Louis Bertrand (20 March 1866 in

Spincourt Spincourt () is a commune in the Meuse department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. Geography The village lies on the right bank of the Othain, which flows northwestward through the south-western part of the commune. See also *Communes of t ...

Meuse The Meuse ( , , , ; wa, Moûze ) or Maas ( , ; li, Maos or ) is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a t ...

– 6 December 1941 in

Cap d'Antibes Antibes (, also , ; oc, label= Provençal, Antíbol) is a coastal city in the Alpes-Maritimes department of southeastern France, on the Côte d'Azur between Cannes and Nice. The town of Juan-les-Pins is in the commune of Antibes and the Sophia ...

) was a French novelist, historian and essayist. He was the third member elected to occupy seat 4 of the

Académie française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

in 1925. Bertrand encouraged the Jewish-Algerian writer

Elissa Rhaïs Elissa Rhaïs, Hebrew language, Hebrew: אליסה ראיס, born Rosine Boumendil (12 December 1876 – 18 August 1940) was a History of the Jews in Algeria, Jewish-Algerian writer, who adopted the persona of a Muslim woman who had escaped from ...

to first publish her work.

Biography

Bertrand was born in France and later moved to

Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...

. His first novel ''Le sang des races'' (1899) explored this complex identity. It's considered a precursor of '' Algérianisme'', a concept of

Algerian literature Algerian literature has been influenced by many cultures, including the ancient Romans, Arabs, French, Spanish, and Berbers. The dominant languages in Algerian literature are French and Arabic. A few of the more notable Algerian writers are: K ...

exploring the discrete Algerian identity of settlers laying claim to an authentic existence in Algeria independent of France itself. Bertrand's work notably "valorizes the colony and its European inhabitants", as Seth Graebner put it "not the palm trees, camels or other exotic backdrops (and certainly not Arabs) but instead the new farms, cities, roads, ports and the Europeans building them." Some have described it as "echoes of a fascist discourse".

Work

;Novels * ''Le Sang des races'', éd. Ollendorff, 1899.. * ''La Cina'', éd. Ollendorff, 1901. * ''Le Rival de Don Juan'', éd. Ollendorff, 1903. * ''Pépète le bien-aimé'', éd. Ollendorff, 1904 (reprinted by the same publisher in 1920 under the title ''Pépète et Balthazar''). * ''L’Invasion'', Bibliothèque Charpentier, 1907. * ''Les Bains de Phalère'', éd.

Fayard Fayard (complete name: ''Librairie Arthème Fayard'') is a French Paris-based publishing house established in 1857. Fayard is controlled by Hachette Livre. In 1999, Éditions Pauvert became part of Fayard. Claude Durand was director of Fayard ...

, 1910. * ''Mademoiselle de Jessincourt'', éd. Fayard, 1911 * ''La concession de Madame Pedtitgand'', éd. Fayard, 1912. * ''Sanguis martyrum'', éd. Fayard, 1918 * ''L’Infante'', éd. Fayard, 1920. * ''Cardenio - L'homme aux rubans couleur de feu'', éd. Ollendorff, 1922. * ''Une destinée (1), Jean Perbal'', éd. Fayard, 1925. * ''Une destinée (2), Une nouvelle éducation sentimentale'', éd. Fayard, 1928. * ''Le Roman de la Conquête'', 1930. * ''Une destinée (3), Hippolyte porte-couronnes'', éd. Fayard, 1932. * ''Une destinée (4), Sur les routes du Sud'', éd. Fayard, 1932. * ''Une destinée (5), Mes années d'apprentissage'', éd. Fayard, 1939. * ''Une destinée (6), Jérusalem'', éd. Fayard, 1939. ;Essays, historical, biographical and critical works * ''La fin du classicisme et le retour à l’antique dans la seconde moitié du XVIII^e siècle et les premières années du XIX^e en France'', Hachette 1897. * ''Le jardin de la mort'', éd. Ollendorff, 1905. * ''La Grèce du soleil et des paysages'', Bibliothèque Charpentier, 1908. * ''Le Mirage oriental'', Librairie académique Perrin, 1910. * ''Le Livre de la Méditerranée'', éd. Grasset, 1911 (édition définitive en 1923). * ''Gustave Flaubert (avec des fragments inédits)'', Mercure de France, 1912. * ''Saint Augustin'', éd. Fayard, 1913 * ''Les plus belles pages de saint Augustin'', éd. Fayard, 1916. * ''Le sens de l'ennemi'', éd. Fayard, 1917. * ''Flaubert à Paris ou le mort vivant'', éd. Grasset, 1921. * ''Sur le Nil'', Les Amis d'Edouard, 1921. * ''Les villes d'or - Algérie et Tunisie romaines'', éd.Fayard, 1921. * ''Autour de saint Augustin'', éd. Fayard, 1921. * ''Louis XIV'', éd. Fayard, 1923. * ''La vie amoureuse de Louis XIV'', éd. Flammarion, 1924. * ''Les journées du grand roi'', éd. Flammarion, 1925. * ''Devant l’Islam'', éd. Plon, 1926. * ''Ma Lorraine, souvenirs et portraits'', A. Delpeuch, 1926. * ''Sainte Thérèse'', éd. Fayard, 1927 * ''Idées et portraits'', éd. Plon, 1927. * ''Les grands aspects du paysage français'', A. Delpeuch, 1928. * ''Philippe II à l'Escorial'', L'Artisan du Livre, 1929. * ''La Méditerranée'' vec Hubert Robert Alpina, 1929. * ''Philippe II, une ténébreuse affaire'', éd. Grasset, 1929. * ''Histoire de Napoléon'', llustrations by Albert Uriet éd. Mame, 1929. * ''Au bruit des fontaines d’Aix-en-Provence'', Emile Hazan, 1929. * ''Nuits d’Alger'' ithographies de Suréda Flammarion, 1929. * ''D’Alger la romantique à Fez la mystérieuse'', éd. des Portiques, 1930. * ''Font-Romeu, éd.'' Flammarion, 1931. * ''Histoire d’Espagne'', éd. Fayard, 1932. * ''Le livre de consolation'', éd. Fayard, 1933. * ''La Riviera que j’ai connue'', éd. Fayard, 1933. * ''Vers Cyrène, terre d’Apollon'', éd. Fayard, 1935. * ''Celle qui fut aimée d’Augustin'', éd. Albin Michel, 1935. * ''Hitler'', éd. Fayard, 1936. * ''L’Espagne'', éd. Flammarion, 1937. * ''La Lorraine'', éd. J. de Gigord, 1937. * ''Alger'', éd. Fernand Sorlot, 1938. * ''Lamartine'', éd. Fayard, 1940. * ''Jardins d’Espagne'', éd. Aubanel, 1940. * ''Un grand Africain : le maréchal de Saint-Arnaud'', éd. Fayard, 1941.

Studies of Louis Bertrand

* Jacques Alexandropoulos, "De Louis Bertrand à Pierre Hubac: images de l'Afrique antique", in J. Alexandropoulos, P. Cabanel, ''La Tunisie mosaïque: Diasporas, cosmopolitisme, archéologies de l'identité'', Toulouse, Presses Universitaires du Mirail de l'Université de Toulouse, 2000, p. 457-478. * David Clark Cabeen, ''The African novels of Louis Bertrand. A phase of the renascence of national energy in France'', Philadelphia, Westbrook Publishing Co., 1922.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bertrand, Louis 1866 births 1941 deaths People from Meuse (department) 20th-century French writers 20th-century French male writers École Normale Supérieure alumni 20th-century French historians Members of the Académie Française Officiers of the Légion d'honneur French male non-fiction writers