Jean Hougron

Jean Hougron, French novelist (1923 - 2000)

Jean Hougron is a French novelist born in 1923 and deceased in 2000. He is famous for his series of novels which occur in French Indochina in the 20th century, where he resided and travelled for several years. Several of these novels are collected in a series named "La Nuit Indochinoise" (The Indochina Night) and include several best sellers, starting with "Tu récolteras la tempête" ("Reap the Wirlwind", 1950).

Jean Hougron was born on July 1st 1923 in a French Breton family in Calvados, a north-western France "Departement" between Normandy and Brittany. He began his professional life as a teacher of English and sciences in north western towns, then moved south to Marseille to work for one year with an Import-Export trading firm. This firm then sent him to Indochina in June 1947. From there on, he exercised several trades, travelling across Indochina, including Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Southern China, while learning to speak some of the regional languages.In 1949, he returned to Saigon, Vietnam, where he worked at the US Consulate and then at Radio France Asie, the Asian branch of the French State owned radio broadcasting corporation. He returned to France in 1951.

From these years in Indochina, he came with many anecdotes, observations and souvenirs, which he used to write novels, starting with "Tu récolteras la tempête" ("You will gather a storm", 1950). He succcessively published several novels , mostly based in Indochina, which met great success, especially the series of novels collectively titled "La Nuit Indochinoise" collection. In 1953, he was awarded the Grand Prix du Roman de l'Académie française (French Academy Novel prize) for these books.

Jean Hougron novels are not focused on political subjects, such as on the French Indochina colony and the decolonization movement in South Asia during or after World War II and the beginning of the First Indochina War, but rather on studies of atmosphere, climate, landscape, characters and human relations. He has been sometimes called "The French Joseph Conrad". Several of his books have been translated and published in English and other languages.

He continued writing novels, which were often best sellers and some of which were made into movies ("Je reviendrai à Kandara", directed by Victor Vicas (1956), and "Mort en Fraude", directed by Marcel Camus (1957).

Jean Hougron died in 2000. While the context of his books is dated, some of them, especially the Nuit Indochinoise series, have been re-edited regularly and he has retained a steady readership.

Books written by Jean Hougron (French original editions and re-editions):

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