Le garçon n'a pas de nom et ne parle pas. Être quasi sauvage, il ne connaît du monde que sa mère et leur cabane. En 1908, il se met en chemin et découvre le monde : les habitants d'un hameau, Brabek et Emma, puis la guerre, paroxysme de la folie des hommes. Ce roman esquisse l'itinéraire d'une âme neuve, qui s'éveille à la conscience et vivra des expériences tantôt tragiques, tantôt cocasses.
He does not have a name. He does not speak. The boy is a quasi wild being, born in a barren country of the south of France. Of the world, he knows only his mother and the surroundings of their cabin. We are in 1908 when he sets out - instinctively. Then begins the encounter with men: the inhabitants of a lost hamlet, Brabek the ogre of the Carpathians, philosopher and fair fighter, love how carnal with Emma, luminous music lover, both sister, lover, mother. "It is a time when the boy begins to glimpse of what, alas, could be constituted existence: many ravages and a few raptures. Then war, the appalling carnage, the paroxysm of the folly of men and of what is called civilization--Translation of page 4 of cover by http://www.lecteurs.com/livre/le-garcon/4382707