Marcel Prévost

Born in Paris on May 1, 1862, Marcel Prévost studied at Jesuit schools in Bordeaux and Paris and later entered the École Polytechnique. He first worked as an engineer, including in the tobacco industry, before leaving that career behind as his early novels found success.

Prévost became widely known in the 1890s for fiction that explored social ambition, morality, and the pressures placed on young women in French society. Among his best-known works is Les Demi-Vierges (The Demi-Virgins), a novel that helped make him a prominent and controversial literary figure of his time.

He also wrote for the stage and went on to receive major recognition in French literary life, including election to the Académie française. He died on April 8, 1941, in Vianne, leaving behind a body of work closely tied to the anxieties and manners of fin-de-siècle France.