The French author Roger Martin du Gard (1881-1958) portrayed the conflicts in man's consciousness between religion and science against the backdrop of the social upheaval in France during the early 20th century.

Roger Martin du Gard was born at Neuilly-sur-Seine on March 23, 1881, the son of a lawyer. In 1892 he began studying at the Catholic École Fénelon and met a leader of the Catholic modernist movement, the Abbé Marcel Hébert; their friendship lasted until the priest's death in 1916. After studying literature at the Sorbonne, Martin du Gard enrolled in the École des Chartes to prepare himself as an archivist and paleographer. In 1905 he successfully defended his thesis Les Ruines de l'Abbaye de Jumièges and was awarded the diplôme d'archivistepaléographe.

In 1906 Martin du Gard married Hélène Foucault. During their honeymoon in North Africa...