ESTAUNI, EDOUARD

born Feb. 4, 1862, Dijon, Fr. died April 1, 1942, Paris French writer, known for his novels of character. He was by profession an engineer and ended his career as inspector general of telegraphs. He was elected (1923) to the Acadmie Franaise. A theme recurrent in the 12 novels of Estauni is expressed by the title of one of them, La Vie Secrte (1908; The Secret Life): each man's outward life masks another, ill-understood, different, and usually much more important life which may break through the mask unexpectedly to take temporary control of him. The novels gain distinction from their profound and detailed psychological analysis. The more important of them are L'Empreinte (1895), Les Choses voient (1912), L'Ascension de Monsieur Baslvre (1920), and L'Appel de la route (1922).