François-Régis Bastide (; 1 July 1926;

Biarritz Biarritz ( , , , ; Basque also ; oc, Biàrritz ) is a city on the Bay of Biscay, on the Atlantic coast in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the French Basque Country in southwestern France. It is located from the border with Spain. ...

– 16 April 1996;

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

) was a French writer, diplomat, politician, and radio host.

Early life

Bastide was born in

in the

French Basque Country The French Basque Country, or Northern Basque Country ( eu, Iparralde (), french: Pays basque, es, País Vasco francés) is a region lying on the west of the French department of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques. Since 1 January 2017, it constitu ...

on 1 July 1926 and attended school in

Bayonne Bayonne (; eu, Baiona ; oc, label= Gascon, Baiona ; es, Bayona) is a city in Southwestern France near the Spanish border. It is a commune and one of two subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine re ...

. In October 1944 he joined the 2nd Armored Division led by General Leclerc and participated in the last phase of the WWII Western Front operations.

Literary career

Bastide published his first book, the novel ''Lettre de Bavière'', in 1947. He continued to publish books regularly and won the Grand Prix de la Critique for his 1953 biographical essay ''Saint-Simon par lui même'' about

Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon, GE (16 January 16752 March 1755), was a French soldier, diplomat, and memoirist. He was born in Paris at the Hôtel Selvois, 6 rue Taranne (demolished in 1876 to make way for the Boulevard Saint-Germain). T ...

and the

Prix Femina The Prix Femina is a French literary prize created in 1904 by 22 writers for the magazine '' La Vie heureuse'' (today known as '' Femina''). The prize is decided each year by an exclusively female jury. They reward French-language works written ...

for his 1956 novel '' Les Adieux''. In 1953 Bastide began a parallel career as a book editor working for the

Éditions du Seuil Éditions du Seuil (), also known as ''Le Seuil'', is a French publishing house established in 1935 by Catholic intellectual Jean Plaquevent (1901–1965), and currently owned by La Martinière Groupe. It owes its name to this goal "The ''seuil'' ...

where he worked for close to thirty years. Bastide also wrote for the theatre (''Siegfried 78'') and for television (most notably ''Le Troisième concerto'' which won the grand prix de la Télévision in 1963 and ''L'Éducation sentimentale'', a mini-series adaptation of

Gustave Flaubert Gustave Flaubert ( , , ; 12 December 1821 – 8 May 1880) was a French novelist. Highly influential, he has been considered the leading exponent of literary realism in his country. According to the literary theorist Kornelije Kvas, "in Flauber ...

's novel ''

Sentimental Education ''Sentimental Education'' (French: ''L'Éducation sentimentale'', 1869) is a novel by Gustave Flaubert. Considered one of the most influential novels of the 19th century, it was praised by contemporaries such as George Sand and Émile Zola, but ...

''). In 1981 Bastide received the Pierre de Régnier Prize of the

Académie française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

for his lifetime achievements.

Radio career

Bastide began his radio career after World War II as a host on " Radio Sarrebruck" then under French military control. Starting in 1949, he worked for the ORTF as a producer and host. He is perhaps best known to the wider French public as one of the original co-hosts (with Michel Polac) of the popular radio talk-show '' Le Masque et la Plume''. The show which features debates about cinema, literature and theatre debuted in 1955 and is still running today on

France Inter France Inter () is a major French public radio channel and part of Radio France. It is a "generalist" station, aiming to provide a wide national audience with a full service of news and spoken-word programming, both serious and entertaining, li ...

. Bastide left the show in 1982.

Political career

Throughout his life, Bastide was active in politics in various ways. From 1968 to 1976, he was the president of the radio producers and presenters section of the powerful

CFDT The French Democratic Confederation of Labour (french: link=no, Confédération française démocratique du travail, CFDT) is a national trade union center, one of the five major French confederations of trade unions, led since 2012 by Laurent B ...

trade union. He was close to the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

which he represented as a city councilor in Biarritz in 1977 and as a national delegate in 1978. He also co-authored the 1978 "Bastide report" which led four years later to the creation of the

Haute Autorité de la communication audiovisuelle Haute may refer to: People * Nicholas Haute (1357 – c.1415), English knight, landowner and politician ** William Haute (MP) (1390-1462), son of Nicholas, Member of Parliament, English politician ** William Hawte Sir William Hawte (also Haute or ...

. After the election of

François Mitterrand François Marie Adrien Maurice Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was President of France, serving under that position from 1981 to 1995, the longest time in office in the history of France. As First Secretary of the Socialist Party, he ...

in the 1981 presidential election he began a diplomatic career and was successively appointed Ambassador to Denmark (1982–85), Ambassador to Austria (1985–88) and Permanent delegate to

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

(1988–90).

Bibliography

The following list may be incomplete

Novels and short stories

* ''Lettre de Bavière'', 1947 * ''La Troisième Personne'', 1948 * ''La Jeune Fille et la mort'', 1950 * ''La Lumière et le fouet'', 1951 * '' Les Adieux'',

1956 (an English translation ''Les Adieux'' was published in 1958 by

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publ ...

) * ''Flora d'Amsterdam'', 1957 * ''La Vie rêvée'', 1962 * ''La Palmeraie'', 1967 * ''La Forêt noire'' – * ''La Fantaisie du voyageur'', 1976 * ''L’Enchanteur et nous'', 1981 * ''L’Homme au désir d’amour lointain'', 1994

Television screenplay

* ''La Forêt noire – Le troisième concerto'', 1968

Essays

* ''Saint-Simon par lui-même'', 1953 (biography of

) * ''Suède'', 1954 * ''Zodiaque, secrets et sortilèges'', 1964

Theatre

* '' Siegfried 78'', 1979

Children's books

* ''Joachim Quelque Chose'', illustrations by Monica Bastide, 1959 * ''Alexis dans la Forêt-Foly'', illustrations by Monica Bastide, 1970

References

External links

*
1994 interview
from the website of Gallimard {{DEFAULTSORT:Bastide, Francois-Regis 1926 births 1996 deaths 20th-century French male writers Ambassadors of France to Austria Ambassadors of France to Denmark Permanent Delegates of France to UNESCO French male screenwriters French screenwriters 20th-century French dramatists and playwrights French radio presenters Socialist Party (France) politicians French Army soldiers People from Biarritz 20th-century French novelists French male novelists Prix Femina winners 20th-century French screenwriters