Representing the Maginot Line in formula fiction, 1934–1939: Pierre Nord’s Double Crime Sur La Ligne Maginot

Passmore, Kevin ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3522-8577 2026. Representing the Maginot Line in formula fiction, 1934–1939: Pierre Nord’s Double Crime Sur La Ligne Maginot. Journal of Modern History 98 (2) , pp. 417-444. 10.1086/740882 Item availability restricted.

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Abstract

Through a microhistory of the crime novel Double Crime sur la Ligne Maginot (1936) and its cinematic adaptation (1937), this article contests the view that pre–World War II French mass culture was characterized by a “Maginot mentality”—the view that fortification lulled the French into a false sense of security, hid the reality of war, and blinded them to the Nazi threat. On the contrary, Double Crime promoted the fear that the fortifications could not protect France from an invasion via Belgium or from espionage. To show how, the article brings together the ambiguous conventions of the murder-mystery genre with military history and the social history of the army. It shows that although Nord set out primarily to write a successful crime novel, the nature of the genre allowed unresolved disputes within the army concerning the nature of command and of individual heroism in a democratizing army to shape the narrative and sow doubts about the security of the fortifications. Tensions were further complicated by the requirement of the murder mystery for a cast of characters with something to hide, a role played by officers of regional minority background.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > History, Archaeology and Religion
Publisher:	University of Chicago Press
ISSN:	0022-2801
Funders:	Leverhulme Trust, British Academy
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	21 May 2025
Date of Acceptance:	5 May 2025
Last Modified:	23 Jun 2026 10:30
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/178065

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