(1885-1970) French novelist. His novel Le Baiser au lépreux/A Kiss for the Leper 1922 describes the conflict of an unhappy marriage. The irreconcilability of Christian practice and human nature is examined in Fleuve de feu/River of Fire 1923, Le Désert de l’amour/The Desert of Love 1925, and Thérčse Desqueyroux 1927. Nobel Prize for Literature 1952.