Prévost, Marcel

Prévost, Marcel märsĕl´ prāvō´ [key], 1862–1941, French novelist. His novels deal chiefly with feminine questions, portraying severely what Prévost regarded as the moral frailty of modern woman. He won fame with The Demi-Virgins (1894, tr. 1895) in which he attacks feminism. His Lettres à Françoise (1902–12) presents his program for the ideal education of a girl. The combination of mysticism and eroticism in Retraite ardente (1927) aroused protests from the Roman Catholic clergy.

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