Les Varais

Jacques Chardonne’s third novel, which led to his being named Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur that same year, 1929. The Second World War would later halt his rise to literary recognition, on account of his wartime collaboration. Chardonne is no Drieu, but his style is just as incisive, and his prose fine and precise. Several of his pre-war novels are for this reason particularly interesting — unlike the man himself, one might say.

This is the first title in the “Pour mon plaisir” collection: Bernard Grasset had four pages of introductory text added as a preface, printed on cream laid paper and inserted at the head of the volume. As the inaugural title of the series alone, Les Varais deserves attention.