Jean Giraudoux, Stefan Zweig, Marc Bloch: between disillusion and lucidity

Stefan Zweig, Jean Giraudoux, and Marc Bloch: three tragic fates to varying degrees, all three faced with the collapse of humanist dreams and the surge of instinct fueled by nationalism. In Zweig and Giraudoux, the fractures of history intersect with highly personal fault lines (exalted and sacrificed childhood, confiscated speech). What unites Bloch and Giraudoux while differentiating them is the necessity and the difficulty of strengthening the French republican conscience.