French Men in White

...Like Roger Martin du Gard—whom he read—Soubiran emphasizes the almost mystical dedication of the true doctor...

...In vivid strokes, the author describes the patients in the wards, the famous professors, their young and daring assistants, the students (those who want to help humanity and those who are merely seeking a lucrative profession), and the nurses (some angels of mercy, some scourges of God...

...he follows the young student as he fulfills his mission of mercy, shares his indignation when he comes face to face for the first time with the patient condemned by medical science and therefore abandoned by medical men...

...We see how he copes with the problems of adolescence and student-hood, how he discovers the world of pain and the existence of women (the awakening of his senses and of his sensitivity), how he comes to realize the responsibility he is assuming as he grows into a man and a doctor...

...The reader is thrust almost bodily into the unbearable atmosphere of the dissection room...

...As one reads The Doctors, Axel Munthe's elegant and amusing but somewhat precious tableaux vivants seem far away indeed...

...In the course of this exhilarating but painful process, Nerac's experiences become our own...

...Reviewed by Renee Spodheim Translator of the works of Maeterlinck, Claudel and others In The Doctors, Andre Soubiran delves deep into the psychology of adolescence, while, at the same time, painting a compelling canvas of the medical profession in all its aspects...

...This is the story of Jean Nerac, who comes to Paris to study medicine...

...he is with him when he learns humility and resignation, and when he rejoices over the success of a new operation performed by a young doctor in the absence of a tradition-bound old master...

...Unlike du Gard, however, he does not gloss over the shortcomings of his noble profession...