Gracq, Julien [key], 1910–2007, French novelist, whose real name was Louis Poirier. Strongly influenced by surrealism and German romanticism, Gracq's novels are highly allusive and syntactically complex treatments of evil and the quest for redemption. Extremely private, he disliked all publicity, rejected literary analysis and criticism, and in 1951 refused the Goncourt Prize. Among his 20 published works are the novels The Castle of Argol (1938, tr. 1951), his first, and The Opposing Shore (1951, tr. 1986), his best known, and Reading Writing (1980, tr. 2007), reflections on literature.
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