Léon Daudet

French journalist (1867–1942)

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Léon Daudet

Born| Alphonse Marie Vincent Léon Daudet
(1867-11-16)16 November 1867
Paris, France
Died| 2 July 1942(1942-07-02) (aged 74)
Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, Bouches-du-Rhône, Vichy France
Occupation| Novelist, essayist, journalist
Nationality| French
Spouse|

Jeanne Hugo

(m. 1891; div. 1895)​

Children| Charles Daudet
Signature

Léon Daudet (French: [dodɛ]; 16 November 1867 – 2 July 1942) was a French journalist, writer, an active monarchist, and a member of the Académie Goncourt.

## Move to the right[edit]

Daudet was born in Paris. His father was the novelist Alphonse Daudet, his mother was Julia Daudet and his younger brother, Lucien Daudet, would also become an artist. He was educated at the Lycée Louis le Grand, and afterwards studied medicine, a profession which he abandoned.[1] Léon Daudet married Jeanne Hugo, the granddaughter of Victor Hugo, in 1891 and thus entered into the higher social and intellectual circles of the French Third Republic. He divorced his wife in 1895 and became a vocal critic of the Republic, the Dreyfusard camp, and of democracy in general.[2]

Daudet in July 1895 edition of The Bookman (New York City)

Together with Charles Maurras (who remained a lifelong friend), he co-founded (1907) and was an editor of the nationalist, integralist periodical Action Française. A deputy from 1919 to 1924, he failed to win election as a senator in 1927 – despite having gained prominence as the voice of the monarchists. When Maurras was released from prison after serving a sentence for verbally attacking Prime Minister Léon Blum, Daudet[3] joined other political leaders Xavier Vallat, Darquier de Pellepoix, and Philippe Henriot to welcome him in the Vel' d'Hiv in July 1937.

## Scandals and later life[edit]

When his son Philippe was discovered fatally shot in 1923, Daudet accused the republican authorities of complicity with anarchist activists in what he believed to be a murder, and lost a lawsuit for defamation brought against him by the driver of the taxi in which Philippe's body was found. That same year, Germaine Berton carried out an assassination against fellow Action Française writer Marius Plateau. Daudet was also a target of this assassination but was not present at the time of the shooting.[4]

Condemned to five months in prison, Daudet fled and was exiled in Belgium, receiving a pardon in 1930. In 1934, during the Stavisky Affair, he was to denounce Prime Minister Camille Chautemps, calling him the "leader of a gang of robbers and assassins". He also showed particular detestation for the subsequent Prime Minister Léon Blum, candidate of a coalition of socialists and other parties of the left.

A supporter of the Vichy administration headed by Marshal Pétain, Léon Daudet died in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence.

## Works[edit]

Novels

* Les Morticoles (1894).
* Le Voyage de Shakespeare (1896).
* Suzanne (1896).
* Sébastien Gouvès (1899).
* Les Deux Étreintes (1901).
* Le Partage de l'Enfant (1905).
* La Mésentente (1911).
* Le Lit de Procuste (1912).
* Le Cœur et l'Absence (1917).
* Dans la Lumière (1919).
* L'Amour est un Songe (1920).
* L'Entremetteuse (1921).
* Le Napus, Fléau de l'an 2227 (1927).
* Les Bacchantes (1931).
* Un Amour de Rabelais (1933).
* Médée (1935).

Essays

* L'Avant-guerre (1915).
* Contre l'Esprit Allemand de Kant à Krupp (1915).
* L'Hérédo, Essai sur le Drame Intérieur (1916).
* La Guerre Totale (1918).
* Le Poignard Dans le Dos: Notes sur l'Affaire Malvy (1918).
* Le Monde des Images: Suite de L'Hérédo (1919).
* Le Stupide XIXe Siècle (1922).
* Notre Provence (with Charles Maurras, 1933).

Pamphlets

* Le Nain de Lorraine - Raymond Poincaré (1930).
* Le Garde des Seaux - Louis Barthou (1930).
* Le Voyou De Passage - Aristide Briand (1930).

Miscellany

* Alphonse Daudet (1898).
* Souvenirs des Milieux Littéraires, Politiques, Artistiques et Médicaux (1914–1921):
* Fantômes et Vivants (1914).
* Devant la Douleur (1915).
* L'Entre-Deux-Guerres (1915).
* Salons et Journaux (1917).
* Au Temps de Judas (1920).
* Vers le Roi (1921).
* La Pluie de Sang (1932).
* Député de Paris (1933).
* Paris Vécu:
* Rive Droite (1929).
* Rive Gauche (1930).
* Quand Vivait mon Père (1940).

Works in English translation

* Alphonse Daudet (1898).
* Memoirs of Léon Daudet (1925).
* The Stupid Nineteenth Century (1928).
* Cloudy Trophy; the Romance of Victor Hugo (1938).
* The Tragic Life of Victor Hugo (1939).
* Clemenceau; a Stormy Life (1940).
* The Napus: The Great Plague of the Year 2227 (translated, annotated and introduced by Brian Stableford, 2013).
* The Bacchantes: A Dionysian Scientific Romance (translated, annotated and introduced by Brian Stableford, 2013).

Selected articles

* "The Overthrow of German Military Prestige," The Living Age, Vol. 302 (1919).
* "The Stupid Nineteenth Century," The Living Age, Vol. 312 (1922).
* "Sulla and His Destiny," The Living Age, Vol. 315 (1922).
* "Maeterlinck's Book on Ants," The Living Age, Vol. 339 (1930).
* "My Father Alphonse," The Living Age, Vol. 339 (1930).

## References[edit]

1. ^ "Daudet, Léon." In: Encyclopædia Britannica, Vol. XXX. London: The Encyclopædia Britannica Company, 1922, p. 808 ***Please note that a wikilink to the article in EB1922 entitled [Daudet, Léon] is not available*** .
2. ^ Beum, Robert (1997). "Ultra-Royalism Revisited: An Annotated Bibliography," Modern Age, Vol. 39, No. 3, p. 304.
3. ^ Paxton, Robert (1995). Vichy France and the Jews. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, p. 250.
4. ^ "« Ce n'est pas rien de tuer un homme » ou le crime politique de Germaine Berton". Radio France (in French). 29 August 2017. Retrieved 4 June 2022.

## Further reading[edit]

French and Francophone literature

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Portals

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* Alden, Douglas William (1940). Marcel Proust and his French Critics. Los Angeles, Calif.: Lymanhouse.
* Bertaut, Jules (1906). "Léon Daudet." In: Chroniqueurs et Polémistes. Paris: E. Sansot, pp. 255–274.
* Bertaut, Jules (1936). Paris 1870–1935. New York: D. Appleton Company.
* Buell, Raymond Leslie (1920). Contemporary French Politics. New York: D. Appleton and Company.
* Chassaigne, J. Coudurier de (1917). "Léon Daudet: A Prophet in France," Land & Water, Vol. LXIX, No. 2887, pp. 9–10.
* Griggs, Arthur Kingsland (1925). Memoirs of Leon Daudet. New York: The Dial Press.
* Guillou, Robert (1918). Leon Daudet, son Caractère, ses Romans, sa Politique. Paris: Société d'Éditions Levé.
* Kershaw, Alister (1988). An Introduction to Léon Daudet, with Selections from His Writings. Francestown, New Hampshire: Typographeum Press ISBN 0-930126-23-8.
* Leeds, Stanton B. (1940). "Daudet and Reaction." In: These Rule France. Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, pp. 236–247.
* MacMahon, A. (1912). "Catholic Ideals in Modern French Fiction," The American Catholic Quarterly Review, Vol. 37, pp. 697–717.
* Muret, Charlotte (1933). French Royalist Doctrines since the Revolution. New York: Columbia University Press.
* Scheifley, W.H. (1921). "Léon Daudet, Defender of Church and State," The Catholic World, Vol. CXII, pp. 157–170.
* Weber, Eugen (1962). Action Française: Royalism and Reaction in Twentieth-Century France. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press ISBN 0-8047-0134-2.

## External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Léon Daudet.

Wikisource has original works by or about:
Léon Daudet

* Works by or about Léon Daudet at Internet Archive
* Works by Léon Daudet, at Hathi Trust
* Works by Léon Daudet, at Europeana
* Works by Léon Daudet, at Gallica
* Newspaper clippings about Léon Daudet in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW

* v
* t
* e

Action Française

Key people|

| Before 1945|

* Jacques Bainville
* Léon Daudet
* Louis Dimier
* Charles Maurras
* Lucien Moreau
* Marius Plateau
* Maurice Pujo
* Georges Valois
* Henri Vaugeois
* George de Villebois-Mareuil

|

After 1945|

* Pierre Boutang
* Pierre Pujo

Organisations|

* Camelots du Roi
* Cercle Proudhon

Related|

* Acción Española
* Hussards
* Je suis partout
* Maurrassisme
* La Nation française
* Nouvelle Action Royaliste
* Philippe Daudet affair

* v
* t
* e

Far-right politics in France

Precursors|

* Bonald
* Boulanger
* de Gobineau
* de Maistre
* Drumont
* de Lapouge

Pre-1945 groups|

* Action Française
* Antisemitic League of France
* Breton National Party
* Camelots du Roi
* Croix-de-Feu
* Faisceau
* French National-Collectivist Party
* French Popular Party
* Jeunesses Patriotes
* La Cagoule
* Ligue des Patriotes
* Milice
* Mouvement Franciste
* National Popular Rally
* Revolutionary Social Movement
* Service d'ordre légionnaire
* Solidarité Française

Pre-1945 people|

* Barrès
* Bainville
* Benoist-Méchin
* Bonnard
* Brasillach
* Bucard
* Clémenti
* Coston
* Darnard
* Daudet
* Déat
* Deloncle
* Déroulède
* Dorgères
* Doriot
* Drieu La Rochelle
* Guénon
* Laval
* Maulnier
* Maurras
* Maxence
* Ousset
* Pétain
* Plateau
* Pujo
* Rebatet
* Vallat
* Vaugeois

Defunct
post-1945 groups|

* Charles Martel Group
* Europe-Action
* European Rally for Liberty
* Fédération d'action nationale et européenne
* Federation of Nationalist Students
* French and European Nationalist Party
* Front Algérie Française
* Groupe Union Défense
* Jeune Nation
* L'Œuvre Française
* Nouvelle Résistance
* Occident
* Ordre Nouveau
* Organisation Armée Secrète
* Party of New Forces
* Phalange Française
* Radical Network
* Rassemblement National Français
* Revolutionary Nationalist Groups
* Troisième Voie
* Unité Radicale

Active groups|

* Action Française
* Adsav
* AGRIF
* Alsace First
* Association for the Defence of the Memory of Marshal Pétain
* Cité catholique
* Civitas
* Carrefour de l'Horloge
* Debout la France
* Equality and Reconciliation
* Europe-Jeunesse
* The Nationalists
* French Renewal
* Generation Identity
* GRECE
* League of the South
* National Council of European Resistance
* National Republican Movement
* Party of France
* Rassemblement National
* Reconquête
* Sovereignty, Identity and Freedoms
* Terre et Peuple
* The Patriots

Post-1945 people|

* Aliot
* Antony
* Ayoub
* Bardèche
* Bardella
* Bay
* Benedetti
* Binet
* Bompard
* Bouchet
* Bousquet
* Blot
* Brigneau
* Briois
* Camus
* Coston
* de Benoist
* de Lesquen
* Dior
* Duprat
* Faye
* Fredriksen
* Gollnisch
* Holeindre
* Jalkh
* Lang
* Le Gallou
* Le Pen (Jean-Marie)
* Le Pen (Marine)
* Luce
* Maribe
* Malliarakis
* Maréchal
* Mégret
* Ménard
* Messiha
* Philippot
* Pujo
* Rachline
* Ravier
* Reynouard
* Saint-Loup
* Sidos
* Soral
* Stirbois
* Susini
* Tixier-Vignancour
* Venner
* Vial
* Zemmour

Ideologies and movements|

* Boulangisme
* Maurrassisme
* Nouvelle Droite
* Pétainism
* Révolution nationale

Active publications and media|

* Boulevard Voltaire
* Éléments
* Minute
* National-Hebdo [fr]
* Nouvelle École
* Présent
* Radio Courtoisie
* Rivarol
* TV-Libertés

Notable events|

* Dreyfus affair
* Franco-Prussian War (Revanchism)
* 6 February 1934 crisis
* Vichy France
* Algerian War (Algiers putsch of 1961)

Authority control databases

International|

* FAST
* ISNI
* VIAF

National|

* Norway
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* BnF data
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* Germany
* Italy
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* Australia
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* Netherlands
* Poland
* Portugal
* Vatican

Academics|

* CiNii

People|

* Deutsche Biographie
* Sycomore
* Trove

Other|

* SNAC
* IdRef

*[m.]: married
*[div.]: divorced
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