La Conspiration

by Paul Nizan

Comme c'est puissant et inflexible, une famille ! C'est tranquille comme un corps, comme un organe qui bouge à peine, qui respire rêveusement jusqu'au moment des périls, mais c'est plein de secrets, de ripostes latentes, d'une fureur et d'une rapidité biologiques, comme une anémone de mer au fond d'un pli de granit...

Genres: Fiction, France, Novels, Classics, Literature, Roman, French Literature

307 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published July 1, 1938

About the author

Paul-Yves Nizan was a philosopher and writer.

He studied in Paris where he befriended fellow student Jean-Paul Sartre at the Lycée Henri IV. He became a member of the French Communist Party, and much of his writing reflects his political beliefs, although he resigned from the party upon hearing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in 1939. He died in the Battle of Dunkirk, fighting against the German army in World War II.

His works include the novels Antoine Bloye (1933), Le Cheval de Troie and La Conspiration (1938) and the essays "Les Chiens de garde" (1932) and "Aden Arabie" (1931), which introduced him to a new audience when republished in 1960 with a foreword by Sartre; in particular, the incipit "I was twenty, I won't let anyone say those are the best years of your life" (J’avais vingt ans. Je ne laisserai personne dire que c’est le plus bel âge de la vie.) became one of the most influential slogans of student protests during May '68.