Duhamel, Georges

Duhamel, Georges (zhôrzh düämĕl`), 1884–1966, French novelist and playwright. From Duhamel's experience as a surgeon during World War I came Vie des martyrs (1917, tr. The New Book of Martyrs, 1918) and Civilisation (1918, tr. 1919). These collections of sketches are noted for their compassionate accounts of human suffering. He was successful as a dramatist; his Dans l'ombre des statues was performed in 1912 (tr. In the Shadow of Statues, 1914) and L'oeuvre des athlètes in 1920. His fiction includes two cycles of novels—Cycle de Salavin (1920–32, tr. 1936), about a sensitive eccentric, and Chronique des Pasquiers (1933–45, tr. 1937–46), about a bourgeois Parisian family. Essays in Scènes de la vie future (1930, tr. America: the Menace, 1931) and other collections reflect Duhamel's aversion to overindustrialization.

Bibliography

See studies by L. C. Keating (1965) and B. L. Knapp (1972).