André Chamson (6 June 1900 – 9 November 1983) was a French archivist, novelist and essayist. He was nominated for the

Nobel Prize in Literature The Nobel Prize in Literature, here meaning ''for'' Literature (), is a Swedish literature prize that is awarded annually, since 1901, to an author from any country who has, in the words of the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, "in ...

. He was the father of the novelist Frédérique Hébrard.

Biography

Chamson was born at

Nîmes Nîmes ( , ; ; Latin: ''Nemausus'') is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Gard Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region of Southern France. Located between the Med ...

Gard Gard () is a department in Southern France, located in the region of Occitanie. It had a population of 748,437 as of 2019;École des chartes École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * Éco ...

, as an archiviste paléographe (graduation 1924), he was the founder-director of the journal ''Vendredi'' and a museum curator before the Second World War. In July 1937 he attended the Second International Writers' Congress, the purpose of which was to discuss the attitude of intellectuals to the war in Spain, held in

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

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and

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and attended by many writers including

André Malraux Georges André Malraux ( ; ; 3 November 1901 – 23 November 1976) was a French novelist, art theorist, and minister of cultural affairs. Malraux's novel ''La Condition Humaine'' (''Man's Fate'') (1933) won the Prix Goncourt. He was appointed ...

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway ( ; July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer and journalist. Known for an economical, understated style that influenced later 20th-century writers, he has been romanticized fo ...

Stephen Spender Sir Stephen Harold Spender (28 February 1909 – 16 July 1995) was an English poet, novelist and essayist whose work concentrated on themes of social injustice and the class struggle. He was appointed U.S. Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry ...

and

Pablo Neruda Pablo Neruda ( ; ; born Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto; 12 July 190423 September 1973) was a Chilean poet-diplomat and politician who won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature. Neruda became known as a poet when he was 13 years old an ...

. After the War he was on the editorial board of the magazine ''

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

'' at the time of its revival in 1946; he was a curator at the Musée du Petit Palais, and (from 1959 to 1971) director of the Archives de France. He was President of

PEN International PEN International (known as International PEN until 2010) is a worldwide professional association, association of writers, founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere. The association ...

, the worldwide association of writers, from 1956 to 1959. He was elected to the

Académie Française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

on 17 May 1956 by 18 votes – including

Jules Romains Jules Romains (born Louis Henri Jean Farigoule; 26 August 1885 – 14 August 1972) was a French poet and writer and the founder of the Unanimism literary movement. His works include the play '' Knock ou le Triomphe de la médecine'', and a cyc ...

, André Maurois and Georges Duhamel – to succeed Ernest Seillière. In 1958, he was elected mainteneur of the Académie des Jeux floraux. A Protestant, generous and sociable in both his life and his writing, he set most of his tales in the

Cévennes The Cévennes ( , ; ) is a cultural region and range of mountains in south-central France, on the south-east edge of the Massif Central. It covers parts of the '' départements'' of Ardèche, Gard, Hérault and Lozère. Rich in geographical, ...

, his birthplace (''Roux le bandit'', 1925; ''Les Hommes de la route'', 1927; ''Le Crime des justes'', 1928; ''L'Auberge de l'Abîme'', 1933; ''La Neige et la Fleur'', 1951; ''La Tour de Constance'', 1970). He spoke seven times at the Assemblées du Désert (1935, 1954, 1958, 1967, 1972, 1975 and 1979), an annual gathering of Protestants held on the first Sunday of September on the grounds of the

Musée du Désert Le Musée du Désert is a museum dedicated to the history of Protestantism in France, particularly in the Cévennes. Its name refers to the ''Désert (Protestantism), Désert'', the period between the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes and the Edict ...

, at the village of Mas Soubeyran in the

Gard Gard () is a department in Southern France, located in the region of Occitanie. It had a population of 748,437 as of 2019;Valleraugue, overlooking the Taleyrac valley.

References

External links

Académie française

PEN International
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chamson 1900 births 1983 deaths Writers from Nîmes French Calvinist and Reformed Christians French archivists 20th-century French novelists 20th-century French male writers French male essayists French male novelists 20th-century French essayists Comité de vigilance des intellectuels antifascistes École Nationale des Chartes alumni Members of the Académie Française French Resistance members Prix Blumenthal Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour Grand Officers of the Ordre national du Mérite Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Commandeurs of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques