Abstract: Sensibility towards the animal condition evolved considerably in France in the nineteenth century, due to epistemic change brought about by Darwinian theory and the development of biology. The twentieth century inherited this awareness of human closeness to the animal world and it was enhanced by the Great War. Certain writers no longer limited themselves to depicting the drama of the death of individualized animals. From Pergaud to Giono, by way of Genevoix and Colette, they ascribe to animals a genuine awareness of death.
