Maurice Druon

Maurice Druon (23 April 1918 – 14 April 2009) was a French novelist and a member of the Académie française, of which he served as "Perpetual Secretary" (chairman) between 1985 and 1999. Born in Paris, France, Druon was the son of Russian-Jewish immigrant Lazare Kessel (1899–1920) and was brought up at La Croix-Saint-Leufroy in Normandy and educated at the lycée Michelet de Vanves. His father committed suicide in 1920 and his mother remarried in 1926; Maurice subsequently took the name of his adoptive father, the lawyer René Druon (1874–1961). He was the nephew of the writer Joseph Kessel, with whom he translated the Chant des Partisans, a French Resistance anthem of World War II, with music and words (in Russian) originally by Anna Marly. Druon was a member of the Resistance and came to London in 1943 to participate in the BBC's "Honneur et Patrie" programme. Druon began writing for literary journals at the age of 18. In September 1939, having been called up for military service, he...