Marcel Bouteron

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Marcel Bouteron (born August 3, 1877 in Le Mans , † July 9, 1962 in Vence ) was a French librarian, Romance scholar and literary scholar.

life and work

The librarian

Bouteron first studied law (with a license in 1900), then at the École nationale des chartes , where he graduated in 1905 with the work Arnoul, evêque de Lisieux 1141–1184. Etudes sur les manuscrits de ses lettres, poésies et sermons et sur quelques points de sa biography (Mâcon 1905). He entered the library of the Institut de France (the director at the time was the historian Alfred Rébelliau) and stayed there for 36 years. In 1934 he (as successor to Henri Dehérain) was its director until 1941 (successor: Jean Tremblot de la Croix ).

In 1941 Bouteron (as the successor to the historian Charles Schmidt ) became inspector general of the French libraries and archives. From 1944 to 1946 he was head of all French libraries (successor: Julien Cain). In addition, from 1913 to 1952 (as successor to Georges Vicaire ) he was responsible for the Charles de Spoelberch de Lovenjoul collection, which is important in terms of literary history (successor: Jean Pommier ).

The Balzac specialist

On the initiative of Louis Conrad (from the Editions Conard publishing house), Bouteron (together with his younger colleague Henri Longnon ) compiled the enormous complete edition ( Oeuvres complètes ) of Honoré de Balzac's works , which appeared in 40 volumes from 1912 to 1940 (illustration by Charles Huard ). The Comédie humaine contained therein by Balzac he published in 11 volumes in the "Bibliothèque de la Pléiade" (Paris 1935–1937, 1952–1964; Vol. 11, 1964 with Roger Pierrot ). He also published eight volumes of Cahiers Balzaciens from 1923 to 1928 (reprinted Geneva 2002), from 1925 to 1927 two volumes of Balzaciana and annotated (with Henri Evans) the five-volume edition L'Oeuvre de Balzac by Albert Béguin (Paris 1949–1950; 16 vols ., 1950-1953).

From 1940 Bouteron was a member of the Académie des sciences morales et politiques .

Bouteron was the leading Balzac researcher of his time. One could say of him: He knows more about Balzac than Balzac himself (Paul Valéry) and: Without him there would be no Balzac (cf. Madeleine Ambrière 2008).

Other works (selection)

  • (with Robert Burnand and Pierre Caron [1875–1952]), Répertoire méthodique de l'histoire moderne et contemporaine de la France , 2 vols., Paris 1911–1913
  • Le Culte de Balzac , Abbeville 1924
  • Muses romantiques , Paris 1926, 1934
  • Danse et musique romantiques , Paris 1927
  • (with Jean Tremblot de la Croix ) Catalog général des manuscrits des bibliothèques publiques de France , Paris 1928
  • La véritable image de Mme Hanska , Paris 1929
  • Pologne romantique , Paris 1937
  • (Ed. With Jean Pommier ) Balzac, Louis Lambert , Paris 1954

literature

  • Dictionnaire national des contemporains , ed. by Nath Imbert, Vol. 3, Paris 1939 (with picture)
  • Marcel Bouteron, Études balzaciennes [Hommage à Marcel Bouteron, by Jean Pommier ], Paris 1954
  • Jean Longnon, [obituary] in: Bulletin de l'Ecole des chartes 120, 1962, pp. 320–322
  • Julien Cain, obituary in: Bulletin des bibliothèques de France 1962, pp. 439–443
  • Pierre Lelièvre, Souvenir de Marcel Bouteron, in: Bulletin des bibliothèques de France 1962, pp. 445–447
  • Louis Martin-Chauffier, Notice sur la vie et les travaux de Marcel Bouteron , Paris 1966 (Institut de France. Académie des sciences morales et politiques)
  • Béatrice and Michel Wattel, Qui était qui. XXe siècle , Levallois-Perret 2005
  • Martine Poulain, Livres pillés, lectures surveillées , Paris 2008
  • Madeleine Ambrière: Les 50 ans de "L'année balzacienne", in: L'Année balzacienne 12, 2011, pp. 5-8

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Bouteron, Marcel
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French librarian, Romance studies and literary scholar
DATE OF BIRTH August 3, 1877
PLACE OF BIRTH Le Mans
DATE OF DEATH July 9, 1962
Place of death Vence