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Les Copains
« Approche-toi. Tire un peu sur les manches, et sur le col. Ça va. Je te fais officier de la Légion d'honneur. Ne me remercie pas ! Tout le monde en ferait autant à ma place... Comme tu es assez grand, assez maigre, et que tu as le nez rouge, que ton faciès présente quelque chose à la fois de bilieux et d'alcoolique, tu seras mon attaché militaire. Quel grade veux-tu ? Colonel ? Tu es un peu jeune ! Commandant ! Je t'appellerai "Commandant !" Tu m'appelleras : "Monsieur le Ministre !" Entendu ? Rompez !... »
256 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1913
4 people are currently reading
58 people want to read
About the author
Jules Romains
458 books35 followersJules Romains, born Louis Henri Jean Farigoule (August 26, 1885 - August 14, 1972), was a French poet and writer and the founder of the Unanimism literary movement. His works include the play Knock ou le Triomphe de la médecine, and a cycle of works called Les Hommes de bonne volonté (Men of Good Will).
Jules Romain was born in Saint-Julien-Chapteuil in the Haute-Loire but went to Paris to attend first the lycée Condorcet and then the prestigious École normale supérieure. He was close to the Abbaye de Créteil, a utopian group founded in 1906 by Charles Vildrac and René Arcos, which brought together, among others, the writer Georges Duhamel, the painter Albert Gleizes and the musician Albert Doyen. He received his agrégation in philosophy in 1909.
In 1927, he signed a petition (that appeared in the magazine Europe on April 15) against the law on the general organization of the nation in time of war, abrogating all intellectual independence and all freedom of expression. His name on the petition appeared with those of Lucien Descaves, Louis Guilloux, Henry Poulaille, Séverine... and those of the young Raymond Aron and Jean-Paul Sartre from the École normale supérieure.
During World War II he went into exile first to the United States where he spoke on the radio through the Voice of America and then, beginning in 1941, to Mexico where he participated with other French refugees in founding the Institut Français d'Amérique Latine (IFAL).
A writer on many varied topics, Jules Romain was elected to the Académie Française in 1946, occupying chair 12 (among the 40 chairs in that august academy). In 1964, Jules Romains was named citizen of honor of Saint-Avertin. Following his death in Paris in 1972, his place, chair 12, in the Académie Française was taken by Jean d'Ormesson.
Jules Romains is remembered today, among other things, for his concept of Unanimism and his cycle of 27 novels in Les Hommes de bonne volonté (The Men of Good Will), a remarkable literary fresco depicting the odyssey over a quarter century of two friends, the writer Jallez and politician Jerphanion, who provide an example in literature of Unanimism.
Jules Romain was born in Saint-Julien-Chapteuil in the Haute-Loire but went to Paris to attend first the lycée Condorcet and then the prestigious École normale supérieure. He was close to the Abbaye de Créteil, a utopian group founded in 1906 by Charles Vildrac and René Arcos, which brought together, among others, the writer Georges Duhamel, the painter Albert Gleizes and the musician Albert Doyen. He received his agrégation in philosophy in 1909.
In 1927, he signed a petition (that appeared in the magazine Europe on April 15) against the law on the general organization of the nation in time of war, abrogating all intellectual independence and all freedom of expression. His name on the petition appeared with those of Lucien Descaves, Louis Guilloux, Henry Poulaille, Séverine... and those of the young Raymond Aron and Jean-Paul Sartre from the École normale supérieure.
During World War II he went into exile first to the United States where he spoke on the radio through the Voice of America and then, beginning in 1941, to Mexico where he participated with other French refugees in founding the Institut Français d'Amérique Latine (IFAL).
A writer on many varied topics, Jules Romain was elected to the Académie Française in 1946, occupying chair 12 (among the 40 chairs in that august academy). In 1964, Jules Romains was named citizen of honor of Saint-Avertin. Following his death in Paris in 1972, his place, chair 12, in the Académie Française was taken by Jean d'Ormesson.
Jules Romains is remembered today, among other things, for his concept of Unanimism and his cycle of 27 novels in Les Hommes de bonne volonté (The Men of Good Will), a remarkable literary fresco depicting the odyssey over a quarter century of two friends, the writer Jallez and politician Jerphanion, who provide an example in literature of Unanimism.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
September 27, 2014
In “Post-modernist fiction” Brian McHale suggests the dominant mode of questioning is epistemological in modernist fiction, and ontological in post-modernist fiction. Jules Romain’s book “Les Copains” fits into what I would call a genre, the hoax, which I associate in particular with Umberto Ecco (Baudolino, Foucault’s Pendulum) and Borges (Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius). Although it includes none of the reversions between fact and fiction which those authors are so fond of, I wonder if there is not within the avant-garde tradition of performative writing a category to be explored in relation to post-modernism. We can remember in that regard the elaborate (if cruel) hoax produced by Jules Romain around Jean-Pierre Brisset, a “fou littéraire” whom he celebrated as the “prince of thinkers,” opening the way with his prank to a tradition very much alive in dadaism (Arthur Cravan), surrealism (the Barres trial) and pataphysics (the Tarnac nine?) ;
“Les copains” is not a hoax stricto sensu, but the narration of one, or of a series of them. We follow seven students in their affectionate goliardry, born out of a boozy night in a Parisian tavern: in his inebriated wanderings in the building, one of them, Bénin, came across a map of France and its departments. Upon returning to his table in view of continuing his libations, he reveals his experience, and starts inveighing against two small, evil and beady eyes that were staring at him from the center of the map: the rural towns of Issoire and Ambert. Moved maybe by his oratory, everyone rally in the face of the enemy, and decide to visit a savoury vengeance on the Puy de Dome.
Follows a number of eccentric and sometimes incoherent adventures, which eventually lead our psychogeographers in the making to a reunion behind the enemy lines, on the eve of their acts of terror. I will leave for the reader the pleasure to discover their unruly sense of humour, which the french would call “potache,” saying only it involves a lot of impersonation and ridiculing of state and bourgeois institutions, without much of a political project behind it.
Romains is remembered, among other feats, for his creation of “unanimism” along with Ford Maddox Ford, and it is striking in that particular novel: there is scant internal focus on the character, and most of the savoury psychological observations are actually concerned with friendship, group dynamics, with the shared mindset of a community.
For example: we follow the roadtrip of two students in the French country-side, riding side by side their bycicles on an empty road. Within the tight-knit pack of their friends, arise particular affinities, and the friendship of Bénin and Broudier is given metaphysical significance:
“Bénin, when on his own and immobile, compare himself to a kind of stake, of insignificant thickness, jabbed at the center of the space. The world reigns around him with so much continuity and importance, that Bénin is not sure to occupy his place at all.
Bénin alone, in movement, never cease to encounter the world. It’s a perpetual debate.
Bénin and Broudier in movement outline and possess an undisputed space. And they can, when it pleases them, consider the world as a dingy suburb.” (Chapter 3)
Friendship, a bit like national belonging in some readings, becomes a bulwark in the face of existential fear, and maybe even in the face of the modern experience of dissolution:
“No one knows what is friendship. People have only talked hogwash about this. When on my own, I never reach any certitude like I have today. I fear death. All my courage against the world only results in a challenge. But for the time being I am in peace. The two of us, as we are now, on bicycle, on this road, under this sun, with this soul, can justify it all, can console me of anything. Were it all there is in my life, I would not deem it aimless, nor even perishable.” (Ch 3)
You would be mistaken to imagine from those two quotes the book is a heavy reading: far from it! Those kinds of reflections are actually very sparsely sprinkled onto a fast moving plot, which might not be the most ambitious but is certainly both entertaining and at time extremely funny. I read the book in maybe three sittings, and I think it is a worthy investment of time for anyone interested in that period, inasmuch as it reflects a quirky but interesting aspect of literary culture (hoaxes) and that it introduces the concepts of an important movement (unanimism).
“Les copains” is not a hoax stricto sensu, but the narration of one, or of a series of them. We follow seven students in their affectionate goliardry, born out of a boozy night in a Parisian tavern: in his inebriated wanderings in the building, one of them, Bénin, came across a map of France and its departments. Upon returning to his table in view of continuing his libations, he reveals his experience, and starts inveighing against two small, evil and beady eyes that were staring at him from the center of the map: the rural towns of Issoire and Ambert. Moved maybe by his oratory, everyone rally in the face of the enemy, and decide to visit a savoury vengeance on the Puy de Dome.
Follows a number of eccentric and sometimes incoherent adventures, which eventually lead our psychogeographers in the making to a reunion behind the enemy lines, on the eve of their acts of terror. I will leave for the reader the pleasure to discover their unruly sense of humour, which the french would call “potache,” saying only it involves a lot of impersonation and ridiculing of state and bourgeois institutions, without much of a political project behind it.
Romains is remembered, among other feats, for his creation of “unanimism” along with Ford Maddox Ford, and it is striking in that particular novel: there is scant internal focus on the character, and most of the savoury psychological observations are actually concerned with friendship, group dynamics, with the shared mindset of a community.
For example: we follow the roadtrip of two students in the French country-side, riding side by side their bycicles on an empty road. Within the tight-knit pack of their friends, arise particular affinities, and the friendship of Bénin and Broudier is given metaphysical significance:
“Bénin, when on his own and immobile, compare himself to a kind of stake, of insignificant thickness, jabbed at the center of the space. The world reigns around him with so much continuity and importance, that Bénin is not sure to occupy his place at all.
Bénin alone, in movement, never cease to encounter the world. It’s a perpetual debate.
Bénin and Broudier in movement outline and possess an undisputed space. And they can, when it pleases them, consider the world as a dingy suburb.” (Chapter 3)
Friendship, a bit like national belonging in some readings, becomes a bulwark in the face of existential fear, and maybe even in the face of the modern experience of dissolution:
“No one knows what is friendship. People have only talked hogwash about this. When on my own, I never reach any certitude like I have today. I fear death. All my courage against the world only results in a challenge. But for the time being I am in peace. The two of us, as we are now, on bicycle, on this road, under this sun, with this soul, can justify it all, can console me of anything. Were it all there is in my life, I would not deem it aimless, nor even perishable.” (Ch 3)
You would be mistaken to imagine from those two quotes the book is a heavy reading: far from it! Those kinds of reflections are actually very sparsely sprinkled onto a fast moving plot, which might not be the most ambitious but is certainly both entertaining and at time extremely funny. I read the book in maybe three sittings, and I think it is a worthy investment of time for anyone interested in that period, inasmuch as it reflects a quirky but interesting aspect of literary culture (hoaxes) and that it introduces the concepts of an important movement (unanimism).
July 30, 2025
Le bon Puy-de-Dôme rural et crazy
August 14, 2024
J’avoue que le discours de trois pages sur le ‘devoir’ de la femme en tant qu’épouse m’a un peu refroidie, mais c’était très drôle. Des copains alcolos qui ont décidé d’embêter le monde et montent un plan du tonnerre
October 28, 2018
Bu coşku dolu yarı-fantastik romanda, yedi aylak gencin, bir uyurgezerin kehanetine uygun olarak, iki taşra şehrinde oynadıkları oyunlarla kaos yaratmalarına şahit oluyoruz. Yedi kişi, hep birlikte hareket ediyor, birlikte macera üretiyorlar ve bazen, halk ozanları gibi birbirlerine doğaçlama şiirlerle hitap ediyorlar. (ve tabii, sık sık sarhoş oluyorlar.) Eğlenceli, hınzır ve muzur ayrıntıları olmakla birlikte, Kafadarlar’ı mizah romanı saymıyorum, çünkü içinde mizahtan çok daha fazlası var. Romains, “ünanimizm” felsefesine uygun olarak, bireyciliği aşan kolektif deneyimin iyileştirici yönünü göstermeye çalışıyor; kafadarların bir aradayken her tür kaygının ötesinde yaşamı onaylayıcı bir güce ulaştıklarını vurguluyor. Bu gösterişsiz, basit ve yine de ilginç roman hakkındaki tek olumsuz fikrim, çabuk bitmiş olması.
February 2, 2021
Drôle de lecture. S’il m’a fallu du temps pour me mettre dedans, l’absurde loufoque et comique de Les copains célèbre la plume de Jules Romains. Histoire d’amitié au dessus de toutes morales et règles noyé dans un art de vivre plus que joviale.
« — Comme ce caniche est intelligent! Il ne lui manque que la parole » Les copains, Jules Romains
« — Comme ce caniche est intelligent! Il ne lui manque que la parole » Les copains, Jules Romains
May 27, 2018
Mon père me l'a confidencié comme étant un de ses romans préférés. Je l'ai lu avec complicité et avec malice. D'un excellent français, et plein d'esprit gaulois!
May 21, 2021
Drolatique. Et qu’elle énergie dans les coups de pédales, l’imagination pour les tours pendables dans les grandes largeurs et l’amitié !
November 19, 2025
Ces copains sont coquins et hilarants. L'oratoire du Pere Lathuile est sublime.
September 8, 2020
Petit livre sur les aventures d’amis ivrognes. Quelques jolies choses, dans l’ensemble a mal vieilli
August 20, 2021
"Au plus obscur de la foule amorphe, Bénin, Broudier, Huchon, Omer, comme un calcul dans un rognon.
Autour de la statue, en rangs concentriques où la musique militaire faisait comme une nodosité, les notables, vêtus de leur costume d’enterrement, les fesses épatées sur des chaises.
— Les cabinets sont au bout du champ de pommes de terre qui est après le jardin à gauche. Le jardin est tout de suite derrière la cour. Vous trouverez facilement… Maintenant vous avez un vase sous le premier lit à droite en venant de la porte… Je vous recommande de ne le remplir qu’à moitié rapport à une fente qu’il a dans le haut.
Tout un petit village se blottissait ainsi dans l’aisselle de la terre. Le plus tendre silence unissait les maisons ; et pas une lueur qui ne fût celle de la lune ou des étoiles ; pas un reflet qui ne retournât au ciel. Pourtant les maisons tiédissaient l’air comme des moutons blancs couchés dans un pacage.
Autour de la statue, en rangs concentriques où la musique militaire faisait comme une nodosité, les notables, vêtus de leur costume d’enterrement, les fesses épatées sur des chaises.
— Les cabinets sont au bout du champ de pommes de terre qui est après le jardin à gauche. Le jardin est tout de suite derrière la cour. Vous trouverez facilement… Maintenant vous avez un vase sous le premier lit à droite en venant de la porte… Je vous recommande de ne le remplir qu’à moitié rapport à une fente qu’il a dans le haut.
Tout un petit village se blottissait ainsi dans l’aisselle de la terre. Le plus tendre silence unissait les maisons ; et pas une lueur qui ne fût celle de la lune ou des étoiles ; pas un reflet qui ne retournât au ciel. Pourtant les maisons tiédissaient l’air comme des moutons blancs couchés dans un pacage.
September 29, 2019
Bom dia.
Tahle knížka je o kumpánech, což je cizí termín pro vzácné uskupení francouzských mužů, kteří spolu nemají sex, jen tak jezdí po vesnici na kolech a nekradou bagety. Tahle skupinka je navíc dost šibalská a když se ze začátku nalejou v hospodě, napadne je, že zničí dvě městečka, protože prostě proto. Zcela tomu rozumím. Já bych klidně hned zničil Prostějov a Rusko. A tak se postupně převlečou za sochu, nebo spustí falešné vojenské školení, což mi dost připomínalo slavné filmy s Les Bažantos. Kniha je dost taškařice, takže doporučuji nosit v tašce. Já ji tam nosil a dost jí to svědčilo, takže 7/10 a doufám, že to všem dává smysl.
Tahle knížka je o kumpánech, což je cizí termín pro vzácné uskupení francouzských mužů, kteří spolu nemají sex, jen tak jezdí po vesnici na kolech a nekradou bagety. Tahle skupinka je navíc dost šibalská a když se ze začátku nalejou v hospodě, napadne je, že zničí dvě městečka, protože prostě proto. Zcela tomu rozumím. Já bych klidně hned zničil Prostějov a Rusko. A tak se postupně převlečou za sochu, nebo spustí falešné vojenské školení, což mi dost připomínalo slavné filmy s Les Bažantos. Kniha je dost taškařice, takže doporučuji nosit v tašce. Já ji tam nosil a dost jí to svědčilo, takže 7/10 a doufám, že to všem dává smysl.
November 18, 2025
Ciudată până la limita simpaticului. Sau poate invers.
Șapte prieteni (număr cu semnificații în orice poveste din orice literatură) se plictisesc de moarte și canalizează forțele, energia și inteligența (multă-puțină, după posibilități) în construirea unei farse.
Obiectul atenției lor: un biet orășel. Iar ce-i mai rău de abia urmează...
Șapte prieteni (număr cu semnificații în orice poveste din orice literatură) se plictisesc de moarte și canalizează forțele, energia și inteligența (multă-puțină, după posibilități) în construirea unei farse.
Obiectul atenției lor: un biet orășel. Iar ce-i mai rău de abia urmează...
August 17, 2007
This was translated as "The boys in the back room", and is Jules Romains' tale of drunkards embarking on a senseless mission. It's an unforgettable hymn to friendship that you will want to re-read every year.
April 2, 2014
Une histoire d'amitié, de camaraderie et de canulars multiples intelligents et désuets à la fois.
Une belle histoire un peu légère, un peu folâtre, qui ouvre l'oeuvre de Romains et expose sa théorie de l'unanimisme.
Publié en 1913 ; on y mesure le désenchantement du monde en un siècle...
Une belle histoire un peu légère, un peu folâtre, qui ouvre l'oeuvre de Romains et expose sa théorie de l'unanimisme.
Publié en 1913 ; on y mesure le désenchantement du monde en un siècle...
August 31, 2011
A fun and zany book... the adventures of a group of practical jokers as well as a moral on the value of camaraderie.
July 23, 2013
Boring. Confusing. Uninteresting. Worthless.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews