Jacques Chardonne
Jacques Chardonne (born Jacques Boutelleau; 2 January 1884, in Barbezieux-Saint-Hilaire, Charente – 29 May 1968, in La Frette-sur-Seine) is the pseudonym of French writer Jacques Boutelleau. He was a member of the so-called Groupe de Barbezieux.
Early life and career[edit]
Raised Protestant, his American Quaker mother was an heiress to the Haviland porcelain dynasty and his father was French. His brother-in-law was of the Delamain cognac dynasty. This informed his trilogy Les Destinées Sentimentales.[1] He was a leader of the Hussards and held in high regard for the award-winning Claire.
World War II[edit]
He supported collaboration with the Vichy and in 1940 produced "Private Chronicle 1940", which favored the submission of Europe to Adolf Hitler.[2] He was a member of the Groupe Collaboration, an initiative that encouraged close cultural ties between France and Germany.[3] In October 1941, Chardonne, with seven other French writers including Pierre Drieu la Rochelle, Marcel Jouhandeau et Robert Brasillach, accepted an invitation from Joseph Goebbels to visit Germany for a Congress of European Writers in Weimar. In his diary during the trip, Chardonne described how he wanted to "make [his] body a fraternal bridge between Germany and France".[4] After World War II he was denounced for Nazi collaboration[5] and spent time in prison.[6] In an article titled "Jacques Chardonne et Mein Kampf" the 'Frenchness' of his writing was also questioned.[7]
Death and rehabilitation[edit]
He died in 1968 after efforts to restore his image. By the 1980s anti-totalitarian journalists like Raymond Aron began to reappraise collaborationist authors like Chardonne.[8] In 1986 his award-winning Claire was made into a TV film[9] and in 2001 Olivier Assayas adapted Les Destinées Sentimentales to film.[10]
Awards[edit]
- 1932 Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française, with Claire (Grasset)
- The Prix Jacques-Chardonne established in 1986 is named after him.
Works (in French)[edit]
- 1921 : L'Épithalame (Paris, librairie Stock et Vienne, Larousse, 1921 ; Grasset, 1929 ; Ferenczi, 1933 ; Albin-Michel, 1951 ; S. C. Edit. Rencontre, Lausanne, 1961 ; L.G.F., 1972 ; Albin-Michel, 1987) ;
- 1927 : Le Chant du Bienheureux (Librairie Stock, 1927 ; Albin-Michel, 1951) ;
- 1929 : Les Varais, dédié à Maurice Delamain (Grasset, 1929 ; Ferenczi et fils, 1932 ; Albin-Michel, 1951 ; Grasset, 1989) ;
- 1930 : Eva ou le journal interrompu, dédié à Camille Belguise, sa seconde épouse (Grasset, 1930 ; Ferenczi et fils, 1935 ; Albin-Michel, 1951 ; Gallimard, 1983) ;
- 1931 : Claire, dédié à Henri Fauconnier (Grasset, 1931 ; Ferenczi et fils, 1936 ; Piazza, 1938 ; Albin-Michel, 1952 ; club du Livre du Mois, 1957 ; Rombaldi, 1975 ; Grasset, 1983) ;
- 1932 : L'Amour du Prochain, dédié « à mon fils Gérard » (Grasset, 1932 ; La Jeune Parque, 1947 ; Albin-Michel, 1955) ;
- 1934 : Les Destinées sentimentales (Grasset, 1934-1936), trilogie : La Femme de Jean Barnery, dédié à Jacques Delamain (id., 1934) ; Pauline (id., 1934) ; Porcelaine de Limoges (id., 1936 ; Grasset, 1947 ; Albin-Michel, 1951 ; L.G.F., 1984)
- 1937 : Romanesques, dédié à Paul Géraldy (Stock, 1937 ; édit. Colbert et Stock, 1943 ; Albin-Michel, 1954 ; La Table Ronde, 1996) ;
- 1937 : L'Amour, c'est beaucoup plus que l'amour, dédié « à Jean Rostand son ami » (Stock, 1937, 1941 ; Albin-Michel, 1957, puis 1992) ;
- 1938 : Le Bonheur de Barbezieux, dédié à Marcel Arland (Stock, 1938, 1943 ; Monaco, édit. du Rocher, 1947 ; Albin-Michel, 1955, Stock, 1980) ;
- 1940 : Chronique privée, dédié « à ma fille France » (Stock, 1940) ;
- Chronique privée de l'an 40, dédié à Maurice Delamain (id.) ;
- 1941 : Voir la Figure - Réflexions sur ce temps, dédié « à mon ami André Thérive (...) souvenirs de l'année 1941 à Paris » (Grasset, 1941) ;
- 1941 : Attachements - Chronique privée (Stock, 1941 ; Albin-Michel, 1955) ;
- 1943 : Le Ciel de Nieflheim, 1943. Extraits publiés dans les Cahiers Jacques-Chardonne No. 2 et 3 ;
- 1948 : Chimériques (Monaco, édit. du Rocher, 1948 et 1992 ; Albin-Michel, 1954) ;
- 1953 : Vivre à Madère (Grasset, 1953 ; Albin-Michel, 1954) ;
- 1954 : Lettres à Roger Nimier et quelques réponses de Roger Nimier (Grasset, 1954 ; Albin Michel, 1955, rééd. Albin Michel, 1986)
- 1956 : Matinales, dédié à André Sabatier (Albin-Michel) ;
- 1959 : Le Ciel dans la fenêtre, dédié à Roger Nimier (Albin-Michel, 1959 ; La Table Ronde, 1998) ;
- 1961 : Femmes - contes choisis et quelques images, dédié à Camille Belguise (Albin-Michel) ;
- 1962 : Détachements, Paris, édit. td - Jean-Paul Caracalla (1962 ; Albin-Michel, 1969) ;
- 1964 : Demi-jour - suite et fin du Ciel dans la fenêtre (Albin-Michel) ;
- 1964 : Catherine (Albin-Michel) ;
- 1966 : Propos comme ça (Grasset).
References[edit]
- ^ A la mode bull in a china shop[dead link]
- ^ The New York Times November 2, 1944
- ^ Karen Fiss, Grand Illusion: The Third Reich, the Paris Exposition, and the Cultural Seduction of France, University of Chicago Press, 2009, p. 204
- ^ Jackson, Julian (2003). France: The Dark Years, 1940-1944. Oxford University Press. p. 206. ISBN 9780191622885.
- ^ "Tally Ho!" article in the September 18. 1944 issue of Time magazine
- ^ Allegories of the War by Philip Watts, pg 44
- ^ Literature and the French Resistance by Margaret Atack, pg 40
- ^ Neither right nor left By Zeev Sternhell, David Maisel; xxvi
- ^ BFI
- ^ Lim, Dennis (May 2009). "In Familial Bric-a-Brac, Finding Himself (Published 2009)". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2017-11-08.
- 1884 births
- 1968 deaths
- People from Barbezieux-Saint-Hilaire
- French Calvinist and Reformed Christians
- Groupe Collaboration members
- French fascists
- French male novelists
- Writers from Nouvelle-Aquitaine
- 20th-century French novelists
- 20th-century French male writers
- Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française winners