Julien Gracq (1910–2007), born Louis Poirier, was a history and geography teacher by day, and a French writer by night, known for such dreamlike novels as The Castle of Argol, A Dark Stranger, The Opposing Shore (for which he refused the Prix Goncourt), and Balcony in the Forest. He was close to the surrealist movement, and André Breton in particular, to whom he devoted a critical study.
