Jean Raspail (, 5 July 1925 – 13 June 2020) was a French explorer, novelist, and travel writer. Many of his books are about historical figures, exploration and indigenous peoples. He was a recipient of the prestigious French literary awards Grand Prix du Roman and Grand Prix de littérature by the
Académie française
An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...
. The French government honoured him in 2003 by appointing him to the
Legion of Honor
The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and civil. Currently consisting of five classes, it was ...
, with the grade of Officer. Internationally, he is best known for his controversial 1973 novel '' The Camp of the Saints'', which is about mass
third-world
The term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO or the Warsaw Pact. The United States, Canada, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, the Southern Cone, NATO, Western European countries and oth ...
immigration to Europe
Immigration to Europe has a long history, but increased substantially after World War II. Western European countries, especially, saw high growth in immigration post 1945, and many European nations today (particularly those of the EU-15) have s ...
Verneuil-sur-Avre
Verneuil-sur-Avre (, literally ''Verneuil on Avre (Eure), Avre'') is a former Communes of France, commune in the Eure Departments of France, department in Normandy (administrative region), Normandy in northern France. On 1 January 2017, it was me ...
.
During the first twenty years of his career Raspail traveled the world. He led a
Tierra del Fuego
Tierra del Fuego (, ; Spanish for "Land of Fire", rarely also Fireland in English) is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South America, South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan.
The archipelago consists of the main is ...
–
Alaska
Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...
car trek in 1950–52 and, in 1954, a French research expedition to the land of the
Inca
The Inca Empire, officially known as the Realm of the Four Parts (, ), was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political, and military center of the empire was in the city of Cusco. The History of the Incas, Inca ...
Académie française
An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...
.
His
traditional Catholicism
Traditionalist Catholicism is a movement that emphasizes beliefs, practices, customs, traditions, liturgical forms, devotions and presentations of teaching associated with the Catholic Church before the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965). ...
serves as an inspiration for many of his works, in which the utopias of
communism
Communism () is a political sociology, sociopolitical, political philosophy, philosophical, and economic ideology, economic ideology within the history of socialism, socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a ...
and
liberalism
Liberalism is a Political philosophy, political and moral philosophy based on the Individual rights, rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality, the right to private property, and equality before the law. ...
are shown to fail, and a Catholic monarchy is restored. In his 1990 novel ''Sire'' a French king is crowned in
Reims
Reims ( ; ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French Departments of France, department of Marne (department), Marne, and the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 12th most populous city in Fran ...
in February 1999, the 18-year-old Philippe Pharamond de Bourbon, a direct descendant of the last French kings.
In his best known work, '' The Camp of the Saints'' (1973), Raspail predicts the collapse of Western civilization from an overwhelming "tidal wave" of
Third World
The term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO or the Warsaw Pact. The United States, Canada, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, the Southern Cone, NATO, Western European countries and oth ...
immigration
Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as Permanent residency, permanent residents. Commuting, Commuter ...
. The "hordes" of the world rise and, in the words of playwright Ian Allen, "destroy the white race." The book has been translated into English, German, Spanish, Italian, Afrikaans, Czech, Dutch, Polish, Hungarian and Portuguese, and as of 2006 it had sold over 500,000 copies. After ''The Camp of the Saints'' Raspail wrote other novels, including ''North'', ''Sire'', and ''The Fisher's Ring''. Raspail reiterated these views in a co-written 1985 article ("Will France Still Be French in 2015?") for ''
Le Figaro
() is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It was named after Figaro, a character in several plays by polymath Pierre Beaumarchais, Beaumarchais (1732–1799): ''Le Barbier de Séville'', ''The Guilty Mother, La Mère coupable'', ...
'' magazine, where he stated "the proportion of France's non-European immigrant population will grow to endanger the survival of traditional French culture, values and identity".
Raspail was a candidate for the French Academy in 2000, for which he received the most votes, yet did not obtain the majority required for election to the vacant seat of Jean Guitton.
An article by Raspail for ''
Le Figaro
() is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It was named after Figaro, a character in several plays by polymath Pierre Beaumarchais, Beaumarchais (1732–1799): ''Le Barbier de Séville'', ''The Guilty Mother, La Mère coupable'', ...
Neuilly-sur-Seine
Neuilly-sur-Seine (; 'Neuilly-on-Seine'), also known simply as Neuilly, is an urban Communes of France, commune in the Hauts-de-Seine Departments of France, department just west of Paris in France. Immediately adjacent to the city, north of the ...
, near
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
. He died in the on 13 June 2020, aged 94.
Works
* ''Terre de feu – Alaska'' (Land of Fire – Alaska) (1952) – adventure writing
* ''Terres et Peuples Incas'' (Inca Lands and Peoples) (1955)
* ''Le Vent des Pins'' (1958), translated as '' Welcome Honorable Visitors: a novel'' by Jean Stewart ( Putnam, 1960)
* ''Terres Saintes et Profanes'' (Lands Holy and Profane) (1960)
* ''Les Veuves de Santiago'' (The Widows of Santiago) (1962)
* ''Hong-Kong, Chine en sursis'' (Hong Kong, A Reprieve for China) (1963)
* ''Secouons le cocotier'' (Let's Shake the Coconut Tree) (1966) – travel writing
* ''Secouons le cocotier : 2, Punch Caraïbe'' (Let's Shake the Coconut Tree 2: Caribbean Punch) (1970) – travel writing
* ''Bienvenue Honorables Visiteurs (le Vent des pins)'' (Welcome Honorable Visitors) (1970) – novel
* ''Le Tam-Tam de Jonathan'' (Jonathan's Drum) (1971) – nouvelles
* ''L'Armada de la Dernière Chance'' (Last-Chance Armada) (1972)
* ''Le Camp des Saints'' (1973), translated as '' The Camp of the Saints'' by Norman Shapiro ( Scribner, 1975; The Social Contract Press, 1995, ) – novel
* ''La Hache des Steppes'' (The Steppes Axe) (1974)
* ''Journal Peau Rouge'' (Red Skin Journal) (1975)
* ''Nuage Blanc et les Peaux-Rouges d'aujourd'hui'' (White Cloud and the Redskins of Today) (1975) – by Aliette and Jean Raspail
* '' Le Jeu du Roi'' (The King's Game) (1976) – novel
* ''Boulevard Raspail'' (Raspail Boulevard) (1977) – columns
* ''Les Peaux-rouges aujourd'hui'' (Redskins Today) (1978)
* ''Septentrion'' (North) (1979), translated as ''Septentrion'' (Sunny Lou Publishing, 2022, ) – novel
* ''Bleu caraïbe et citrons verts : mes derniers voyages aux Antilles'' (Caribbean Blue and Green Lemons: My Last Trips to the Antilles) (1980)
* ''Les Antilles, d'île en île'' (The Antilles, From Island to Island) (1980)
* '' Moi, Antoine de Tounens, roi de Patagonie'' (I, Antoine of Tounens, King of Patagonia) (1981) – novel
* ''Les Hussards : histoires exemplaires'' (The Hussars: Representative Stories) (1982)
* ''Les Yeux d'Irène'' (Irene's Eyes) (1984) – novel
* ''Le Président'' (The President) (1985) – novel
* ''Qui se souvient des hommes...'' (1986), translated as '' Who Will Remember the People...: A Novel''. Translated by J. Leggatt ( Mercury House, 1988, ) – novel. UK paperback published under alternative title ''The People'' (1988).
* ''L'Île bleue'' (1988), translated by J. Leggatt as '' Blue Island: A Novel'' ( Mercury House, 1991, )
* ''Pêcheurs de Lune'' (Moon Fishers) (1990)
* '' Sire'' (Sire) (1990) – novel
* ''Vive Venise'' (Long Live Venice) (1992) – by Aliette and Jean Raspail
* '' Sept cavaliers quittèrent la ville au crépuscule par la porte de l'Ouest qui n'était plus gardée'' (Seven Riders Left the City at Dusk through the Western Gate, Which Was No Longer Guarded) (1993) – novel (commonly called ''Sept cavaliers...'')
* ''
L'Anneau du pêcheur
''L'Anneau du pêcheur'' ("The Ring of the Fisherman") is a 1995 novel by the French writer Jean Raspail. The narrative has two timelines: the time of Antipope Benedict XIII, Benedict XIII, the last antipope of the Avignon Papacy, and contemporary ...
'' (The Ring of the Fisherman) (1995) – novel
* ''Hurrah Zara !'' (Hooray Zara!) (1998) – novel
* '' Le Roi au-delà de la mer'' (The King Over the Water) (2000) – novel
* '' Adiós, Tierra del Fuego'' (Goodbye, Tierra del Fuego) (2001) – travel writing
* ''Le son des tambours sur la neige et autres nouvelles d'ailleurs'' (The Sound of Drums on Snow, and Other News from Elsewhere) (2002)
* '' Les Royaumes de Borée'' (The Kingdoms of Borée) (2003) – novel
* '' En canot sur les chemins d'eau du roi, une aventure en Amérique'' (2005) – travel writing
* '' La Miséricorde'' (2019) – novel
Adaptations
* ''Le Roi de Patagonie'' (1990), TV mini-series directed by Georges Campana and Stéphane Kurc
* ''Le Jeu du roi'' (1991), TV film directed by
Marc Evans
Marc Evans (born 1960) is a Welsh director of film and television, whose credits include the films ''House of America'', ''Resurrection Man (film), Resurrection Man'' and ''My Little Eye''.
Biography
Evans was born in 1960 in Cardiff, Wales. H ...
* ''L'Île bleue'' (2001), TV film directed by
Nadine Trintignant
Nadine Trintignant ( Marquand; born 11 November 1934) is a French filmmaker and novelist. She is known for making films that surround the topic of family and relationships, such as ''Ça n'arrive qu'aux autres'' and ''Next Summer (film), L'été ...
* ''Sept cavaliers'' (2008–2010), comic book in three volumes by Jacques Terpant
* ''Le Royaume de Borée'' (2011–2014), comic book in three volumes by Jacques Terpant