Paul-François Groussac (February 15, 1848 – June 27, 1929) was a French-born Argentine writer, literary critic, historian, and librarian.

Biography

Groussac was born in

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Pa ...

to Pierre Groussac, the scion of an old

Languedoc The Province of Languedoc (; , ; oc, Lengadòc ) is a former province of France. Most of its territory is now contained in the modern-day region of Occitanie in Southern France. Its capital city was Toulouse. It had an area of approximately ...

ian family, and Catherine (née Deval). As a young man, Groussac studied classics in his native Toulouse. He was admitted to the

École Navale 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 ...

in 1865, but chose not to pursue a naval career. The next year he moved to

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

, which would remain his home for the rest of his life. Over the next seventeen years, he worked as a professor, directed the Escuela Normal de Tucumán, and served as inspector general of the national colleges. In 1883 he made a trip to France. After his return, in 1885, he was designated inspector of education and head of the Biblioteca Nacional. He would hold this position until his death forty-four years later. His most notable works are ''La Biblioteca'' (1896) and ''Anales de la Biblioteca'' (1900), which were anthologies of critical essays, historical accounts of the library, and documents pertaining to the history of the

Río de la Plata The Río de la Plata (, "river of silver"), also called the River Plate or La Plata River in English, is the estuary formed by the confluence of the Uruguay River and the Paraná River at Punta Gorda. It empties into the Atlantic Ocean and fo ...

region. As director of the literary journal ''SudAmérica'', Groussac became a central figure in the Argentine literary world. His works, including ''Studies of Argentine History'', ''Historical Essay on Tucumán'', and ''Mendoza and Garay'', are characterized by their factual richness, vivid depiction of characters and their environment, and their lucid and conscientious style. Groussac's other main works include ''Forbidden Fruit'', ''Argentine Tales'', ''The Divisa Punzó'', and ''Literary Criticism and the Malvinas Islands''. Groussac's posthumous reputation was bolstered by his frequent mention in the critical essays of fellow Argentine librarian

Jorge Luis Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo (; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, as well as a key figure in Spanish-language and international literature. His best-known b ...

, who also wrote his obituary. In his autobiographical essay ''La Ceguera'' ("Blindness"), Borges spoke of Groussac's influence on Alfonso Reyes, whom he held in great esteem: "Alfonso Reyes, the greatest prose writer in the Spanish language of any age, said to me: 'Groussac, who was French, taught me how to write in Spanish'". (''Siete Noches''. Fondo de Cultura Economica, Mexico, 1980, p. 156.) As a critic, he was notorious for his ruthless and intractable temperament, and for his withering mordancy. Borges analyzed some of Groussac's literary insults in his 1933 '' Sur'' essay ''Arte de injuriar'' (translated as "The Art of Verbal Abuse"). Groussac and Borges shared a few biographical parallels as well: between 1955 and 1973, Borges occupied Groussac's old position at the Biblioteca Nacional. Both men also suffered from poor eyesight, and both were completely blind by the end of their respective tenures as chief librarian.

Bibliography

*Bruno, Paula, ''Paul Groussac. Un estratega intelectual'', Buenos Aires, Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2005. *Bruno, Paula (Estudio preliminar y selección de textos), ''Travesías intelectuales de Paul Groussac'', Buenos Aires, Editorial de la Universidad Nacional de Quilmes, 2005. * Bruno, Paula, ''Pioneros culturales de la Argentina. Biografías de una época, 1860-1910'', Buenos Aires, Siglo XXI Editores, 2011.

External links

*
Bruno, Paula, "PAUL GROUSSAC. HOMBRE DE CULTURA Y "RENÁN QUEJOSO DE SU GLORIA A TRASMANO"", en ''Revista de Historia de América'', N ° 139 - Diciembre 2008 Bruno, Paula, “Paul Groussac. Un articulador cultural en el pasaje del siglo XIX al XX argentino”, en Araucaria. Revista Iberoamericana de Filosofía, Política y Humanidades, Universidad de Sevilla, a. 8 núm. 15, primer semestre de 2006, pp. 176-186

*[http://www.letraslibres.com/index.php?sec=25&qry=groussac&opciones=ALL&bussec1=1&bussec2=2&bussec3=3&bussec4=4&bussec5=5&bussec6=6&bussec7=7&bussec8=8&bussec9=9&bussec10=10&bussec11=11&bussec12=12&bussec13=13&bussec14=14&bussec15=15&bussec16=16&sibuscar=1&totalsec=16&Submit=Buscar. "Groussac en Letras Libres"] *
Brief biography
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Groussac, Paul Argentine male writers French emigrants to Argentina 19th-century Argentine historians 20th-century Argentine historians Argentine librarians 1848 births 1929 deaths Naturalized citizens of Argentina Burials at La Chacarita Cemetery