Antoine Compagnon (; born 20 July 1950 in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, Belgium) is a Professor of French Literature at

Collège de France The (), formerly known as the or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment () in France. It is located in Paris near La Sorbonne. The has been considered to be France's most ...

, Paris (2006–), and the Blanche W. Knopf Professor of French and Comparative Literature at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

(1985–).

Education

Compagnon studied at

École Polytechnique (, ; also known as Polytechnique or l'X ) is a ''grande école'' located in Palaiseau, France. It specializes in science and engineering and is a founding member of the Polytechnic Institute of Paris. The school was founded in 1794 by mat ...

(1970) and

École nationale des Ponts et Chaussées École nationale des ponts et chaussées (; ; abbr. ENPC), also nicknamed Ponts (), formerly known as École des Ponts ParisTech (), is a grande école in the field of science, engineering and technology, of the Polytechnic Institute of Paris, a ...

(1975), and holds a Doctorate of

Paris Diderot University Paris Diderot University, also known as Paris 7 (), was a French university located in Paris, France. It was one of the inheritors of the historic University of Paris, which was split into 13 universities in 1970. Paris Diderot merged with Pari ...

(1985).

Career

Compagnon was a Fellow of the Fondation Thiers (1975-1978), taught at

(1978-1985), Institut français du Royaume-Uni, London (1980-1981), University of Rouen (1981-1985), was a visiting professor at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

, Philadelphia (1986, 1990), Fellow of the

John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation is a private foundation formed in 1925 by Olga and Simon Guggenheim in memory of their son, who died on April 26, 1922. The organization awards Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Gr ...

(1988), Professor at University of Maine (France), Le Mans (1989-1990), visiting fellow at

All Souls College All Souls College (official name: The College of All Souls of the Faithful Departed, of Oxford) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Unique to All Souls, all of its members automatically become fellows (i.e., full me ...

, Oxford (1994), Professor at

Paris-Sorbonne University Paris-Sorbonne University (also known as Paris IV; ) was a public university, public research university in Paris, France, active from 1971 to 2017. It was the main inheritor of the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Paris. In 2018, it m ...

(1994-2006). He is a Fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

(1997) and

Academia Europaea The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of humanities, letters, law, and sciences. The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of Europe ...

(2006), and a Corresponding Fellow of the

British Academy The British Academy for the Promotion of Historical, Philosophical and Philological Studies is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the sa ...

(2009). He received an Honorary Degree of

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

(2010),

HEC Paris HEC Paris () is a business school and ''grande école'' located in Jouy-en-Josas, a southwestern outer suburb of Paris, France. It offers Bachelor, MiM, MSc in International Finance, MBA, EMBA, executive education, professional developm ...

(2012), and

University of Liège The University of Liège (), or ULiège, is a major public university of the French Community of Belgium founded in 1817 and based in Liège, Wallonia, Belgium. Its official language is French (language), French. History The university was foun ...

(2013), and the Claude Lévi-Strauss Prize of the

Académie des sciences morales et politiques An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

(2011). In 2012, Compagnon did a daily broadcast on

France Inter France Inter () is a French public radio channel and part of Radio France. It is the successor to Paris Inter, later known as France I, and created as a merger of the France I and France II networks, first as RTF Inter in October 1963, then ren ...

, ''Un été avec Montaigne''. The programme was published as a book which became a bestseller in 2013. He has done several more '' Un été avec'' series, including ''Un été avec Baudelaire'' in 2014. In 2013, he curated a show of Proust's manuscripts from the

Bibliothèque nationale de France The (; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites, ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository of all that is published in France. Some of its extensive collections, including bo ...

at the Morgan Library.Edward Rothstein
"Proust, for Those With a Memory. Marcel Proust and 'Swann’s Way' at the Morgan Library"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', February 14, 2013.

Publications

* ''La Seconde Main ou le travail de la citation'' (Seuil, 1979). * ''Le Deuil antérieur'' (Seuil, 1979). * ''Nous, Michel de Montaigne'' (Seuil, 1980). * ''La Troisième République des Lettres'' (Seuil, 1983). * ''Ferragosto'' (Flammarion, 1985). * ''Proust entre deux siècles'' (Seuil, 1989). * ''Les Cinq Paradoxes de la modernité'' (Seuil, 1990). * ''L’Esprit de l’Europe'' (Flammarion, 1993). * ''Chat en poche. Montaigne et l’allégorie'' (Seuil, 1993). * ''Connaissez-vous Brunetière ?'' (Seuil, 1997). * ''Le Démon de la théorie'' (Seuil, 1998). * ''Baudelaire devant l’innombrable'' (PUPS, 2003). * '' Les Antimodernes, de Joseph de Maistre à Roland Barthes'' (Gallimard, 2005). * ''La Littérature, pour quoi faire ?'' (Collège de France / Fayard, 2007). * ''Que reste-t-il de la culture française ?'' (Denoël, 2008). * ''Le Cas Bernard Faÿ. Du Collège de France à l’indignité nationale'' (Gallimard, 2009). * ''La Classe de rhéto'' (Gallimard, 2012). * ''Un été avec Montaigne'' (Équateurs / France Inter, 2013). * ''Une question de discipline. Entretiens avec Jean-Baptiste Amadieu'' (Flammarion, 2013). * ''Baudelaire l’irréductible'' (Flammarion, 2014). * ''Un été avec Baudelaire'' (Équateurs / France Inter, 2015). * ''Petits Spleens numériques'' (Équateurs, 2015). * ''L’Âge des lettres'' (Gallimard, 2015). * ''Un été avec Pascal'' (Équateurs / France Inter, 2020). Published in English as ''A Summer with Pascal'', tr. Catherine Porter (The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2024). * ''Un été avec Colette'' (Équateurs / France Inter, 2022). Compagnon edited Marcel Proust, ''Du côté de chez Swann'' (Gallimard, Folio, 1988), ''Sodome et Gomorrhe'' (Gallimard, Pléiade, 1988; Folio, 1989), ''Carnets,'' in collaboration (Gallimard, 2002); Albert Thibaudet, ''Réflexions sur la politique'' (Robert Laffont, Bouquins, 2007), ''Réflexions sur la littérature'' (Gallimard, Quarto, 2007); Charles Péguy, ''L’Argent'' (Équateurs, 2008); Paul Bourget, ''Le Disciple'' (Le Livre de Poche, 2010); Maurice Barrès, ''Mes cahiers'' (Équateurs, 2010).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Compagnon, Antoine 1950 births Living people École Polytechnique alumni Columbia University faculty Academic staff of the Collège de France Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Corresponding fellows of the British Academy Members of the Académie Française People from Brussels