Background
Raised Protestant, his American Quaker mother was an heiress to the Haviland porcelain dynasty and his father was French.
Raised Protestant, his American Quaker mother was an heiress to the Haviland porcelain dynasty and his father was French.
His brother-in-law was of the Delamain cognac dynasty. This informed his trilogy Les Destinées Sentimentales. He was a leader of the Hussards and held in high regard for the award-winning Claire.
He supported collaboration with the Vichy and in 1940 produced "Private Chronicle 1940", which favored the submission of Europe to Adolf Hitler.
After he was denounced for Nazi collaboration and spent time in prison. In an article titled "Jacques Chardonne et Mein Kampf" the "Frenchness" of his writing was also questioned.
He died in 1968 after efforts to restore his image. By the 1980s anti-totalitarian journalists like Raymond Aron began to reappraise collaborationist authors like Chardonne.
In 1986 his award-winning Claire was made into a television film and in 2001 Olivier Assayas adapted Les Destinées Sentimentales to film.
He was a member of the so-called Groupe de Barbezieux. He was a member of the Groupe Collaboration, an initiative that encouraged close cultural ties between France and Germany.