"Crépuscule" is the story of a village in a remote part of the empire where the catholic priest is murdered one night. The time is somewhere in an imaginary past, in a geography covering a large part of Europe, where different religions live together, and in which the muslim community is a minority. The names of the characters sound Serb or Croatian.
Claudel uses this village as a metaphor of our world today, with all its intolerance, bigotism, violence, including the violation of reason and human dignity. His characters are all too human, vulnerable, impotent against the great forces of evil that keep oppressing the weak, but also vulnerable to the personal character deficiencies of individuals. In its core theme, there is barely any innocence to be found, except among children and the feeble of mind, who are the first victims of this crushing society.
The captain of the police, who is asked to investigate the murder case, is caught between the stupidity of his hierarchy who couldn't care less about the remote village, the anti-muslim sentiment in the population who already identified why anyone would kill a catholic priest, and the rich nobility of the region.
"La mort brutale du Curé lui apparut soudain un événement dérisoire. Car ce qui comptait desormais était ce que certaines forces a l' oeuvre avaient décide d' en faire. II eut le sentiment qu'un rien ferait basculer l' enquête, dont il avait pensé pouvoir se régaler, vers une dimension au sein de laquelle ni la vérité, ni ses déductions, ni l'identité réelle du coupable, ni lui-même n' auraient la moindre importance, et tout en pressentant cela il ne parvenait pas à imaginer la manière dont il pourrait s' opposer au cours impétueux des choses. II se sentit ridiculement petit et sans pouvoir. Alors il serra ses poings maigres, appuya plus encore son front contre la vitre froide, presque a la faire éclater, et ferma les yeux." (p.132)
The powers that be are not too happy with the captain's investigation, because they see more value in following the initial intuitions of the population, as this would be more politically acceptable than following the road of reason and evidence.
« Mais nous disons la même chose, il me semble, monsieur le Rapporteur. Je suis autant que vous désireux de découvrir la vérité sur le meurtre du Cure Pernieg.« La vérité, certes, trancha le Rapporteur, mai laquelle? Une vérité acceptable par la majorité de notre communauté, ou une vérité qui irait contre son sentiment au bénéfice d'une extrême minorité?« Il n'y a pas deux vérités.« Je n' en suis pas si sûr que vous, Capitaine. Car après tout, est vrai ce qu' on décide qui le soit. Pour le bien commun." (p 150)
Even if Claudel's political message is blatantly clear from the start, he manages to keep the suspense until the very end, with some unexpected twists in the plot, and a bunch of memorable characters.
It's a good novel, but readers without knowledge of Claudel, I would still recommend to read "Les Âmes Grises" and "Le Rapport de Brodeck" first.
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