René Ballet

René Ballet was born in 1928 in Saint-Étienne, France.[1] He grew up in Grenoble,[2] where he earned a bachelor of laws from the University of Grenoble.[1]

Ballet joined the French Resistance during World War II.[2]

Ballet joined the French Communist Party in Vanves near Paris in the 1960s.[2] He started his career as a civil servant in Paris in 1961, first in finance and then in national education.[1]

Ballet became a journalist, and he mostly wrote for the automobile press.[1] He also appeared on television as a contributor.[1] He then became the editor-in-chief of Constellation, a Franco-Swiss magazine.[1] From 1971 to 1978, he worked as a communications manager for Fiat S.p.A..[1] He became an international correspondent for L’Humanité, a communist newspaper, and its Sunday newspaper, L’Humanité Dimanche, in 1978.[1]

Ballet was the author of 14 novels and 35 essays.[2] He published his first novel, Echec et Mat, in 1960.[3] His 1986 novel, L'organidrame, was selected for the Prix Goncourt (awarded to Michel Host for Valet de nuit instead).[3] His 1994 novel, L'hôtel des deux gares, was about a collaborationist in Paris during World War II.[3] His 2002 novel, Retour à Santopal, was based on his career as a correspondent under Augusto Pinochet in Chile.[3] Ballet also published research about the works of Roger Vailland.[2] He was also the co-founder and vice-president of the Association Roger Vailland in 1995.[1] Moreover, he served on the editorial board of the Cahiers Roger Vailland.[1]

Ballet was the co-founder of Le Temps des Cerises, a publishing house, in 1993.[2] He was the founding editor-in-chief of La Revue Commune in 1996.[1] He became an honorary citizen of Vanves in 2004.[2]

Ballet was married to Simone Ballet, a professor of economics and law at Paris Descartes University.[1] They resided between Paris, Nice and La Chapelle-Fortin.[1] They attended the Fête de l'Humanité annually.[1]

Ballet died on January 2, 2017, at the age of 88.[2]