Gustave Thibon (; 2 September 1903 – 19 January 2001) was a French philosopher.
He was nominated for the
Nobel Prize in Literature
)
, image = Nobel Prize.png
, caption =
, awarded_for = Outstanding contributions in literature
, presenter = Swedish Academy
, holder = Annie Ernaux (2022)
, location = Stockholm, Sweden
, year = 1901 ...
five times by
Édouard Delebecque Édouard is both a French given name and a surname, equivalent to Edward in English. Notable people with the name include:
* Édouard Balladur (born 1929), French politician
* Édouard Boubat (1923–1999), French photographer
* Édouard Colonne (1 ...
, in 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966 and 1968.
Biography
Although essentially self-taught (he left school at the age of thirteen), Thibon was an avid reader – especially of poetry, in French,
Provençal and Latin. He was very impressed by the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...
, which led him to hate patriotism and democracy. The young Gustave Thibon travelled extensively, at first to
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
and Italy, and later to North Africa, where he served in the military, before returning to his native village at the age of 23. Under the influence of writers such as
Léon Bloy
Léon Bloy (; 11 July 1846 – 3 November 1917) was a French Catholic novelist, essayist, pamphleteer (or lampoonist), and satirist, known additionally for his eventual (and passionate) defense of Catholicism and for his influence within French C ...
and
Jacques Maritain
Jacques Maritain (; 18 November 1882 – 28 April 1973) was a French Catholic philosopher. Raised Protestant, he was agnostic before converting to Catholicism in 1906. An author of more than 60 books, he helped to revive Thomas Aquinas fo ...
he converted to
Catholicism
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
. At the invitation of the latter, he started his literary career in the pages of the ''Revue Thomiste''.
During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
Thibon hosted the philosopher
Simone Weil
Simone Adolphine Weil ( , ; 3 February 1909 – 24 August 1943) was a French philosopher, mystic, and political activist. Over 2,500 scholarly works have been published about her, including close analyses and readings of her work, since 1995.
...
at his farm; he published S. Weil's work ''La Pesanteur et la Grâce'' (''Gravity and Grace'') in 1947.
Works
* 1933 – ''À Propos de Trois Récents Ouvrages de Maritain''.
* 1934 – ''La Science du Caractère''.
* 1940 – ''Poèmes.''
* 1941 – ''Destin de l'Homme''.
* 1942 – ''L'Échelle de Jacob''.
* 1942 – ''Diagnostics. Essai de Physiologie Sociale''.
* 1943 – ''Retour au Réel''.
* 1945 – ''Le Pain de Chaque Jour''.
* 1946 – ''Offrande du Soir.''
* 1947 – "Une Métaphysique de la Communion: l'Existentialisme de Gabriel Marcel."
* 1947 – ''Ce que Dieu a Uni.''
* 1948 – ''Chateaubriand''.
* 1948 – ''Nietzsche ou le Déclin de l'Esprit''.
* 1949 – ''Paysages du Vivarais''.
* 1953 – ''La Crise Moderne de l'Amour''.
[English translation, ''Love at the Crossroads'', by Reginald F. Trevott, Burns & Oates, London 1964.]
* 1959 – ''Vous Serez Comme des Dieux''.
* 1974 – ''L'Ignorance Étoilée''.
* 1975 – ''Notre Regard qui Manque à la Lumière''.
* 1975 – ''Entretiens avec
Christian Chabanis
Christian Chabanis (9 August 1936 – 25 April 1989) was a French writer, philosopher and journalist.
Biography
A journalist, essayist and novelist, he was also the author of numerous books on fundamental reflections and surveys on the place o ...
''.
* 1976 – ''L'Équilibre et l'Harmonie''.
* 1985 – ''Le Voile et le Masque''.
* 1988 – ''Entretiens avec G. Thibon''.
* 1993 – ''Au Soir de ma Vie''.
* 1995 – ''L'Illusion Féconde''.
* 2006 – ''Aux Ailes de la Lettre''.
* 2011 – ''Parodies et Mirages ou la Décadence d'un Monde Chrétien: Notes Inédites (1935–1978)''.
Notes
Further reading
* Chabanis, Christian (1967). ''Gustave Thibon: Témoin de la Lumière''. Paris: Beauchesne.
* Fraigneux, Maurice (1947). ''Introduction Ă Gustave Thibon.'' Paris: Pascal.
* Lemaire, Benoît (1980). ''L'Espérance sans Illusions. L'Espérance Chrétienne dans la Perspective de Gustave Thibon''. Montréal: Éd. Paulines.
* Lemaire, Benoît (1984). "La Liberté au Centre du Conflit entre l'Esprit et la Vie." In: ''De la Philosophie comme Passion de la Liberté: Hommage à Alexis Klimov''. Québec: Éditions du Beffroi, pp. 283–305.
* Massis, Henri (1967). ''Au Long d'une Vie. Le Message de Gustave Thibon''. Paris: Plon.
External links
Gustave Thibon
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thibon, Gustave
1903 births
2001 deaths
French monarchists
People from Ardèche
French male non-fiction writers
Converts to Roman Catholicism
French Roman Catholics
20th-century French philosophers
20th-century French male writers