Martin du Gard, Roger (1881-1958)

French novelist. He realistically recorded the way of life of the bourgeoisie in the eight-volume Les Thibault/The World of the Thibaults (1922-40), which follows the story of two families, one Catholic and the other Protestant. His style is lucid, detailed, and restrained, and he places his narrative against an objectively researched background of contemporary events. His ample construction allows a variety of incident and a careful building of character. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1937.

Martin du Gard was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine. His archaeological thesis, L'Abbaye de Jumièges: Etude archéologique des ruines/The Abbey of Jumièges: Archaeological Study of the Ruins, was published in 1909, the same year as his first novel Devenir/Becoming. His second novel, Jean Barois (1913), was a more accomplished work and revealed him as a penetrating social historian. He also wrote two farces for a theatrical group known as the ‘Vieux Colombier’: Le Testament du père Leleu/Old Leleu's Will (1914) and Le Gonfle/The Swelling (1928).