The Thibaults by Roger Martin du Gard. Viking Press. $3.00
Born of Woman by Ray monde Vincent. Morrow. $2.50
The Harvest by Jean Giono. Viking Press. $2.50
The Thibaults is a massive study of the Parisian upper bourgeoisie before the war, as seen through two families and their connections. The present volume contains only the first six parts, which appeared separately in France; there is a seventh part, nearly as long as the first six put together, which has not yet been translated, and the French publishers announce that there will be an epilogue. Inevitably one compares this series with the other gigantic novels that so many Frenchmen have been writing since the death of Proust. It lacks the brilliance, the variety of Men of Good Will, the play of humor that enlivens The Pasquier Chronicle, the classic distinction of Lacretelle’s Les Hauts-Ponts; what it has, however, in all but a few chapters, is an air of solid and objective truthfulness that gives it a high rank among them.
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