Fernand Gregh

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Fernand Gregh in 1922

Fernand Gregh (14 October 1873 – 5 January 1960) was a French poet and literary critic. He was accepted in the Académie française in 1953.

Biography

Fernand Gregh was born in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, the son of the composer Louis Gregh (1843–1915). He studied at the Lycée Michelet, then at Louis-le-Grand and Condorcet, where Marcel Proust was a fellow student.[1] In 1890, he won first prize for French composition in the concours général, and went on to study philosophy at the Sorbonne.

As a young man, he became a regular at the salon of Madame Arman de Caillavet, where he continued to rub shoulders with Proust. In 1892, he founded a magazine called Le Banquet, which published his first verses and those of Proust, as well as writings by Daniel Halévy, Robert de Flers, Jacques Bizet, Jacques Baignères and Gaston Arman de Caillavet, all of whom had been friends of Gregh and Proust in their youth. The young Léon Blum also published a few pages, as did Henri Bergson out of friendship for these young people.

In 1902, Gregh founded the humanist school, which aimed to return poetry to its Hugolian tradition or its Lamartine-style romanticism. He wanted to limit the influence of Symbolism and was opposed to the Parnassians.

He was president of the Society of People of Letters in 1949–1950.

Gregh was rejected several times by the French Academy: he stood thirteen times before being elected in 1953 to Charles de Chambrun's seat, when he was about to turn eighty, on the same day as Pierre Gaxotte and the Duke of Lévis-Mirepoix. Roger Peyrefitte insinuated that he had been elected because, his son having become director of the Budget, the Immortals hoped that their new colleague would support them in the event of any trouble with the tax authorities.

Fernand Gregh died in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. He is buried with his wife in Thomery cemetery.

Private life

He married Harlette Hayem in 1903. He was the father of François-Didier Gregh and Geneviève Gregh, Maurice Druon's first wife.[2]

Works

  • La Maison de l’enfance (1896)
  • La Beauté de vivre (1900)
  • La Fenêtre ouverte (1901)
  • Les Clartés humaines (1904)
  • Étude sur Hugo, essai de critique (1904)
  • L’Or des minutes (1905)
  • Prélude féerique (1908)
  • La Chaîne éternelle (1910)
  • La Couronne douloureuse (1917)
  • Triomphe (1919)
  • Brocéliande (1925)
  • Couleur de la vie (1927)
  • La Gloire du cœur (1932)
  • L’Œuvre de Victor Hugo (1933)
  • Le Mot du monde (1936)
  • Les Amants romantiques (1936)
  • Portrait de la poésie française (1936–1938)
  • La Couronne perdue et retrouvée (1945)
  • L’Âge d’or (Souvenirs d'enfance et de jeunesse) (1947)
  • Le Petit Poucet (1950)
  • La Belle au bois dormant (1950)
  • L’Âge d’airain (Souvenirs 1905-1925) (1951)
  • Victor Hugo, sa vie, son œuvre (1954)
  • L’Âge de fer (Souvenirs 1925-1955) (1956)
  • Mon amitié avec Marcel Proust: souvenirs et lettres inédites (1958)

Notes

  1. Albertini, Pierre (2006). "Les juifs du lycée Condorcet dans la tourmente," Vingtième Siècle, No. 92, pp. 81–100.
  2. David, André; Michel Robida (avril 1973). "Geneviève Gregh," Revue des deux mondes, p. 240.

References

  • Druon, Maurice (1937). Fernand Gregh et son oeuvre. Paris: Impr. Alépée.
  • Figueras, André (1946). Fernand Gregh, poète moderne. Paris: Jouve.

External links