Marcel Brion (; 21 November 1895 – 23 October 1984) was a French essayist, literary critic, novelist, and historian.

Early life

The son of a lawyer, Brion was classmates in Thiers with Marcel Pagnol and Albert Cohen. After completing his secondary education in

Collège Champittet Collège Champittet is a luxury Swiss school in the canton de Vaud operated by Nord Anglia Education, a group of 79 schools around the world. The school offers an academic education for students ages 3–19 and has two campuses: the main one is l ...

, Switzerland, he studied law at the University of

Aix-en-Provence Aix-en-Provence (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Ais de Provença in classical norm, or in Mistralian norm, ; la, Aquae Sextiae), or simply Aix ( medieval Occitan: ''Aics''), is a city and commune in southern France, about north of Marseille. ...

Career

Counsel to the bar of Marseille between 1920 and 1924, he abandoned his legal career to turn to literature. Brion wrote nearly a hundred books in his career, ranging from historical biography to examinations of Italian and German art, and turning later in life to novels. His most famous collection of stories is the 1942 ''Les Escales de la Haute Nuit'' ("The Shore Leaves of the Deepest Night"). An essay of Brion appears in '' Our Exagmination Round His Factification for Incamination of Work in Progress'', the important 1929 critical appreciation of James Joyce's '' Finnegans Wake''. He was a friend of the philosopher Xavier Tilliette. In 1964, Brion was elected to 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 ...

's chair 33, replacing his friend

Jean-Louis Vaudoyer Jean-Louis Vaudoyer (10 September 1883, in Le Plessis-Robinson, Hauts-de-Seine – 20 May 1963) was a French novelist, poet, essayist and art historian. He was also administrator general of the Comédie-Française The Comédie-Française () o ...

. Other distinctions include membership in the Legion of Honour, the

Croix de guerre The ''Croix de Guerre'' (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awa ...

, a Grand Officer in the French

Order of Merit The Order of Merit (french: link=no, Ordre du Mérite) is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by K ...

, and an Officer of the ''

Ordre des Arts et des Lettres The ''Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'' (Order of Arts and Letters) is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is ...

''. The 1982 television program ''

The Romantic Spirit ''The Romantic Spirit'' is a 1982 British documentary television series in 14 episodes about the Romantic movement in Western culture. The series is an Anglo-French-German production presented by R.M. Productions (Film & Television) Ltd. and FR3, ...

,'' which aired in the U.S. on the

A&E (TV channel) A&E is an American basic cable network, the flagship television property of A&E Networks. The network was originally founded in 1984 as the Arts & Entertainment Network, initially focusing on fine arts, documentaries, dramas, and educational ente ...

from 1985–1991, credits Brion as having "devised" the series.

French language publications

Arts and literature

* ''Giotto'', Rieder, 1928 * ''Turner'', Rieder, 1929 * ''Botticelli'', Crès, 1932 * ''Klee'', Somogy, 1955 * ''Kandinsky'', Somogy, 1960 * '' L'Œuvre de Balzac'', 16 volumes, Classiques-CFL, 1950-1953 * '' Fabrizio Clerici'', Milan, Electra Editrice, 1955 * ''L'Allemagne romantique'', 4 vol., Albin Michel : ** Vol. I - '' Kleist, Brentano, Wackenroder, Tieck, Caroline von Günderode'', 1962 ** Vol. II - '' Novalis, Hoffmann, Jean-Paul, Eichendorff'', 1963 ** Vol. III - ''Le Voyage initiatique'' - 1, 1977 ; . Table : ''Le Voyage initiatique'', Thème ; Variations ; ''Pressentiment et Présence'' de Joseph von Eichendorff ; ''La Loge invisible'' de Jean-Paul ; ''Les Voyages de Franz Sternbald'' de Ludwig Tieck ; ''Heinrich von Ofterdingen'' de Novalis ; ''Le Voyage en Orient'' de Hermann Hesse ** Vol. IV - ''Le Voyage initiatique'' - 2, 1978 * ''Venise'', Albin Michel 1962 * ''L'Art romantique'', Hachette, 1963 * ''L'Âge d'or de la peinture hollandaise'', Elsevier, 1964 * ''L'Œil, l'esprit et la main du peintre'', Plon, 1966 * ''Peinture romantique'', Albin Michel, 1967 * ''La Grande Aventure de la peinture religieuse'', Perrin, 1968 * ''Rembrandt'', Albin Michel, 1969 * ''Titien'', Somogy, 1971 * '' Guardi'', Henri Scrépel, 1976 * '' Goethe'', Albin Michel, 1982 * ''Robert Schumann et l'âme romantique'', Albin Michel, 1954 * ''Paul Cézanne'', Bordas, 1988 * ''Art fantastique'', Albin Michel 1989 * '' Michel-Ange'', Albin Michel, 1995 * ''Léonard de Vinci'', Albin Michel, 1995 * ''Mozart'', Perrin, 2006 * ''Le Théâtre des esprits'', préface d'Agnès Brion et note liminaire de Patrick Brion, La tour verte, 2011

Biographies

* ''Bartolomé de Las Casas, Père des Indiens'', Plon, 1928 * ''La Vie d'Attila'', Gallimard, 1928 * ''Rudyard Kipling'', Éditions de la Nouvelle Revue critique, 1929 * ''Théodoric, roi des Ostrogoths'', Payot, 1935 ; 1979 *''La reine Jeanne'', Société des bibliophiles de Provence, 1936; 1944 (Robert Laffont) * ''Laurent le Magnifique'', Albin Michel, 1937 * ''Blanche de Castille'', Les éditions de France, 1939 * ''Machiavel'', Albin Michel, 1948 * ''Frédéric II de Hohenstaufen'', Tallandier, 1948 * ''Le Pape et le Prince - Les Borgia'', Hachette, 1953 * ''Tamerlan'', Albin Michel, 1999 * ''Charles le Téméraire, grand-duc d'Occident'', Hachette, 1947. Réédition : Tallandier, 2006
compte rendu en ligne
* ''Les Amantes'' courts essais sur

Diotima Diotima may refer to: People * Diotima of Mantinea, an ancient female philosopher and tutor of Socrates * Pen-name of Esme Wynn-Tyson, British author. * Pseudonym of Susette Borkenstein Gontard in poetry by Friedrich Hölderlin * Pseudonym of Erm ...

- Alcoforado -

Frédérique Brion Frederique is a French female given name, which is equivalent to the male name Frederick, meaning "peaceful ruler". Alternative spellings include Frédérique and Frederieke. The name Frederique may refer to: People * Frédérique Apffel-Marglin (b ...

- Charlotte Stieglitz et Louise Labé, Albin Michel, 1941

History

* ''Les Mondes antiques'', Arthème Fayard, 1954 ; Tallandier, 1977. 9 volumes : ''L'Égypte'' (1 et 2), ''L'Orient'' (3), ''Les Hébreux'' (4), ''La Grèce'' (5 et 6), ''Rome'' (7 à 9)

Novels

* ''Le Caprice espagnol'' (Gallimard nrf, 1929) * ''La Folie Céladon'' (Éditions Correa, 1935, Albin Michel 1963, et livre de Poche, 1989) * ''Les Escales de la haute nuit'', nouvelles, (Laffont, 1942, réédite bibliothèque Marabout, 1971, puis Albin Michel, 1986) * ''Un enfant de la terre et du ciel'' (Albin Michel, 1943) * ''Château d'ombre'' (Luf, 1943, puis Albin Michel, 1960) * ''L’Enchanteur'' (Luf, 1947) * ''La Chanson de l'Oiseau étranger'' (Albin Michel, 1958) * ''La Ville de sable'', (Albin Michel, 1959) * ''La Rose de cire'' (Albin Michel, 1964) * ''De l'autre côté de la forêt'' (Albin Michel, 1966) * ''Les Miroirs et les gouffres'' (Albin Michel, 1968) * ''L’Ombre d’un arbre mort'' (Albin Michel, 1970) * ''Nous avons traversé la montagne'' (Albin Michel, 1972) * ''La Fête de la tour des âmes'' (Albin Michel, 1974) * ''Algues - fragment d'un journal intime'' (Albin Michel, 1976) * ''Les Vaines Montagnes'' (Albin Michel, 1985) * ''Le Journal d’un visiteur'' (Albin Michel, 1980) * ''Villa des hasards'' (Albin Michel, 1984) * ''Ivre d’un rêve héroïque et brutal'' (de Fallois, 2014)

English language publications

*''Pompeii & Herculaneum: The glory and the grief.'' *''Albrecht Dürer'', ' The World of Art Library' series

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brion, Marcel 1895 births 1984 deaths Writers from Marseille Members of the Académie Française Officiers of the Légion d'honneur Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1914–1918 (France) Grand Officers of the Ordre national du Mérite Officiers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres French male writers 20th-century French male writers Collège Champittet alumni