Martereau

Originally published in 1953, Nathalie Sarraute's second novel explores a young man's obsessions with the hypocrisies and pretensions of the adult world. He becomes interested in Martereau, his uncle's devoted friend and business associate who seems like a trustworthy, benign, self-sufficient man until his possibly ulterior motives are partially exposed by his suspect behavior concerning a shady real-estate deal.

Nathalie Sarraute (1900--99) was born in Russia, grew up in France, and was one of the prime movers behind the so-called New Novel, along with Alain Robbe-Grillet, Robert Pinget, and Claude Simon. During her lifetime, she wrote eleven novels, a book of criticism, a collection of plays, and an autobiography.