Henri Barbusse : faire du Feu un best-seller

This article focuses on how the success of Henri Barbusse’s Le Feu between 1916 and 1918 was created. It reveals the importance of the promotional campaigns organized by its publishers, who developed images of it that were ambivalent, both generically (novel / testimony) and ideologically (support for the sacred union / pacifism). He also shows that Barbusse ended up adopting the pacifist and testimonial readings of his book, which he had initially rejected, thus contributing to its continuing success.