Unanimism (French: ''Unanimisme'') is a movement in

French literature French literature () generally speaking, is literature written in the French language, particularly by citizens of France; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of France other than Fr ...

begun by

Jules Romains Jules Romains (born Louis Henri Jean Farigoule; 26 August 1885 – 14 August 1972) was a French poet and writer and the founder of the Unanimism literary movement. His works include the play ''Knock ou le Triomphe de la médecine'', and a cycle ...

in the early 1900s, with his first book, ''La vie unanime'', published in 1904. It can be dated to a sudden conception Romains had in October 1903 of a 'communal spirit' or joint 'psychic life' in groups of people. It is based on ideas of

collective consciousness Collective consciousness, collective conscience, or collective conscious (french: conscience collective) is the set of shared beliefs, ideas, and moral attitudes which operate as a unifying force within society.''Collins Dictionary of Sociolog ...

and collective emotion, and on

crowd behavior Crowd psychology, also known as mob psychology, is a branch of social psychology. Social psychologists have developed several theories for explaining the ways in which the psychology of a crowd differs from and interacts with that of the individ ...

, where members of a group do or think something simultaneously. Unanimism is about an artistic merger with these group phenomena, which transcend the consciousness of the individual. Harry Bergholz writes that "grossly generalizing, one might describe its aim as the art of the psychology of human groups". Because of this collective emphasis, common themes of unanimist writing include politics and friendship. The primary unanimist work is Romains's multi-volume cycle of novels '' Les Hommes de bonne volonté (Men of Good Will)'', the ideas in which can be traced back to ''La vie unanime''. The narrative jumps from character to character, rather than following one at a time, in an effort to reveal the nature and experience of the group as a whole. Other writers sometimes called ''unanimistes''—many associated with the Abbaye de Créteil—include Georges Chennevière, Henri-Martin Barzun, Alexandre Mercereau, Pierre Jean Jouve,

Georges Duhamel Georges Duhamel (; ; 30 June 1884 – 13 April 1966) was a French author, born in Paris. Duhamel trained as a doctor, and during World War I was attached to the French Army. In 1920, he published ''Confession de minuit'', the first of a serie ...

, Luc Durtain, Charles Vildrac and

René Arcos René (''born again'' or ''reborn'' in French) is a common first name in French-speaking, Spanish-speaking, and German-speaking countries. It derives from the Latin name Renatus. René is the masculine form of the name (Renée being the feminine ...

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Further reading