Robert Goffin

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Robert Goffin (born May 21, 1898 in Ohain (Lasne) , † June 27, 1984 in Genval ) was a Belgian lawyer and writer, best known as the author of the first non-fiction book on jazz , Aux Frontières du Jazz (1932).

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Goffin studied at the Athenaeum of Saint-Gilles and law at the Free University of Brussels . In addition, he published poems as early as 1918 (La rosare des soirs). Shortly thereafter, he discovered over Clément Pansaers the Dadaism , in 1921 he founded the literary journal La Lanterne sourde ; he also invited Blaise Cendrars and Jean Cocteau to Brussels. In 1922 he published another volume of poetry with the title Jazz Bands (preface Jules Romains ) - many more volumes of poetry followed until 1982. In 1923 he became a lawyer at the Court of Appeal in Brussels; In 1928 he married. As a sideline, he dealt with jazz and published Aux Frontiers du Jazz (Éditions Sagittaire, Paris) in 1932 , which is often regarded as the first serious work on jazz (before the books by the French Hugues Panassié and Charles Delaunay ). Even in the run-up to the occupation by the German troops, he was an opponent of the fascists who advocated the abandonment of Belgium's neutrality and fight on the side of France.

Before the occupation of Belgium, Goffin emigrated to the USA, where he worked as a writer. In addition to novels, he published a jazz book translated into English by Leonard Feather ( Jazz: from the Congo to the Metropolitan , 1944), initiated the Esquire Jazz Award with Feather and gave a jazz course with Feather at the New School for Social Research in New York City. In 1947 he published a book on Louis Armstrong ( Horn of Plenty ) and in 1946 on New Orleans (La Nouvelle Orleans, capitale du Jazz). After the war he returned to Belgium, where he was again at the court of appeal. From 1952 he was a member of the Royal Belgian Academy of French Language and Literature and in 1971 its director. In 1956 he became director of the Belgian Pen Club. In retirement he moved to Lake Geneva . In 1979 and 1980 he published memoirs.

Goffin knew many writers of his time. Paul Delvaux and Paul-Henri Spaak were classmates in his youth. He was later friends with Blaise Cendrars , Jean Cocteau and Paul Éluard .

literature

  • Alain Bosquet Robert Goffin , Seghers, Poètes d'aujourd'hui, Paris, 1966
  • Jean-Marie Horemans Robert Goffin , Institut Jules Destrée, Charleroi, 1976.
  • Marc Danval L'insaisissable Robert Goffin. De Rimbaud à Louis Armstrong , Quorum, Charleroi, 1998

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Like The White Brigade , Doubleday 1944, which takes place in Belgium during the First World War under German occupation
  2. ^ Robert Goffin, Walter E. Schaap , Leonard Feather : Jazz, from the Congo to the Metropolitan . New York: Da Capo Press, 1975 and New York, Doubleday. Archives . In French edition: Histoire du Jazz , Montreal 1946
  3. ^ New York, Allen, Towne and Heath, 1947 archive
personal data
SURNAME Goffin, Robert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Belgian author
DATE OF BIRTH May 21, 1898
PLACE OF BIRTH Ohain (Lasne)
DATE OF DEATH June 27, 1984
Place of death Genval