http://worldcat.org/entity/work/id/1870090348

André Maurois (1885-1967) : fortunes and misfortunes of a moderate

Respected by his peers and hugely successful internationally in the first half of the twentieth century--in 1935 the English translation of one of his fifteen major biographies was the first book to be published in Allen Lane's pioneering Penguin paperback series--André Maurois is now hardly read. His liberal humanism, his moderate and conciliatory stance in everything, from politics to his lucid and elegant writing style, his "politeness" as he put it himself, appealed in his own time to a broad, educated public. As manners, values, and society have changed, and unquestioning respect for a shared European cultural tradition has diminished, have the very characteristics that once ensured Maurois' popularity caused new generations of readers to find his work, when they are aware of it, outdated or of little interest?

Open All Close All