Book cover of Pauvre Bitos ou Le Dîner de Têtes

Book description

“Poor Bitos” is the strongest and most strikingly contemporary of Jean Anouilh’s plays. With freezing precision and extraordinary theatrical skill, Anouilh here exposes the evil at the heart of political extremism, with specific reference to the French people but with implications that are tragically universal. The principal character is one…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Pauvre Bitos ou Le Dîner de Têtes as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Anouilh shapes his play in parallel reference to two of the most traumatic periods in French history: the immediate aftermath of the 1945 Liberation and the end of the Terror with the death of Robespierre. In post-war France, a group of friends hit on a plan to explore what twisted logic shapes the individual who gets caught up in the violence of oppression. They invite a local man, one Bitos, to attend a masked dinner where each of the guests will take on the role of a prominent figure of the Revolution, Bitos himself, who has greatly profited by collaboration…

From Graeme's list on the terror of the French Revolution.

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A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.

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