ROMAN-FLEUVE

(French: novel stream), series of novels, each one complete in itself, that deals with one central character, an era of national life, or successive generations of a family. Inspired by Honor de Balzac's Comdie humaine and mile Zola's Rougon-Macquart cycle, the roman-fleuve was a popular literary genre in France during the first half of the 20th century. Examples include the 10-volume Jean-Christophe (190412) by Romain Rolland, the 7-part la recherche du temps perdu (191327; Remembrance of Things Past) by Marcel Proust, the 8-part Les Thibault (192240) by Roger Martin du Gard, and Les Hommes de bonne volont, 27 vol. (193246; Men of Good Will) by Jules Romains. Comparable to the French roman-fleuve is the English saga novel, represented by such works as John Galsworthy's Forsyte Saga (190621) and the Jalna series of Mazo De La Roche. Proust's work is the masterpiece of the genre.