Jacques Ehrmann (31 March 1931 – 11 June 1972) was a French literary theorist and a faculty member of the

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

French Department from 1961 until his death in 1972.

Biography

Jacques Ehrmann was born in

Mulhouse Mulhouse (; Alsatian language, Alsatian: or , ; ; meaning ''Mill (grinding), mill house'') is a city of the Haut-Rhin Departments of France, department, in the Grand Est Regions of France, region, eastern France, close to the France–Switzerl ...

(Haut-Rhin,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

) on 31 March 1931, the son of Paul Ehrmann and Henriette Weber. Born in the

Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...

region by a twist of fate, as both the Ehrmann and Weber families were originally from Alsace but had left after the 1871 loss to

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, it just happened that Mulhouse, then

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

, were the first assignments of his father, an Engineering graduate from "

École Polytechnique École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

". The family, including his older brother Jean-Daniel (JD), came back to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

in 1939 and he graduated from the

Lycée Henri IV In France, secondary education is in two stages: * ''Collèges'' () cater for the first four years of secondary education from the ages of 11 to 15. * ''Lycées'' () provide a three-year course of further secondary education for children between ...

with a

Baccalauréat The ''baccalauréat'' (; ), often known in France colloquially as the ''bac'', is a French national academic qualification that students can obtain at the completion of their secondary education (at the end of the ''lycée'') by meeting certain ...

in 1949, then studied at the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

where he obtained a Licence-des-Lettres in 1953. In the meantime, he received a

Fulbright 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 ...

scholarship and spent an academic year from 1951 to 1952 at

Carleton College Carleton College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota. Founded in 1866, it had 2,105 undergraduate students and 269 faculty members in fall 2016. The 200-acre main campus is between Northfield and the 800-acre Cowling ...

Northfield, Minnesota Northfield is a city in Dakota and Rice counties in the State of Minnesota. It is mostly in Rice County, with a small portion in Dakota County. The population was 20,790 at the 2020 census. History Northfield was platted in 1856 by John W. N ...

, the "City of Colleges, Cows and Contentment", a logo he loved to quote. He was called to military service from 1953 to 1955 and served in the "Régiment de Tirailleurs Algériens", and later as a translator in Germany for the US headquarters. During this time he met Pierre Riboulet who would go on to create the French architectural firm l'Atelier de Montrouge with Gérard Thurnauer (1926) and Jean-Louis Véret (1927) with whom he became lifelong friends while furthering his deep interest in

Architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

. In 1956 he married Françoise Laborie and the couple moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

where he attended The University of California at Los Angeles (

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

) and received a PhD in French Literature in 1961. There he met and befriended

Raymond Federman Raymond Federman (May 15, 1928 – October 6, 2009) was a French–American novelist and academic, known also for poetry, essays, translations, and criticism. He held positions at the University at Buffalo from 1973 to 1999, when he was app ...

with whom he perfected his tennis game. From 1959 to 1961 he taught at

Pomona College Pomona College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was established in 1887 by a group of Congregationalists who wanted to recreate a "college of the New England type" in Southern California. In 1925, it became ...

in Claremont California while completing his doctoral dissertation. Concurrently working as a freelance correspondent for ''France Presse'' he was offered a full-time assignment in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

at the same time as he was invited to join the

Faculty. Having to choose between journalism and academia, he chose Yale University in 1961. He lived in Hamden, Connecticut, with his wife and two sons. As full professor he taught there in the French and Comparative Literature Departments and edited three issues of the
Yale French Studies
review which were later published as books. He was very involved in academic activities including lectures, conferences, and colloquia ... and continued to work through a long illness until his premature death on 11 June 1972. He is survived by his son Guillaume, born February 24 1959, and six grandchildren. His son Laurent, born December 27 1961, died on February 16 2021, and his wife Françoise, born March 5 1932, died on February 28 2022.

Complete bibliographyBibliography (except for complementary "Lectures and Papers") is reproduced from In Memory of Jacques Ehrmann — Inside Play Outside Game,1979, pages 236-237.

''Books:'' *Un paradis désespéré: l'amour et l'illusion dans "l'Astrée", PUF, 1962 *"Textes" suivi de La mort de la littérature, l'Herne, 1970 ''Editor of:'' *La France contemporaine (in collaboration with Michel Beaujour) - US edition: MacMillan, 1965; French edition: A. Colin, 1965 *Structuralism - Yale French Studies, 36/37 and Anchor Books, 1970 *Literature and Revolution - Yale French Studies, 39 and Beacon Press, 1967 *Game, Play and Literature - Yale French Studies, 41 and Beacon Press, 1968 ''Articles:'' *Camus and the Existentialist Venture - Yale French Studies, 25, 1960 *A Los Angeles le futur a déjà commencé -

Le Monde ''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...

, 13 August 1958 *Simone de Beauvoir and the related destinies of Woman and Intellectual
Yale French Studies, 27
1961 *Jean Genet's theatre
Yale French Studies, 29
1962The Yale French Studies lists the title of this article as: Genet’s Dramatic Metamorphosis: From Appearance to Freedom *Of Rats and Man: notes on Sartre's prefaces
Yale French Studies, 30
1963 *The power of the French student - The Moderator, 1 (1962): 1. *L'Ecole des Femmes ou, aux lumières de l'obscurantisme – Revue des Sciences Humaines, October 1962 *La temporalité dans l'oeuvre de Rabelais - The French Review, December 1963 *P. Rudolph architecte - L'Oeil, 122, February 1965 *Introduction to Gaston Bachelard - MLN, Fall 1966. *Cinna et la politique de l'échange - Les Temps Modernes, November 1966 (translated in Yale French Studies, 36/37, 1966) (translated into Spanish and German) *A semiotic approach to culture - '' Foreign Language Annals'', December 1967 (in collaboration with Michel Beaujour) *Le Neveu de Rameau. An existential psychoanalysis of Diderot by himself - Journal of Existential Psychiatry, Winter 1968 *On articulation. The languages of history and the terror of language – Yale French Studies, 39, 1967; French revised edition: Critique, June 1968 *L'homme en jeu. - Critique, 266, July 1969 *Jeu (article anthropologie) - Encyclopedia Universalis, Vol. IX. *Live in Utopia. - Perspecta, Vol. 13/14; French abridged version: Habiter l'utopie? in l'Architecture d'aujourd'hui, July 1970 *L'Emprise des signes -

Semiotica ''Semiotica'' is an academic journal covering semiotics. It is the official journal of the International Association for Semiotic Studies. Publication Since 2000, the journal publishes five issues per year. It is published in English and French. ...

VI, 1972 *The minimum narrative - Sub-stance, Winter 1972 *Le dedans et le dehors - Poétique, 9, 1972 *Greffe - Exil, 1, Fall 1973 ''Book reviews:'' *Book reviews in La Table Ronde, 1953. *Michel Butor's Degrés - The French Review, October 1961 *James Doolittle's Rameau's Nephew - MLN, January 1962 *R. Girard's Mensonge romantique... - The French Review, October 1963 *R. Queneau's Bords - The French Review, April 1954 *S. de Beauvoir's La Force des choses - The French Review, May 1964 *K. Axelos' Vers la pensée planetaire - The French Review, February 1965 *Qui parle? - Mantala, 1 *Tendances et volontés de la société française - The French Review. ''Lectures and papers:'' *Sartre et Barthes - MLAMLA = Modern Language Association 1959 *Le Neveu de Rameau - MLA 1060 *Hyles, Don Juan baroque - MLA 1961 *La critique de G. Bachelard - U. of Kentucky, Modern Language Conference 1965 *Cinéma, réalité, vérité - Yale U. French Department Lecture 1964 *Histoire, Tragédie, Utopie - Yale U. French Department Lecture 1966 *A Semiotic Approach to Culture - MLA December 1966 *Lecture tour in California: UCLA, San Diego, Irvine, February 1970 *Colloquium on Continuity and Discontinuity -

SUNY Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo, commonly called the University at Buffalo (UB) and sometimes called SUNY Buffalo, is a public research university with campuses in Buffalo and Amherst, New York. The university was founded in 1846 ...

, March 1970 *Utopy / Signs / Tragedy - Wesleyan U. Center for the Humanities, November 1971 *Symposium on Literature and the City - Yale U. Institute for Social Sciences, November 1971

Primary sources

* Ehrmann, Jacques. 1963. Un paradis désespéré — L'amour et l'illusion dans "L'astrée". Published by

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous. , Yale Universi ...

Presses Universitaires de France Presses universitaires de France (PUF, English: ''University Press of France''), founded in 1921 by Paul Angoulvent (1899–1976), is the largest French university publishing house. Recent company history The financial and legal structure ...

(PUF). * Ehrmann, Jacques. 1965. La France contemporaine — Choix de textes culturels. Edited with Michel Beaujour. Published by The MacMillan Co. * Ehrmann, Jacques. 1966. Structuralism. Published by Yale University Press
Yale French Studies, double issue 36-37
* Ehrmann, Jacques. 1967. Literature and Revolution. Published b
Yale French Studies, issue 39
* Ehrmann, Jacques. 1968. Game, Play, Literature. Published b
Yale French Studies, issue 41
* Ehrmann, Jacques. 1971. "Textes" suivie de La mort de la littérature. Published anonymously by Editions de

L'Herne L'Herne is a French independent publishing house, known worldwide for its collection ''Cahiers de L'Herne''. History The adventure of L'Herne, this independent publishing house located in the immediate vicinity of the Institut de France and dir ...

directed by Michel Beaujour. * Ehrmann, Jacques. 1979. In Memory of Jacques Ehrmann — Inside Play Outside Game. Published b
Yale French Studies, issue 58
Articles:Some discrepancy exists on the title of the second article between the Yale French Studies link: "Selections from Texts I", and the printed version: "Selections from Texts II". ** The Tragic/Utopian Meaning of History. (Trans: Jay Caplan) ** Selections from "Textes II". (Trans: Michel Beaujour) ** About Origin. (Trans: Michel Beaujour)

Secondary sources

External links

*eBook
"Textes" suivie de La mort de la littératureYale French StudiesEditions de L'HerneLibraryThingAlibris
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ehrmann, Jacques 1931 births 1972 deaths Writers from Mulhouse Structuralists Deconstruction Yale University faculty French academics French literary critics 20th-century French writers Lycée Henri-IV alumni French male writers