Claude Farrère

Claude Farrère (French pronunciation: [klod faʁɛʁ]), pseudonym of Frédéric-Charles Bargone (French pronunciation: [fʁedeʁik ʃaʁl baʁɡɔn]; 27 April 1876, in Lyon – 21 June 1957, in Paris), was a French Navy officer and writer. Many of his novels are based in exotic locations such as Istanbul, Saigon, or Nagasaki.

One of his novels, Les Civilisés, about life in French colonial Indochina, won the third Prix Goncourt for 1905. He was elected to a chair at the Académie Française on 26 March 1935, in competition with Paul Claudel, partly thanks to lobbying efforts by Pierre Benoit.

Biography

Initially, Claude Farrère had followed his father, an infantry colonel who served in the French colonies: He was admitted to the French Naval Academy in 1894; was made lieutenant in 1906; and was promoted to captain in 1918. He resigned the next year to concentrate on his writing career.

Claude Farrère was a friend and was partly mentored by two other famous French writers of this period, i.e. Pierre Louÿs and Pierre Loti, the latter having been as well a former Navy officer and a writer of books based in overseas countries and cultures. Farrère was a prolific writer, and many of his books are based on his overseas travels and on exotic cultures, especially in Asia, the Orient and North Africa, partly based on his travels when he was an officer with the French Navy. His works have now largely fallen from favour, even among French readers, although some of his most famous books, such as Fumée d'opium, Les Civilisés, La Bataille or Les hommes nouveaux have been republished in France at the end of the 20th century and the early 21st century.