SOURCE: Lawrence, Derek W. “The Ideological Writings of Jean Giono (1937-1946).” French Review 45 (1972): 588-95.

In the following essay, Lawrence examines Giono's antiwar writings during the period before and during World War II.

The political writings of this period are not the result of a sudden impulse on the part of the author conscious of an imminent threat of war in Europe, and should not be separated from the philosophy expounded in Giono's earlier works. Unfortunately, peace-time struggles against the atrocities of war often pass unnoticed by the general public, and unchallenged by government officials until war-clouds begin to cast their menacing shadows; at which point their authors can be charged with being unpatriotic, or indifferent to the fate of future generations! Such was the case with Giono.

From Colline to Que ma joie demeure and Les Vraies Richesses he expounds a philosophy of life in accord with Dionysus...