1937 Scenes de la vie Future

Description

Illustrated, Publishers' Original Binding

"Printed for the Book of Tomorrow Collection". No. 139. First published in 1930. 

In the original yellow wraps. 

Illustrated with thirty original woodcuts by Guy Dollian. Collated, complete. 

Scenes de la vie Future influenced many authors in their descriptions of the United Sates between the two World Wars. In it, French author Georges Duhamel chronicles his travels beginning with New Orleans, followed by a journey up the Mississippi River, and including a long stay in Chicago and New York. 

Throughout this journey, while acknowledging the dynamism and technical ingenuity of Americans, Duhamel was horrified by the consumer society he encountered, which he found devoid of soul and appeal. Duhamel describes with an ironic and acerbic tone this American society where Man fades behind the machine and profit, at the price of his enslavement.

Duhamel described himself as "a pacifist and an internationalist." During the Second World War, Duhamel's work was banned by the Germans. He showed courage in his opposition to the occupation and the Petainist faction of the Académie française, later receiving public praise from Général de Gaulle.