| Genre: | Novel |
| Pages: | 198 |
| Isbn: | 978-0-7867-1161-1 |
| Author: | Philippe Besson |
| Pub Date: | 2001 |
| Country: | France |
| Published: | 2001 |
| Publisher: | Éditions Julliard |
| Translator: | Frank Wynne |
| English Pub Date: | 2003 |
| Publisher2: | Carroll & Graf |
| Language: | French |
| In the Absence of Men | |
| Italic Title: | En l'absence des hommes |
| Award: | Prix Emmanuel-Roblès |
In the Absence of Men is a novel by Philippe Besson published originally in French by Éditions Julliard in 2001. Besson's first novel, it won the prix Emmanuel-Roblès.
The first novel by Besson, he had to send the manuscript to seven or eight publishers eventually settling on the publisher Julliard.[1] An English translation was published in 2003.
The novel is divided into two parts. In part one, during the summer of 1916, a French teenager named Vincent de l'Etoile experiences an intense love with a soldier named Arthur Vales who is on leave from the French front of World War I. During this time of extreme tension, the romance becomes a respite for both. Vincent also befriends a well-known but unnamed French author. The second part of the novel is a series of letters between Vincent and Arthur and Vincent and the unnamed author.
In 2001 the French edition of the novel won the Prix Emmanuel-Roblès and the first winner of Prix premier Roman de Culture et bibliothèques pour tous de la Sarthe.[2] [3] The English translation received reviews from several publications including Kirkus Reviews, and the Washington Post.[4] [5]