Abstract: Léon Bocquet’s immersion in regionalism goes along with an evident interest in the North, his region of origin. Within the rural microcosm of his 1924 novel, animals appear: animals rigorously and precisely described, animals used as panaceas in medicine; animals of every kind abound in Le Fardeau des jours. This contribution draws upon the novel to examine the intellectual vibrancy of the 1920s.