Jean d'Ormesson
Jean Bruno Wladimir François-de-Paule Le Fèvre d'Ormesson (born June 16, 1925 in Paris , † December 5, 2017 in Neuilly-sur-Seine ) was a French writer and journalist , member of the Académie française . He was considered the "Nestor of French literary criticism".
Life
D'Ormesson was the son of the French diplomat André Le Fèvre d'Ormesson (1877-1957), who was temporarily attaché in Germany and later the French ambassador in Bucharest and Rio de Janeiro . Because of his political attitude, his father was called "Le Marquis Rouge" and helped many Jews to flee during his time in Germany during the rise of National Socialism. One of the ancestors who had their seat in Ormesson-sur-Marne near Paris since the 16th century was a minister under Louis XVI. , another was rapporteur in the trial of Finance Minister Nicolas Fouquet. His mother Marie Anisson du Perron († 1975) came from the conservative and formerly royalist Le Peletier family, who traditionally provided the presidents of parliament in Paris before the French Revolution. D'Ormesson spent his summer holidays in the castle of the Le Peletier family in Saint-Fargeau , which he portrays in his novel As God pleases (French: Au Plaisir de Dieu ). Further stations in his youth were his father's places of work, Munich and Bavaria (1925–1933), which is why he spoke better German than French in his youth, Bucharest and Rio (from 1937). From 1939 he studied literature, history and philosophy at the école normal supérieure (ENS).
The writer had the reputation of a dandy and was nicknamed "Jean d'O", during his time at Le Figaro "Le petit homme verte", an allusion to the regalia of the academy, or "Le Prince d'Apostrophes". D'Ormesson began his career as a journalist; He published his first article in 1950 with Paris Match , others followed in magazines such as Elle , Marie-Claire , La Nouvelle Revue Française , Le Parisien . From 1952 he was deputy editor-in-chief and from 1971 editor-in-chief of the cosmopolitan intellectual journal Diogène (Diogenes) founded by Roger Caillois .
From 1974 to 1977 d'Ormesson was general director of Le Figaro , for which he also wrote columns. D'Ormesson also appeared frequently on literary programs on French television.
He got an "official" position thanks to the mediation of a friend from university: in 1950 he became general secretary of the "International Council for Philosophy and Humanities" (Conseil international de la philosophie et des sciences humaines) at UNESCO (then seat in the former Hotel Majestic in Paris) , of which he became president in 1992. Ormesson was also cabinet advisor on several occasions (at the Ministry of Education and the Secretary for Youth and Sport) and in several official French delegations, for example to the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1948.
His novels often reflect his social background. For his popular success La Gloire de l'Empire (1971) he received the “ Grand Prix du Roman ” of the Académie française. Another great success was Au Plaisir de Dieu (1974). For Voyez comme on danse (from 2001) he received the Prix Combourg. In addition to novels, he also wrote essays, historical books (for example with others about Jules Mazarin 1959), biographies (such as by Chateaubriand , who, according to himself , was one of his models) and a literary history. His works Au plaisir de Dieu and Mon dernier rêve sera pour vous were filmed for television; in the latter part of the series he took on a small supporting role. In 2012 he played the role of French President in the feature film The Cook and the President in theaters.
From 2002 D'Ormesson was a Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor . He had accepted the medal but refused to wear it. In 1973, he succeeded Jules Romains as a member of the Académie française, at the time the youngest ever appointed member since Maurice Barrès . In 1979 he was elected a corresponding member of the Academia Brasileira de Letras . For Je dirai malgré tout que cette vie fut belle , d'Ormesson was awarded the Prix Saint-Simon in 2016.
His brother Henry d'Ormesson (1921-1995) was a senior administrator and executive at Électricité de France and from 1971 General Inspector of Finance. His uncle Wladimir d'Ormesson (1888–1973) was also a writer and academician as well as ambassador of France in Rome and Buenos Aires.
He was the father of the publisher Héloïse d'Ormesson (* 1962) from the publisher of the same name, in which d'Ormesson also published.
literature
- Philippe Dufay: Jean d'Ormesson. Bartillat, Étrépilly 1997, ISBN 2841000680 .
- Ulrich Wickert : You have to love France to understand it . Hoffmann and Campe, Hamburg 2017, ISBN 978-3-455-50217-6 .
Fonts
- L'Amour est un plaisir , Juillard 1956 (novel)
- Du côté de chez Jean , Juillard 1959 (essay)
- Un amour pour rien , Juillard 1960 (novel)
- Au revoir et merci , Juillard 1966 (essay)
- Les Illusions de la mer , Juillard 1968 (novel)
- La Gloire de l'Empire , Gallimard 1971 (novel, translated into German by Gerhard Heller as Der Glanz des Reiches , Propylaen Verlag, Berlin 1979, ISBN 3-549-05574-9 ; also translated into Italian, English)
- Au plaisir de Dieu , Gallimard 1974 (novel, translated into German by Gerhard Heller as How God likes it , Ullstein Verlag, Berlin; Frankfurt / M. 1994, ISBN 3-548-23383-X )
- Le Vagabond qui passe sous une ombrelle trouée , Gallimard 1978 (essay)
- Dieu, sa vie, son œuvre , Gallimard, 1981 (novel)
- Mon dernier rêve sera pour vous , Editions JC Lattès 1982 (biography of Chateaubriand )
- Jean qui grogne et Jean qui rit , Editions JC Lattès 1984 (chronicles)
- Le Vent du soir , Editions JC Lattès 1985 (Roman, received the Italian Prix Vallombrosa)
- Tous les hommes en sont fous , Editions JC Lattès 1986 (novel)
- Le Bonheur à San Miniato , Editions JC Lattès 1987
- Album Chateaubriand , Gallimard 1988
- Garçon de quoi écrire , Gallimard 1989 (conversations with François Sureau )
- Histoire du juif errant , Gallimard 1991 (novel), translated into German by Reinhard Tiffert as The Legend of the Eternal Jew. Benziger, Zurich 1992, ISBN 3-545-36507-7 .
- Tant que vous penserez à moi , Grasset 1992 (conversations with Emmanuel Berl)
- La Douane de mer , Gallimard 1994 (novel)
- Presque rien sur presque tout , Gallimard 1995 (novel)
- Casimir mène la grande vie , Gallimard 1997 (novel)
- Une autre histoire de la littérature française , Éditions du Nil, Vol. 1 1997, Vol. 2, 1998
- Le Rapport Gabriel , Gallimard 1999 (novel)
- Voyez comme on danse , Robert Laffont 2001
- C'était bien , Gallimard 2003
- Et toi, mon cœur, pourquoi bats-tu? , Robert Laffont 2003 (anthology of French poems, selection by Ormesson, the title is based on a poem by Apollinaire )
- Une fête en larmes , Robert Laffont 2005 (novel)
- La Création du monde , Robert Laffont 2006
- Odeur du temps , Editions Héloïse d'Ormesson 2007
- La vie ne suffit pas , Robert Laffont 2007
- Qu'ai-je donc fait , Editions Robert Laffont 2008
- L'enfant qui attendait un train , 2009, Editions Héloïse d'Ormesson 2009
- Saveur du temps , Editions Héloïse d'Ormesson 2009
- C'est une chose étrange à la fin que le monde , Editions Robert Laffont 2010
- Un jour je m'en irai sans en avoir tout dit , Editions Robert Laffont 2013
- Comme un chant d'espérance , 2014
- Dieu, les affaires et nous, chronique d'un demi-siècle , 2015
- Je dirai malgré tout que cette vie fut belle , Gallimard, 2016
- Guide des égarés , Gallimard, 2016
Web links
- Short biography and list of works of the Académie française (French)
- L'immortel dandy. Contact TV, 2006, archived from the original on January 24, 2011 ; accessed on December 7, 2017 (French).
- Jean d'Ormesson in the Internet Movie Database (English)
References
- ↑ Le “prince des lettres” Jean d'Ormesson est mort . L'Express , December 5, 2017, accessed December 5, 2017 (French).
- ^ Sascha Lehnartz: France: Nicolas Sarkozy on the way to retirement at 57 . welt.de , April 22, 2012, accessed December 5, 2017.
- ↑ In the novel, the castle appears under a pseudonym, Plessis-les-Vaudreuil. The family sold the castle in 1967.
- ↑ Interview in Francois Sureau: Garçon de quoi écrire . Gallimard 1989.
- ^ Marie-Andrée Lamontagne: Le promeneur heureux: Par Marie-Andrée Lamontagne. Contact TV, 2006, archived from the original on January 24, 2011 ; accessed on December 7, 2017 (French).
- ↑ Décret du 12 juillet 2002 portant élévation aux dignités de grand'croix et de grand officier . In: Journal officiel de la République française (JORF) 163, July 14, 2002, p. 12077, reproduced on the Légifrance website , accessed on December 7, 2017 (French).
- ^ Jean d'Ormesson . Académie française , accessed December 7, 2017 (French).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Ormesson, Jean d ' |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Le Fèvre d'Ormesson, Jean Bruno Wladimir François-de-Paule |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French author |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 16, 1925 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Paris |
| DATE OF DEATH | 5th December 2017 |
| Place of death | Neuilly-sur-Seine |