François Mauriac (1885-1970)

warded the Prize “for the deep spiritual insight and the artistic intensity with which he has in his novels penetrated the drama of human life.”

French novelist. Mauriac was born in Bordeaux on October 11, 1885. Mauriac studied at the University of Bordeaux, receiving his licence (the equivalent of an M.A.) in 1905. He was accepted by the école des Chartes in 1908 but Mauriac remained at the school only a few months and decided to devote himself entirely to literature. His first volume of poems appeared in 1909. In 1933 Mauriac was elected to the Académie Francaise. He began writing for the French newspaper Le Figaro and often attacked the rising Fascism. Mauriac died on September 1, 1970 in Paris.
Major Works:
A Kiss for the Leper (1922); The Desert of Love (1925); Thérése (1927); The Knot of Vipers (1932); The End of the Night (1935); A Woman of the Pharisees (1941)