Montherlant, Henri de

Montherlant, Henri de (äNrē` də môNtĕrläN`), 1896–1972, French writer. His novels are decadent and egotistical and glorify force and masculinity. Montherlant fought in World War I and was later an athlete and a bullfighter. Among his novels are Les Bestiaires (1926, tr. The Bullfighters, 1927), Les Célibataires (1934, tr. The Bachelors, 1960), the series of four novels Les Jeunes Filles (1936–40; tr. Pity for Women, 1937, Costals & the Hippogriff, 1940), and Les Garçons (1969). Montherlant's plays, all very successful, include Le Maître de Santiago (1947, tr. 1951), Port-Royal (1954), Don Juan (1958), Le Cardinal d'Espagne (1960), and La Guerre civile (1965, tr. 1967 in Theatre of War).

Bibliography

See biography by L. Becker (1970); study by R. J. Golsan (1988).