Roblès, Emmanuel (1914-95). Born in Oran, of Spanish origin, Roblès left Algeria for France in 1958. A prolific novelist and playwright, and occasional poet, he is a great traveller, and his fiction and drama, while primarily Mediterranean in location, have been set as far afield as Japan and South America. Among his best-known works are the novels Cela s'appelle l'aurore (1952), Saison violente (1974), Venise en hiver (1981), and the play Montserrat (1948).
There is no metaphysical dimension to Roblès's fictional world; his heroes are unremarkable, frequently flawed men of modest circumstances who live under constant threat of death from accident, war, natural forces or disasters, or the enmity of brutal and unscrupulous aggressors. Typically, they are faced with the necessity of making a moral choice and, although tempted to adopt the easy solution, they choose to jeopardize their personal happiness, even their lives, to support a friend or cause or to protect the weak or under-privileged against oppression through power, wealth, or authority. This rebellious, virile humanism finds satisfaction in making the right decision or achieving a challenging task, virtue in courage, loyalty and generosity of spirit, and tenderness and respite, occasionally, in the love of a woman.
[Rosemarie Jones]
