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Patrick French

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For the Irish Roman Catholic bishop, see Patrick French (bishop).

Patrick French
BornPatrick Rollo Basil French
(1966-05-28)28 May 1966
Aldershot, England
Died16 March 2023(2023-03-16) (aged 56)
London, England
OccupationHistorian
Alma materUniversity of Edinburgh (MA, PhD)
Subjects
  • India
  • Nepal
Notable worksThe World Is What It Is (2008)
Notable awards
Spouse
  • Abigail Ashton-Johnson
    ​
    ​
    (divorced)​
  • Meru Gokhale
Children4

Patrick Rollo Basil French (28 May 1966 – 16 March 2023) was a British writer, historian and academician. He was the author of several books including: Younghusband: the Last Great Imperial Adventurer (1994), a biography of Francis Younghusband; The World Is What It Is (2008), an authorised biography of Nobel Laureate V. S. Naipaul that won the National Book Critics Circle Award in the United States of America;[1] and India: A Portrait (2011).[2]

During the 1992 general election, French was a Green Party candidate for Parliament. He sat on the executive committee of Free Tibet, a Tibet Support Group UK, and was a founding member of the inter-governmental India–UK Round Table.[3]

Life and career

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Patrick Rollo Basil French was born in Aldershot, Hampshire, on 28 May 1966.[4] He was raised in Warminster and attended Ampleforth College, before enrolling at the University of Edinburgh, where he studied English and American literature, received an MA in English literature, and went on to receive a PhD in South Asian studies.[4][5] At the age of 25, French set off on a trail across Central Asia to retrace the steps of British explorer Francis Younghusband. This resulted in the publication of his first book, Younghusband: The Last Great Imperial Adventurer in 1994.[6] The book went on to win both the Somerset Maugham Award[7] and the Royal Society of Literature's W. H. Heinemann Prize.

French's next book, Liberty or Death: India's Journey to Independence and Division, was published in 1997 and earned the author accolades and brickbats in equal parts. It was described by some in the Indian media as presenting a "revisionist view" of Mahatma Gandhi and Mohammad Ali Jinnah's role in the Indian Independence movement,[8] and there were a few calls to ban the book in India. On the other hand, Philip Ziegler hailed it as "a remarkable achievement",[9] and Khushwant Singh described the author as "a first rate historian and storyteller". The book sold heavily due to the controversy and French was awarded the Sunday Times Young Author of the Year award for the book.[10]

Published in 2003, Tibet, Tibet: A Personal History of a Lost Land was French's third book. According to the author's own account, his interest in Tibet was triggered by a meeting he had with the Dalai Lama when he was 16, but the book emerged from "a gradual nervousness that the western idea of Tibet, particularly the views of Tibet campaigners, was becoming too detached from the reality of what Tibet was like. So I did a long journey through Tibet in 1999."[11] The Independent described the book as "intelligent as well as passionate in its approach".[12] Pico Iyer in the Los Angeles Times book review described French as a "scrupulous and disciplined writer" who "has a decided gift for inspired and heartfelt research and a knack for coming upon overlooked details that are worth several volumes of analysis".[13]

The World Is What It Is, French's authorised biography of the Nobel Prize–winning author V. S. Naipaul, was published in 2008. In The New York Review of Books Ian Buruma described French as the inventor of a new genre, "the confessional biography".[14] The book was selected by the editors of The New York Times Book Review as one of the "10 Best books of 2008".[15] In 2008 The World Is What It Is was awarded the National Book Critics Circle Award[16] in America, and was also shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize.[17] French was also awarded the Hawthornden Prize in 2009 for the book.[18]

In 2011, French published India: A Portrait, described as "an intimate biography of 1.2 billion people". The book is a narrative of the social and economic revolutions that are transforming India. French also started an India-focused website called The India Site.[19]

French was appointed the inaugural Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at Ahmedabad University in 2017.[4]

Before his death French was working on the authorised biography of another Nobel laureate, Doris Lessing.[20]

Personal life

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French and his first wife, Abigail Ashton-Johnson, had three children. Their marriage ended in divorce.[4] He then married Meru Gokhale, and they had a son. Gokhale is a former editor-in-chief of Penguin Random House India and daughter of author and publisher Namita Gokhale.[4]

In 2003, French was offered and declined the Order of the British Empire (OBE).[21] He felt the medal's motto, "For God and the Empire", would affect perceptions of his writing on South Asian history.[4]

French died from cancer in London on 16 March 2023, at the age of 56.[4][22]

Bibliography

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  • Younghusband: The Last Great Imperial Adventurer (HarperCollins, 1994) ISBN 978-0-00215-733-9
  • The Life of Henry Norman (Unicorn Press, 1995) ISBN 978-0-90629-013-2
  • Liberty or Death: India’s Journey to Independence and Division (HarperCollins, 1997) ISBN 978-0-00255-771-9
  • Tibet, Tibet: A Personal History of a Lost Land (HarperCollins, 2003) ISBN 978-0-00257-109-8
  • The World Is What It Is: The Authorized Biography of V. S. Naipaul (Picador, 2008) ISBN 978-0-33043-350-1
  • India: A Portrait (Allen Lane, 2011) ISBN 978-1-84614-214-7

References

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  1. ^ "Patrick French". Penguin Random House. Archived from the original on 13 July 2010. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
  2. ^ "Patrick French Books – Biography and List of Works – Author of 'Dreams and Memories Of a Lost Land'". Biblio.com. Archived from the original on 13 December 2019. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
  3. ^ "Patrick French". The Daily Star. 15 November 2014. Retrieved 18 June 2024.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Genzlinger, Neil (22 March 2023). "Patrick French, 56, Historian of India and Unsparing Biographer of Naipaul". The New York Times. p. B10. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  5. ^ "Patrick French, authority on India and Tibet who became best known for his explosive biography of VS Naipaul – obituary". The Daily Telegraph. 17 March 2023. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
  6. ^ An Impulsive Imperial Soldier Who Turned Guru Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine The New York Times. 15 November 1995.
  7. ^ Archived copy Archived 4 December 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ Gandhi was a wily politician, Jinnah remained a secularist till death. Archived 10 February 2010 at the Wayback Machine Outlook. 6 August 1997.
  9. ^ French, Patrick (1998). Liberty or Death: India's Journey to Independence and Division: Patrick French. ISBN 0006550452.
  10. ^ Archived copy Archived 16 October 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  11. ^ Interview: Nandini Lal on Patrick French Archived 22 October 2009 at the Wayback Machine Outlook Magazine. 10 March 2003.
  12. ^ Wintle, Justin (12 April 2003). "Book Review: Tibet, Tibet: a personal history of a lost land, by Patrick French". The Independent. Archived from the original on 10 April 2009.
  13. ^ Iyer, Pico (19 October 2003), "Himalayan Descent", Los Angeles Times. [1] .
  14. ^ The Lessons of the Master Archived 3 November 2008 at the Wayback Machine The New York Review of Books. 20 November 2008.
  15. ^ "The ten best books of 2008", The New York Times. 3 December 2008. Archived 14 January 2018 at the Wayback Machine.
  16. ^ "National Book Critics Circle: awards". Bookcritics.org. Archived from the original on 27 February 2011. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
  17. ^ "BBC iPlayer – BBC Four". Bbc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 23 March 2012. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
  18. ^ "Patrick French awarded literary prize". PanMacmillan.com. Archived from the original on 27 September 2009. Retrieved 9 December 2009.
  19. ^ "INDIA: A PORTRAIT | The India Site | Dishing up Indian news and non aligned views | India: A Portrait by Patrick French". Theindiasite.com. 19 May 2013. Archived from the original on 17 January 2011. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
  20. ^ "Patrick French – CRASSH". www.crassh.cam.ac.uk. 14 January 2016. Archived from the original on 16 November 2016. Retrieved 13 July 2017.
  21. ^ Soutik Biswas (6 October 2003). "South Asia | Naipaul biographer refuses OBE". News.bbc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 7 January 2009. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
  22. ^ "British writer and historian Patrick French dies of cancer at 56". The New Indian Express. 16 March 2023. Archived from the original on 17 March 2023. Retrieved 16 March 2023.
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• Appearance on The Filter Podcast

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