Louis Aragon was born on December 9, 1904, in Paris, France, of an Anglo-French family. He had a privileged childhood of great wealth and beauty until his parents' divorce. A year later he left home to live with his grandfather, who was a lawyer. After the death of his grandfather, Louis had to move to Paris where he attended the Lycee Henri IV
Read more
He had no inclination for the law but managed to pass the examinations of the French Academy of Letters. His novels were written under various pseudonyms including Serge Nataf, Jean Lorrain and Pierre Barzun. Aragon moved to Zurich in 1934 where he edited the literary magazine Nouvelle Revue Française.
He became involved with Mussolini's Italian movement, encouraged by Andre Malraux and Jean-Paul Sartre. The Nazis occupied France in 1940 and Aragon fled to Mexico with his wife Paulette Goddard, whom he met during the war in New York where she was working for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). They wrote articles for several American publications including Time Magazine.
Later they moved to Caracas where they lived in exile until American authorities granted them political asylum in 1947.