Gustave Thibon (; 2 September 1903 – 19 January 2001) was a French philosopher. He was nominated for the

Nobel Prize in Literature ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , caption = , awarded_for = Outstanding contributions in literature , presenter = Swedish Academy , holder = Annie Ernaux (2022) , location = Stockholm, Sweden , year = 1901 , ...

five times by Édouard Delebecque, in 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966 and 1968.

Biography

Although essentially self-taught (he left school at the age of thirteen), Thibon was an avid reader – especially of poetry, in French,

Provençal Provençal may refer to: *Of Provence, a region of France * Provençal dialect, a dialect of the Occitan language, spoken in the southeast of France *''Provençal'', meaning the whole Occitan language *Franco-Provençal language, a distinct Roman ...

and Latin. He was very impressed by the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, which led him to hate patriotism and democracy. The young Gustave Thibon travelled extensively, at first to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and Italy, and later to North Africa, where he served in the military, before returning to his native village at the age of 23. Under the influence of writers such as

Léon Bloy Léon Bloy (; 11 July 1846 – 3 November 1917) was a French Catholic novelist, essayist, pamphleteer (or lampoonist), and satirist, known additionally for his eventual (and passionate) defense of Catholicism and for his influence within French C ...

and

Jacques Maritain Jacques Maritain (; 18 November 1882 – 28 April 1973) was a French Catholic philosopher. Raised Protestant, he was agnostic before converting to Catholicism in 1906. An author of more than 60 books, he helped to revive Thomas Aquinas fo ...

he converted to

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. At the invitation of the latter, he started his literary career in the pages of the ''Revue Thomiste''. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Thibon hosted the philosopher

Simone Weil Simone Adolphine Weil ( , ; 3 February 1909 – 24 August 1943) was a French philosopher, mystic, and political activist. Over 2,500 scholarly works have been published about her, including close analyses and readings of her work, since 1995. ...

at his farm; he published S. Weil's work ''La Pesanteur et la Grâce'' (''Gravity and Grace'') in 1947.

Works

* 1933 – ''À Propos de Trois Récents Ouvrages de Maritain''. * 1934 – ''La Science du Caractère''. * 1940 – ''Poèmes.'' * 1941 – ''Destin de l'Homme''. * 1942 – ''L'Échelle de Jacob''. * 1942 – ''Diagnostics. Essai de Physiologie Sociale''. * 1943 – ''Retour au Réel''. * 1945 – ''Le Pain de Chaque Jour''. * 1946 – ''Offrande du Soir.'' * 1947 – "Une Métaphysique de la Communion: l'Existentialisme de Gabriel Marcel." * 1947 – ''Ce que Dieu a Uni.'' * 1948 – ''Chateaubriand''. * 1948 – ''Nietzsche ou le Déclin de l'Esprit''. * 1949 – ''Paysages du Vivarais''. * 1953 – ''La Crise Moderne de l'Amour''.English translation, ''Love at the Crossroads'', by Reginald F. Trevott, Burns & Oates, London 1964. * 1959 – ''Vous Serez Comme des Dieux''. * 1974 – ''L'Ignorance Étoilée''. * 1975 – ''Notre Regard qui Manque à la Lumière''. * 1975 – ''Entretiens avec Christian Chabanis''. * 1976 – ''L'Équilibre et l'Harmonie''. * 1985 – ''Le Voile et le Masque''. * 1988 – ''Entretiens avec G. Thibon''. * 1993 – ''Au Soir de ma Vie''. * 1995 – ''L'Illusion Féconde''. * 2006 – ''Aux Ailes de la Lettre''. * 2011 – ''Parodies et Mirages ou la Décadence d'un Monde Chrétien: Notes Inédites (1935–1978)''.

Notes

External links

Gustave Thibon
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thibon, Gustave 1903 births 2001 deaths French monarchists People from Ardèche French male non-fiction writers Converts to Roman Catholicism French Roman Catholics 20th-century French philosophers 20th-century French male writers

Biography

Works

Notes

Further reading

External links