The Flanders Road by Claude Simon

‘During the German advance through Belgium into France in 1940, Captain de Reixach is shot dead by a sniper. Three witnesses - a distant relative, an orderly and a jockey who had an affair with his wife - remember him and help the reader piece together the realities behind the man and his death. A ground-breaking work, for which Claude Simon devised a prose technique mimicking the mind's thought processes. "The Flanders Road" is not only a masterpiece of stylistic innovation, but also a haunting portrayal - based on a real-life incident - of the chaos and savagery of war.’

London: Jonathan Cape, 1962. First English edition. Translated from the French by Richard Howard. 231pp. Publishers dark green cloth with gilt titles to spine, light wear to jacket which remains bright, edges rubbed, some marks to top of red text block, internally clean. A near-fine example Simon’s classic experimental French novel.