title: The Art of Survival: France and the Great War Picaresque
author: Libby Murphy
description: <DIV>&ldquo;Libby Murphy&rsquo;s sensitive and beautifully written study of the picaresque ethos in World War I French literature and culture offers a rich and original analysis of the unprecedented destructiveness of the Great War and artistic efforts to come to terms with it.&rdquo;&mdash; Richard J. Golsan, Texas A&amp;M University</DIV> (Richard J. Golsan)<br /><br /><DIV>&ldquo;Libby Murphy sees the picaresque as a road map, helping soldiers both to stay alive and to avoid going mad during the war.&#160; Masters of evasion, artists of ingenuity &ndash; these are the anti-heroes whose voices are at the core of this vivid and intelligent book.&rdquo;&mdash;Jay Winter, Yale University<BR /></DIV> (Jay Winter)<br /><br /><DIV>&ldquo;Both original and ingenious, <I>The Art of Survival </I>is a series of fresh readings of trench literature and classics<I>. </I>Particularly inventive is Murphy&rsquo;s analysis of Charlie Chaplin as a <I>picaro </I>who enjoyed enormous popularity among French soldiers. This wonderful volume deserves a wide audience among literary critics and historians of the twentieth century.&rdquo;&mdash;Mary Louise Roberts, University of Wisconsin, Madison<BR /></DIV> (Mary Louise Roberts)<br /><br /><DIV>&ldquo;By bringing the Picaresque narrative--through words and pictures--to the Great War, Murphy very accurately reminds us that tragedy and despair are never far from irony and laughter, as she follows Chaplin, Bofa, Rabier, Poulbot, Chaine, etc. A very original and fine book.&rdquo;&mdash;Annette Becker, the University of Paris X-Nanterre<BR /></DIV> (Annette Becker)<br /><br /><DIV>&ldquo;A brilliant cultural history that shows why ordinary soldiers, faced with the carnage of the Great War, instinctively revived the tradition of the <I>picaresque</I> &ndash; the ordinary man&rsquo;s journey through adversity &ndash; and why this marked French culture in particular.&rdquo;&mdash;John Horne, Trinity College Dublin</DIV> (John Horne)<br /><br /><DIV>&ldquo;Brilliant&rdquo;&mdash;C. B. Kerr, <I>Choice</I></DIV> (C. B. Kerr <i>Choice</i>)
zlib_text: > >  
  >
  
  > >  
  >
  
  >  
  >
  
  > To John,
  
    
  
  > Beyond words,  
  >  beyond love,  
  >  beyond anything….  
  >  
  >  d.s.
  
  > >  
  >
  
    
  
    
  
  Strong people cannot be defeated….
  
  ![](Images/image00245.jpeg)he house at 2129 Wyoming Avenue, NW, stood in all
  its substantial splendor, its gray stone facade handsomely carved and richly
  ornate, embellished with a large gold crest and adorned with the French flag,
  billowing softly in a breeze that had come up just that afternoon. It was
  perhaps the last breeze Washington, D.C., would feel for several months as the
  summer got under way. It was already June. June of 1939. And the last five
  years had gone all too quickly for Armand de Villiers, Ambassador of France.
  
  He sat in his office, overlooking the elegant garden, absentmindedly staring
  at the fountain for a moment, and then dragged his attention back to the
  mountain of papers on his desk. Despite the rich scent of lilac in the air,
  there was work to do, too much of it. Especially now. He already knew 