THE LAST PROFESSION

A plotless, almost motionless novel of some French soldiers in the vicinity of Sedan in the spring of 1940, this portrays- but with little attraction- the actuality of soldiering. Told by Bernard, in the first person, this patterns the rounds of eating, drinking, sleeping, talking, marching, fighting, getting wounded- and eventually dying. Here is war as it brings out the baser qualities in man, and in the end there is death. In the prevailing pessimism of French literature, there is a hopelessness here which is perhaps more authentic than likely to secure an audience.