René Ballet (1928 – 2 January 2017) was a French journalist, novelist and essayist. A communist, he was an international correspondent for '' L’Humanité''. He was the author of 14 novels and 35 essays, many of which were about

Roger Vailland Roger Vailland (16 October 1907 – 12 May 1965) was a French novelist, essayist, and screenwriter. Biography Vailland was born in Acy-en-Multien, Oise. His novels include the prize winning ''Drôle de jeu'' (1945), ''Les mauvais coups'' (1948) ...

Early life

René Ballet was born in 1928 in Saint-Étienne, France. He grew up in

Grenoble lat, Gratianopolis , commune status = Prefecture and commune , image = Panorama grenoble.png , image size = , caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...

, where he earned a bachelor of laws from the

University of Grenoble The Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA, French: meaning "''Grenoble Alps University''") is a public research university in Grenoble, France. Founded in 1339, it is the third largest university in France with about 60,000 students and over 3,000 resea ...

. Ballet joined the

French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Career

Ballet joined the

French Communist Party The French Communist Party (french: Parti communiste français, ''PCF'' ; ) is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its MEPs sit in the European Un ...

Vanves Vanves () is a commune in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. It is one of the most densely populated municipalities in Europe and the tenth in France History On 1 January 1860, the city of Paris ...

near Paris in the 1960s. He started his career as a civil servant in Paris in 1961, first in finance and then in

national education Moral and national education (MNE), initially known as Moral and civic education (MCE), was a school curriculum proposed by the Education Bureau of Hong Kong in 2012. The subject was controversial for its stance on the Chinese Communist Part ...

. Ballet became a journalist, and he mostly wrote for the automobile press. He also appeared on television as a contributor. He then became the editor-in-chief of ''Constellation'', a Franco-Swiss magazine. From 1971 to 1978, he worked as a communications manager for Fiat S.p.A. He became an international correspondent for '' L’Humanité'', a communist newspaper, and its Sunday newspaper, ''L’Humanité Dimanche'', in 1978. Ballet was the author of 14 novels and 35 essays. He published his first novel, ''Echec et Mat'', in 1960. His 1986 novel, ''L'organidrame'', was selected for 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 ...

(awarded to Michel Host for ''Valet de nuit'' instead). His 1994 novel, ''L'hôtel des deux gares'', was about a collaborationist in Paris during World War II. His 2002 novel, ''Retour à Santopal'', was based on his career as a correspondent under

Augusto Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (, , , ; 25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean general who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, first as the leader of the Military Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981, being declared President of ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. Ballet also published research about the works of

. He was also the co-founder and vice-president of the Association Roger Vailland in 1995. Moreover, he served on the editorial board of the ''Cahiers Roger Vailland''. Ballet was the co-founder of Le Temps des Cerises, a publishing house, in 1993. He was the founding editor-in-chief of '' La Revue Commune'' in 1996. He became an honorary citizen of Vanves in 2004.

Personal life and death

Ballet was married to Simone Ballet, a professor of economics and law at Paris Descartes University. They resided between Paris,

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard dialect, Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agg ...

and La Chapelle-Fortin. They attended the

Fête de l'Humanité The fête de l'Humanité (; ''English: Festival of Humanity'') is an event organised annually by French daily newspaper ''L'Humanité'' in order to fund itself. It is the largest popular gathering in France. L'Humanité was created in 1904 by Fre ...

annually. Ballet died on 2 January 2017, at the age of 88.

Selected works

Novels

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Non-fiction

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References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ballet, Rene 1928 births 2017 deaths Writers from Grenoble Grenoble Alpes University alumni Communist members of the French Resistance 20th-century French journalists 20th-century French novelists 20th-century French male writers 21st-century French novelists French male novelists 20th-century French essayists French Communist Party members