Pierre Emmanuel

Painting by Pierre Emmanuel by Willy Eisenschitz (en) .

Pierre Emmanuel (birth name: Noël Mathieu ; born May 3, 1916 in Gan , Basses-Pyrénées , † September 24, 1984 in Paris ) was a French poet who was a member of the Académie française from 1968 until his resignation in 1975 .

Life

First books of poetry and journalist

During the emigration of his parents in the United States , he grew up in a paternal uncle in Lyon and was after studying philosophy at the University of Lyon II teacher . While reading Paul Valéry's La Jeune Parque , he discovered his interest in poetry and later in the works of Friedrich Hölderlin , Thomas Hardy and Gerard Manley Hopkins . The writer Pierre Jean Jouve , whom he met in 1937, encouraged him to write poetry himself . Although his first volume of poetry, Élégies, appeared in 1940, he received wider attention through the volume Tombeau d'Orphée , published in 1941 .

During the German occupation of France by the Wehrmacht , he remained active as a teacher and was also involved in the Resistance . He processed these experiences in the resistance in volumes of poetry such as Jour de colère (1942), Combats avec tes défenseurs (1942) and La liberté guide nos pas (1945).

The works of Emmanuel are among the most important lyric publications in post-war France. The first important volumes of poetry were Le Poète et son Christ (1942), La Colombe (1943), Le Poète fou (1944), Mémento des vivants (1944). After the end of the Second World War he worked as a journalist for various publications such as Témoignage Chrétien , Réforme , Esprit .

Emmanuel worked between 1945 and 1959 as the head of the English- language program of Radiodiffusion Télévision Française (RTF) . During this time he not only took part in several conferences in the USA and Canada , but was also visiting professor at various US universities. In addition to this activity, he published other lyrical collections such as Poésie raison ardente (1947), Qui est cet homme (1948) and Car enfin je vous aime (1949).

With Babel (1952) he created a “spiritual epic of human history” in five parts. Other collections of poetry, some of which were edited by Albert Béguin , were Visage nuage (1956), Versant de l'âge (1958), Évangéliaire (1961), Le Goût de l'un (1963), La Nouvelle Naissance (1963), La Face humaine (1965). In 1963 he received the Grand Prix de Poésie for his life's work at that time .

Member of the Académie française and resignation

On April 25, 1968, he succeeded Alphonse Juin in the fourth ballot with 16 votes to become a member of the Académie française , where he took the fourth armchair (Fauteuil 4). Emmanuel, who was involved in numerous functions in the cultural life of France, was President of the PEN Club of France between 1973 and 1976 . In protest against the election of the Belgian writer Félicien Marceau , he declared in 1975 his “resignation” as a member of the Académie française because of Marceau's collaboration with the German occupation forces. Since membership in the academy is awarded for life, however, Fauteuil 4 was only given to Jean Hamburger after his death .

In addition, Emmanuel was temporarily President of the cultural organization Congress for Cultural Freedom , President of the Institut national de l'audiovisuel (INA) and administrator of the Festival d'Automne, which has been held in Paris since 1972. His more famous later volumes of poetry include Jacob (1970), Sophia (1973), La Vie terrestre (1976), Tu (1978), Una ou la Mort la Vie (1978), Duel (1979), L'Autre (1980), L'Arbre et le Vent (1981) and most recently Le Grand Œuvre, Cosmogonie (1984). Emmanuel was both an officer in the Legion of Honor and commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and Grand Officer of the Ordre national du Mérite .

more publishments

• XX Cantos , 1942
• Combats avec tes defense , 1942
• Orphiques , 1942
• Prière d'Abraham , 1943
• Sodome , 1944
• Cantos , 1944
• Le Je universel chez Paul Éluard , 1946
• Tristesse ô ma patrie , 1946
• Chansons du dé à coudre , 1947
• L'ouvrier de la onzième heure , 1954
• Versant de l'âge , 1958
• Ligne de faîte , 1966
• Baudelaire devant Dieu , 1967
• Le monde est intérieur , 1967
• Choses dites , 1971
• Pour une politique de la Culture , 1971
• La révolution parallèle , 1975
• Une année de grâce , 1983

Web links and sources

• Literature by and about Pierre Emmanuel in the catalog of the German National Library
• Short biography and list of works of the Académie française (French)