Lucien Bodard (9 January 1914 – 2 March 1998) was a French reporter and writer on events in Asia.

Life

Bodard was born on January 9, 1914, in

Chongqing Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Romanization, alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a Direct-administered municipalities of China, municipality in Southwes ...

(central China) to the French

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throug ...

Albert Bodard, who was stationed several years in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, i.e. in

Chengdu Chengdu (, ; Simplified Chinese characters, simplified Chinese: 成都; pinyin: ''Chéngdū''; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively Romanization of Chi ...

Kunming Kunming (; ), also known as Yunnan-Fu, is the capital and largest city of Yunnan province, China. It is the political, economic, communications and cultural centre of the province as well as the seat of the provincial government. The headquar ...

and

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

. He grew up with the

Chinese language Chinese (, especially when referring to written Chinese) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and many minority ethnic groups in Greater China. About 1.3 billion people (or approximately 16% of the wor ...

and spoke

Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

fluently as a child. Later on, he moved to

and

after his father was positioned there. Before he reached adolescence, his mother decided to send Bodard back to France to study in a "decent school". His experience and knowledge of Asian cultures, mostly Chinese and Vietnamese, gave him a unique perspective on events that shook the Asian world during the first half of the twentieth century. In 1944, he began his career as journalist and was sent to the

Far East The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons. The ter ...

to cover various topics such as the south-east Asian war and the rise of communist China,

First Indochina war The First Indochina War (generally known as the Indochina War in France, and as the Anti-French Resistance War in Vietnam) began in French Indochina from 19 December 1946 to 20 July 1954 between France and Việt Minh (Democratic Republic of Vi ...

. He progressively became one of the most famous French war correspondents for his work during the first French Indochina war and then the beginning of the American Vietnam war, wars which he later described in several books. As he grew older, in the 1970s, he started writing novels which were essentially based on his knowledge of Asia, starting with his souvenirs when he was a child in China. His rich, baroque, detailed and sometimes humoristic style drew broad applause, and he won several French literary prizes, including the

Prix Interallié The prix Interallié (Interallié Prize), also known simply as ''l'Interallié'', is an annual French literary award, awarded for a novel written by a journalist. History The prize was started on 3 December 1930 by about thirty or so journal ...

for "Monsieur le consul", a book on his father while he was the French Consul in

and the

Prix Goncourt The Prix Goncourt (french: Le prix Goncourt, , ''The Goncourt Prize'') is a prize in French literature, given by the académie Goncourt to the author of "the best and most imaginative prose work of the year". The prize carries a symbolic reward o ...

for "Anne Marie", a book on the life and personality of his mother. His last book, "Le chien de Mao" (Mao's Dog), on

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ...

's third wife

Jiang Qing Jiang Qing (19 March 191414 May 1991), also known as Madame Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary, actress, and major political figure during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976). She was the fourth wife of Mao Zedong, the Chairman o ...

, was published in 1998, the year of his death. He has been often compared to two other famous 20th century French journalists and novelists,

Albert Londres Albert Londres (1 November 1884 – 16 May 1932) was a French journalist and writer. One of the inventors of investigative journalism, Londres not only reported news but created it, and reported it from a personal perspective. He criticized abu ...

and

Joseph Kessel Joseph Kessel (10 February 1898 – 23 July 1979), also known as "Jef", was a French journalist and novelist. He was a member of the Académie française and Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour. Biography Kessel was born to a Argentine Jews, Je ...

Notable books

* '' The Quicksand War: Prelude to Vietnam'' (1963) * '' La Guerre d'Indochine'' (1965-1967) * Monsieur Le Consul (Paris,: B. Grasset, 1973) translated: The French Consul (New York:Knopf, 1977) * ''Le Fils Du Consul'' (Paris: Grasset, 1975) ''The Consul's Son'' (1975) * ''Anne-Marie'' (1981) * '' Le Chien de Mao'' (1998)

Filmography

Biography

Olivier Weber Olivier Weber (born 1958) is a French writer, novelist and reporter at large, known primarily for his coverage of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has been a war correspondent for twenty-five years, especially in Central Asia, Africa, Middl ...

, ''Lucien Bodard, Un aventurier dans le siècle'', Plon, 1997, 1021 pages

Documentary

* ''Lucien Bodard, dit Lulu le Chinois'', a film from

and Michel Vuillermet, France 5, 1998
Documentary 52': Lucien Bodard

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bodard, Lucien 1914 births 1998 deaths Writers from Chongqing French war correspondents French travel writers 20th-century French writers 20th-century French male writers 20th-century French journalists French sinologists French historical novelists Prix Goncourt winners Prix Interallié winners Burials at Montparnasse Cemetery French male non-fiction writers French expatriates in China