SOURCE: "Chinese Elements in Paul Morand's 'Mr. U'," in Chinese Culture, Vol. V, No. 3, March, 1964, pp. 34-41.

Knowlton is an American educator, translator, and critic. In the following excerpt, he praises Morand's short story "Mr. U" as an excellent example of Chinese-French literary contact and cites passages that illustrate Morand's detailed knowledge of Chinese culture.

There are important French men of letters in the twentieth century who illustrate China's influence on European literature, in the tradition of earlier French writers like Voltaire. . . . Among these an honorable place must be accorded Paul Morand, whose early literary contributions to European fiction of this century have been surveyed by Milton H. Stansbury in French Novelists of Today. Stansbury stresses the cosmopolitanism of Morand, but pays little attention to China as reflected in the novelist's work. The short story by Paul Morand discussed in this paper, "Mr. U," is a brilliant example...