Patrice Periot . Le Voyage de Patrice Periot [Hardcover] Georges Duhamel 1952

Item Condition: Used; Good

Just jacket torn

Georges Duhamel's latest novel has made
a considerable sensation in France, and is
likely to arouse equal interest in this country.
Patrice Periot is a professor of the old school
who had made biology his lifework. Late
in his career he finds himself a public figure,
and is claimed by the Communists as their
mouthpiece because of his advanced views.
At first he is lattered by the publicity, but
the pace is too hot for him, and he soon
finds himself a target for controversy in the
press and a victim of all sorts of mis-
representation. A sharp inner conflict
develops between his private and public
lives which he is unable to resolve by the
light of conscience.
Meanwhile his four grown-up children,
who since their mother's death have lacked
the guidance they nceded, split the family
into opposing camps, symbolizing the split
in the world to-day. The professor is help-
He is to0 unsure of himself to rally
them, and family tragedies and comedies add
further to his problems and anxieties. His
attempts to find a middle way between a
Christian son and a Communist daughter
satisfy no one, not even himself. The
serious theme is treated with characteristic-
less.
ally French delicacy of touch.
Book