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Ernest Hello | |
|---|---|
 Hello, 1898 painting | |
| Born | 1828 (1828) |
| Died | 1885 (aged 56–57) |
| Occupation | Writer and journalist |
| Language | French |
| Alma mater | College Louis-le-Grand, Paris |
| Period | 19th century |
| Genre | Non-fiction |
| Subject | Philosophy, theology, literary criticism |
| Notable works | Le Siècle |
| Spouse | Zoë Berthier |
Ernest Hello (4 November 1828 – 14 July 1885) was a FrenchRoman Catholic writer, who produced books and articles onphilosophy,theology, andliterature.
Born atLorient, inBrittany, he was the son of a lawyer who held posts of great importance atRennes and inParis. He bequeathed the little ancestral estate of Keroman where the philosopher-essayist died. The writer was a first-class student in Rennes and obtained honours as a law graduate at the famousCollege Louis-le-Grand in Paris, but declined that profession due to its moral ambivalence. Partly under the influence of the works ofJean-Baptiste Henri Lacordaire,Jules Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly andLouis Veuillot, the latter two being the most brilliant and feared polemical crusaders of the Church in the press, he founded a newspaperLe Croisé ("The Crusader") in 1859 but it only lasted two years due to a disagreement with his co-founder.[1] This was one of the greatest disappointments of his life. However, he wrote much in other papers[1] and thereafter his essays appeared throughout France as well as inBelgium andNew Orleans' "Le Propagateur".
Frail from infancy, he also suffered from a spinal or bone disease. This struggle probably tinged his prose with a melancholy strain, which is strikingly original as mentioned inJ.-K. Huysmans' work (they shared a veneration of the mysticJohn of Ruysbroeck). Both writers, likeLeon Bloy, are almost impossible to translate.[dubious –discuss] In 1857 he married Zoë Berthier, an army officer's daughter and talented writer herself, who was ten years older and a friend for some years before their marriage. She became his devoted nurse, which brought upon herself abuse from gutter journalists of the time for her estimable guardianship.[1]
Hello's work is somewhat varied in form but uniform in spirit. His best-known book,Physionomie de saints (1875), which has been translated into English (1903) asStudies in Saintship, does not display his qualities best.Contes extraordinaires, published not long before his death, is more original, being often cited for its artistic yet lucid prose.[1]
But Ernest Hello is mostly remembered now for a series of philosophical and critical essays, fromRenan, l'Allemagne et l'atheisme (1861), which was re-published in an enlarged edition posthumously, throughL'Homme (1871) on life, art and science in relation to present-day life (it was in its 7th edition by 1905), andLes Plateaux de la balance (1880) to the posthumously publishedLe Siècle, probably his master-work.[1]
The peculiarity of his standpoint and the originality and vigour of his approach make his studies, ofShakespeare,[2]Hugo and others, of abiding importance as literary "triangulation," the results of object, subject and point of view.[1] His interest in the application of philosophy and theology for the modern human condition is an enduring exploration, and indeed steps beyond the stricter parameters of Church thinking to speak to those seeking a way to live as well as fashion a creative perspective.
Translated into English
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Hello, Ernest".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 13 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 246.