Marcel Brion (; 21 November 1895 – 23 October 1984) was a French essayist, literary critic, novelist, and historian.

Early life

The son of a lawyer, Brion was classmates in Thiers with

Marcel Pagnol Marcel Paul Pagnol (, also ; ; 28 February 1895 – 18 April 1974) was a French novelist, playwright, and filmmaker. Regarded as an auteur, in 1946, he became the first filmmaker elected to the . Pagnol is generally regarded as one of France's ...

and Albert Cohen. After completing his secondary education in Collège Champittet, Switzerland, he studied law at the University of

Aix-en-Provence Aix-en-Provence, or simply Aix, is a List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, city and Communes of France, commune in southern France, about north of Marseille. A former capital of Provence, it is the Subprefectures in France, s ...

Career

Counsel to the bar of Marseille between 1920 and 1924, he abandoned his legal career to turn to literature. Brion wrote nearly a hundred books in his career, ranging from historical biography to examinations of Italian and German art, and turning later in life to novels. His most famous collection of stories is the 1942 ''Les Escales de la Haute Nuit'' ("The Shore Leaves of the Deepest Night"). An essay of Brion appears in '' Our Exagmination Round His Factification for Incamination of Work in Progress'', the important 1929 critical appreciation of

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (born James Augusta Joyce; 2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influentia ...

's ''

Finnegans Wake ''Finnegans Wake'' is a novel by Irish literature, Irish writer James Joyce. It was published in instalments starting in 1924, under the title "fragments from ''Work in Progress''". The final title was only revealed when the book was publishe ...

''. He was a friend of the philosopher Xavier Tilliette. In 1964, Brion was elected to the

Académie française 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 ...

's chair 33, replacing his friend Jean-Louis Vaudoyer. Other distinctions include membership in the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

, the

Croix de guerre The (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awarded during World ...

, a Grand Officer in the French

Order of Merit The Order of Merit () is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by Edward VII, admission into the order r ...

, and an Officer of the ''

Ordre des Arts et des Lettres The Order of Arts and Letters () is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is the recognition of significant ...

''. The 1982 television program '' The Romantic Spirit,'' which aired in the U.S. on the

A&E (TV channel) A&E (an initialism of its original name, the Arts & Entertainment Network) is an American cable and satellite television network and the flagship property of A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Walt Disney Company ...

from 1985–1991, credits Brion as having "devised" the series.

French language publications

Arts and literature

* ''Giotto'', Rieder, 1928 * ''Turner'', Rieder, 1929 * ''Botticelli'', Crès, 1932 * ''Klee'', Somogy, 1955 * ''Kandinsky'', Somogy, 1960 * '' L'Œuvre de Balzac'', 16 volumes, Classiques-CFL, 1950-1953 * '' Fabrizio Clerici'', Milan, Electra Editrice, 1955 * ''L'Allemagne romantique'', 4 vol., Albin Michel : ** Vol. I - '' Kleist, Brentano, Wackenroder, Tieck, Caroline von Günderode'', 1962 ** Vol. II - ''

Novalis Georg Philipp Friedrich Freiherr von Hardenberg (2 May 1772 – 25 March 1801), pen name Novalis (; ), was a German nobility, German aristocrat and polymath, who was a poet, novelist, philosopher and Mysticism, mystic. He is regarded as an inf ...

Hoffmann Hoffmann is a German language, German surname. People A *Adolph Hoffmann (1858–1930), German politician *Albert Hoffmann (horticulturist), Albert Hoffmann (1846–1924), German horticulturist *Alexander Hoffmann (politician), Alexander Hoffma ...

, Jean-Paul, Eichendorff'', 1963 ** Vol. III - ''Le Voyage initiatique'' - 1, 1977; . Table : ''Le Voyage initiatique'', Thème; Variations; ''Pressentiment et Présence'' de

Joseph von Eichendorff Joseph is a common male name, derived from the Hebrew (). "Joseph" is used, along with " Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the modern-day Nordic count ...

; ''La Loge invisible'' de Jean-Paul; ''Les Voyages de Franz Sternbald'' de

Ludwig Tieck Johann Ludwig Tieck (; ; 31 May 177328 April 1853) was a German poet, fiction writer, translator, and critic. He was one of the founding fathers of the Romanticism, Romantic movement in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Early life Tieck w ...

; ''Heinrich von Ofterdingen'' de

; ''Le Voyage en Orient'' de

Hermann Hesse Hermann Karl Hesse (; 2 July 1877 – 9 August 1962) was a Germans, German-Swiss people, Swiss poet and novelist, and the 1946 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His interest in Eastern philosophy, Eastern religious, spiritual, and philosophic ...

** Vol. IV - ''Le Voyage initiatique'' - 2, 1978 * ''Venise'', Albin Michel 1962 * ''L'Art romantique'', Hachette, 1963 * ''L'Âge d'or de la peinture hollandaise'', Elsevier, 1964 * ''L'Œil, l'esprit et la main du peintre'', Plon, 1966 * ''Peinture romantique'', Albin Michel, 1967 * ''La Grande Aventure de la peinture religieuse'', Perrin, 1968 * ''Rembrandt'', Albin Michel, 1969 * ''Titien'', Somogy, 1971 * '' Guardi'', Henri Scrépel, 1976 * ''

Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...

'', Albin Michel, 1982 * ''Robert Schumann et l'âme romantique'', Albin Michel, 1954 * ''Paul Cézanne'', Bordas, 1988 * ''Art fantastique'', Albin Michel 1989 * '' Michel-Ange'', Albin Michel, 1995 * ''Léonard de Vinci'', Albin Michel, 1995 * ''Mozart'', Perrin, 2006 * ''Le Théâtre des esprits'', préface d'Agnès Brion et note liminaire de Patrick Brion, La tour verte, 2011

Biographies

* ''Bartolomé de Las Casas, Père des Indiens'', Plon, 1928 * ''La Vie d'Attila'', Gallimard, 1928 * ''Rudyard Kipling'', Éditions de la Nouvelle Revue critique, 1929 * ''Théodoric, roi des Ostrogoths'', Payot, 1935; 1979 *''La reine Jeanne'', Société des bibliophiles de Provence, 1936; 1944 (Robert Laffont) * ''Laurent le Magnifique'', Albin Michel, 1937 * ''Blanche de Castille'', Les éditions de France, 1939 * ''Machiavel'', Albin Michel, 1948 * ''Frédéric II de Hohenstaufen'', Tallandier, 1948 * ''Le Pape et le Prince - Les Borgia'', Hachette, 1953 * ''Tamerlan'', Albin Michel, 1999 * ''Charles le Téméraire, grand-duc d'Occident'', Hachette, 1947. Réédition : Tallandier, 2006
compte rendu en ligne
* ''Les Amantes'' courts essais sur Diotima - Alcoforado - Frédérique Brion - Charlotte Stieglitz et Louise Labé, Albin Michel, 1941

History

* ''Les Mondes antiques'', Arthème Fayard, 1954; Tallandier, 1977. 9 volumes : ''L'Égypte'' (1 et 2), ''L'Orient'' (3), ''Les Hébreux'' (4), ''La Grèce'' (5 et 6), ''Rome'' (7 à 9)

Novels

* ''Le Caprice espagnol'' (Gallimard nrf, 1929) * ''La Folie Céladon'' (Éditions Correa, 1935, Albin Michel 1963, et livre de Poche, 1989) * ''Les Escales de la haute nuit'', nouvelles, (Laffont, 1942, réédite bibliothèque Marabout, 1971, puis Albin Michel, 1986) * ''Un enfant de la terre et du ciel'' (Albin Michel, 1943) * ''Château d'ombre'' (Luf, 1943, puis Albin Michel, 1960) * ''L’Enchanteur'' (Luf, 1947) * ''La Chanson de l'Oiseau étranger'' (Albin Michel, 1958) * ''La Ville de sable'', (Albin Michel, 1959) * ''La Rose de cire'' (Albin Michel, 1964) * ''De l'autre côté de la forêt'' (Albin Michel, 1966) * ''Les Miroirs et les gouffres'' (Albin Michel, 1968) * ''L’Ombre d’un arbre mort'' (Albin Michel, 1970) * ''Nous avons traversé la montagne'' (Albin Michel, 1972) * ''La Fête de la tour des âmes'' (Albin Michel, 1974) * ''Algues - fragment d'un journal intime'' (Albin Michel, 1976) * ''Les Vaines Montagnes'' (Albin Michel, 1985) * ''Le Journal d’un visiteur'' (Albin Michel, 1980) * ''Villa des hasards'' (Albin Michel, 1984) * ''Ivre d’un rêve héroïque et brutal'' (de Fallois, 2014)

English language publications

*''Pompeii & Herculaneum: The glory and the grief.'' *''Albrecht Dürer'', ' The World of Art Library' series *''Romantic Art'' (

Thames and Hudson Thames & Hudson (sometimes T&H for brevity) is a publisher of illustrated books in all visually creative categories: art, architecture, design, photography, fashion, film, and the performing arts. It also publishes books on archaeology, history, ...

, 1960) *''Waystations of the Deep Night'' (Wakefield Press, 2020).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brion, Marcel 1895 births 1984 deaths Writers from Marseille Members of the Académie Française Officers of the Legion of Honour Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1914–1918 (France) Grand Officers of the Ordre national du Mérite Officiers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres French male writers 20th-century French male writers Collège Champittet alumni