Marcel Schwob
Encyclopedia
Marcel Schwob (23 August 1867 – 12 February 1905) was a Jewish French writer.
, Hauts-de-Seine
on 23 August 1867. He was the brother of Maurice Schwob
and uncle of Claude Cahun
(born Lucy Schwob).
In 1884 he discovered Robert Louis Stevenson
, who became one of his models, and whom he translated into French.
He was a true symbolist, with a diverse and an innovatory style. His name stands beside Stéphane Mallarmé
, Octave Mirbeau
, André Gide
, Léon Bloy
, Charles Péguy
, Jules Renard
, Alfred Jarry
, Édouard Dujardin
in French Literature.
He is the author of six collections of short stories: Cœur double ("Double Heart", 1891), Le Roi au masque d’or ("The King in the Golden Mask", 1892), Mimes (1893), Le Livre de Monelle ("The Book of Monelle", 1894), La Croisade des Enfants ("The Children's Crusade
", 1896), and Vies imaginaires ("Imaginary Lives", 1896).
Alfred Vallette
, director of the leading young review, the Mercure de France
, thought he was "one of the keenest minds of our time", in 1892. Téodor de Wyzewa
in 1893, thought it would be tomorrow's taste in literature itself.
Paul Valéry
dedicated two of his works to him - Introduction à la Méthode de Léonard de Vinci to Schwob and the Soirée avec M. Teste. Alfred Jarry
dedicated his Ubu Roi
to Schwob. Oscar Wilde
dedicated to him his long poem "The Sphinx
" (1894) "in friendship and admiration." Jorge Luis Borges
wrote that his book Historia universal de la infamia (A Universal History of Infamy
, 1936) was inspired by Schwob's "Imaginary Lives."
Along with Stuart Merrill
, Adolphe Retté, and Pierre Louÿs
, Marcel Schwob worked on Oscar Wilde's play Salome
, which was written in French to avoid a British law forbidding the depiction of Bible characters on stage. Wilde struggled with his French, and the play was proofread and corrected by Marcel Schwob for its first performance, in Paris in 1896.
He held a doctorate in classic philology and oriental languages. His work pictures the Greco-Latin culture and the most scandalous characteristics of the romantic period. His stories catch the macabre, sadistic and the terrifying aspects in human beings and life.
He became sick in 1894 with a chronic incurable intestinal disorder. He also suffered from recurring illnesses that were generally diagnosed as influenza or pneumonia and received intestinal surgery several times. In the last ten years of his life he seemed to have aged prematurely.
On 12 September 1900, in England, he married the actress Marguerite Moreno, whom he had met in 1895. His health was rapidly deteriorating, and in 1901 he travelled to Samoa, like his hero Stevenson, in search of a cure. On his return to Paris he lived the life of a recluse until his death in 1905. He died of pneumonia
while his wife was away on tour.
Biography
He was born in ChavilleChaville
Chaville is a commune in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.-Nearest communes:*Meudon*Sèvres*Vélizy-Villacoublay*Viroflay*Ville-d'Avray....
, Hauts-de-Seine
Hauts-de-Seine
Hauts-de-Seine is designated number 92 of the 101 départements in France. It is part of the Île-de-France region, and covers the western inner suburbs of Paris...
on 23 August 1867. He was the brother of Maurice Schwob
Maurice Schwob
Maurice Schwob was a French publisher of the daily newspaper Le Phare de la Loire, based in Nantes. The newspaper had been sold to Maurice's father, Georges Schwob, in 1876 by Evariste Mangin....
and uncle of Claude Cahun
Claude Cahun
Claude Cahun was a French artist, photographer and writer. Her work was both political and personal, and often played with the concepts of gender and sexuality.-Early life:...
(born Lucy Schwob).
In 1884 he discovered Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. His best-known books include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde....
, who became one of his models, and whom he translated into French.
He was a true symbolist, with a diverse and an innovatory style. His name stands beside Stéphane Mallarmé
Stéphane Mallarmé
Stéphane Mallarmé , whose real name was Étienne Mallarmé, was a French poet and critic. He was a major French symbolist poet, and his work anticipated and inspired several revolutionary artistic schools of the early 20th century, such as Dadaism, Surrealism, and Futurism.-Biography:Stéphane...
, Octave Mirbeau
Octave Mirbeau
Octave Mirbeau was a French journalist, art critic, travel writer, pamphleteer, novelist, and playwright, who achieved celebrity in Europe and great success among the public, while still appealing to the literary and artistic avant-garde...
, André Gide
André Gide
André Paul Guillaume Gide was a French author and winner of the Nobel Prize in literature in 1947. Gide's career ranged from its beginnings in the symbolist movement, to the advent of anticolonialism between the two World Wars.Known for his fiction as well as his autobiographical works, Gide...
, Léon Bloy
Léon Bloy
Léon Bloy , was a French novelist, essayist, pamphleteer and poet.-Biography:Bloy was born in Notre-Dame-de-Sanilhac, in the arondissement of Périgueux, Dordogne. He was the second of six sons of Voltairean freethinker and stern disciplinarian Jean Baptiste Bloy and his wife Anne-Marie Carreau,...
, Charles Péguy
Charles Péguy
Charles Péguy was a noted French poet, essayist, and editor. His two main philosophies were socialism and nationalism, but by 1908 at the latest, after years of uneasy agnosticism, he had become a devout but non-practicing Roman Catholic.From that time, Catholicism strongly influenced his...
, Jules Renard
Jules Renard
Pierre-Jules Renard or Jules Renard was a French author and member of the Académie Goncourt, most famous for the works Poil de carotte and Les Histoires Naturelles...
, Alfred Jarry
Alfred Jarry
Alfred Jarry was a French writer born in Laval, Mayenne, France, not far from the border of Brittany; he was of Breton descent on his mother's side....
, Édouard Dujardin
Édouard Dujardin
Édouard Dujardin was a French writer, one of the early users of the stream of consciousness literary technique, exemplified by his 1888 novel Les Lauriers sont coupés.-Biography:...
in French Literature.
He is the author of six collections of short stories: Cœur double ("Double Heart", 1891), Le Roi au masque d’or ("The King in the Golden Mask", 1892), Mimes (1893), Le Livre de Monelle ("The Book of Monelle", 1894), La Croisade des Enfants ("The Children's Crusade
Children's Crusade
The Children's Crusade is the name given to a variety of fictional and factual events which happened in 1212 that combine some or all of these elements: visions by a French or German boy; an intention to peacefully convert Muslims in the Holy Land to Christianity; bands of children marching to...
", 1896), and Vies imaginaires ("Imaginary Lives", 1896).
Alfred Vallette
Alfred Vallette
Alfred Vallette was a French man of letters.He founded and edited the Le Mercure de France, a Symbolist review publication. His wife, Rachilde, helped him to edit it....
, director of the leading young review, the Mercure de France
Mercure de France
The Mercure de France was originally a French gazette and literary magazine first published in the 17th century, but after several incarnations has evolved as a publisher, and is now part of the Éditions Gallimard publishing group....
, thought he was "one of the keenest minds of our time", in 1892. Téodor de Wyzewa
Téodor de Wyzewa
Téodor de Wyzewa born as Teodor Wyżewski , of Polish origin, was a leading exponent of the Symbolist movement in France.With Édouard Dujardin he created La Revue wagnérienne in 1885...
in 1893, thought it would be tomorrow's taste in literature itself.
Paul Valéry
Paul Valéry
Ambroise-Paul-Toussaint-Jules Valéry was a French poet, essayist, and philosopher. His interests were sufficiently broad that he can be classified as a polymath...
dedicated two of his works to him - Introduction à la Méthode de Léonard de Vinci to Schwob and the Soirée avec M. Teste. Alfred Jarry
Alfred Jarry
Alfred Jarry was a French writer born in Laval, Mayenne, France, not far from the border of Brittany; he was of Breton descent on his mother's side....
dedicated his Ubu Roi
Ubu Roi
Ubu Roi is a play by Alfred Jarry, premiered in 1896. It is a precursor of the Theatre of the Absurd and Surrealism. It is the first of three stylised burlesques in which Jarry satirises power, greed, and their evil practices — in particular the propensity of the complacent bourgeois to abuse the...
to Schwob. Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
dedicated to him his long poem "The Sphinx
The Sphinx
The Sphinx is a subglacial mound in the southernmost Coast Mountains of British Columbia, Canada. It is south-east of Garibaldi Lake. The volcano is part of the Garibaldi Volcanic Belt which is a segment of the Cascade Volcanic Arc, but it is not within the geographic boundary of the Cascade Range...
" (1894) "in friendship and admiration." Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo , known as Jorge Luis Borges , was an Argentine writer, essayist, poet and translator born in Buenos Aires. In 1914 his family moved to Switzerland where he attended school, receiving his baccalauréat from the Collège de Genève in 1918. The family...
wrote that his book Historia universal de la infamia (A Universal History of Infamy
A Universal History of Infamy
A Universal History of Infamy, or A Universal History of Iniquity , is a collection of short stories by Jorge Luis Borges, first published in 1935, and revised by the author in 1954. Most were published individually in the newspaper Critica between 1933 and 1934...
, 1936) was inspired by Schwob's "Imaginary Lives."
Along with Stuart Merrill
Stuart Merrill
Stuart Fitzrandolph Merrill was an American poet, born in Hempstead, New York, who wrote mostly in the French language. He belonged to the Symbolist school. His principal books of poetry were Les Gammes . Les Fastes , and Petits Poèmes d'Automne .-Life:Merrill was the product of a conservative,...
, Adolphe Retté, and Pierre Louÿs
Pierre Louÿs
Pierre Louÿs was a French poet and writer, most renowned for lesbian and classical themes in some of his writings. He is known as a writer who "expressed pagan sensuality with stylistic perfection."-Life:...
, Marcel Schwob worked on Oscar Wilde's play Salome
Salome (play)
Salome is a tragedy by Oscar Wilde.The original 1891 version of the play was in French. Three years later an English translation was published...
, which was written in French to avoid a British law forbidding the depiction of Bible characters on stage. Wilde struggled with his French, and the play was proofread and corrected by Marcel Schwob for its first performance, in Paris in 1896.
He held a doctorate in classic philology and oriental languages. His work pictures the Greco-Latin culture and the most scandalous characteristics of the romantic period. His stories catch the macabre, sadistic and the terrifying aspects in human beings and life.
He became sick in 1894 with a chronic incurable intestinal disorder. He also suffered from recurring illnesses that were generally diagnosed as influenza or pneumonia and received intestinal surgery several times. In the last ten years of his life he seemed to have aged prematurely.
On 12 September 1900, in England, he married the actress Marguerite Moreno, whom he had met in 1895. His health was rapidly deteriorating, and in 1901 he travelled to Samoa, like his hero Stevenson, in search of a cure. On his return to Paris he lived the life of a recluse until his death in 1905. He died of pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
while his wife was away on tour.
Works
- Étude sur l’argot françaisÉtude sur l’argot françaisÉtude sur l'argot français was the first publication in book form by the French linguist and author of short stories, Marcel Schwob. The book's co-author was Georges Guieysse. It was written in 1888 when the two had been attending the lectures of Ferdinand de Saussure and Michel Bréal at the...
("Study of French slang", 1889) - Cœur double ("Double Heart", 1891)
- Les jeux des Grecs et des Romains (translation of the monograph by Jean Paul Richter, 1891)
- Le Roi au masque d’or ("The king in the gold mask", 1892)
- Mimes (1893)
- Le Livre de Monelle ("The Book of Monelle", 1894)
- Lecture on the play Annabella et Giovanni by John FordJohn FordJohn Ford was an American film director. He was famous for both his westerns such as Stagecoach, The Searchers, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and adaptations of such classic 20th-century American novels as The Grapes of Wrath...
(1895) - Moll FlandersMoll FlandersThe Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders is a novel written by Daniel Defoe in 1722, after his work as a journalist and pamphleteer. By 1722, Defoe had become a recognised novelist, with the success of Robinson Crusoe in 1719...
(a translation of Daniel DefoeDaniel DefoeDaniel Defoe , born Daniel Foe, was an English trader, writer, journalist, and pamphleteer, who gained fame for his novel Robinson Crusoe. Defoe is notable for being one of the earliest proponents of the novel, as he helped to popularise the form in Britain and along with others such as Richardson,...
's novel, 1895) - La croisade des enfants ("The Children's CrusadeChildren's CrusadeThe Children's Crusade is the name given to a variety of fictional and factual events which happened in 1212 that combine some or all of these elements: visions by a French or German boy; an intention to peacefully convert Muslims in the Holy Land to Christianity; bands of children marching to...
", 1896) - Spicilège (1896)
- Vies imaginaires ("Imaginary Lives", 1896)
- La Légende de Serlon de Wilton ("The Legend of Serlo of WiltonSerlo of WiltonSerlo of Wilton was a 12th century English poet, a friend of Walter Map and known to Gerald of Wales. He studied and taught at the University of Paris. He became a Cluniac and then a Cistercian monk, and in 1171 he became abbot of L'Aumône; he died in 1181...
", 1899. See also Linquo coax ranisLinquo coax ranisLinquo coax ranis are the first words of a two-line poem in internally rhymed hexameters by Serlo of Wilton. The complete text is:The legend was investigated by the French novelist and philologist Marcel Schwob in his pamphlet La légende de Serlon de Wilton ....
) - La tragique histoire de HamletHamletThe Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
(translation of the ShakespeareWilliam ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
play, jointly with Eugène Morand, 1900) - Francesca da Rimini (translation of the play by Francis Marion CrawfordFrancis Marion CrawfordFrancis Marion Crawford was an American writer noted for his many novels, especially those set in Italy, and for his classic weird and fantastic stories.-Life:...
, 1902) - La lampe de Psyché (1903)
- Mœurs des diurnales (under the pseudonym of Loyson-Bridet, 1903)
- Le Parnasse satyrique du XVe siècle ("The 15th century satirical poets", 1905)
- François VillonFrançois VillonFrançois Villon was a French poet, thief, and vagabond. He is perhaps best known for his Testaments and his Ballade des Pendus, written while in prison...
(1912) - Chroniques (1981)
- Vie de Morphiel (1985) (Morphiel the Demiurge at "Cafe Irreal" translated by Michael Shreve)]
- (unpublished correspondence, 1985)
- (1992)
- Dialogues d'Utopie (2001)
- Vers Samoa ("To Samoa", 2002)