Louis Léger (15 January 1843– 30 April 1923) was a French writer and pioneer in

Slavic studies Slavic (American English) or Slavonic (British English) studies, also known as Slavistics is the academic field of area studies concerned with Slavic areas, languages, literature, history, and culture. Originally, a Slavist or Slavicist was prim ...

. He was honorary member of Bulgarian Literary Society (now

Bulgarian Academy of Sciences The Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (abbreviated BAS; bg, Българска академия на науките, ''Balgarska akademiya na naukite'', abbreviated ''БАН'') is the National Academy of Bulgaria, established in 1869. The Academy ...

, also member of Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres in Paris. Academic institutions in Saint-Petersburg, Belgrade and Bucharest had given him a different status of membership. Léger studied under Aleksander Chodźko at the Collège de France, whose position he eventually succeeded in 1885 by taking up the ''Slav Literature and Language'' chair of Adam Mickiewicz, which he occupied until 1923. Léger claimed that those who had not lived during the Second French Empire could not possibly imagine the effect of Polish influence on French society. Léger helped translate various Polish works. His "A History of Austro-Hungary", first edition published in 1879 and last in 1920, was considered one of the best textbooks on the subject in any Western language. In 1916, Tomas Garrique Masaryk and Edvard Beneš founded the ''Comité national tchèque'' in Paris, and almost at the same time Louis Eisenmann, Léger, and Ernest Denis founded the ''Comité national d'études'' , which also advocated for the independence of a Czech state. In 1918, the French government created Czechoslovak legions, which represented a significant auxiliary force at a decisive phase of the war after Russia had made peace. On 28 October 1918, the Republic of Czechoslovakia was proclaimed in Prague.Finis Austriae
radio.cz, 24/10/2007, accessed 29 July 2021

Works

* * ''La Crise autrichienne'', Paris, 1868 * ''Histoire de Autriche-Hongrie'', Paris, 1879 * ''Contes Populaires Slaves'', 1882 * * ''La Bulgarie'', Paris, 1885 * ''Nouvelles études slaves histoire et littérature'', 1886 * ''Russes et Slaves, études politiques et littéraires'', Hachette, 1890 * * ''Le monde slave, études politiques et littéraires'', Hachette, 1902 * ''Moscou'', 1910 * ''Nicolas Gogol'', 1913

Notes

External links

* Translators from Polish 1843 births 1923 deaths Writers from Toulouse Members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres Honorary members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences Members of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences French male writers Academic staff of the Collège de France Members of the Ligue de la patrie française Cyrillo-Methodian studies {{france-nonfiction-writer-stub