The literary origins of three writers-Barbusse, Drieu La Rochelle and Bernanos-in the horror of the trenches, and how they responded by rallying to the meta-political ideologies of energy and salvation. A suggestive contribution to the study of the appeal of totalitarianism and of the intellectual climate of the interwar years. To emphasize the relevance of his work the author, an English historian, quotes Bernanos: "Every twenty years the youth of the world pose a question to which our society cannot make an answer. For the lack of an answer it mobilises."