, by their own will, to cut off the head of their kingdom."
"Another useless meeting at the UN, except to see the exchange of loving looks between Greece and the UN. This relationship will not last. The age difference between these two is too great. Small countries of no importance, tried to speak up. ... A pastry shop opened on ... street near France's apartment. I should stop by."
The asterisk *, regarding the term "bird" used by the United Kingdom against France's former husband, is a reference to the flag of the Holy Roman Empire but also to the United Kingdom's madness, he does not see this man as a man or a country, but as the bird on the flag. The same goes for the USSR, which he represents as a red wolf, for its predatory side.
Sketch of France and the famous red wolf (USSR)
There was a whole delirium about the United Kingdom's imagination and all the excesses that could be found there.
Next illustration:
Representing Célanie and Russia with attributes referring to their parentage. + halos symbolizing being a martyr. As they suffered, the murderous urges of their mother's former suitor. This part was to remain in the imagination of the latter, who began to confuse reality and his unhealthy dreams.
America.
Finally, a board of different sketches.
Present here, Greece and France followed by Célanie and Russia, the cocker, a young Third Reich and his mother Guinevere.
A final illustration, showing two angels who were to be Guinevere and Prussia, the child being the Third Reich, and France kneeling in front of him, happy to see him, a child still full of innocence.
