Born in Nice in 1932, a true “man of the people,” Max Gallo has always concurrently pursued careers as a novelist, essayist, and historian.
He entered public service very early on as a technician at ORTF. At the same time, he began studying history and achieved his teaching qualification; he became a teacher at Lycée Masséna, the institution where he had once been a student years earlier. With a doctorate in history and a doctorate in letters, he taught at the University of Nice. Starting in 1960, he was a lecturer at the Institute of Political Studies in Paris and in 1964, he wrote his first historical work on “Mussolini’s Italy.”
For a time, he was a deputy of his hometown, then a European parliamentarian, and also served as a Secretary of State and government spokesperson (1983-1984). He has not held a political office for several years and now dedicates himself entirely to writing. He was elected on May 31, 2007, to the French Academy in the first round, now occupying the seat left vacant by Jean-François Revel.
Novels, biographies, history books: his body of work (over a hundred titles) is significant. In addition to his biographies of Louis XIV, Napoleon, Victor Hugo, and de Gaulle, he is notably the author of serial novels: La Baie des Anges (750,000 copies sold since 1975), La Machinerie Humaine (ten volumes), Les Patriotes, Les Chrétiens, Morts pour la France, L’Empire, and La Croix de l’Occident. Between 2005 and 2006, he published Les Romains, in five volumes. Max Gallo has recently written Fier d’être français, L’Ame de la France, and the two volumes of French Revolution.
He is currently collaborating with Jean-Louis Bourlanges and Yves Michaud on the Sunday show L’Esprit public, hosted by Philippe Meyer on France Culture.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009 at 4 PM – Mediterranean University Center
Admission is free and open to the public.
The conference will be followed by a signing session.
