author
René Benjamin
1885–1948
A French novelist, journalist, and public speaker, he is best remembered for winning the Prix Goncourt in 1915 for Gaspard. His career later came full circle when he joined the Académie Goncourt, becoming the first former winner to sit on the prize jury.
2 Audiobooks
La farce de la Sorbonne
by René Benjamin
La Cour d'Assises, ses pompes et ses œuvres
by René Benjamin
About the author
Born in Paris on March 20, 1885, René Benjamin built a career as a writer, journalist, and lecturer. He gained major recognition during the First World War, when his novel Gaspard won the Prix Goncourt in 1915.
Benjamin went on to publish fiction, essays, and literary portraits, and he became a visible figure in French literary life. In 1938, he was elected to the Académie Goncourt, the body that awards the prize he had won years earlier.
He died in Tours on October 4, 1948. Today he is remembered mainly for Gaspard and for the place he held in early 20th-century French letters.