Roland Desné (24 April 1931 – 9 July 2020) was a French writer, philosopher, and historian.

Biography

The son of a railway worker, Desné joined the

French Communist Party The French Communist Party (french: Parti communiste français, ''PCF'' ; ) is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its MEPs sit in the European Un ...

with his philosophy professor,

Guy Besse Guy Besse (25 November 1919 – 16 February 2004) was a French philosopher and politician, a member of the executive of the French Communist Party (PCF). Biography A member of the Responsible du Front National while a student in Lyon under th ...

. In

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, he met numerous other philosophers, including

Louis Aragon Louis Aragon (, , 3 October 1897 – 24 December 1982) was a French poet who was one of the leading voices of the surrealist movement in France. He co-founded with André Breton and Philippe Soupault the surrealist review ''Littérature''. He ...

Arthur Adamov Arthur Adamov (23 August 1908 – 15 March 1970) was a playwright, one of the foremost exponents of the Theatre of the Absurd. Early life Adamov (originally Adamian) was born in Kislovodsk in the Terek Oblast of the Russian Empire to a wealthy ...

Paul Éluard Paul Éluard (), born Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (; 14 December 1895 – 18 November 1952), was a French poet and one of the founders of the Surrealist movement. In 1916, he chose the name Paul Éluard, a matronymic borrowed from his maternal ...

Pierre Soulages Pierre Jean Louis Germain Soulages (; 24 December 1919 – 26 October 2022) was a French painter, printmaker, and sculptor. In 2014, President François Hollande of France described him as "the world's greatest living artist." His works are hel ...

, and

René Étiemble René Ernest Joseph Eugène Étiemble (26 January 1909 in Mayenne, Mayenne – 7 January 2002 in Vigny) was an essayist, scholar, novelist, and promoter of Middle Eastern and Asian cultures. Known commonly by his family name alone, Etiemble h ...

. He published in ''France Nouvelle'', ''La Nouvelle Critique'', ''La Pensée'', and Les Éditions sociales. Desné defended his thesis on

Denis Diderot Denis Diderot (; ; 5 October 171331 July 1784) was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer, best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, and contributor to the '' Encyclopédie'' along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. He was a promi ...

under the direction of Jean Fabre and Jacques Chouillet. A student at the École normale supérieure de Saint-Cloud, he subsequently worked as a university associate while pursuing a career as a university professor. He then became a research associate at the

French National Centre for Scientific Research The French National Centre for Scientific Research (french: link=no, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,63 ...

. His final job as a professor came at the

University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne The University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne (; URCA), also known simply as the University of Reims, is a public university based in Reims, France. In addition to the main campus in Reims, the university has several campuses located throughout t ...

, where he founded the comparative literature department. Following the works of

Jean Meslier Jean Meslier (; also Mellier; 15 June 1664 – 17 June 1729) was a French Catholic priest (abbé) who was discovered, upon his death, to have written a book-length philosophical essay promoting atheism and materialism. Described by the author as ...

, Desné collaborated with

Albert Soboul Albert Marius Soboul (27 April 1914 – 11 September 1982) was a historian of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic periods. A professor at the Sorbonne, he was chair of the History of the French Revolution and author of numerous influential ...

and Jean Deprun. The group travelled to

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whic ...

, the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, Japan, and

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

. They received the Prix Dumas-Millier in 1972 for ''Œuvres complètes de Jean Meslier''. In the 1960s, he collaborated with

Pierre Abraham Pierre Abraham, (1 March 1892 – 20 May 1974 in Paris) was a French journalist, essayist and military figure in the French Air Force during the world wars. Biography A graduate of the Ecole Polytechnique, he served during World War I from 191 ...

to publish ''Histoire litteraire de la France'' published in 12 volumes by Éditions sociales. Desné became involved with study and research for the Supreme Council of the

Scottish Rite The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry (the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction in the United States often omits the ''and'', while the English Constitution in the United Kingdom omits the ''Scottish''), commonly known as simply the S ...

. In 1989, he helped organize the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

. Roland Desné died in Paris on 9 July 2020 at the age of 89.

Publications

*''Diderot et "le Neveu de Rameau" : essai d'explication'' (1963) *''Qu'est-ce qu'enseigner le français? : contribution à la recherche d'une doctrine pédagogique pour le second degré'' (1967) *''Les oeuvres complètes du Curé Meslier'' (1969) *''Les Lumières : le XVIIIème siècle'' (1972) *''Manuel d'histoire littéraire de la France 4, 1789-1848'' (1972) *''Jean Meslier'' (1973) *''Complément au Lexique de "Jacques le Fataliste"'' (1976) *''Recherches sur le matérialisme français au 18ème siècle'' (1977) *''Voltaire und Deutschland : Quellen und Untersuchungen zur Rezeption der Französischen Aufklarung : Internationales Kolloquium der Universität Manheim zum 200. Todestag Voltaires'' (1979) *''1984: l'année Diderot'' (1985) *''Dix-huitième siècle, tables et index des numéros 11 à 20 : 1979-1988'' (1990) *''Goldoni et l'Europe, colloque goldonien'' (1993) *''Dix-huitième siècle, tables et index des numéros 21 à 30 : 1989-1998'' (2001) *''Le parler des francs-maçons'' (2008)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Desne, Roland French writers 1931 births 2020 deaths