Le Jeu de patience

Louis Guilloux (1899-1980) was a French novelist renowned for his social realist depictions of working-class struggles in Brittany, drawing from his own background as the son of a socialist shoemaker. His masterpiece Le Sang noir (1935; Bitter Victory) portrays an idealist's disillusionment amid World War I, while other notable works include La Maison du peuple (1927) and Le Pain des rêves (1942), which won the Prix Populiste. He received major accolades such as the Prix Renaudot (1949), Grand Prix National des Lettres (1967), and Grand Prix de Littérature de l’Académie Française (1973).