Bertrand de Jouvenel
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Bertrand de Jouvenel (b. October 31, 1903, Paris - d. March 1, 1987, Paris) was a French philosopher, political economist and futurist. Bertrand de Jouvenel was the son of Henri de Jouvenel, the second husband of French writer Colette. Along with Friedrich Hayek and Jacques Rueff, he is a founder of the Mont Pelerin Society.
Bertrand de Jouvenel began his career as a private secretary to Edvard Beneš, Czechoslovakia's first prime minister.
In 1919, at the age of 16, Bertrand began an affair with his stepmother, Colette, who was at the time in her 40s. The affair ended Colette's marriage and caused a scandal. It lasted until 1924. Bertrand is the role model for the title character in Colette's novel Chéri. From 1930 to 1934, Bertrand de Jouvenel had a long affair with American war correspondent Martha Gellhorn. They would have married but his second wife Helene would not agree to a divorce.
Later in life, de Jouvenel established the Futuribles International in Paris.
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[edit] Works by Bertrand de Jouvenel
- On Power: The Natural History of Its Growth
- The Ethics of Redistribution
- Sovereignty: An Inquiry into the Political Good
- The Pure Theory of Politics
- The Art of Conjecture
[edit] The Sternhell Controversy
Zeev Sternhell was taken to court by Bertrand de Jouvenel, in 1983, after Sternhell published his work Ni Droite, ni gauche (Neither Right nor Left). Jouvenel sued Sternhell on nine counts, resulting in Sternhell to be convicted for defamation. In his book, Sternhell accused Jouvenel of having had Fascist sympathies. Convicted on two counts, Sternhell did not need to retract his remarks from the book however.
[edit] Notes
- ↑ Robert Wohl. French Fascism, Both Right and Left: Reflections on the Sternhell Controversy. The Journal of Modern History, Vol. 63, No. 1, (1991), pp. 91-98.
