ABSTRACT
Does the modern French novel have a “hidden face”? The Belgian writer Pierre Mertens raises this question in his preface to Paul Gadenne’s posthumously published novel Les Hauts-Quartiers (1973), evoking the names of his contemporaries Georges Limbour (1900–1970), René Daumal (1908–1944), Joë Bousquet (1897–1950), Jean Reverzy (1914–1959), Raymond Guérin (1905–1955), Henri Calet (1904–1956), Louis Guilloux (1899–1980), Alexandre Vialatte (1901–1971), and Gadenne (1907–1956).
