Artine Artinian (December 8, 1907 – November 19, 2005) was a distinguished French literature scholar of

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...

descent, notable for his valuable collection of French literary manuscripts and artwork. He was immortalized as a fictional character by his Bard colleague Mary McCarthy in the novel ''

The Groves of Academe ''The Groves of Academe'' (1952) is a novel by United States, American writer Mary McCarthy (author), Mary McCarthy. Considered to be one of the first campus novel, academic novels, it concerns the sequence of events that take place after Henry M ...

'' (1952) and by his friend

Gore Vidal Eugene Luther Gore Vidal (; born Eugene Louis Vidal, October 3, 1925 – July 31, 2012) was an American writer and public intellectual known for his epigrammatic wit, erudition, and patrician manner. Vidal was bisexual, and in his novels and ...

in the play '' The Best Man'' (1960).

Background

Artine Artinian was born in

Pazardzhik Pazardzhik ( bg, Пазарджик ) is a city situated along the banks of the Maritsa river, southern Bulgaria. It is the capital of Pazardzhik Province and centre for the homonymous Pazardzhik Municipality. The Tatars founded Pazardzhik in t ...

, Bulgaria to

parents. In 1920, his family came to the United States, settling in

Attleboro, Massachusetts Attleboro is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. It was once known as "The Jewelry Capital of the World" for its many jewelry manufacturers. According to the 2020 census, Attleboro had a population of 46,461. Attleboro is ...

. There, Artine worked as a shoeshine boy, learning English from listening to conversations as he worked. He was able to attend

Bowdoin College Bowdoin College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Brunswick, Maine. When Bowdoin was chartered in 1794, Maine was still a part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The college offers 34 majors and 36 minors, as well as several joint eng ...

(1931) with support from his customers, and in later years, he returned the favor by establishing a scholarship fund for needy students there. He received a diploma from the

Université de Paris , image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of Arms , latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis , motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin) , mottoeng = Here and a ...

in 1932, an A.M. from

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

the following year, and a Ph.D. from Columbia in 1941. His dissertation, ''Maupassant Criticism in France, 1880-1940, with an Inquiry into His Present Fame and a Bibliography'', was published the same year. By this time, Professor Artinian, who joined the Bard faculty in 1935, had already embarked on his multifaceted career. In 1949, he had the misfortune to brush up against one of academia's least savory characters, the eminent Belgian deconstructionist Paul de Man. Following his friend Mary McCarthy's recommendation, Artinian helped the newly immigrated de Man by offering him a substitute position as professor of French at Bard College, while Artinian spent the academic year of 1949–50 in France as a

Fulbright fellow The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

. In 1955, he edited and published "The Complete Short Stories of Guy de Maupassant" (Hanover House), which expurgated sixty-five inauthentic works from the Maupassant canon, and remains authoritative, even after half a century. In 1964, Artinian retired from his post as Chairman of the Division of Languages and Literature at Bard. His collecting did not stop with retirement, however, as he continued to amass manuscripts and artwork, especially portraits, including artist self-portraits. He donated a large amount of his collection of manuscripts and art to

and gave artwork to several universities and museums. His portrait collection, including works by

André Gill André Gill (17 October 1840 – 1 May 1885) was a French caricaturist. Born Louis-Alexandre Gosset de Guînes at Paris, the son of the Comte de Guînes and Sylvie-Adeline Gosset, Gill studied at the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture. H ...

, Henri Demare,

Manuel Luque Manuel Antonin Ildefonse Cypriano Luque de Soria (1853/54, Almería - 8 November 1924, Autun) was a Spanish-born caricaturist, lithographer, designer and painter, who spent most of his career in Paris. Biography He was born to a family of modes ...

Émile Cohl Émile Eugène Jean Louis Cohl (; né Courtet; 4 January 1857 – 20 January 1938) was a French caricaturist of the largely forgotten Incoherents, Incoherent Movement, cartoonist, and animator, called "The Father of the Animated Cartoon" and "Th ...

Camille Pissarro Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro ( , ; 10 July 1830 – 13 November 1903) was a Danish-French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, St Thomas (now in the US Virgin Islands, but t ...

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Comte Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa (24 November 1864 – 9 September 1901) was a French painter, printmaker, draughtsman, caricaturist and illustrator whose immersion in the colourful and theatrical life of Paris in the ...

, Anthony Coffey and

Paul Signac Paul Victor Jules Signac ( , ; 11 November 1863 – 15 August 1935) was a French Neo-Impressionist painter who, working with Georges Seurat, helped develop the Pointillist style. Biography Paul Signac was born in Paris on 11 November 1863. H ...

, is currently housed at the Harry Ransom Center of the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

.Biographical Sketch. The Harry Ransom Center, Univ. of Texas at Austin. Artinian died at his home in

Lantana, Florida Lantana is a town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is 37 miles north from Fort Lauderdale. This town is part of the Miami metropolitan area. The population was 10,423 at the 2010 United States Census. History The first settlers c ...

at age 97. Before his death, Professor Artinian was retired professor of French at

Bard College Bard College is a private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains, and is within the Hudson River Historic ...

, in

Annandale-on-Hudson, New York Annandale-on-Hudson is a hamlet in Dutchess County, New York, United States, located in the Hudson Valley town of Red Hook, across the Hudson River from Kingston. The hamlet consists mainly of the Bard College campus. Municipal services Emerge ...

, where he taught for nearly 30 years. An authority on

Guy de Maupassant Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant (, ; ; 5 August 1850 – 6 July 1893) was a 19th-century French author, remembered as a master of the short story form, as well as a representative of the Naturalist school, who depicted human lives, destin ...

, he had translated and edited what is known to be the definitive English-language edition of Maupassant's short stories.

Literature

*''Maupassant as Seen by American and English Writers of Today'', 1943 *''Guy de Maupassant and Louis Le Poittevin'', 1948 *''New Light on the Maupassant Family'', 1948 *''First Publication of Maupassant's Papa de Simon'', 1948 *''Guy de Maupassant and His Brother Herve'', 1948 *''Maupassant's Paris Addresses'', Johns Hopkins Press 1949 *''Maupassant and 'La terre de Virgile'', American Association of Teachers of French 1949 *''Maupassant and

Gisèle d'Estoc Gisèle d'Estoc, pseudonym of Marie-Paule Alice Courbe (27 March 1845 – 8 May1894), was a French writer, sculptor, and feminist. She was also a duellist and cross dresser. Madame Paule Parent Des Barres was either her married name or another ps ...

: A Warning'', MLN 1952 *''Maupassant Criticism in France, 1880-1940'', Russell & Russell 1969

References

External links

Artine Artinian Collection
at the

Harry Ransom Center The Harry Ransom Center (until 1983 the Humanities Research Center) is an archive, library and museum at the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in the collection of literary and cultural artifacts from the Americas and Europe for the pur ...

at the

.
The Artine & Teddy Artinian Self-Portrait Collection
at the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts on the campus of Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina.
Encyclopædia Britannica
{{DEFAULTSORT:Artinian, Artine 1907 births 2005 deaths Bulgarian people of Armenian descent Bowdoin College alumni People from Pazardzhik People from Lantana, Florida Bard College faculty American art collectors Armenian art collectors French–English translators Harvard University alumni 20th-century translators People from Attleboro, Massachusetts Columbia University alumni