Robert Goffin (21 May 1898 – 27 June 1984) was a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct language ...

lawyer, author, and poet, credited with writing the first "serious" book on

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

, ''Aux Frontières du Jazz'' in 1932.Epperson.

Life

Robert Goffin was born in Ohain, Brabant Province in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

in 1898. His mother was unmarried, and his pharmacist grandfather supported them. In 1916, Goffin completed his humanities study at the Athenaeum of Saint-Gilles where he was a classmate of the future artist

Paul Delvaux Paul Delvaux (; 23 September 1897 – 20 July 1994) was a Belgian painter noted for his dream-like scenes of women, classical architecture, trains and train stations, and skeletons, often in combination. He is often considered a surrealist, alt ...

.Libens. Two years later, Goffin published his first collection of poetry, ''Rosaire des soirs'' () while he was studying law at the

Free University of Brussels University of Brussels may refer to several institutions in Brussels, Belgium: Current institutions * Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), a French-speaking university established as a separate entity in 1970 *Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), a D ...

. By 1923, he was a lawyer at the Court of Appeal of Brussels, and in 1928, he married Suzanne Lagrange. During this period, his focus shifted to the new American art form, jazz, and in 1932 he published what is considered the first serious book on the new genre, ''Aux Frontières du Jazz'' (). He was active in denouncing the

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

in Belgium and predicted the German invasion twelve months in advance, creating in 1939 the magazine ''Alert'', which argued for the abandonment of the Belgian neutrality for an alliance with France. He left Belgium for the United States at the outset during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, supporting himself through lectures and writing, including essays such as ''Jazz: from the Congo to the Metropolitan'', and novels set in German-occupied Belgium, including ''La colombe de la Gestapo'' () and ''The White Brigade'' (published in French as ''Passeports pour l'Audelà''). In 1942, he collaborated with

Leonard Feather Leonard Geoffrey Feather (13 September 1914 – 22 September 1994) was a British-born jazz pianist, composer, and producer, who was best known for his music journalism and other writing. Biography Feather was born in London, England, into an u ...

to teach what is considered the first course ever on jazz history and analysis, held at the

New School for Social Research The New School for Social Research (NSSR) is a graduate-level educational institution that is one of the divisions of The New School in New York City, United States. The university was founded in 1919 as a home for progressive era thinkers. NSSR ...

in New York City.Brown, p. 200. After the war, he returned to Belgium to again take up his legal activities at the Court of Appeal of Brussels. In 1952, he joined the Royal Academy of French Language and Literature, becoming director in 1971, and director of the Belgian

Pen Club PEN International (known as International PEN until 2010) is a worldwide association of writers, founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere. The association has autonomous Internationa ...

in 1956. His wife Suzanne died in 1965 and in the late 1970s, Goffin began a life of semi-retirement on the shores of

Lake Genval Lake Genval ( nl, Meer van Genval, french: Lac de Genval) is an artificial lake located in Belgium on the border between Flanders and Wallonia, southeast of Brussels near the Sonian Forest, which is a part of the municipalities of Rixensart, Wal ...

, dying in 1984.

Selected works

*"The Best Negro Jazz Orchestra", 1934, printed in ''Negro'', Nancy Cunard, ed. *''Was Leopold a traitor?: The story of Belgium's eighteen tragic days'', 1941. * ''The White Brigade'', 1944. *''Patrie de la poésie'', 1945. *''Histoire du jazz'', 1945. *''La Nouvelle-orleans, Capitale Du Jazz'', 1945. * ''Jazz from the Congo to the Metropolitan'', 1943. * ''Horn of Plenty: The Story of Louis Armstrong'', originally published as ''Louis Armstrong, le roi du jazz'' ("the king of jazz"), 1947. *''Le roi du Colorado'' ("The king of Colorado"), 1958.

Notes

References

*Brown, John Robert (2006) ''Mel Bay's Concise History of Jazz '', Mel Bay Publications, . *
Gale Contemporary Authors Online
Farmington Hills, Mich.: Thomson Gale. 2007. * Translated by Samuel Beckett. *Libens, Christia

Province de Luxembourg, Département des Affaires Culturelles, Service du Livre Luxembourgeois. {{DEFAULTSORT:Goffin, Robert 20th-century Belgian lawyers Belgian non-fiction writers Belgian male poets Belgian expatriates in the United States 1898 births 1984 deaths 20th-century Belgian poets 20th-century Belgian male writers Male non-fiction writers