author
Jean Dufourt
1887–1953
A Lyon-born novelist with a sharp eye for city life, this French writer is remembered for stories about the Lyonnais bourgeoisie and the world of the silk trade. His novels bring local manners and social ambitions into clear, lively focus.
1 Audiobook
Calixte; ou, l'introduction à la vie lyonnaise
by Jean Dufourt
About the author
Born in Lyon on October 28, 1887, and dying there on February 28, 1953, Jean Dufourt was a French novelist closely associated with his native city. Library and reference sources describe him as an écrivain lyonnais, and note that he wrote especially about Lyon society.
He is often presented as the novelist of the Lyon bourgeoisie. Because he came from a silk-manufacturing family, he knew that world from the inside, and used it in his fiction to portray both its prosperity and its tensions. His best-known works include Calixte; ou, l'introduction à la vie lyonnaise and Laurette ou les amours lyonnaises.
Dufourt also received local literary recognition: Laurette ou les amours lyonnaises was awarded the Grand Prix littéraire de la ville de Lyon in 1930. Today, he is chiefly remembered as a vivid chronicler of Lyon's social world in the early 20th century.