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Jean d'Ormesson(16 June 1925-5 December 2017)

16/6/2020

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Jean Bruno Wladimir François de Paule Le Fèvre d'Ormesson (16 June 1925 – 5 December 2017) was a French novelist and philosopher. He was the author of forty books, the director of Le Figaro from 1974 to 1979, and the Dean of the Académie Française.

Jean d'Ormesson, parfois surnommé Jean d'O, né le 16 juin 1925 à Paris et mort le 5 décembre 2017 à Neuilly-sur-Seine, est un écrivain, journaliste et philosophe français.

Membre de la famille Lefèvre d'Ormesson, une des familles subsistantes de la noblesse française, propriétaire du château d'Ormesson dans le Val-de-Marne, il descend par sa mère de la famille Lepeletier de Saint-Fargeau, propriétaire du château de Saint-Fargeau dans l'Yonne. Il se voit dispenser un enseignement privilégié et est notamment élève de l'École normale supérieure.
Il est l'auteur d'une quarantaine d'ouvrages, allant de grandes fresques historiques imaginaires (La Gloire de l'Empire, 1971) aux essais philosophiques dans lesquels il partage ses réflexions sur la vie, la mort ou l'existence de Dieu (Je dirai malgré tout que cette vie fut belle, 2016). Il est élu à l'Académie française en 1973. De 1974 à 1977, il est également le directeur général du Figaro.

Considéré pendant plus de quarante ans comme l'ambassadeur médiatique de l'Académie française, il est très présent dans des émissions télévisées littéraires ou plus généralistes, où il est régulièrement invité pour son érudition et son art de la conversation.

Biography

Jean d'Ormesson was born on 16 June 1925 in Paris into an aristocratic family. His father, AAndré Lefèvre, Marquis of Ormesson, was the French ambassador to Brazil.

D'Ormesson grew up in Bavaria, Romania and Brazil. He also spent time at the Château de Saint-Fargeau which belongs to his family. He was raised as a Roman Catholic, and educated at home by his mother, then was admitted to the École normale supérieure; he subsequently passed the agrégation in Philosophy.

D'Ormesson was the author of more than forty books, including novels and plays.

His first novels, L'amour est un plaisir, Un amour pour rien, Les illusions de la mer, were unsuccessful. However, his La gloire de l'Empire won the Grand Prix du roman from the Académie française in 1971. His next novel, Au plaisir de Dieu, was made into a television film. His work was published in Bibliothèque de la Pléiade in 2015, while he was still alive.

D'Ormesson became Secretary-General of the International Council for Philosophy and Humanistic Studies at UNESCO, and the director of the conservative French newspaper Le Figaro from 1974 to 1979.

On 18 October 1973, d'Ormesson was elected a member of the Académie française, taking seat 12, in 1973. On 30 October 2009, he became the Dean of the Académie, its longest-serving member.

D'Ormesson was a Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour, and an officer of the National Order of Merit.

In 2010, he was awarded the Ovid Prize, Romania, in recognition of his body of work.

D'Ormesson married Françoise Béghin in 1962. They had a daughter, Héloïse, an editor.

On 5 December 2017, d'Ormesson died in Neuilly-sur-Seine, at the age of 92. A national tribute was paid on 8 December 2017 in Les Invalides, where French President Emmanuel Macron gave a speech; former presidents Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande were also in attendance.