Michel Déon
Encyclopedia
Michel Déon is a French writer.
With Antoine Blondin
, Jacques Laurent
and Roger Nimier
, he belonged to the literary group of the Hussards
. He is a novelist as well as a literary columnist.
Over the course of his admirable career, Déon has published over 50 works. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Prix Interallié
for his 1970 novel, Les Poneys Sauvages (The Wild Ponies). Déon’s 1973 masterpiece, Un Taxi Mauve garnered him international renown when it received the esteemed title of the Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française
. His novels have been translated into numerous languages, delivering his unique voice across cultural and continental boundaries. He is considered one of the most innovative French writers of the 21st century.
For Michel Déon, immortality is not a dream – it is his reality. In 1978, Déon was granted the prestigious title that would commemorate a brilliant, forty-plus-year literary career. Dubbed “un immortel” (an immortal) by the Académie française
, Déon is one of just forty members who are elected by their peers to serve for life, cementing his position as one of the forerunners of literature and all things related to the French Language.
Déon is the son of an affluent French civil servant who died in Monaco in 1933 while serving as advisor to Prince Louis in 1933. Upon his father’s death, Déon and his mother moved to Paris, where he became a student of law. Later, as a young soldier serving in World War II, Déon initiated his legendary career. He received a significant grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, enabling him to travel to America to work alongside the likes of William Faulkner
and Saul Bellow
.
Despite the breadth of his European literary career, only one of his works has been translating for English-speaking audiences. “Déon is actively pursuing translation and publication of his work in English, and welcomes inquiries through his US business agent (“Michel Déon: Novelist, Biographer, Critic”).
in 1933, Déon’s father died. He and his mother returned to Paris, where Déon attended secondary school at the Lycée Janson-de-Sailly. Although he was passionate for literature and journalism, Déon acquiesced to familial pressure and studied law throughout college.
Born just one year after World War I, Michel Déon was a first-hand witness to post-war depression and its existential aftermath. Nearly everyone he knew as a youth had experienced some aspect of loss because of the war, and as a result, he and many others of his generation staunchly opposed entering more conflict. However, as the 1930s drew to a close, and the situation in Germany continued to worsen, it became apparent that France, and the greater majority of the Western world, would see military action once again.
Despite his anti-war position, Déon was eventually drafted into the French military and sent to train at Rion. He was assigned to the 152nd regiment under General de Lattre, and served alongside Charles Maurras
, a future-fellow member of the Académie française. Upon the liberation of German concentration camps, and the exposure of the torture associated with the Holocaust, Déon's worldview was changed forever. As a result, he joined Maurras in championing Action Française
, a counter-revolutionary, monarchist political movement that started in 1898. Many members of Action Française opposed the French government, and some, like Maurras, went as far as adopting a pro-German stance. At the end of the war, Maurras was imprisoned for his radical ideology, and suspended of all affiliation from l’Académie française. While Déon never became a royalist, Maurras did instill in him a great defiance for both democracy
and its pseudo-opponent, fascism
. Déon claims his main belief is in freedom, both in life and for the individual.
Shortly after his first publication, Déon received the illustrious Rockefeller Foundation
grant that would enable his travels through America. While in the States, on a mission to craft his voice as a writer, Déon worked alongside William Faulkner
and Saul Bellow
. This triumvirate proved beneficial for all parties involved – relishing each other’s guidance, Déon assisted Bellow in translating his works into French.
This period sought a significant development in Déon’s personal writing style that would come to garner him international acclaim from the greater literary world. Alongside his contemporary French writers, including Jacques Laurent
, Antoine Blondin
, and Roger Nimier
, Déon staunchly opposed the post-war popular existentialism
of Sartre and other prominent cultural figures. Déon and his fellow authors became known as Les Hussards
, named after Nimier’s novel, Le Hussar Blue (The Blue Horseman), recognized for their innovative unconventionality, sympathy for the bizarre underdog, and pervasive refusal of fashionable thematics and tone.
Roland Laudenbach and Jean Cocteau founded Les éditions de La Table ronde (The Round Table) in 1944. This French publishing house proved an instrumental component to the Les Hussards movement, publishing works by many of its authors. The Round Table printed several of Déon’s novels, including Les Gens de la Nuit, La Carotte et le Bâton, and Tout L'Amour du Monde II. Déon would prove to benefit from this relationship later in his career. Since the Round Table became a subsidiary of Gallimard Publishing circa 1970, they have published over twenty of Déon’s works.
. Given out annually since 1930, recipients of this award are considered the best novels written by journalists.
Michel Déon wrote his critical masterpiece in 1973. Un Taxi Mauve (A Purple Taxi) became an immediate literary sensation, winning the distinguished title of Grand Prix du Roman de l'Académie française
. Of the sixty awards given out each year by the Académie française
, the Grand Prix du Roman is the top prize awarded to individual novels. Subsequently, Un Taxi Mauve was made into a film in 1977, produced in both English and French. The following year, 1978, Déon was deemed “un immortel” by the Académie française.
In addition to his numerous individual works and awards, Déon has collaborated with a series of distinguished public figures. In 1953, he assisted Coco Chanel
in the writing of her autobiography, despite the fact that she refused to have it published. Déon was dutiful in turn, and destroyed the only existing copy for the sake of his friendship with Chanel. Also, in 1966, Déon worked with Salvador Dalí
on the artist's memoirs, Diary of a Genius.
Déon is an affiliate member of the Portuguese Academy of Science and Letters. He is a doctor honoris causa at the universities of Athens and Ireland. He is also an honorary citizen of Nice
, Aix-en-Provence
, and Antibes
. His literary works have been translated into German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Greek, Turkish, Chinese, Russian, Lithuanian, Indian, Japanese, and Polish. Only one of his works has been translated for English audiences.
As a young father, Déon and his wife Chantal raised their two children – Alice and Alexandre – on the small Greek island of Spetsai. However, when the children reached school age in 1968, France was in a state of upheaval. Therefore, the Déon family settled in Ireland. For over forty years, Déon and his family have made Ireland their home, taking pride in their everyday tasks such as raising Chantal's fifty horses, and writing masterpieces on his Louis XVI desk. Despite his love of travel, Déon is a frequent, loyal visitor of France.
, Charlotte Rampling
, and Phillipe Noirette.
Les Poneys Sauvages begins in 1937, as students George, Barry, Cyril, and Horace – each of varying backgrounds – complete their educations at the University of Cambridge
. As the decade reaches its end, the group becomes tangled in war that plagued Western Europe for a second time. Those who survive the war take the reader on a journey that spans three decades, and covers all of Europe, from Italy to Poland, back to Paris. As the friends age, they learn that the past is not forgotten quickly. A story of murder, intrigue, and revenge Les Poneys Sauvage is an historical epic set in the volatile pre-war and post-war years, and its unwavering effect on individual consciousness.
In Un Souvenir, Edward has just passed his sixtieth year, and is beginning to consider himself and old man. Having acquiesced to becoming a geriatric, he is plunged into the pat when he finds an old photograph from 1936. The photo is of his young self, hugging a beautiful girl named Sheila – an obscure yet unforgettable woman he met in Essex, England during the war. Despite his age, he travels back to England to find Sheila, and come to terms with the regret and guilt at having lost her.
Cavalier, passé ton chemin! offers a social history of the Irish people that rides the unavoidable line between fact and fiction. Exploring the country’s extraordinary folklore and cultural legends, Déon examines the nation’s collective identity with the steely resolve of an outside observer. Engaging legend and law, Déon offers a demystified glimpse of contemporary Ireland, tapping into the very collective soul of Irish identity.
In Pages Grecques, Déon explores the multi-layered mythical and factual history of Greek culture. An eastern country responsibility for the civilizations of the West, Greece is saturated by stories on life and love. Employing the gods, muses, and legendary Greek figures, Déon weaves Greece’s dual histories to create a beautiful and inspiring picture of the culture.
La Cour Des Grands follows the life of Arthur Morgan – a man from humble beginnings. The son of an impoverished French widow, Morgan is offered a first class ticket by boat to the United States in 1950. He enacts the elements of the American dream – graduating college, and moving to New York City to become a successful stockbroker. However, when he returns to France in the face of family tragedy, he is forced to reconcile his new life with a past life that – something that proves shocking as he sees what his old friends have become.
With Antoine Blondin
Antoine Blondin
Antoine Blondin was a French writer.He belonged to the literary group called the Hussards. He was also a sports columnist in L'Équipe. Blondin also wrote under the name Tenorio.-Biography:...
, Jacques Laurent
Jacques Laurent
Jacques Laurent or Jacques Laurent-Cély was a French writer and journalist.He belonged to the literary group of the Hussards, and is known as a prolific historical novelist, essay writer, and screenwriter under the nom de plume of Cecil Saint-Laurent...
and Roger Nimier
Roger Nimier
-Life:He was born in 1925, and served in the French Army, specifically in the 2nd Hussard Regiment in the Second World War .He began to write quite early in his life...
, he belonged to the literary group of the Hussards
Hussards (literary movement)
The Hussards was a French literary movement in the 1950s which opposed Existentialism and the figure of the politically engaged intellectual as personified by Jean-Paul Sartre.-Origins:...
. He is a novelist as well as a literary columnist.
Over the course of his admirable career, Déon has published over 50 works. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Prix Interallié
Prix Interallié
The prix Interallié , also known simply as l’Interallié, is an annual French literary award, awarded for a novel written by a journalist.- History :...
for his 1970 novel, Les Poneys Sauvages (The Wild Ponies). Déon’s 1973 masterpiece, Un Taxi Mauve garnered him international renown when it received the esteemed title of the Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française
Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française
Le Grand Prix du Roman is a French literary award, created in 1918, and given each year by the Académie française. Along with the Prix Goncourt, it is one of the oldest and most prestigious literary awards in France...
. His novels have been translated into numerous languages, delivering his unique voice across cultural and continental boundaries. He is considered one of the most innovative French writers of the 21st century.
For Michel Déon, immortality is not a dream – it is his reality. In 1978, Déon was granted the prestigious title that would commemorate a brilliant, forty-plus-year literary career. Dubbed “un immortel” (an immortal) by the Académie française
Académie française
L'Académie française , also called the French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. The Académie was officially established in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister to King Louis XIII. Suppressed in 1793 during the French Revolution,...
, Déon is one of just forty members who are elected by their peers to serve for life, cementing his position as one of the forerunners of literature and all things related to the French Language.
Déon is the son of an affluent French civil servant who died in Monaco in 1933 while serving as advisor to Prince Louis in 1933. Upon his father’s death, Déon and his mother moved to Paris, where he became a student of law. Later, as a young soldier serving in World War II, Déon initiated his legendary career. He received a significant grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, enabling him to travel to America to work alongside the likes of William Faulkner
William Faulkner
William Cuthbert Faulkner was an American writer from Oxford, Mississippi. Faulkner worked in a variety of media; he wrote novels, short stories, a play, poetry, essays and screenplays during his career...
and Saul Bellow
Saul Bellow
Saul Bellow was a Canadian-born Jewish American writer. For his literary contributions, Bellow was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize for Literature, and the National Medal of Arts...
.
Despite the breadth of his European literary career, only one of his works has been translating for English-speaking audiences. “Déon is actively pursuing translation and publication of his work in English, and welcomes inquiries through his US business agent (“Michel Déon: Novelist, Biographer, Critic”).
Early life and war years
Michel Déon was born in Paris on August 4, 1919 – the only child to a civil servant and his wife. His father’s position required a great deal of travel, and Monsieur Déon was adamant that his family accompanied him – instilling in the budding writer an endless interest in travel and cross-cultural relations that would come to define his oeuvre. While on assignment in MonacoMonaco
Monaco , officially the Principality of Monaco , is a sovereign city state on the French Riviera. It is bordered on three sides by its neighbour, France, and its centre is about from Italy. Its area is with a population of 35,986 as of 2011 and is the most densely populated country in the...
in 1933, Déon’s father died. He and his mother returned to Paris, where Déon attended secondary school at the Lycée Janson-de-Sailly. Although he was passionate for literature and journalism, Déon acquiesced to familial pressure and studied law throughout college.
Born just one year after World War I, Michel Déon was a first-hand witness to post-war depression and its existential aftermath. Nearly everyone he knew as a youth had experienced some aspect of loss because of the war, and as a result, he and many others of his generation staunchly opposed entering more conflict. However, as the 1930s drew to a close, and the situation in Germany continued to worsen, it became apparent that France, and the greater majority of the Western world, would see military action once again.
Despite his anti-war position, Déon was eventually drafted into the French military and sent to train at Rion. He was assigned to the 152nd regiment under General de Lattre, and served alongside Charles Maurras
Charles Maurras
Charles-Marie-Photius Maurras was a French author, poet, and critic. He was a leader and principal thinker of Action Française, a political movement that was monarchist, anti-parliamentarist, and counter-revolutionary. Maurras' ideas greatly influenced National Catholicism and "nationalisme...
, a future-fellow member of the Académie française. Upon the liberation of German concentration camps, and the exposure of the torture associated with the Holocaust, Déon's worldview was changed forever. As a result, he joined Maurras in championing Action Française
Action Française
The Action Française , founded in 1898, is a French Monarchist counter-revolutionary movement and periodical founded by Maurice Pujo and Henri Vaugeois and whose principal ideologist was Charles Maurras...
, a counter-revolutionary, monarchist political movement that started in 1898. Many members of Action Française opposed the French government, and some, like Maurras, went as far as adopting a pro-German stance. At the end of the war, Maurras was imprisoned for his radical ideology, and suspended of all affiliation from l’Académie française. While Déon never became a royalist, Maurras did instill in him a great defiance for both democracy
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
and its pseudo-opponent, fascism
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
. Déon claims his main belief is in freedom, both in life and for the individual.
Literary career
With the end of World War II, Michel Déon returned to Paris to dedicate himself to a career of letters. In the beginning, Déon worked for a series of small-press French newspapers to support himself and his early endeavors in drafting a novel and short stories. His first collection of short stories, Adieux à Sheila, was published in 1944.Shortly after his first publication, Déon received the illustrious Rockefeller Foundation
Rockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation is a prominent philanthropic organization and private foundation based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The preeminent institution established by the six-generation Rockefeller family, it was founded by John D. Rockefeller , along with his son John D. Rockefeller, Jr...
grant that would enable his travels through America. While in the States, on a mission to craft his voice as a writer, Déon worked alongside William Faulkner
William Faulkner
William Cuthbert Faulkner was an American writer from Oxford, Mississippi. Faulkner worked in a variety of media; he wrote novels, short stories, a play, poetry, essays and screenplays during his career...
and Saul Bellow
Saul Bellow
Saul Bellow was a Canadian-born Jewish American writer. For his literary contributions, Bellow was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize for Literature, and the National Medal of Arts...
. This triumvirate proved beneficial for all parties involved – relishing each other’s guidance, Déon assisted Bellow in translating his works into French.
This period sought a significant development in Déon’s personal writing style that would come to garner him international acclaim from the greater literary world. Alongside his contemporary French writers, including Jacques Laurent
Jacques Laurent
Jacques Laurent or Jacques Laurent-Cély was a French writer and journalist.He belonged to the literary group of the Hussards, and is known as a prolific historical novelist, essay writer, and screenwriter under the nom de plume of Cecil Saint-Laurent...
, Antoine Blondin
Antoine Blondin
Antoine Blondin was a French writer.He belonged to the literary group called the Hussards. He was also a sports columnist in L'Équipe. Blondin also wrote under the name Tenorio.-Biography:...
, and Roger Nimier
Roger Nimier
-Life:He was born in 1925, and served in the French Army, specifically in the 2nd Hussard Regiment in the Second World War .He began to write quite early in his life...
, Déon staunchly opposed the post-war popular existentialism
Existentialism
Existentialism is a term applied to a school of 19th- and 20th-century philosophers who, despite profound doctrinal differences, shared the belief that philosophical thinking begins with the human subject—not merely the thinking subject, but the acting, feeling, living human individual...
of Sartre and other prominent cultural figures. Déon and his fellow authors became known as Les Hussards
Hussards (literary movement)
The Hussards was a French literary movement in the 1950s which opposed Existentialism and the figure of the politically engaged intellectual as personified by Jean-Paul Sartre.-Origins:...
, named after Nimier’s novel, Le Hussar Blue (The Blue Horseman), recognized for their innovative unconventionality, sympathy for the bizarre underdog, and pervasive refusal of fashionable thematics and tone.
Roland Laudenbach and Jean Cocteau founded Les éditions de La Table ronde (The Round Table) in 1944. This French publishing house proved an instrumental component to the Les Hussards movement, publishing works by many of its authors. The Round Table printed several of Déon’s novels, including Les Gens de la Nuit, La Carotte et le Bâton, and Tout L'Amour du Monde II. Déon would prove to benefit from this relationship later in his career. Since the Round Table became a subsidiary of Gallimard Publishing circa 1970, they have published over twenty of Déon’s works.
Major accomplishments
In 1970, Déon’s novel Les Poneys Sauvages (The Wild Ponies) was awarded with the Prix InteralliéPrix Interallié
The prix Interallié , also known simply as l’Interallié, is an annual French literary award, awarded for a novel written by a journalist.- History :...
. Given out annually since 1930, recipients of this award are considered the best novels written by journalists.
Michel Déon wrote his critical masterpiece in 1973. Un Taxi Mauve (A Purple Taxi) became an immediate literary sensation, winning the distinguished title of Grand Prix du Roman de l'Académie française
Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française
Le Grand Prix du Roman is a French literary award, created in 1918, and given each year by the Académie française. Along with the Prix Goncourt, it is one of the oldest and most prestigious literary awards in France...
. Of the sixty awards given out each year by the Académie française
Académie française
L'Académie française , also called the French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. The Académie was officially established in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister to King Louis XIII. Suppressed in 1793 during the French Revolution,...
, the Grand Prix du Roman is the top prize awarded to individual novels. Subsequently, Un Taxi Mauve was made into a film in 1977, produced in both English and French. The following year, 1978, Déon was deemed “un immortel” by the Académie française.
In addition to his numerous individual works and awards, Déon has collaborated with a series of distinguished public figures. In 1953, he assisted Coco Chanel
Coco Chanel
Gabrielle Bonheur "Coco" Chanel was a pioneering French fashion designer whose modernist thought, menswear-inspired fashions, and pursuit of expensive simplicity made her an important figure in 20th-century fashion. She was the founder of one of the most famous fashion brands, Chanel...
in the writing of her autobiography, despite the fact that she refused to have it published. Déon was dutiful in turn, and destroyed the only existing copy for the sake of his friendship with Chanel. Also, in 1966, Déon worked with Salvador Dalí
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domènec Felip Jacint Dalí i Domènech, Marquis de Púbol , commonly known as Salvador Dalí , was a prominent Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres,Spain....
on the artist's memoirs, Diary of a Genius.
Personal life
Michel Déon has traveled the world in pursuit of literary truth. Finding endless inspiration in his surroundings, much of Déon's work engages his experience via travel to such locations as Switzerland, Italy, Canada, and Portugal. During the 1940s, he explored America by Greyhound Bus by merit of his Rockefeller Grant.Déon is an affiliate member of the Portuguese Academy of Science and Letters. He is a doctor honoris causa at the universities of Athens and Ireland. He is also an honorary citizen of Nice
Nice
Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...
, Aix-en-Provence
Aix-en-Provence
Aix , or Aix-en-Provence to distinguish it from other cities built over hot springs, is a city-commune in southern France, some north of Marseille. It is in the region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, in the département of Bouches-du-Rhône, of which it is a subprefecture. The population of Aix is...
, and Antibes
Antibes
Antibes is a resort town in the Alpes-Maritimes department in southeastern France.It lies on the Mediterranean in the Côte d'Azur, located between Cannes and Nice. The town of Juan-les-Pins is within the commune of Antibes...
. His literary works have been translated into German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Greek, Turkish, Chinese, Russian, Lithuanian, Indian, Japanese, and Polish. Only one of his works has been translated for English audiences.
As a young father, Déon and his wife Chantal raised their two children – Alice and Alexandre – on the small Greek island of Spetsai. However, when the children reached school age in 1968, France was in a state of upheaval. Therefore, the Déon family settled in Ireland. For over forty years, Déon and his family have made Ireland their home, taking pride in their everyday tasks such as raising Chantal's fifty horses, and writing masterpieces on his Louis XVI desk. Despite his love of travel, Déon is a frequent, loyal visitor of France.
Novels
Un Taxi Mauve follows the story of a group of troubled Irish expatriates who have migrated to rural Ireland – each for their own reasons. Living in a self-punishing exile of their own creation, the interactions amongst the group create a tangle of love and deceit that functions as masochism of the most pervasive sort. The movie version of the novel stars Fred AstaireFred Astaire
Fred Astaire was an American film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor. His stage and subsequent film career spanned a total of 76 years, during which he made 31 musical films. He was named the fifth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute...
, Charlotte Rampling
Charlotte Rampling
Charlotte Rampling, OBE is an English actress. Her career spans four decades in English-language as well as French and Italian cinema.- Early life :...
, and Phillipe Noirette.
Les Poneys Sauvages begins in 1937, as students George, Barry, Cyril, and Horace – each of varying backgrounds – complete their educations at the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
. As the decade reaches its end, the group becomes tangled in war that plagued Western Europe for a second time. Those who survive the war take the reader on a journey that spans three decades, and covers all of Europe, from Italy to Poland, back to Paris. As the friends age, they learn that the past is not forgotten quickly. A story of murder, intrigue, and revenge Les Poneys Sauvage is an historical epic set in the volatile pre-war and post-war years, and its unwavering effect on individual consciousness.
In Un Souvenir, Edward has just passed his sixtieth year, and is beginning to consider himself and old man. Having acquiesced to becoming a geriatric, he is plunged into the pat when he finds an old photograph from 1936. The photo is of his young self, hugging a beautiful girl named Sheila – an obscure yet unforgettable woman he met in Essex, England during the war. Despite his age, he travels back to England to find Sheila, and come to terms with the regret and guilt at having lost her.
Cavalier, passé ton chemin! offers a social history of the Irish people that rides the unavoidable line between fact and fiction. Exploring the country’s extraordinary folklore and cultural legends, Déon examines the nation’s collective identity with the steely resolve of an outside observer. Engaging legend and law, Déon offers a demystified glimpse of contemporary Ireland, tapping into the very collective soul of Irish identity.
In Pages Grecques, Déon explores the multi-layered mythical and factual history of Greek culture. An eastern country responsibility for the civilizations of the West, Greece is saturated by stories on life and love. Employing the gods, muses, and legendary Greek figures, Déon weaves Greece’s dual histories to create a beautiful and inspiring picture of the culture.
La Cour Des Grands follows the life of Arthur Morgan – a man from humble beginnings. The son of an impoverished French widow, Morgan is offered a first class ticket by boat to the United States in 1950. He enacts the elements of the American dream – graduating college, and moving to New York City to become a successful stockbroker. However, when he returns to France in the face of family tragedy, he is forced to reconcile his new life with a past life that – something that proves shocking as he sees what his old friends have become.