Les Années courtes

Félicien Marceau’s Belgian years: this autobiographical narrative revisits the writer’s youth, born Louis Carette in 1913 in Brabant, up to his departure for France in 1944. Childhood, religious education, early professional experiences and literary beginnings together form the portrait of a man before he made a name for himself in French letters.

But these memories also touch on a more controversial period: that of the Occupation and his activity at Belgian radio. Sentenced in absentia in 1946 for collaboration, Marceau revisits the accusations made against him and sets out his own version of events. A mea culpa, or a well-rehearsed defense? A year later, he was awarded the Prix Goncourt for Creezy.