Paul Morand (13 March 1888 – 24 July 1976) was a French author whose short stories and novellas were lauded for their style, wit and descriptive power.
Morand was a graduate of the Paris Institute of Political Studies, preparing him for a diplomatic career, and also attended Oxford University.
Morand made four bids for admission to the prestigious Académie française and was finally accepted in 1968, over the protest of Charles de Gaulle.
Jules Massenet, composer of popular operas of the era, sculptor Auguste Rodin and writer Oscar Wilde were guests.
[5] Morand served briefly in the military prior to the outbreak of World War I, but managed to avoid active service in the hostilities and was assigned to the reserve corps.
Morand, like his compatriot, French politician Joseph Caillaux, was committed to effectuating a conciliatory relationship with the Germans and, in essence, the negotiation of a separate peace.
[3] Morand had been hired to collaborate with Alexandre Arnoux on a scenario for a proposed project, Don Quichotte, to star the opera singer Feodor Chaliapin.
Herbert L. Matthews, writing for the newspaper, criticized the Morand/Arnoux script but called it "an admirable film", attributable to the talents of director G. W. Pabst and its lead player Chaliapin.
He penned a veiled, antisemitic, "xenophobic diatribe" titled "France la Doulce", replete with quaint, antique vocabulary.
[3] In October 1933, he wrote an article for a new weekly periodical edited by Henri Massis, who had a long-standing alliance with the antisemitic, political monarchists, Action Française.
In a prime position to ally himself with Charles de Gaulle and the Free French Forces, Morand instead deserted his post.
Such a defection was in keeping with Morand's ideology, his long-term admiration for Philippe Pétain, and his association with the daughter of Pierre Laval, the Comtesse de Chambrun.
Morand and his pro-German wife welcomed into their Paris mansion the artists sanctioned and lauded by the Nazi regime, such as Arno Breker, Hitler's favorite sculptor.
[3] Morand became an inspirational figure for a literary group who espoused their views in the anti-existentialist journal The Hussards, founded by his friend Roger Nimier.
Morand ultimately was granted membership in 1968 but was denied the formal ceremonies that traditionally accompanied the investiture of new members, and de Gaulle refused to receive him at the Elysée Palace.
With the publication of two volumes of poetry, Lampes à arc (Arc-Lamps) and Feuilles de température, (Temperature Records), he gained attention and praise that garnered renewed interest in his earlier work.
He attended soirees which featured such American cultural notables as Carl Van Vechten, F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda, Louise Bryant and her future husband, diplomat William Bullitt.
The stories reflected an urban ennui and disillusionment felt by those leading lives fueled by intense emotions and hedonistic self-indulgence.
Georges Lemaître wrote in 1938: "Beyond any doubt Morand is the most typical representative and interpreter of French literature today...His defects and merits, are they not the defects and merits of the world today..." Supporters and enthusiasts of Morand, Cocteau and André Breton appreciated his "spiteful humour and surreal urban poetry, and aphoristic prose."
In these works Morand was making a case for himself; his fictional characters serving as proxies for an apologist justification of his own wartime activity.
"...Many of Morand's historical figures...[can be] likened to a comedian, accidentally thrust into the unfolding drama of history...a comedy of errors...[the characters] merely symbols."
While recognized for his technique, the content of his work has been faulted for its lack of insightful analysis of a people in cultural context, instead relying on generalizations and stereotype.
His work speaks to the Morand's writing disclosed his "nostalgia for authority and order" which in his view, was under threat by the insistent forces of democracy.