André Suarès

Born Isaac Félix Suarès in Marseille on June 12, 1868, he became known as André Suarès and built a reputation as a demanding, original presence in French literature. He studied at the École normale supérieure, formed lasting friendships with figures including Romain Rolland and Paul Claudel, and went on to write poetry, essays, criticism, and travel-inspired prose.

From 1912, he was regarded as one of the four major pillars of the Nouvelle Revue Française alongside André Gide, Paul Claudel, and Paul Valéry. His writing often returned to music, painting, landscape, and heroic personalities, and his travels in Italy helped shape some of his best-known work, especially Le Voyage du Condottière.

Though never the most widely popular writer of his time, he was deeply admired for the force and independence of his style. In 1935, the Académie française awarded him its Grand Prize for Literature, recognizing the full body of a career devoted to art and letters. He died on September 7, 1948, in Saint-Maur-des-Fossés.