When Charles Perrault published “Little Red Riding Hood” in 1697, he could hardly have imagined that his story would become reality 70 years later in the cruel and ferocious attacks by the elusive beast of Gévaudan, from 1764 to 1767.
The authors of A Short History of the Great Beast are two specialists of this tragedy who bring us a unique work by choosing to tell the story from the perspective of its victims.
They present a very thorough, documented investigation into the circumstances of the chilling attacks in which the victims were the inhabitants of the region, forced to take up arms to defend themselves and try, unsuccessfully, to protect themselves.
This book is an homage to all the children, women and men who were savagely wounded, and even killed, by the monster. We follow its path across a vast territory, equivalent to the current department of Lozère, and learn how the Beast foiled all the hunts undertaken to try to stop it.
This book may make you want to visit yourself to follow its traces, still vivid, while singing in the woods, “Wolf, where are you? What are you doing?”
Year of publication of the presented edition : 2018 (244 pages)
Editor : Ex Æquo
The authors : Alain Bonet has been researching the Beast of Gévaudan since 2001. He has put together a timeline, the most important freely available resource on the affair, used by countless researchers and authors.
Benoît Baud'huin, veterinarian and hunter, has completed much of his new research in Gévaudan and in its archives and has unearthed evidence that was unknown, or scarcely known, before.
