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'' (194 ...

Early life

René Ballet was born in 1928 in

Saint-Étienne Saint-Étienne (; Franco-Provençal: ''Sant-Etiève''), also written St. Etienne, is a city and the prefecture of the Loire département, in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regi ...

, France. He grew up in

Grenoble Grenoble ( ; ; or ; or ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Isère Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region ...

, where he earned a bachelor of laws from the

University of Grenoble The (, ''Grenoble Alps University'', abbr. UGA) is a Grands établissements, ''grand établissement'' in Grenoble, France. Founded in 1339, it is the third largest university in France with about 60,000 students and over 3,000 researchers. Es ...

. Ballet joined the

French Resistance The French Resistance ( ) was a collection of groups that fought the German military administration in occupied France during World War II, Nazi occupation and the Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy#France, collaborationist Vic ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Career

Ballet joined the

French Communist Party The French Communist Party (, , PCF) is a Communism, communist list of political parties in France, party in France. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its Member of the European Parliament, MEPs sit with The Left in the ...

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

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

finance Finance refers to monetary resources and to the study and Academic discipline, discipline of money, currency, assets and Liability (financial accounting), liabilities. As a subject of study, is a field of Business administration, Business Admin ...

and then in national education. 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. Fiat S.p.A., or ''Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino'' (Italian Automobile Factory of Turin), was an Italian holding company whose original and core activities were in the automotive industry, and that was succeeded by Fiat Chrysler Automobil ...

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 ( , "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 of only 10 euros, but resul ...

(awarded to Michel Host for ''Valet de nuit'' instead). His 1994 novel, ''L'hôtel des deux gares'', was about a

collaborationist Wartime collaboration is cooperation with the enemy against one's country of citizenship in wartime. As historian Gerhard Hirschfeld says, it "is as old as war and the occupation of foreign territory". The term ''collaborator'' dates to the 19th ...

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 military officer and politician who was the dictator of Military dictatorship of Chile, Chile from 1973 to 1990. From 1973 to 1981, he was the leader ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

. 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 Paris Descartes University (), also known as Paris V, was a French public university located in Paris. It was one of the inheritors of the historic University of Paris, which was split into 13 universities in 1970. Paris Descartes completely merg ...

. They resided between Paris,

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million La Chapelle-Fortin La Chapelle-Fortin () is a commune in the Eure-et-Loir department in northern France. Geography The Commune along with another 70 communes shares part of a 47,681 hectare, Natura 2000 conservation area, called the Forêts et étangs du Perche ...

. 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 Fr ...

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