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Thierry Maulnier (bornJacques Talagrand;[1] 1 October 1909 – 9 January 1988) was a French journalist, essayist, dramatist, and literary critic who was born inAlès and died inMarnes-la-Coquette. He was married to theatre directorMarcelle Tassencourt.
A graduate of theÉcole Normale Supérieure in the same class asRoger Vailland,Robert Brasillach, andMaurice Bardèche. Maulnier became active in theintegraliststudent wing of Action Française, and published inCharles Maurras' newspaper (L'Action française). He made a career in journalism and took part in the movement of theNon-conformists of the 1930s, inspired by thepersonalist generation of youngintellectuals who shared some of the ideals of the Action Française, holdingright-wing beliefs as an answer to a "crisis of civilization" andmaterialism. He also campaigned against democracy and capitalism, advocating aunion of the right and left to overthrow the two.[2] Thierry Maulnier associated with youth periodicals such asRéaction,La Revue du Siècle, andLa Revue française; he also wrote his first volume,La crise est dans l'homme ("Crisis Is in Man").
In 1934, he authored, withJean-Pierre Maxence, themanifestoDemain la France ("Tomorrow, France"). Maxence and Maulnier also founded the weeklyL'Insurgé in 1936 lasting only a few months, the magazine circulatednationalist tenets, reviewed in Maulnier's 1938 essayAu-delà du nationalisme ("Beyond Nationalism"). At the same time, he joinedJean de Fabrègues in the creation of a more analytical paper,Combat, one which would be published until France's defeat inWorld War II.
A regular contributor toL'Action française since 1938, Maulnier continued to publish afterNazi Germany'soccupation of France (from 1940); he also started writing forLe Figaro. He ceased writing for the paper after the start ofOperation Torch in 1942, and remained a journalist forLe Figaro from 1945 until his death.
With the beginning of theFourth Republic, Maulnier no longer engaged in politics. He wrote plays (La Course des rois - 1947;Le Profanateur - 1950,La Ville au fond de la mer - 1953,Le Soir du conquérant - 1970) and essays (Violence et conscience - 1945,La Face de méduse du communisme - 1952,L'Europe a fait le monde - 1966,Le Sens des mots - 1976,Les Vaches sacrées - 1977), but also commented on social themes (with Maulnier as a staunchPro-European).
In 1964, he was elected to theAcadémie française in place of the deceasedHenry Bordeaux. In 1986 he was awarded thePrix mondial Cino Del Duca.
