Tristan Rémy (born Raymond Marcel Desprez) (24 January 1897, Blérancourt – 23 November 1977, Mériel) was a French writer and circus historian. He was a proponent of proletarian literature.
His father was a chef and he worked at the Porte de la Chapelle freight terminus.
He met Franz Seiwert at one of the organising meetings for the International Congress of Progressive Artists which they both attended in May 1922. Rémy and signed the "Founding Proclamation of the Union of Progressive International Artists"
He was associated with Henry Poulaille whose Nouvel âge littéraire provided the basis for the magazine Nouvel Âge, Bulletin des écrivains prolétariens. However while not being directly involved in the organisation of proletarian writers, his writing reflected his interest in Marxism and he was close to both the French Communist Party and the Association des Écrivains et Artistes Révolutionnaires (Association of Revolutionary Writers and Artists).
After the Second world War, he specialised in books about the circus.Elian-J. Finbert, "Tristan Rémy. Grandeur et décadence du clown", Les Lettres françaises No. 96 22 February 1946,
Published works Porte Clignancourt, Rieder, 1928 À l'ancien tonnelier, Valois, 1931 Sainte-Marie des Flots, Valois, 1932 Faubourg Saint-Antoine, Gallimard, 1936 La Grande lutte, Éditions sociales internationales, 1937 Les Clowns, Grasset, 1945, republished with additions, Grasset, 2002 L'Homme du canal, J. Vigneau, 1947 Le Cirque et ses étoiles, Artis, 1949 Le Cirque Bonaventure, Éditions de la Paix, 1952 Jean-Gaspard Deburau, L'Arche, 1954 Entrées clownesques, L'Arche, 1962 Georges Wague, Éditions Georges Girard, 1964 Le temps des cerises (Jean-Baptiste Clément), Éditeurs français réunis, 1968 La Commune à Montmartre, Éditions sociales, 1970
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