France collectively chose denial and sleep over confronting the war

Evidence

best, now, was the drunken sleep on the brink; never before had France pulled the sheet over her head with this feverish hand, this taste of nausea in her mouth. — Julien Gracq, Balcony in the Forest, 190

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Julien Gracq, Balcony in the Forest, 190