Michel Déon
| Michel Déon | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | Édouard Michel 4 August 1919 Paris, France |
| Died | 28 December 2016 (aged 97) Galway, Republic of Ireland |
| Occupation | Writer, playwright, editor |
| Language | French |
| Genre | Novels, essays, theater |
| Literary movement | Hussards |
| Notable works |
Les Poneys sauvages (1970) Un taxi mauve (1973) The Foundling Boy (1975) |
| Notable awards |
Prix Interallié Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française Commander of the Legion of Honour Académie française, Seat 8 |
Michel Déon (French: [deɔ̃]; 4 August 1919 – 28 December 2016) was a French novelist and literary columnist. He published over 50 works and was the recipient of numerous awards, including the Prix Interallié for his 1970 novel, Les Poneys sauvages (The Wild Ponies). Déon's 1973 novel Un taxi mauve received the Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française. His novels have been translated into numerous languages.
He is considered to have been one of the most innovative French writers of the 20th century. In 1978, Déon was elected to the Académie française.
Michel Déon was born in Paris on 4 August 1919, the only child of a civil servant and his wife. His father took his family along on the many foreign trips his work required, stimulating his son's interest in travel and cross-cultural relations that came to define his writings. Déon's father died in 1933 while on assignment in Monaco serving as advisor to Prince Louis. He and his mother returned to Paris, where Déon attended the Lycée Janson-de-Sailly. Although he was passionate about literature and journalism, Déon acquiesced to familial pressure and studied law in college.
Born just one year after the end of World War I, he adopted the pacifism popular with many others of his generation. When drafted into the French military, he was assigned to the 152nd regiment under General de Lattre and served alongside Charles Maurras, a member of the Académie française since 1938. He joined Maurras in championing Action Française, a counter-revolutionary, monarchist political movement. Maurras instilled in him an intense distaste for both democracy and fascism. Déon says that freedom is his highest value, both in life and for the individual.
At the end of World War II, Déon returned to Paris to dedicate himself to a literary career. He first worked for a series of small-press French newspapers to support himself while drafting a novel and short stories. His first collection of short stories, Adieux à Sheila, was published in 1944.
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