SOURCE: "Paul Morand," in Four French Novelists: Marcel Proust, André Gide, Jean Giraudoux, Paul Morand, 1938. Reprint by Kennikat Press, Inc., 1969, pp. 303-92.

An Algerian-born American educator and critic, Lemaitre published numerous works on French literature, including From Cubism to Surrealism in French Literature(1941) and studies of the authors Pierre Beaumarchais, André Maurois, and Jean Giraudoux. In the following excerpt, Lemaitre provides an overview of Morand's short fiction and lauds his ability to capture "the spirit of our modern time."

[Morand' s] first publications—Lampes à Arc (1919) and Feuilles de Température (1920)—were collections of short poems, most of them referring to circumstances or impressions of the war and the armistice period, many being obviously inspired by Morand's own experiences in England, Italy, and Spain. They all bore the stamp of a fundamental pessimism and of a restless imagination; with their jerky, syncopated style they sounded an unmistakable note of...