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Charles Ramuz smoothly followed the path of the perfect Vaudois little boy from a fairly good family. It was school and relations with his fellow pupils that made him receptive to the world of literature. A diligent and brilliant pupil, he attended the Collège Classique Cantonal and then the Gymnase Classique, before going on to study law and then classics.

In addition to this formal education, Ramuz had a Protestant religious upbringing and attended the cadet corps, going on to do his military service as a corporal in the infantry. He also enjoyed the camaraderie of the Zofingen Student Society. Coming from a petty-bourgeois urban family, Ramuz was immersed in a world where people frequented their own kind. They were typically intellectual, liberal (often), patriotic (a little), religious (outwardly) and masculine (always). As a writer, he would make a point of asserting his independence from ideological, religious and political pressure to conform. But the values passed on by his parents and their milieu nonetheless left a deep imprint on the young boy.