
Mathieu Delannes is a quietly diligent student whose calm demeanor masks a deep yearning for personal freedom. In the halls of his college, his thoughtful exchanges with the seasoned psychologist Jauffrey hint at a subtle tension between gratitude and unease, as Mathieu grapples with the expectations of mentorship while fiercely guarding his independence. Their conversations, peppered with hesitant politeness and guarded glances, reveal a young mind that values autonomy above all else.
When the summer heat of Normandy presses against the dusty railway compartment, Mathieu’s boredom drives him to abandon a lackluster detective novel and step onto a sun‑lit platform. The arrival of a carriage that whisks him away onto a white road suggests the start of a new journey, one that may test the very principles he holds dear. As the landscape shifts, the reader is left to wonder how his quiet resolve will confront the unknown ahead.
Language
fr
Duration
~3 hours (192K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Original publisher
France: Georges Crès, 1921.
Credits
Laurent Vogel, Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from images made available by the HathiTrust Digital Library.)
Release date
2022-07-13
Rights
Public domain in the USA.
Subjects

1877–1939
A French novelist and poet drawn to adventure, symbolism, and the stranger edges of inner life, he moved in the literary world around Victor Segalen while also chasing very real exploits such as ballooning. His books often blend elegance with unease, turning travel, desire, and the imagination into something vivid and unpredictable.
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