Henry de Montherlant's Les Garçons, whether it is the expurgated version of 1969 or the complete version of 1973, is known as the second part of La jeunesse d'Alban de Bricoule. This more or less autobiographical romantic trilogy includes the first part, Les Bestiaires, which appeared in 1926, and the third part, Le Songe, which debuted in 1922, with the author carrying Les Garçons for more than half a century, while he hesitated on the title. This slow maturation also explains the mass of notes, drafts, typescripts, provisional or final versions, no less than one thousand two hundred and twelve folios, that the modern and contemporary Manuscripts Service of the National Library of France keeps for Les Garçons.