{"product_id":"sweating-blood-9781939663177","title":"Sweating Blood","description":"\u003ch2\u003eSweating Blood: Léon Bloy's Visceral Account of the Franco-Prussian War\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\nFirst published in French in 1893, \u003ci\u003eSweating Blood\u003c\/i\u003e presents 30 harrowing tales documenting the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. Léon Bloy, known as the \"Pilgrim of the Absolute,\" crafted this collection from his firsthand experiences as a guerilla fighter, contemporary news reports, and documented anecdotes from the conflict that tore France apart.\n\n\u003ch2\u003eA Fragmented Portrait of War's Brutality\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\nBloy's narrative approach alternates between cutting detail and muted anguish, creating a mosaic of suffering that captures the full spectrum of war's devastation. The collection moves through scenes of corpse-laden battlefields, desperate acts of survival, cowardly bourgeois fleeing conflict, and grotesque hallucinations born from trauma. Each story contributes to a larger portrait of human suffering viewed through Bloy's distinctive religious perspective.\n\n\u003ch2\u003eWritten with Blood, Sweat, and Moral Outrage\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\nThe author's passionate nationalism and fervent Catholicism infuse every page, transforming historical documentation into something approaching apocalyptic vision. Bloy saw the Franco-Prussian War not merely as a military conflict but as a manifestation of hell on earth—a 19th-century catastrophe foreshadowing the century of atrocities that would follow.\n\n\u003ch2\u003eAbout Léon Bloy (1846-1917)\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\nBorn in southwestern France to a freethinking father and pious Spanish-Catholic mother, Bloy initially harbored anti-religious sentiments. His move to Paris and subsequent mentorship under Jules-Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly radically transformed his worldview. Throughout his career writing pamphlets, novels, essays, poetry, and a multi-volume diary, Bloy earned two defining nicknames: \"The Pilgrim of the Absolute\" for his unorthodox Catholic devotion, and \"The Ungrateful Beggar\" for his lifelong dependence on friends' charity to support his family.\n\n\u003ch2\u003eThis Wakefield Press Edition\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\nThis translated edition makes Bloy's powerful anti-war testimony accessible to English readers, preserving the intensity and moral urgency of the original French text. The paperback format contains the complete collection of 30 stories, offering readers a comprehensive view of Bloy's literary response to one of Europe's pivotal 19th-century conflicts.","brand":"Wakefield Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50493244244242,"sku":"9781939663177","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_bcd38416-bb2d-4d5b-aa81-cb876ca689cf.jpg?v=1730640119","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/sweating-blood-9781939663177","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}