About the Author

Julien Gracq (1910-2007), born Louis Poirier in Saint-Florent-le-Vieil, was one of the greatest French writers of the twentieth century. His work included essays, criticism, fiction and journalism. He won but refused the Prix Goncourt in 1951 for his novel Le Rivage des Syrtes (The Opposing Shore). This retiring and misunderstood figure said he wrote "to settle a score with expression itself, to give form, stability, precision to things that are vague in the mind."

Reviews

"A slender beautifully written work takes us into the war-torn French countryside in 1917...its theme of anxiety created by a distant media driven war proves an apt metaphor for our time."—East Bay Express