Maurice Druon
| Maurice Druon | |
|---|---|
Druon in 2003
|
|
| Born |
23 April 1918 Paris, France |
| Died | 14 April 2009 (aged 90) Paris, France |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Nationality | French |
| Period | 1942–2009 |
| Notable awards | • Grand Cross Legion of Honour • Ordre des Arts et des Lettres • Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire • Prix Goncourt • Commemorative medal for voluntary service in Free France |
Maurice Druon (23 April 1918 – 14 April 2009) was a French novelist and a member of the Académie française, of which he served as "Perpetual Secretary" (chairman) between 1985 and 1999.
Born in Paris, France, Druon was the son of Russian-Jewish immigrant Lazare Kessel (1899-1920) and was brought up at La Croix-Saint-Leufroy in Normandy and educated at the lycée Michelet de Vanves. His father committed suicide in 1920 and his mother remarried in 1926; Maurice subsequently took the name of his adoptive father, the lawyer René Druon (1874-1961).
He was the nephew of the writer Joseph Kessel, with whom he translated the Chant des Partisans, a French Resistance anthem of World War II, with music and words (in Russian) originally by Anna Marly. Druon was a member of the Resistance and came to London in 1943 to participate in the BBC's "Honneur et Patrie" programme.
Druon began writing for literary journals at the age of 18. In September 1939, having been called up for military service, he wrote an article for Paris-Soir entitled "J'ai vingt ans et je pars (I am twenty years old and I am leaving)". Following the fall of France in 1940, he was demobilized and remained in the unoccupied zone of France, and his first play, Mégarée, was produced in Monte Carlo in February 1942. He left the same year to join the forces of Charles de Gaulle. Druon became aide de camp to General François d'Astier de La Vigerie.
In 1948 Druon received the Prix Goncourt for his novel Les Grandes Familles, and later published two sequels.
Druon was elected to the 30th seat of the Académie française on 8 December 1966, succeeding Georges Duhamel. He was elected as “Perpetual Secretary” in 1985, but chose to resign the office in late 1999 due to old age; he successfully pushed for Hélène Carrère d'Encausse to succeed him, the first woman to do so, and was styled Honorary Perpetual Secretary after 2000. On the death of Henri Troyat on 2 March 2007, he became the Dean of the Académie, its longest-serving member.
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