The original French title is Le jeune homme vert, which means "the green young man".

It was the basis for a French television series starring Philippe Deplanche, which ran in six episodes on Antenne 2 from 29 June 1979.

... There’s a nod to Flaubert's Sentimental Education and more than a shade of Alain-Fournier's Le Grand Meaulnes as Jean grows up, mired in longing, uninterested in the political upheavals that Déon notes assiduously.

"[3] The same year, Diane Johnson of The New York Times compared the novel to Tom Jones by Henry Fielding: "As with all such accounts, this one appeals to our inner orphan, the sense we have that we are alone and have a lot to learn.

If it seems strange for Déon, writing in the mid-70s, to resurrect Fielding, his impulse might have had something to do with the political situation at the time, still roiled by the aftermath of the civil unrest of 1968.