Robbe-Grillet, Alain (1922–2008)

French writer. He was the leading theorist of le nouveau roman (‘the new novel’), a genre of the 1950s which emphasized physical description over plot and characterization. His novels include Les Gommes/The Erasers (1953), Le Voyeur/The Voyeur (1955), La Jalousie/Jealousy (1957), and Dans le Labyrinthe/In the Labyrinth (1959), which concentrates on the detailed description of physical objects. He also wrote the script for the film L'Année dernière à Marienbad/Last Year at Marienbad (1961).

Robbe-Grillet qualified as an agronomist and worked in Africa and the West Indies as a research biologist before turning to writing. He became a member of the Académie française in 2004.