Duhamel, Georges (1884-1966)

French writer. Civilisation (1918), drawing on his experience as a surgeon in World War I, was awarded the Prix Goncourt, but it was for his later novels that he won most recognition. His masterpiece is the ten-volume Chronique des Pasquier (1933-41), in which he portrays his characters with a realism tempered by sensibility, humour, and sympathetic understanding.

Born in Paris, Duhamel qualified as a doctor. The physical and mental suffering he witnessed during World War I lent him added force as a writer of anguished war books, passionately advocating the rights and majesty of the individual soul. He became a member of the French Academy (acting as its permanent secretary 1943-46), of the Academy of Medicine, and was also president of the Alliance Française.

The cycle Vie et aventures de Salavin (1920-32) studies a man who tries to live up to a worthy philosophy of life and fails. Later novels include Patrice Périot and Le Cri des profondeurs. Among his other works are Les Plaisirs et les jeux (1922), Le Voyage de Moscou (1927), and Scènes de la vie future (1930). He also wrote numerous essays and four volumes of autobiography.