The author, Louis Aragon (born 3 October 1897), was a key member of the French artistic movements of Dadaism and Surrealism. He was a trainee doctor when in June 1918 he went on active service on the Western Front. He was awarded the Croix de Guerre for his courage on 6 August when as the only doctor with his unit he took great risks to recover the wounded from the battlefield at Couvrelles. So severe was the scene that some days later he came across a grave with his details.
The first part of the novel relates the fears of the small-scale businessmen whose livelihoods are threatened by the planned destruction of the Passage de l’Opera. One of them has put up the following notice:
“Having been robbed for the benefit of a finance company by an expropriation which has ruined the tradesmen of this passage and being consequently unable to re-establish myself elsewhere, I am seeking a buyer for my bar equipment.”
After his signature he appends “War Veteran, 1914-18, Disabled Serviceman” to generate sympathy and honour. The author documents the ordinary features of what will be destroyed.
He concludes the second part, which concerns the Parc des Buttes Chamont, with a beheading, a detachment of the thinking head from its body :
“He tears it off his shoulders, and with unexpected force... hurls fare away from him his head with its pale eyes and clever lips.”
“He who had finally parted company with his thought... stirred from his immobility like an inverted question mark.”
“The whole useless body was invaded by transparency. Gradually the body turned into light.”
Here the author reflects on aspects of destruction that shape Parisian society at the time.
The novel ends with what the author describes as the peasant’s dream in which he resists criticism of thought and expression:
“I do not admit the right of anyone to re-examine my words, to quote them against me. They are no the terms of a peace treaty. Between you and me, it is war... I positively do not admit criticism.”
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