Édouard Estaunié (4 February 1862 in
Dijon
Dijon (, ; ; in Burgundian language (Oïl), Burgundian: ''Digion'') is a city in and the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Côte-d'Or Departments of France, department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Regions of France, region in eas ...
– 2 April 1942 in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
) was a French novelist. Estaunié trained as a scientist and engineer, working at the Post and Telegraph service and training further in Holland, before turning to the novel in 1891. In 1904, he devised the word "telecommunication" in his ''Traité pratique de télécommunication électrique''. He 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 1923. He was also a reviewer, critic, and ''homme de lettres'' as well as a novelist.
Biography
Estaunié was born on 4 February 1862 in Dijon.
His first novels, ''Un simple'' and ''Bonne Dame,'' published in 1891,
were naturalistic works about provincial mores.
Many of his works were set in the provinces, especially in
Burgundy
Burgundy ( ; ; Burgundian: ''Bregogne'') is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. ...
.
His next novel, ''L'Empreinte'' (1896), a satire of life at a Jesuit college, was based on his education and reflected Estaunié's anticlerical views.
After his first three works, Estaunié's novels began to focus on everything that is silenced and unspoken in his characters' lives.
In this period, spiritual phenomena, such as "the soul, the 'secret life', and solitude", were "the dominating realities in Estaunié's universe"
In 1908, his novel ''La Vie secrète'' won the
Prix Femina
The Prix Femina is a French List of literary awards, literary prize awarded each year by an exclusively female jury. The prize, which was established in 1904, is awarded to French-language works written in prose or Verse (poetry), verse by male ...
.
He was elected to the Académie française on 15 November 1923, taking the chair formerly occupied by
Alfred Capus.
He was also the president of the
Société des gens de lettres between 1926 and 1929.
Estaunié died on 1 April 1942,
in Paris, two months after his 80th birthday.
Works
Novels
* ''Un simple'' (1891)
* ''Bonne Dame'' (1891)
* ''L'Empreinte'' (1896)
* ''Le Ferment'' (1899)
* ''L'Épave'' (1891)
* ''La Vie secrète'' (
prix Femina
The Prix Femina is a French List of literary awards, literary prize awarded each year by an exclusively female jury. The prize, which was established in 1904, is awarded to French-language works written in prose or Verse (poetry), verse by male ...
, 1908)
* ''Les choses voient'' (1913)
* ''Solitudes'' (stories, 1917)
* ''L'ascension de M. Baslèvre'' (1920)
* ''L'appel de la route'' (1921). Translated by
Ezra Pound
Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an List of poets from the United States, American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Ita ...
in 1923 as ''The Call of the Road''
* ''L'infirme aux mains de lumière'' (1923)
* ''Tels qu'ils furent'' (1927)
* ''Madame Clapain'' (1932)
Scientific works
* ''Les sources de l'énergie électrique'' (1895)
* ''Traité pratique de télécommunication électrique (télégraphie, téléphonie)'' (1904)
Works about Estaunié
*
Daniel-Rops: ''Édouard Estaunié'', Librairie Félix Alcar, 1931.
* John Charpentier et
Francis Ambrière, ''Estaunié'', Paris, Firmin Didot,
coll. « Visages Contemporains » (
no 4), 1932.
* Camille Cé, ''Regards sur l’œuvre d'Édouard Estaunié'', Genève, Droz, 1977.
* Georges Cesbron, ''Edouard Estaunié, romancier de l'être'', Paris, Droz, 1977.
* Ruth Eunice Carter Hok, ''Édouard Estaunié : The Perplexed Positivist'', N.Y., King's Crown Press, 1949.
References
French telecommunications engineers
French electrical engineers
École Polytechnique alumni
Télécom Paris alumni
1862 births
1942 deaths
Writers from Dijon
Members of the Académie Française
19th-century French novelists
20th-century French novelists
Prix Femina winners
French male novelists
19th-century French male writers
20th-century French male writers
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