Ferdinand Brunetière | |
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| Born | Ferdinand Vincent-de-Paul Marie Brunetière (1849-07-19)19 July 1849 Toulon, France |
| Died | 9 December 1906(1906-12-09) (aged 57) Paris, France |
| Occupation | Literary critic |
| Language | French |
| Nationality | French |
Ferdinand Vincent-de-Paul Marie Brunetière (French pronunciation:[fɛʁdinɑ̃vɛ̃sɑ̃dəpɔlmaʁibʁyntjɛʁ]; 19 July 1849 – 9 December 1906) was a French writer andcritic.
Brunetière was born inToulon,Var,Provence. After school atMarseille, he studied inParis at theLycée Louis-le-Grand.[1] Desiring a teaching career, he entered for examination at theÉcole Normale Supérieure, but failed, and the outbreak of war in 1870 prevented him trying again. He turned to private tuition and literary criticism. After the publication of successful articles in theRevue Bleue, he became connected with theRevue des Deux Mondes, first as contributor, then as secretary and sub-editor, and finally, in 1893, as principal editor.[2]
In 1886 Brunetière was appointed professor of French language and literature at the École Normale,[1] a singular honour for one who had not passed through the academic mill; and later he presided with distinction over various conferences at theSorbonne and elsewhere. He was decorated with theLegion of Honour in 1887, and became a member of theAcadémie française in 1893.[2]
The published works of Brunetière consist largely of reprinted papers and lectures. They include six series ofÉtudes critiques (1880–1898) on French history and literature;Le Roman naturaliste (1883);Histoire et Littérature, three series (1884–1886);Questions de critique (1888; second series, 1890). The first volume ofL'Évolution de genres dans l'histoire de la littérature, lectures in which a formal classification, founded onDarwinism, is applied to the phenomena of literature, appeared in 1890; and his later works include a series of studies (2 vols, 1894) on the evolution of French lyrical poetry during the 10th century, a history of French classic literature begun in 1904, a monograph onHonoré de Balzac (1906), and various pamphlets of a polemical nature dealing with questions of education, science and religion. Among these may be mentionedDiscours académiques (1901),Discours de combat (1900, 1903),L'Action sociale du Christianisme (1904),Sur les chemins de la croyance (1905).[3]
Brunetière was a leading member of theanti-Dreyfusards.[4]
Before 1895 Brunetière was widely known as a rationalist,freethinking scholar. That year, however, he published an article,"Après une visite au Vatican" (After a Visit to the Vatican), in which he argued that science was incapable of providing a convincing socialmorality and thatfaith alone could achieve that result.[5]This work introduced the metaphor of the "bankruptcy of science".[6]
Shortly afterwards, Brunetière converted toRoman Catholicism. As a Catholic, he was orthodox and his political sympathies were conservative. He authored the article on "Literary and Theological Appreciation of Bousset" for theCatholic Encyclopedia.[1]
Translated into English
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.The metaphor of the 'bankruptcy of science' was originated by the conservative literary critic Brunetière [...]. It was introduced by his article in January 1895, "After a Visit to the Vatican" [...]. Brunetière himself affirmed only the partial failure of science, not its bankruptcy.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Brunetière, Ferdinand".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 4 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 683–684.
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