pen-name of Marguerite de Crayencour
French writer. She first gained recognition as a novelist in France in the 1930s with
books such as La Nouvelle Euridyce/The New Euridyce (1931). Her evocation of past
eras and characters, exemplified in Les Mémoires d’Hadrien/The Memoirs of Hadrian
(1951), brought her acclaim as a historical novelist. In 1939 she settled in the USA.
In 1980 she became the first woman to be elected to the French Academy.