45 Facts About Paul Morand

Paul Morand was a French author whose short stories and novellas were lauded for their style, wit and descriptive power.

Paul Morand was much admired by the upper echelons of society and the artistic avant-garde who made him a cult favorite.

Paul Morand has been categorized as an early Modernist and Imagist.

Paul Morand was typical of those in his social group who enjoyed lives of privilege and entitlement, adhering to the inevitability and desirability of class distinction.

Paul Morand was a patron and inspirational figure for the Hussards literary movement, which opposed existentialism.

Paul Morand made four bids for admission to the prestigious Academie francaise and was finally accepted in 1968, over the protest of Charles de Gaulle.

Source material indicates that Paul Morand was born in Russia to French parents who subsequently moved to Paris.

The elder Paul Morand was a curator at the Louvre and served as director of the Ecole des Arts Decoratifs.

The Paul Morand home was a gathering place for the social elite and those notable in the arts and literature.

Paul Morand's father allied himself with those who believed in the innocence of Alfred Dreyfus.

Paul Morand was ingrained with a deep pessimism, influenced by his father's cautionary advice to "be always distrustful".

Paul Morand was an intellectual proponent of Friedrich Nietzsche, and Oswald Spengler, espousing the philosophers' belief in the decadence and decline of civilization.

Paul Morand was influenced by the writing of Joseph Arthur de Gobineau, an aristocrat who presented his case for the superiority of the white race in an essay written in 1853, "Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races".

Paul Morand often dined at the Hotel Ritz in the company of Marcel Proust and his confidante, the Princess Helene Soutzo.

Paul 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.

Paul Morand's wealth allowed Morand to travel and indulge his interests in fast cars, fine horses and women.

Paul Morand frequented the theatres, attended and gave lavish entertainments, and dined in the best restaurants.

Paul Morand spent 1914 to 1918 living alternately in England, Rome, Madrid and Paris.

Paul Morand wrote of his political sympathies during World War I in a journal he kept in 1916 and 1917, which appeared in a volume that was not published until 1948.

In 1925, Paul Morand was posted in the French legation in Bangkok, Thailand.

Paul Morand used this posting as a jumping off point for extensive travel.

Paul Morand documented his perceptions, filtered through a mindset of the privileged European who lived to the fullest a life of entitlement.

Paul Morand disparaged the cultures of countries through which his travels took him.

Paul Morand had strong theories on race, decrying that the world was becoming a "foul age of the half-caste".

Paul 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.

Paul Morand penned a veiled, antisemitic, "xenophobic diatribe" titled "France la Doulce", replete with quaint, antique vocabulary.

Paul Morand alerted the French populace to the peril that was forthcoming:.

Paul Morand relocated to Vichy and swore allegiance to the Vichy government.

Paul Morand divided his time between Paris and Vichy, moving freely between the occupied and collaborationist sections of France.

Paul Morand spent his time using his stature to benefit his own interests and plunder the embassy.

Paul Morand was transferred to Bern, Switzerland, where he and his wife remained after the war.

Paul Morand spent the following years residing in Switzerland, Tangiers, the Hotel de Crillon, and his wife's opulent Paris home.

Paul 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.

Paul Morand had sought election into the Academie francaise in 1939 and 1941, and both times his bid was denied.

Paul Morand attempted to achieve the prestigious distinction again in 1958.

Paul 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 Elysee Palace.

Paul Morand never came to recognize the suffering that millions endured under totalitarianism.

Paul Morand's output was prolific in the interwar period of the 1920s and 1930s, and tapered off during World War II.

Paul Morand made four trips to New York City between 1925 and 1929.

Paul Morand 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.

In 1930, Paul Morand published his observations of the Manhattan scene in New York.

In 1945, Paul Morand traveled to St Moritz at the request of Coco Chanel who had enlisted him to write her memoirs.

Over time, critical appraisal of Paul Morand's work has undergone revision.

Paul Morand's writing disclosed his "nostalgia for authority and order" which in his view, was under threat by the insistent forces of democracy.

Paul Morand died in Paris on 24 July 1976, at the age of 88.