Les Croix de bois de Roland Dorgelès Une écriture de la rétrospection

In Les Croix de bois, the need to write signifies an old ­­combatant’s examination of his time at the front. Introducing reason into the irrationality of the chaotic life of the trenches explains ­Dorgelès’ retrospective vision, and finds its expression in the choice of an innovative writing mode which makes him the harbinger of a form of literature born of the mud and blood of the trenches.