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Albert Thibaut, author of a famous chronical in the Nouvelle Review française in the inter-war period, became a critic almost by accident. He did not collaborate in the multiple reviews of the belle époque. First a substitute for Marcel Drouin, Thibaudet became involved in the debate on the new Sorbanne launched by Agathon, before becoming a regular collaborator in the NRF. Gide judged his acquisition to be just as important as that of Saurès or Tharaud. In 1912, he began a regular chronical. Even if he reviewed the works of Barrès or Maurras, Thibaudet’s criticism was first and foremost literary. The work of the polical commentator and critic came later for this man who, before the the war as after, was on the margins of the first circle of the NRF.