Juste Olivier

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Juste Olivier (born October 18, 1807 in Eysins ( Vaud ), † January 7, 1876 in Geneva ) was a poet , writer and historian of French-speaking Switzerland .

life and work

Juste Olivier was the son of a farmer, grew up in the country, but then attended a high school in Nyon and then studied theology at the Academy of Lausanne , where he won a prize in 1828 with the poem Julia Alpinula . Although he should embark on a spiritual career, but because of his poetic talent, he was more inclined to literary studies.

In 1830 he traveled to Paris to round off his education , where he forged friendly ties with the French writer Sainte-Beuve . In the same year he married Caroline Ruchet and began teaching literature in Neuchâtel . From 1833, he taught history at the Lausanne Academy for the next thirteen years. From 1843 to 1845 he owned the magazine Revue suisse . Driven out by religious unrest in Vaud, he had to give up his professorship and went into exile in Paris in 1846, where he and his wife spent the next 25 years. In his home country he was almost completely forgotten, but remained very close to him. When the Franco-Prussian War broke out , he returned to his native country with his wife in 1870 and now lived with her in Gryon . He last lived in Geneva, where he died in 1876 at the age of 68.

Olivier became popular through poetry collections such as Les deux voix (Lausanne 1835), Les chansons lointaines (Lausanne and Paris 1847) and Les chansons du soir (Lausanne and Paris 1867). He presented Swiss peasantry and the alpine landscape in simple and popular poetry. Several of his poems were set to music. He has also made himself known through numerous contributions to Swiss history and ethnography such as Le canton de Vaud (2 vols., 1837–41), but especially through his novellas, which make him appear equal to Rodolphe Töpffer . They include u. a: M. Argant et ses compagnons d'aventure (Paris 1850), Deux nouvelles (1854), Luze Léonard (Neuchâtel 1856), Le batelier de Clarens (Paris 1861), Le pré aux noisettes (Paris 1863) and Sentiers de montagnes (Gryon 1875). A selection of his works, some of which have also been translated into German, appeared in two volumes under the title Œuvres choisies (Lausanne 1879, with Olivier's biography by the editor Eugène Rambert ).

His younger brother Urbain Olivier (1810–1888) was also active as a writer with short stories.

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Olivier, Juste
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Olivier, Juste Daniel
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss poet, writer and historian
DATE OF BIRTH October 18, 1807
PLACE OF BIRTH Eysins (Canton of Vaud)
DATE OF DEATH January 7, 1876
Place of death Geneva