Abstract: The aim is to show how the semi-fictional character of Uncle Charles expresses different ages of life, both in his own life, between his youth in the Parisian artistic milieu and his retreat in the wine-growing area of the Midi, and the life of his nephew, whom he accompanies as a figure both tutelary and ironic, from childhood to manhood. More than a realistic character, he thus appears as a figure of Time and a double of the author.
