Roger Martin Du Gard and Maumort - by Benjamin Franklin Martin (Paperback)

About the Book

In the late 1930s and early 1940s, Roger Martin du Gard was one of the most famous writers in the Western world. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1937, and his works, especially Les Thibault, a multivolume novel, were translated into English and read widely. Today, this close friend of André Gide, Albert Camus, and André Malraux is...

Book Synopsis

In the late 1930s and early 1940s, Roger Martin du Gard was one of the most famous writers in the Western world. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1937, and his works, especially Les Thibault, a multivolume novel, were translated into English and read widely. Today, this close friend of André Gide, Albert Camus, and André Malraux is almost unknown, largely because he left unfinished the long project he began in the 1940s, Lieutenant-Colonel de Maumort. With the expert narration that distinguishes all of his books, Martin creates a blend of intellectual history, family drama, and biography.

Review Quotes

An impressive achievement.

-- "The Key Reporter"

Martin offers the first in-depth, intimate English-language biography of reserved 20th-century French novelist Roger Martin du Gard.... Martin disclose[s] the most intimate side of his very private subject.

-- "Choice"

Overall, this biography of Martin du Gard invites exploration of his understudied novels. Additionally, the theme of inner struggle is accentuated by a fascinating parallel between Martin du Gard's difficulty with Catholicism and the conflicts in Europe that spurred the World Wars. In both domains, the capacity of the individual to make his or her own choices, within a society that expects narrowly-defined ones, is paramount.

-- "French Review"

Rigorously researched and well-written. Martin is an engaging guide as he measures the milestones through Martin du Gard's intellectual odyssey. Martin also provides an insight into the writer's literary corpus that both the specialist and non-specialist reader will find illuminating. And so in this book, a writer who has been closely associated with literary luminaries such as André Gide, Albert Camus and André Malraux finally receives the attention he undoubtedly deserves in his own right.

-- "French History"

About the Author

Benjamin Franklin Martin is Professor of History Emeritus at Louisiana State University. He is the author of six previous books, among them, Years of Plenty, Years of Want. He has been a consulting scholar to the Jewish Museum in New York for the celebrated exhibition The Dreyfus Affaire: Art, Truch and Justice and a featured contributor to documentaries by The History Channel.