Michel Zink (; born 5 May 1945) is a French writer,

medievalist The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also defined as the study of ...

, and professor of

French literature French literature () generally speaking, is literature written in the French language, particularly by French people, French citizens; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of Franc ...

, particularly that of the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

. He is the Permanent Secretary of the

Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres The () is a French learned society devoted to history, founded in February 1663 as one of the five academies of the . The academy's scope was the study of ancient inscriptions (epigraphy) and historical literature (see Belles-lettres). History ...

, a title he has held since 2011, and 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 ...

in 2017. In addition to his academic work, he has also written historical crime novels, one of which continues the story of

Arsène Lupin Arsène Lupin () is a fictional gentleman thief and master of disguise created in 1905 by French writer Maurice Leblanc. The character was first introduced in a series of short stories serialized in the magazine '' Je sais tout''. The first ...

Biography

Zink was born in

Issy-les-Moulineaux Issy-les-Moulineaux () is a commune in the southwestern suburban area of Paris, France, lying on the left bank of the river Seine. Its citizens are called in French. It is one of Paris's entrances and is located from Notre Dame Cathedral, whic ...

near Paris to the poet and Marthe Cohn. Historian Anne Zink and mathematician Odile Favaron are his sisters. He graduated from the

École normale supérieure École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by Secondary education in France, secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing i ...

in 1968, and completed his doctoral thesis, ''Recherches sur les pastourelles médiévales,'' in 1970 under the direction of while working as an assistant 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 ...

. Working with Le Gentil, Zink completed a second thesis, ''La Prédication en langue romane avant 1300'' in 1975, and the following year became a full professor at the University of Toulouse-Le Mirail. He returned to the Sorbonne in 1987 as a professor, then moved to the

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 ...

in 1994, where he became the chair of Literatures of Medieval France. The chair position was created specifically for Zink after having been vacant for twenty years. Zink left the Collège de France in 2016."Michel Zink, Literatures of Medieval France (1994-2016): Biography"

. He was elected to the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres in 2000, filling the vacant seat of medievalist . He was named chair of the board of directors of the École normale supérieure in 2004, resigning his seat the following year in protest of Monique Canto-Sperber becoming the head of the institution. He received a

Balzan Prize The International Balzan Prize Foundation awards four annual monetary prizes to people or organizations who have made outstanding achievements in the fields of humanities, natural sciences, culture, as well as for endeavours for peace and the b ...

in 2007. In 2017, Zink was elected to seat 37 of the Académie française, filling the vacancy left by the death of historian

René Girard René Noël Théophile Girard (; ; 25 December 1923 – 4 November 2015) was a French-American historian, literary critic, and philosopher of social science whose work belongs to the tradition of philosophical anthropology. Girard was the a ...

."'The book is alive!': more plaudits for Evolution of Desire: A Life of René Girard"
''The Book Haven'',

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

, October 22, 2018.

Honours and awards

Honours

* 2021 : Grand Officier of 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 ...

* 2020 : Commander 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 ...

* 2019 : Gold and Silver Star of the

Order of the Rising Sun The is a Japanese honors system, Japanese order, established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji. The Order was the first national decoration awarded by the Japanese government, created on 10 April 1875 by decree of the Council of State. The badge feat ...

* 2015 : Commander of the

Order of Merit of the Italian Republic The Order of Merit of the Italian Republic () is the most senior Italian order of merit. It was established in 1951 by the second President of Italy, President of the Italian Republic, Luigi Einaudi. The highest-ranking honour of the Republi ...

* 2001 : Commander of the

Ordre des Palmes académiques A suite, in Western classical music, is an ordered set of instrumental or orchestral/concert band pieces. It originated in the late 14th century as a pairing of dance tunes; and grew in scope so that by the early 17th century it comprised up to ...

Awards

* 2014 : ''Prix Provins-Moyen Âge'' * 2007 :

* 2001 : Medal of the Consistori del Gay Saber * 1996 : Grand Gold Medal of the Arts-Sciences-Letters Society * 1987 : Prize of the International Association for French Studies

Honorary degrees

* 2023 :

Sofia University Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski" () is a public university, public research university in Sofia, Bulgaria. It is the oldest institution of higher education in Bulgaria. Founded on 1 October 1888, the edifice of the university was constr ...

* 2014 :

University of Bucharest The University of Bucharest (UB) () is a public university, public research university in Bucharest, Romania. It was founded in its current form on by a decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza to convert the former Princely Academy of Bucharest, P ...

* 2004 :

University of Sheffield The University of Sheffield (informally Sheffield University or TUOS) is a public university, public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Its history traces back to the foundation of Sheffield Medical School in 1828, Fir ...

Works

Literary essays and critical editions

* ''La Pastourelle : poésie et folklore au Moyen Âge'', Paris, Bordas, coll. Études, 1972, 160 p. * ''La Prédication en langue romane avant 1300'', Paris, Champion, coll. Nouvelle Bibliothèque du Moyen Âge, 1976, 580 p.; 2^e éd. revue, 1982. * ''Belle : essai sur les chansons de toile'', suivi d'une édition et d'une traduction, Paris, Champion, coll. Essais sur le Moyen Âge, 1978, 184 p. * ''Roman rose et rose rouge : le Roman de la Rose ou de Guillaume de Dole de Jean Renart'', Paris, Nizet, 1979, 127 p. * ''Le Roman d’Apollonius de Tyr'', édition, traduction et présentation, Paris, U.G.E. coll. 10/18. Série Bibliothèque médiévale No. 1483, 1982, 315 p. ; puis nouvelle édition revue, Paris, LGF, coll. Le Livre de poche. Lettres gothiques No. 4570, 2006, 285 p. * ''La Subjectivité littéraire autour du siècle de saint Louis'', Paris, PUF, coll. Écriture, 1985, 267 p. * Rutebeuf, ''Œuvres complètes'', texte établi, traduit, annoté et présenté avec variantes, Paris, Garnier, coll. Classiques Garnier, 1989–1990, 2 vol., 514 p. et 535 p. ; réédition dans une nouvelle édition revue et mise à jour, Paris, LGF, coll. Le Livre de poche. Lettres gothiques n° 4560, 2001, 1054 p. * ''Le Moyen Âge : littérature française'', coll. Phares, Presses Universitaires de Nancy, 1990, 167 p. réédition augmentée sous le titre ''Introduction à la littérature du Moyen-Âge'', Paris, LGF, coll. Le Livre de poche. Références, 1993, 186 p. * ''Les Voix de la conscience : parole du poète et parole de Dieu dans la littérature médiévale'', Caen, Paradigme, 1992, 418 p. ecueil d'articles * ''Littérature française au Moyen Âge'', Paris, PUF, coll. Premier cycle, 1992, X-400 p.; 2e édition revue et mise à jour, 2001. * ''Le Moyen Âge et ses chansons ou Un passé en trompe-l'œil'', Paris, Éditions de Fallois, 1996, 231 p. * ''Froissart et le temps'', Paris, PUF, coll. Moyen Âge, 1998, 225 p. * ''Le Jongleur de Notre-Dame : contes chrétiens du Moyen Âge'', Paris, Le Seuil, 1999, 204 p. * ''Déodat ou La transparence : un roman du Graal'', Paris, Le Seuil, 2002, 153 p. * ''Poésie et conversion au Moyen Âge'', Paris, PUF, 2003, 346 p. * ''Le Moyen Âge de Gaston Paris'', Paris, Éditions Odile Jacob, 2004, 342 p. * ''Le Moyen Âge à la lettre : abécédaire médiéval'', Paris, Tallandier, 2004, 137 p. * ''Livres anciens, lecture vivante'', Paris, Éditions Odile Jacob, 2010, 352 p. * ''D’autres langues que la mienne'', Paris, Éditions Odile Jacob, 2014, 288 p. * ''Bienvenue au Moyen Âge'', Equateurs / France Inter, 2015, 184 p. * ''L'Humiliation, le Moyen Âge et nous'', Paris, Albin Michel, 2017, 261 p.

Novels

* ''Le Tiers d'amour : un roman des troubadours'', Paris, Éditions de Fallois, 1998, 205 p. * ''Arsène Lupin et le mystère d’Arsonval'', Paris, Éditions de Fallois, 2004, 153 p. ; réédition, Paris, LGF, coll. Le Livre de poche n° 35026, 2006 * ''Un portefeuille toulousain'', Paris, Éditions de Fallois, 2007, 153 p. ; réédition, Paris, LGF, coll. Le Livre de poche n° 31604, 2009 * ''Bérets noirs, bérets rouges'', Paris, Éditions de Fallois, 2018, 220 p.

Memoir

* ''Seuls les enfants savent lire'', Paris, Taillandier, 2009, 121 p. . Réédition : Paris, Les Belles Lettres, 2019, 150 p. .

Collaborations

* Commentary on ''Girart de Roussillon ou L'épopée de Bourgogne'', with M. Thomas, adaptation into modern French of R.-H. Guerrand, Paris, Philippe Lebaud, 1990. * ''Histoire européenne du roman médiéval : esquisse et perspectives'', with M. Stanesco, Paris, PUF, coll. Écriture, 1992, 218 p. * Revised edition of ''Dictionnaire des lettres françaises. Le Moyen Âge'' with Geneviève Hasenohr, Paris, LGF, coll. Le Livre de poche. La Pochothèque, 1992 ; repr. 1994 , originally by Robert Bossuat, Louis Pichard and Guy Raynaud de Lage, Paris, 1939–64. * ''L'Art d'aimer au Moyen Âge'', with M. Cazenave, D. Poirion, and A. Strubel; Éditions du Félin, Ph. Lebaud, 1997, ''Un nouvel art d'aimer'', p. 7-70. * ''Pages manuscrites de la littérature médiévale'', with Geneviève Hasenohr, Paris, LGF, coll. Le Livre de poche. Lettres gothiques, 1999, 95 p. * ''L'Œuvre et son ombre : que peut la littérature secondaire ?'', edited by Michel Zink, other contributions by

Yves Bonnefoy Yves Jean Bonnefoy (24 June 1923, Tours – 1 July 2016, Paris) was a French poet and art historian. He also published a number of translations, most notably the plays of William Shakespeare which are considered among the best in French. He was a ...

Pierre Bourdieu Pierre Bourdieu (, ; ; ; 1 August 1930 – 23 January 2002) was a French sociologist and public intellectual. Bourdieu's contributions to the sociology of education, the theory of sociology, and sociology of aesthetics have achieved wide influ ...

, Pascale Casanova, Antoine Compagnon, Michael Edwards, Marc Fumaroli, Michel Jarrety, Hubert Monteilhet, Carlo Ossola,

Harald Weinrich Harald Weinrich (24 September 1927 – 26 February 2022) was a German classical scholar, scholar of Romance philology and philosopher, known for the breadth of his writings. Biography He was emeritus professor of the Collège de France, and he ...

, Paris, Éditions de Fallois, 2002, 154 p. * ''Le Moyen Âge de Gaston Paris : la poésie à l'épreuve de la philologie'', edited by Michel Zink, Paris, Éditions Odile Jacob, coll. Collège de France, 2004, 343 p. * ''Naissance, Renaissances, Moyen Âge – XVI e siècle'', with Frank Lestringant, Paris, PUF, 2006, 1063 p. * ''Froissart dans sa forge'', edited by Michel Zink, colloquium held in Paris, 4–6 November 2004, Paris,

–

, Éd. de Boccard, 2006, p. 5-6, 85-89 et 231–234. * ''Moyen Âge et Renaissance au Collège de France'', with Pierre Toubert, Paris, Fayard, 2009, 665 p.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zink, Michel 1945 births Living people École Normale Supérieure alumni Members of the Académie Française People from Issy-les-Moulineaux Officers of the Legion of Honour Recipients of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic French philologists 21st-century French writers French medievalists Academic staff of the University of Toulouse Academic staff of the Collège de France