Jean-Pierre Brisset
Encyclopedia
Jean-Pierre Brisset was a French
writer.
Born in a family of farmers, Brisset was an outsider writer, much like Henri Rousseau
was an outsider art
ist. He is a saint on the 'Pataphysics calendar. His writings are in publication as of 2004.
Brisset was an autodidact
. Having left school at age twelve to help on the family farm, he apprenticed as a pastry chef in Paris three years later. In 1855, he enlisted in the army for seven years and fought in the Crimean War
. En 1859, he learned Italian
thanks to the war in Italy
against the Austria
ns. After he was wounded at the Battle of Magenta
, he was taken prisoner. During the Franco-Prussian War
, he was a second lieutenant in the 50e régiment d'infanterie de ligne. Taken prisoner again, he was sent to Magdeburg
in Saxony
where he learned German
.
In 1871 he published La natation ou l’art de nager appris seul en moins d’une heure (Learning the art of swimming alone in less than an hour) before resigning from the Army and moving to Marseilles, where he filed the patent for the "airlift swimming trunks and belt with a double compensatory reservoir". This commercial endeavor was a complete failure. He then returned to Magdeburg, where he earned his living as a language teacher, developing a method for learning French, which he published through a vanity press
in 1874.
He became stationmaster at the railway station of Angers
, and later of L'Aigle
. After publishing another book on the French language, he undertook his major philosophical work, which consisted in spreading his theory that Man's origins were in the water, and He was descended from Frogs. He supported his contention by comparing the French and frog languages (like "logement"= dwelling, comes from "l'eau" = water). He was dead serious about his "morosophy", and penned several books and pamphlets expounding his indisputable substantiations, which he had printed and distributed at his own expense.
In 1912, novelist Jules Romains
, who had got his hands on a copy of God's Mystery and The Human Origins, set up, with the help of a few fellow hoaxers, a rigged election for a "Prince of Thinkers". unsurprisingly, Brisset got elected. The Election Committee then called him to Paris in 1913, where he was received and acclaimed with great pomp. He partook in several ceremonies and a banquet, uttering emotional words of thanks for this unexpected late recognition of his work. Newspapers exposed the hoax
on the next day.
The Complete Works of Brisset have recently been reprinted by Marc Décimo, Dijon, Les Presses du réel, 2001. In an essay entitled, Jean-Pierre Brisset, Prince des Penseurs, inventeur, grammairien et prophète, Dijon, Les presses du réel, 2001, Marc Décimo has given a biography, explanations about Brisset's delirium about frogs as ancestors of humankind. Translations in several languages (European languages, Wolof, Armenian, Arabic, Houma, etc.) can be found in this book as well . Il also includes the major texts written about Brisset by Jules Romains
, Marcel Duchamp
, André Breton
, Raymond Queneau
, Michel Foucault
. In 2004 the Art of Swimming (as a frog) was published in paperback.
Around 2001, Ernestine Chassebœuf
wrote several letters to French politicians, universities, railway stations, library directors, psychiatric hospitals, to suggest they name a street, a university, etc. after Brisset. Their answers were published on a website dedicated to him, but there is no "rue Jean-Pierre Brisset" as of yet. Thanks to a bequest to Jules Romain, an annual dinner in his memory was made possible until 1939.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
writer.
Born in a family of farmers, Brisset was an outsider writer, much like Henri Rousseau
Henri Rousseau
Henri Julien Félix Rousseau was a French Post-Impressionist painter in the Naïve or Primitive manner. He was also known as Le Douanier , a humorous description of his occupation as a toll collector...
was an outsider art
Outsider Art
The term outsider art was coined by art critic Roger Cardinal in 1972 as an English synonym for art brut , a label created by French artist Jean Dubuffet to describe art created outside the boundaries of official culture; Dubuffet focused particularly on art by insane-asylum inmates.While...
ist. He is a saint on the 'Pataphysics calendar. His writings are in publication as of 2004.
Brisset was an autodidact
Autodidacticism
Autodidacticism is self-education or self-directed learning. In a sense, autodidacticism is "learning on your own" or "by yourself", and an autodidact is a person who teaches him or herself something. The term has its roots in the Ancient Greek words αὐτός and διδακτικός...
. Having left school at age twelve to help on the family farm, he apprenticed as a pastry chef in Paris three years later. In 1855, he enlisted in the army for seven years and fought in the Crimean War
Crimean War
The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
. En 1859, he learned Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
thanks to the war in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
against the Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
ns. After he was wounded at the Battle of Magenta
Battle of Magenta
The Battle of Magenta was fought on June 4, 1859 during the Second Italian War of Independence, resulting in a French-Sardinian victory under Napoleon III against the Austrians under Marshal Ferencz Gyulai....
, he was taken prisoner. During the Franco-Prussian War
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
, he was a second lieutenant in the 50e régiment d'infanterie de ligne. Taken prisoner again, he was sent to Magdeburg
Magdeburg
Magdeburg , is the largest city and the capital city of the Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Magdeburg is situated on the Elbe River and was one of the most important medieval cities of Europe....
in Saxony
Saxony
The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....
where he learned German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
.
In 1871 he published La natation ou l’art de nager appris seul en moins d’une heure (Learning the art of swimming alone in less than an hour) before resigning from the Army and moving to Marseilles, where he filed the patent for the "airlift swimming trunks and belt with a double compensatory reservoir". This commercial endeavor was a complete failure. He then returned to Magdeburg, where he earned his living as a language teacher, developing a method for learning French, which he published through a vanity press
Vanity press
A vanity press or vanity publisher is a term describing a publishing house that publishes books at the author's expense. Publisher Johnathon Clifford claims to have coined the term in 1959. However, the term appears in mainstream U.S...
in 1874.
He became stationmaster at the railway station of Angers
Angers
Angers is the main city in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France about south-west of Paris. Angers is located in the French region known by its pre-revolutionary, provincial name, Anjou, and its inhabitants are called Angevins....
, and later of L'Aigle
L'Aigle
L'Aigle is a commune in the Orne department in Basse-Normandie in north-western France.This commune used to be known as Laigle. According to Orderic Vitalis, the nest of an eagle was discovered during the construction of the castle....
. After publishing another book on the French language, he undertook his major philosophical work, which consisted in spreading his theory that Man's origins were in the water, and He was descended from Frogs. He supported his contention by comparing the French and frog languages (like "logement"= dwelling, comes from "l'eau" = water). He was dead serious about his "morosophy", and penned several books and pamphlets expounding his indisputable substantiations, which he had printed and distributed at his own expense.
In 1912, novelist Jules Romains
Jules Romains
Jules Romains, born Louis Henri Jean Farigoule , was a French poet and writer and the founder of the Unanimism literary movement...
, who had got his hands on a copy of God's Mystery and The Human Origins, set up, with the help of a few fellow hoaxers, a rigged election for a "Prince of Thinkers". unsurprisingly, Brisset got elected. The Election Committee then called him to Paris in 1913, where he was received and acclaimed with great pomp. He partook in several ceremonies and a banquet, uttering emotional words of thanks for this unexpected late recognition of his work. Newspapers exposed the hoax
Hoax
A hoax is a deliberately fabricated falsehood made to masquerade as truth. It is distinguishable from errors in observation or judgment, or rumors, urban legends, pseudosciences or April Fools' Day events that are passed along in good faith by believers or as jokes.-Definition:The British...
on the next day.
The Complete Works of Brisset have recently been reprinted by Marc Décimo, Dijon, Les Presses du réel, 2001. In an essay entitled, Jean-Pierre Brisset, Prince des Penseurs, inventeur, grammairien et prophète, Dijon, Les presses du réel, 2001, Marc Décimo has given a biography, explanations about Brisset's delirium about frogs as ancestors of humankind. Translations in several languages (European languages, Wolof, Armenian, Arabic, Houma, etc.) can be found in this book as well . Il also includes the major texts written about Brisset by Jules Romains
Jules Romains
Jules Romains, born Louis Henri Jean Farigoule , was a French poet and writer and the founder of the Unanimism literary movement...
, Marcel Duchamp
Marcel Duchamp
Marcel Duchamp was a French artist whose work is most often associated with the Dadaist and Surrealist movements. Considered by some to be one of the most important artists of the 20th century, Duchamp's output influenced the development of post-World War I Western art...
, André Breton
André Breton
André Breton was a French writer and poet. He is known best as the founder of Surrealism. His writings include the first Surrealist Manifesto of 1924, in which he defined surrealism as "pure psychic automatism"....
, Raymond Queneau
Raymond Queneau
Raymond Queneau was a French poet and novelist and the co-founder of Ouvroir de littérature potentielle .-Biography:Born in Le Havre, Seine-Maritime, Queneau was the only child of Auguste Queneau and Joséphine Mignot...
, Michel Foucault
Michel Foucault
Michel Foucault , born Paul-Michel Foucault , was a French philosopher, social theorist and historian of ideas...
. In 2004 the Art of Swimming (as a frog) was published in paperback.
Around 2001, Ernestine Chassebœuf
Ernestine Chassebœuf
Ernestine Chassebœuf was a French letter writer.- Life :Ernestine Chassebœuf spent all her life in Anjou. Born in Botz-en-Mauges, Maine-et-Loire, she married in 1928 Edmond Chassebœuf, who died in 1970...
wrote several letters to French politicians, universities, railway stations, library directors, psychiatric hospitals, to suggest they name a street, a university, etc. after Brisset. Their answers were published on a website dedicated to him, but there is no "rue Jean-Pierre Brisset" as of yet. Thanks to a bequest to Jules Romain, an annual dinner in his memory was made possible until 1939.
Works
- Œuvres complètes, Les Presses du réel, collection L'écart absolu, Dijon, 2001 et 2e éd. 2004.
- Œuvres natatoires, Les Presses du réel, collection L'écart absolu - poche, Dijon, 2001.
- La Grande nouvelle, Édition en fac similé du Cymbalum Pataphysicum.