Pierre-Yves Maillard, an air of Charles Dickens

The French-speaking countryside of the 1930s is obviously not England at the beginning of the 19th century, but there is a slight air of Dickens in the way Pierre-Yves Maillard has of telling the Swiss that their country does not have always been one of the richest in the world. The novelist, witness to the misery of Victorian England, printed A Christmas Carol in 1843, the socialist candidate from Vaud for the Council of States published during this period of Advent 2022 A bike for Christmas (Editions de l’Aire). Both are interested in working conditions and are united in their desire to demonstrate to readers the humanity and intelligence of the poorest classes of society. With compassion, but without complacency.