DUHAMEL, GEORGES (b. 1884— ), French poet, novelist and playwright, born in Paris on June 3o, 1884. His early life was one of struggle and hardship. He studied medicine, and in the Quartier Latin made the acquaintance of Romains, Vildrac and Arcos, with whom he founded the group of the Abbaye (q.v.) at Creteil. He obtained his medical degree in 19o9, and until the World War be divided his activity between scientific research and literary work. He made his name with a series of volumes of verse : Selon ma Loi (1910), and Compagnons (1912) . Several plays of his were produced about the same time : La Lumiere (1910, Dans l'Ombre des Statues (1912) and Le Combat (1913). It was, however, his two war books, Vie des Martyrs (1916) and Civilisation (191 7) which brought him before the public. Their evidence is at once poignant and unimpeachable. Since the war Duhamel has published a number of essays mainly directed to the creation of a new religious thought independent of any denom ination, and to the promotion of a new era of mutual understand ing between the peoples of different nationalities. He has also written a series of novels, the three most important of which form a trilogy: Confession de Minuit (192o), Deux Hommes (1924), Journal de Salavin (1927) and Le Club des Lyonnais (1929), in which the Russian influence is combined with typically French restraint and interest in everyday things of life.