André Bonnard (16 August 1888 – 18 October 1959) was a Swiss

Hellenist Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek and Roman literature and their original languages, ...

, translator, university professor, and public intellectual.

Biography

Bonnard was born into an upper-class intellectual

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

family in his hometown of

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

. His father Jean was a teacher. He studied at the Faculté des Lettres at the university there and at the

Sorbonne University Sorbonne University () is a public research university located in Paris, France. The institution's legacy reaches back to the Middle Ages in 1257 when Sorbonne College was established by Robert de Sorbon as a constituent college of the Unive ...

in Paris. After obtaining his Licence ès lettres, he taught at a school in

Mulhouse Mulhouse (; ; Alsatian language, Alsatian: ''Mìlhüsa'' ; , meaning "Mill (grinding), mill house") is a France, French city of the European Collectivity of Alsace (Haut-Rhin department, in the Grand Est region of France). It is near the Fran ...

from 1910 to 1915, then in

Rolle Rolle () is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Cantons of Switzerland, Canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It was the seat of the district of Rolle (district), Rolle until 2006, when it became part of the district of Nyon District, N ...

and from 1915 to 1928 at the Collège and the Gymnase classique of Lausanne. In 1928, without a doctorate, he was appointed professor of Greek language and literature at the Faculté des Lettres of the

University of Lausanne The University of Lausanne (UNIL; ) in Lausanne, Switzerland, was founded in 1537 as a school of Protestant theology, before being made a university in 1890. The university is the second-oldest in Switzerland, and one of the oldest universities ...

, a position he held until 1957. From 1932 to 1934 and from 1942 to 1944 he was also

doyen A doyen or doyenne (from the French language, French word ''wikt:doyen#French, doyen'', ''doyenne'' in the feminine grammatical gender) is the senior ambassador by length of service in a particular country. In the English language, the meaning ...

of the Faculté des Lettres. Under the impression the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, Bonnard became a

pacifist Pacifism is the opposition to war or violence. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaigner Émile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress in Glasgow in 1901. A related term is ''a ...

intellectual. Admiring the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

support for the

Republicans Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

and later the successes of the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

at the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he was led to see how Stalin's Soviet Union reflected his humanist and pacifist ideals. His praise of Soviet literature (1948) made him a suspect for the Swiss authorities and resultsed in him being monitored for years. In 1949, he was elected chairman of the pro-Soviet Mouvement Suisse des partisans de la Paix (Swiss Peace Movement) and a member of the

World Peace Council The World Peace Council (WPC) is an international organization created in 1949 by the Cominform and propped up by the Soviet Union. Throughout the Cold War, WPC engaged in propaganda efforts on behalf of the Soviet Union, whereby it criticize ...

. In 1952, he was arrested while going to the

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

congress of the World Peace Council and charged with treason for espionage on behalf of the Soviet Union. The trial took place in 1954 and ended with a light sentence of being suspended for fifteen days. Ultimately, he had to resign from his chair before the end of his term without receiving the usual fee (the honorary professorship). His case was one of the most publicized political trials in French-speaking Switzerland during the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

. In 1954, he received the

Stalin Peace Prize The International Lenin Peace Prize (, ''mezhdunarodnaya Leninskaya premiya mira)'' was a Soviet Union award named in honor of Vladimir Lenin. It was awarded by a panel appointed by the Soviet government, to notable individuals whom the panel ...

in Vienna. Being isolated from most of his friends and colleagues, Bonnard dedicated the last years of his life to private scholarship and his publications. His funeral took place without any ceremony. His memory was rehabilitated in the 1990s. Today, a small square near the Ancienne Académie is named after him (since 1992), as is an auditorium at the University of Lausanne in Dorigny (since 2004).

Works

Ancient Greek studies

The three most important studies by André Bonnard are ''Les dieux de la Grèce'' (1944), ''La tragédie et l'homme'' (1950) and the three-volume ''Greek Civilization'', which was published between 1954 and 1959. That 900-page book on Greek civilization is André Bonnard's intellectual testament. ''Greek Civilization'' is the synthesis of all his previous reflections on man, culture and art. Bonnard saw in Greece from

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...

Epicurus Epicurus (, ; ; 341–270 BC) was an Greek philosophy, ancient Greek philosopher who founded Epicureanism, a highly influential school of philosophy that asserted that philosophy's purpose is to attain as well as to help others attain tranqui ...

a special time when humanity achieved a rare perfection. The book has been translated into several languages, including English.

Translations

André Bonnard was known for his translations of Greek tragedies. He did not have specialists in mind, but mainly readers and theater makers. The translations are poetic and were inspired by Racine and

Jean Giraudoux Hippolyte Jean Giraudoux (; ; 29 October 1882 – 31 January 1944) was a French novelist, essayist, diplomat and playwright. He is considered among the most important French dramatists of the period between World War I and World War II. His wo ...

: * 1928 - ''

Prometheus Bound ''Prometheus Bound'' () is an ancient Greek tragedy traditionally attributed to Aeschylus and thought to have been composed sometime between 479 BC and the terminus ante quem of 424 BC. The tragedy is based on the myth of Prometheus, ...

'' (Prométhée enchaîné) by

Aeschylus Aeschylus (, ; ; /524 – /455 BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek Greek tragedy, tragedian often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek tragedy is large ...

* 1938 - ''

Antigone ANTIGONE (Algorithms for coNTinuous / Integer Global Optimization of Nonlinear Equations), is a deterministic global optimization solver for general Mixed-Integer Nonlinear Programs (MINLP). History ANTIGONE is an evolution of GloMIQO, a global ...

'' by

Sophocles Sophocles ( 497/496 – winter 406/405 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. was an ancient Greek tragedian known as one of three from whom at least two plays have survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or contemporary with, those ...

* 1942 - ''

Iphigeneia in Aulis ''Iphigenia in Aulis'' or ''Iphigenia at Aulis'' (; variously translated, including the Latin ''Iphigenia in Aulide'') is the last of the extant works by the playwright Euripides. Written between 408, after ''Orestes'', and 406 BC, the year of Eu ...

'' (Iphigénie à Aulis) by

Euripides Euripides () was a Greek tragedy, tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to ...

* 1946 - ''

Oedipus Rex ''Oedipus Rex'', also known by its Greek title, ''Oedipus Tyrannus'' (, ), or ''Oedipus the King'', is an Athenian tragedy by Sophocles. While some scholars have argued that the play was first performed , this is highly uncertain. Originally, to ...

'' (Œdipe Roi) by Sophocles * 1948 - ''

Alcestis Alcestis (; Ancient Greek: Ἄλκηστις, ') or Alceste, was a princess in Greek mythology, known for her love of her husband. Her life story was told by pseudo-Apollodorus in his '' Bibliotheca'', and a version of her death and return from t ...

'' by Euripides * 1952 - ''

Agamemnon In Greek mythology, Agamemnon (; ''Agamémnōn'') was a king of Mycenae who commanded the Achaeans (Homer), Achaeans during the Trojan War. He was the son (or grandson) of King Atreus and Queen Aerope, the brother of Menelaus, the husband of C ...

'' by Aeschylus

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonnard, Andre 1888 births 1959 deaths People from Lausanne Stalin Peace Prize recipients Scholars of Greek mythology and religion Scholars of ancient Greek history Scholars of ancient Greek literature Swiss pacifists Swiss translators Greek–French translators Swiss essayists University of Lausanne alumni University of Paris alumni Academic staff of the University of Lausanne