Sarrault, Nathalie

(1900- )

   writer

   Born in invanoe, Russia, Nathalie Sarrault lived in Paris since her childhood and, in 1941, left the practice of law to dedicate herself to writing. Best known for her innovations associated with the "nouveau roman," in an important essay, L'Ère de soupcon (1956), she broke with the conventions of traditional realistic novel writing. Her writing would subsequently influence the conception of modern fiction. An admirer of marcel proust and British writer virginia Woolf, she portrayed her characters minutely, as in Tropismes (1939) and Portrait d'un inconnu (1948). The novel Planétarium (1950), generally considered her masterpiece, was followed by Les Fruits d'or (1963), the play Le Silence (1967), and many other works, in which the narrative voice and viewpoint derive from the mind, sensibilities, and fleeting emotions, as Sar-rault argues that truth is entirely subjective.