Marcel Raymond

Marcel Raymond (born December 20, 1897 in Geneva ; † November 28, 1981 in Geneva ) was a Swiss literary scholar and writer. He is generally counted as part of the Geneva School .

biography

Marcel Raymond initially studied in Geneva and later moved to France to continue his studies at the Sorbonne under the scholars Henri Chamard (specialist in La Pléiade ) and Abel Lefranc . He received his doctorate in 1927 with a treatise on the influence of Pierre de Ronsard on French poetry (1550–1585). The study, published again in 1965, became a classic. Raymond then presented a study ( De Baudelaire au surréalisme (1933) ) on French poetry from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century, which won him widespread recognition. In it he developed the idea that a poem, like an organism, has a life of its own. It requires the reader to be ready to fully engage with it.

Raymond taught at the University of Leipzig and the University of Basel and finally followed Albert Thibaudet to the University of Geneva in 1936 , where he remained until his retirement in 1962. In Geneva he made friends with Georges Poulet and Albert Béguin . Together with Jean Starobinski and Jean Rousset , they formed the core of what was later called the Geneva School.

During World War II, Raymond lost his father and some friends (including Benjamin Crémieux , who died in a concentration camp). Nevertheless, he achieved a high level of work: among other things, he edited works by Montesquieu , Agrippa d'Aubigné and Victor Hugo . He also wrote a study on Paul Valéry . After the war, he expanded his editorial work to include Pierre Bayle , Pierre de Ronsard , Arthur Rimbaud , Paul Verlaine , Senancour , Baudelaire, etc. His main focus in post-war work was on Jean-Jacques Rousseau . Finally, he was asked to get together with Bernard Gagnebin the edition of Rousseau's writings for the Bibliothèque de la Pléiade . In 1955 his book Baroque et renaissance poétique was published , which completed his work on the poetry of the 16th and 17th centuries.

In 1962 he retired from teaching. His wife died in 1963. His late work includes poems ( Poèmes pour l'absente , a volume that he dedicated to his wife), autobiographicals ( Le sel et la cendre, Souvenirs d'un enfant sage ), and fragments of his diary ( Le Trouble et la présence, Écrit au crépuscule ), philosophical reflections ( Par-delà les eaux sombres ), literary theory ( Vérité et poésie, Être et dire ) and also studies on Senancour , Fénelon and Jacques Rivière .

His work on French poetry and Jean-Jacques Rousseau is based on the idea that literature arises from the contemplative discovery of the self in the world.

Work

• 1928 - Ronsard's influence on French poetry (1550–1585) (reissued 1965)
• 1933 - De Baudelaire au surréalisme (reissued in 1940)
• 1942 - Génies de France (anthology)
• 1945 - Paul Valéry et la tentation de l'esprit (essay) (revised 1964)
• 1948 - Le Sens de la Qualé
• 1952 - Anthologie de la nouvelle française (anthology)
• 1955 - Baroque et renaissance poétique
• 1964 - Vérité et poésie
• 1968 - together with JA Steele, La poésie française et le maniérisme, 1546–1610 (anthology)
• 1970 - Être et dire
• 1970 - Le Sel et la cendre (autobiographical)
• Correspondence with Georges Poulet (1950–1977)
• 1975 - Par-delà les eaux sombres
• 1976 - Souvenirs d'un enfant sage (autobiographical)
• 1977 - Le Trouble et la Presence
• 1980 - Écrit au crépuscule

swell

• This article is based on a biographical summary of Marcel Raymond at the Académie royale de langue et de littérature françaises in Belgium.

Web links

• Marcel Raymond at the Académie royale de langue et de littérature françaises de Belgique (French)
• Article Raymond, Marcel in the Historical Lexicon of Switzerland (French)