6 h 31 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 6 h 31 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What does war look like when the soldier watching it has a poet’s eye?
In Readings for a Shadow, Jean Giraudoux brings you close to the First World War through one soldier’s personal witness. A French writer and diplomat, he serves at the front and suffers wounds in 1914 and 1915. His focus is not a plan of battles, but the texture of soldiers’ daily experience.
These lyrical dispatches explore the war’s first phase, as swift movement gives way to long trench lines across northern France. Giraudoux turns what he observes into images and short, close scenes. The stakes remain personal: how does war feel from inside one person’s days, beyond the broad outlines of official history?
What you’ll discover
- A soldier’s close view Meet the front through personal observation rather than a distant account of battles.
- War through a poet’s eyes Discover how lyrical prose turns soldiers’ daily experience into images and small scenes.
- The early war years Follow a witness to the period when moving armies give way to trench lines.
- A writer in uniform Encounter Giraudoux as a man of letters whose military service shapes his witness.
- Light, quick prose Enjoy a style that prizes clear observation and keeps its attention close to experience.
Who will love it
This book suits readers who love vivid detail, French literature and the voice of a poet at war. It will please anyone curious about 1914 and eager to see soldiers through one tender, humorous eye.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- The war begins as a rehearsal of peace
- The first battle ends among the carrots
- Conquerors meet a country that forgot France
- One Sunday of peace between two wars
- Thann cheers them as they march home
- A day in Lisbon shows how war marks the survivor
- A train circles Paris and meets the refugees
- The march around Paris leads toward a battle
- The Dardanelles are a camp of every nation
- The Marne turns days into five evenings and awakenings
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- Paperback
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- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
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Letture per un’Ombra
by Jean Giraudoux · 1917
A sergeant marches into Alsace in August 1914 and finds a war of telephone numbers, geraniums and carrots.
Medium level2–5 hours to readItaliano
Learn a language with medium classicsSpagnoloFranceseTedescoItalianoGiapponesePortogheseIngleseHow we measure levels
Excellent
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In short
What does a war look like to a sergeant who has not yet seen a German? In August 1914 a regiment of reservists marches into Alsace and finds telephone wires, convent gardens, geraniums and a barber who watches them shave.
Letture per un’Ombra in breve
- Tempo di lettura
- Circa 3 h 55 min3 h 5 min fast, 4 h 40 min slow
- Durata
- 55.600 parole
- Livello nella biblioteca
- Medio longer sentences, everyday words
- Prima pubblicazione
- 1917by Jean Giraudoux
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). Quanto tempo ci vuole per leggere i classici · Aggiornato
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
The war begins as a rehearsal of peace
The book opens in Alsace in mid August 1914. A regiment of reservists sleeps in hay, in a convent and in a school, and spends whole days in reserve. Giraudoux tells it as a diary of small hours, measured by meals and footsteps.
Everything around the men is borrowed from peace. The supply buses still carry the tourist names of Chamonix and Grenoble. Soldiers on the road shout out the Paris telephone numbers of friends and sweethearts. The men feel sure that only the dunces are exposed to death, while the clever seem safe. The author tells us how wrong they are.
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Quale edizione fa per me
- 15-minute summary
- Le idee principali dell’intero libro in circa 14 minuti. Per un primo sguardo o per rinfrescare la memoria.
Dettagli
- First published
- 1917
- Language
- Italiano
- Reading time
- 4 h 15 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cita questa edizione
Giraudoux, Jean. Readings for a Shadow. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/readings-for-a-shadow.
Giraudoux, J. (2026). Readings for a shadow. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/readings-for-a-shadow (Original work published 1917)
Giraudoux, Jean. Readings for a Shadow. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/readings-for-a-shadow.
@book{giraudoux2026readings,
author = {Giraudoux, Jean},
title = {Readings for a Shadow},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/readings-for-a-shadow},
note = {First published 1917}
}
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What is Readings for a Shadow about?
It is a set of five prose pieces by Jean Giraudoux on the First World War, covering the march into Alsace in 1914, the road to the Marne, the Dardanelles in 1915 and a day in Lisbon in 1916.
Who is the shadow in Readings for a Shadow?
The book is dedicated to André du Fresnois, a friend who is missing. The title suggests readings offered to an absent person, and the many fallen friends in the pages become a kind of chorus for him.
Is Readings for a Shadow a true story?
It is based on the author's own service as a sergeant and interpreter in 1914 and later missions. The names and scenes come from his experience, though he shapes them in a lyrical, sometimes comic style. It appeared in 1917.
The author
Jean Giraudoux
1882–1944 · French novelist and playwright
Jean Giraudoux was a French novelist, essayist, playwright and diplomat. He was born in Bellac, France, in 1882 and died in Paris in 1944. He worked in the French diplomatic service. His works include the novel Suzanne et le Pacifique (1921) and the plays Amphitryon 38 (1929) and Ondine (1939).
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