Suite Francaise

Némirovsky was an outsider in French wartime patriarchal society as a Jewish woman lacking official French nationality. The situation of the female characters in Suite is less dire. They do not face the stigma and prosecution of stateless Jewish people, and insofar as they are fostered, married into other families, or the mistresses of powerful men, they are second-class citizens, but citizens nonetheless. This has conflicting consequences in wartime: on the one hand it is understandable that given their second-class status, they cannot unequivocally feel simple patriotism or a wish for a return to normalcy; one the other hand, the equally understandable affinity some younger women have for German soldiers is highly problematic, given that they are French citizens.

In Storm in June, Arlette, Monsieur Corbin’s mistress, is an outsider. Exempt from both the privileges and strictures that characterize official wives, Arlette looks out for herself and flirts to curry favor and pass the time. We hear of her “gadding about […] with those two English pilots” and later, when the Germans occupy France, entertaining soldiers of enemy nationality (38). Arlette uses her charms and ruthlessness to secure a passage out of Paris in Monsieur Corbin’s wife’s car, thereby displacing the Michauds, whom he originally promised to drive.