438:. The Enlightenment was accompanied by a widespread hope for a regenerating elite that would help usher in a new, more just social order. The “consecration of the writer” emerged from these two complementary though divergent tendencies in the period from 1760 to 1789, during which the writer’s mission was widely believed to be that of guiding humanity to the promised land of the new order.
25:
338:.) Taken together, these works constitute a coherent study of French literature and thought from 1750 to 1898, analyzing the spiritual predicament of modern France and shedding light on the literature of other Western nations as well as on contemporary problems of global civilization. These interrelated works, which Bénichou began to publish only at the age of 65, are:
523:. Historians who ignore this issue in favor of dimensions that are exclusively social, economic, or political are missing something essential, in Bénichou's view. "The Romantic period, in the final analysis, corresponds to an enormous effort to give a corrected edition of the system of the Enlightenment that would be free of the unfortunate aspects that the
482:, p. 339). In Bénichou's work, "spiritual authority" is a key concept, though he never defines it concisely. From the body of Bénichou's writing, however, emerges a vision of humanity with deep-rooted needs both for belief and a social doctrine of legitimation capable of enlisting the support of society generally. In France, the
301:(1948; Eng. trans. 1971 ) established his scholarly reputation; the volume has never gone out of print and has sold more than 100,000 copies. But it had been refused as a doctoral work and Paul Bénichou could therefore not become a University teacher in France. Returned to Paris in 1949, he got a position at the prestigious
552:
began to emerge, as "the eighteenth century begins to be the object of a vast intellectual disapproval" (ibid., p. 28). But poets, writers, and artists, for their part, were unwilling to lay down their claims to spiritual authority. Instead, they became "disenchanted"—a disenchantment that has
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traditionally fulfilled this role, but a "new spiritual power born in the eighteenth century from the disrepute of the old Church" (ibid., p. 331). It was the rise of this "philosophic faith" (which Bénichou also calls the "faith of the eighteenth century," the "modern faith," the "new faith,"
514:
The key to the drama, in Bénichou's view, is the weakening of the West's traditional "spiritual power." Modernity appears as an extended period of conflict among various efforts to redefine what such a power might be in the future. Independent writers have, in these circumstances, offered a social
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is inherently heterogeneous and multifaceted. His hostility to single-minded approaches to criticism and disdain for popular contemporary critical schools delayed appreciation of his work during his own lifetime, but this neglect seems, paradoxically, to have contributed to its long-term vitality.
330:, in an era of general confidence, progress, and hope? For twenty years, Bénichou researched the history of ideas about creative writers’ relation to society. This research culminated in a series of major works that purport to solve this problem. (Ironically, Bénichou never wrote a major work on
140:, his work on the social context of the French seventeenth-century classics. Later Bénichou undertook a prodigious research program, seeking to understand the radical pessimism and disappointment expressed by mid-nineteenth writers. This project resulted in a series of major works, beginning with
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the product of a religiously grounded society faced with a decline in the credibility of its ideological and religious foundations. This decline occurred at the same time as, and to a large extent as the result of, the rise of a belief in the essential self-sufficiency of human beings, belief in
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modified this program, bringing about a convergence of two tendencies that had, till then, been divergent. On the one hand, the secular, anti-religious tendencies of the
Enlightenment were modified, becoming more accommodating of religious notions, as seen in different ways in the work of
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The changes Bénichou describes were brought about by "the rise of an intellectual corps possessing new prestige and a new social make-up," a "corps" that emerged transfigured after the
Revolution to lay claim to "spiritual authority"
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It was in the early 1950s that Bénichou undertook his most ambitious and important scholarly project. He had always been struck by the pessimism of the great French writers of the mid-nineteenth century—that of
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565:('plausibility' or 'credibility'), i.e. fidelity to the thought embodied in the work, so that any interpretation of a work ought, at least in principle, to be acceptable to its author. He viewed
290:, whom he and his daughter, Sylvia Roubaud, would later translate; he also developed a scholarly interest in medieval Spanish literature and published groundbreaking work on the Spanish
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described Bénichou’s special interest as “the thought of poets.” More generally, though, Paul Bénichou’s work contributed to the understanding of the creative writer's place in
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267:, Bénichou, as a Jew, was denied the right to earn his livelihood by teaching in French schools, and as an Algerian Jew, found himself stripped of French nationality.
458:, among others. On the other hand, the experience of the Revolution and the failure of its initial hopes contributed to a religious revival, seen in the works of
701:
255:. But it was as a scholar and a teacher that Bénichou made his mark. While teaching in French secondary schools he had all but completed his first major work,
645:
In 1870 the
Algerian natives of Jewish religion had been given the French citizenship, contrary to the Muslim natives. In 1940 Vichy abolished this decision.
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403:. He continued to write and publish; when he died in Paris, at the age of 92, he was writing a commentary on the haunting, enigmatic poems by
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507:, p. 9), or, intellectually, as "the general debate, which still goes on, between the freedom of thought and expression and dogma" (
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in literary criticism with skepticism. In his view, these are inherently flawed approaches, in that they tend to reduce the work of
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470:. It is to this "deep convergence," as Bénichou put it, that the consecration of the poet-thinker is due, in the heyday of French
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In his later years, Bénichou remained active and in good health, working in his apartment on the rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs in the
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388:, where he taught one semester a year from 1959 until his retirement from teaching in 1979. He was elected a Fellow of the
151:, may be considered an extension of this series. Together, these works amount to an important reinterpretation of French
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133:; 19 September 1908 – 14 May 2001) was a French/Algerian writer, intellectual, critic, and literary historian.
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had caused to stand out so strikingly," Bénichou said in a late interview ("Parcours de l'écrivain,"
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163:, and illuminated the role of writers in legitimating the institutions and values of modern society.
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is "the vast prologue or first important act of a longer history that continues in our own time" (
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But consensus on the role of the writer was short-lived. Already shaken in the aftermath of the
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continued to the present day and that has even been institutionalized in many artistic circles.
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of 1830, after 1848 the poet-thinker ceased to be a credible spiritual authority in the eyes of
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In the middle of this gargantuan intellectual undertaking, Bénichou was invited to teach at
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After living in the French unoccupied zone, Bénichou could leave in 1942 with his family to
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487:"philosophical humanism," and the "secular faith") that initiated the crisis of modernity.
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511:, p. 11). Historically, this debate first emerges in earnest in the 16th century.
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During his student years Bénichou was active in radical politics and literary
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Finally, Paul Bénichou's critical method depends on an interpretive ideal of
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to one of its modalities. Bénichou insisted, instead, that a work of
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Bibliography of works by and about Paul Bénichou, with annotations
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studied in the 1880s; he continued to teach there until 1958.
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location for a secular version of "spiritual authority"—the
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in particular. What could account for
Baudelaire’s radical
251:, writing poetry; his name is mentioned in Maurice Nadeau’s
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French/Algerian literary historian & writer (1908-2001)
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The first four works were republished posthumously by
218:; he was successful in 1926 and studied there, where
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Fellows of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
49:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
612:, Birmingham (Alabama), Summa Publications, 1994
234:were among his fellow students. He obtained his
628:, 2005 (contains many biographical informations)
206:. After the baccalauréat (1924), he came to the
136:Bénichou first achieved prominence in 1948 with
199:in his final year of secondary school at the
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244:in 1930, then becoming a secondary teacher.
144:(1973; Eng. trans. 1999 ). A 1995 volume,
608:Sylvie Romanowski and Monique Bilezikian,
282:, at the Institut Français (co-founded by
413:. He is interred in Paris’s Cimetière du
109:Learn how and when to remove this message
732:French people of Algerian-Jewish descent
622:"Paul Bénichou Memorial Minute", in the
297:The publication and critical success of
767:French expatriates in the United States
762:Emigrants from French Algeria to France
661:. American Academy of Arts and Sciences
656:"Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter B"
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434:human autonomy being a hallmark of the
491:Bénichou and the problem of modernity
390:American Academy of Arts and Sciences
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377:in a two-volume set under the title
47:adding citations to reliable sources
495:For Bénichou, then, the problem of
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345:(1973; English translation 1999 )
142:Le Sacre de l’écrivain, 1750-1830
757:20th-century French male writers
499:is essentially that of belief.
441:The traumatic experience of the
313:"The Consecration of the Writer"
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533:(Mar.-Apr. 1989), p. 25).
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505:The Consecration of the Writer
480:The Consecration of the Writer
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259:, when Hitler unleashed his
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557:Bénichou's critical method
361:L'École du désenchantement
474:in the years after 1820.
326:, shared by writers like
727:Lycée Condorcet teachers
517:pouvoir spiritual laïque
212:École Normale Supérieure
210:in Paris to prepare the
191:. He had won the annual
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610:Homage to Paul Bénichou
299:Morales du grand siècle
257:Morales du grand siècle
253:Histoire du surréalisme
138:Morales du grand siècle
521:Le Sacre de l'écrivain
509:Le Temps des prophètes
349:Le Temps des prophètes
343:Le Sacre de l'écrivain
573:, and enthusiasm for
484:Roman Catholic Church
355:Les Mages romantiques
232:Maurice Merleau-Ponty
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603:About Paul Bénichou
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216:University of Paris
571:post-structuralism
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452:Benjamin Constant
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288:Jorge Luis Borges
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663:. Retrieved
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36:verification
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692:2001 deaths
687:1908 births
501:Romanticism
472:romanticism
197:thème latin
167:Early years
153:romanticism
681:Categories
633:References
583:literature
579:literature
332:Baudelaire
261:blitzkrieg
249:surrealism
241:agrégation
228:Paul Nizan
155:. Critic
69:newspapers
542:bourgeois
497:modernity
468:Lamartine
431:modernity
407:known as
392:in 1976.
375:Gallimard
324:pessimism
292:romancero
272:Argentina
195:for best
161:modernity
99:June 2011
530:Le Débat
464:Balanche
381:(2004).
305:, where
201:lycée d'
148:Mallarmé
665:13 June
276:Mendoza
236:license
185:Algeria
181:Tlemcen
173:Tlemcen
126:French:
83:scholar
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546:France
525:Terror
466:, and
454:, and
369:(1995)
363:(1992)
357:(1988)
351:(1977)
146:Selon
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659:(PDF)
401:Paris
189:Paris
179:(now
90:JSTOR
76:books
667:2011
614:ISBN
230:and
203:Oran
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