Young reservist graduate student Grange heads to his duty station in the “fortress,” a fortified blockhouse, the purpose of which is to delay, if necessary, enemy tanks that have broken through to the west. The garrison of the “fortress” is small: two soldiers and a corporal, yesterday’s peasants. The fort is located on a hill in the forest, far from any populated areas; somewhere below - lonely farms, a village, and even further - a small town near the railway. Grange's immediate superior, Captain Varen, with his office is located a few kilometers from the blockhouse. Winter gives way to autumn, early spring gives way to a not very cold winter. Life in the blockhouse follows a routine, creating the illusion of a “vacation” in the midst of the restless sea surrounding it, disconnection from History, created by someone for unknown purposes. What are these people doing here, whom someone’s will has torn away from their daily activities? What and from whom are they intended to protect? What does this war “without a soul and without songs” mean?..

Julien Gracq (b. 1910) is a modern French writer, widely known in his homeland. The Grac phenomenon arose at the intersection of two literary movements of the 50s: experimental prose, which largely inherited the tradition of surrealism, and the Balzacian tradition. His novels contain the novelty of experimentation and sound psychological analysis derived from the classics. The author reflects on fate, its plans and mysteries, instinctively guesses the mysterious even in the most familiar phenomena.