bio notes:
born: 4/23/1881
died: 8/22/1958
born as: Roger Martin du Gard
nationality: France

French novelist, dramatist, and winner of the 1937 Nobel Prize for Literature. Originally trained as a paleographer and archivist, Martin du Gard brought to his works a spirit of objectivity and a scrupulous regard for details. For his concern with documentation and his examination of the relationship of social reality to individual development, he has been linked with the realist and naturalist traditions of the 19th century. - Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature