François Bondy (1 January 1915 – 27 May 2003) was a Swiss journalist and novelist.

Biography

François Bondy was born on 1 January 1915 in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. As a pupil at the ''lycée de Nice'' (1928–1933), he became one of the friends of

Romain Gary Romain Gary (; 2 December 1980), born Roman Kacew () and also known by the pen name Émile Ajar, was a French novelist, diplomat, film director, and World War II aviator. He is the only author to have won the Prix Goncourt twice (once under a ps ...

, then Roman Kacew.

Career

He worked for Swiss and German newspapers and was reputed for his political commentaries. He translated all of Ionesco's books into German. In 1940, Bondy worked for ''

Die Weltwoche ''Die Weltwoche'' (, "The World Week") is a Swiss weekly magazine based in Zürich. Founded in 1933, it has been privately owned by Roger Köppel since 2006. The magazine's regular columnists include the former president of the Social Democrati ...

''; in 1950, he joined the

Congress for Cultural Freedom The Congress for Cultural Freedom (CCF) was an anti-communist cultural organization founded on 26 June 1950 in West Berlin. At its height, the CCF was active in thirty-five countries. In 1966 it was revealed that the Central Intelligence Agency w ...

and established the monthly magazine '' Preuves'' in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. From 1970, he lived in

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

. Bondy was the first Western intellectual who promoted among others the work of the Polish exile writer

Witold Gombrowicz Witold Marian Gombrowicz (August 4, 1904 – July 24, 1969) was a Polish writer and playwright. His works are characterised by deep psychological analysis, a certain sense of paradox and absurd, anti-nationalism, anti-nationalist flavor. In 1937, ...

.see Note sur "Ferdydurke", ''Preuves'' 32/1953

Death

He died on 27 May 2003 in

Bibliography

Articles

*"Letter from Paris: Two French Voices" ''Quadrant'' 1/1 (Summer 1956/57): 63–66.

External links

20th-century Swiss male writers 20th-century Swiss journalists 20th-century Swiss novelists 1915 births 2003 deaths Journalists from Berlin Swiss magazine founders Swiss male novelists Members of the German Academy for Language and Literature {{switzerland-journalist-stub