Bitter Victory

This novel, published in 1935, is set in the Breton town of Saint-Brieuc in 1917. The central character, François Merlin (nicknamed Cripure), teaches philosophy to schoolboys. The character is based on Georges Palante, one of his own teachers. Cripure's personal descent into despair is set against the backdrop of a highly-demoralising French campaign on the Western Front. The novel was adapted for the stage by Marcel Maréchal in 1977, for television in 2006 and as an opera in 2014.

The author, Louis Guilloux (born 15 January 1899), grew up in Saint-Brieuc. He was educated at the local high school on a bursary. On leaving school in 1916, he began work as an assistant in a boarding school. After the war, he associated with the Paris literary scene and had several works of short fiction published. His first novel, partly based on his upbringing, was published in 1927. In addition to numerous works of fiction and non-fiction, he was also active as a translator of contemporary English literature into French. Since 1983, a literary award in his honour has been presented annually to Breton writers.

The central character, François Merlin, contrives a personal connection with the war. He makes contact with his estranged son (by a maidservant) Amédée:
“The war having come, Cripure reckoned that the slavey’s offspring must be of an age to go and be killed. And he had desired to find the lad... He wrote to the mayor of the little commune where the boy had grown up. Amédee had been mobilised, at the front for a year already. A correspondence had been struck up and it had been arranged that Amédée should come to see his father on his next leave.”
Amédée has a viciously cynical attitude to the war, corresponding with the increasing despondency in the troops and in society that produced mutinies and street protests. When his father is concerned about him being late to report to his unit, he gives a wilting retort:
“Oh, so far as that goes!.... I'm in no hurry, you know, father, to go and get my head shot off.”