Robert de Saint-Jean

Robert de Saint Jean (1901–1987) was a French writer and journalist. He was the companion of the French-speaking American writer Julien Green. Like Green, he kept a diary which he eventually published. It provides insight into French society and cultural life over several decades.

He worked, in particular, for Paris-Soir, le Parisien libéré, and Paris Match.

When France fell to the Nazis in 1940, he was deputy chief of staff to the French minister of information. His writing had made him a personal enemy of German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop. Green arranged for him to gain entry to Portugal and then transfer to the US.^[1]

In 1984 he received the Prix Marcel Proust. He also worked as editor for the Plon publishing house.

Selected works

• 1934: La vraie révolution de Roosevelt, Éditions Grasset
• 1941: Démocratie, beurre et canons, Maison de la France, New York; online transcription
• 1936: Le Feu sacré, Éditions Gallimard
• 1967: Julien Green par lui-même, Éditions du Seuil
• 1974: Journal d'un journaliste
• 1975: Moins cinq
• 1983: Passé pas mort, Grasset
• Julien Green, with Luc Estang