Writer, born in Paris. He worked as a publisher's reader, and in 1879 published his first volume of stories. He wrote several graceful, lively novels, which contrast with his later, satirical, sceptical works. The Dreyfus case (1896) stirred him into politics as a champion of internationalism. Among his later novels are L'Ile des pingouins (1908, Penguin Island) and Les Dieux ont soif (1912, The Gods are Athirst). He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1921.