Henri-François-Joseph de Régnier (28 December 1864 – 23 May 1936) was a French

symbolist Symbolism was a late 19th-century art movement of French and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts seeking to represent absolute truths symbolically through language and metaphorical images, mainly as a reaction against naturalism and realis ...

poet, considered one of the most important of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

during the early 20th century.

Life and works

He was born in

Honfleur Honfleur () is a commune in the Calvados department in northwestern France. It is located on the southern bank of the estuary of the Seine across from le Havre and very close to the exit of the Pont de Normandie. The people that inhabit Honf ...

( Calvados) on 28 December 1864, and educated in

Paris Paris () is the capital and 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), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

for law. In 1885 he began to contribute to the Parisian reviews, and his verses were published by most of the French and

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 languag ...

periodicals favorable to the symbolist writers. Having begun as a Parnassian, he retained the classical tradition, though he adopted some of the innovations of

Jean Moréas Jean Moréas (; born Ioannis A. Papadiamantopoulos, Ιωάννης Α. Παπαδιαμαντόπουλος; 15 April 1856 – 31 March 1910), was a Greek poet, essayist, and art critic, who wrote mostly in the French language but also in Greek du ...

and

Gustave Kahn Gustave Kahn (21 December 1859, in Metz – 5 September 1936, in Paris) was a French Symbolist poet and art critic. He was also active, via publishing and essay-writing, in defining Symbolism and distinguishing it from the Decadent Movement. P ...

. His vaguely suggestive style shows the influence of

Stéphane Mallarmé Stéphane Mallarmé ( , ; 18 March 1842 – 9 September 1898), pen name of Étienne Mallarmé, was a French poet and critic. He was a major French symbolist poet, and his work anticipated and inspired several revolutionary artistic schools of ...

, of whom he was an assiduous disciple. His first volume of poems, ''Lendemains'', appeared in 1885, and among numerous later volumes are ''Poèmes anciens et romanesques'' (1890), ''Les Jeux rustiques et divins'' (1890), ''Les Médailles d'argile'' (1900), ''La Cité des eaux'' (1903). He is also the author of a series of realistic novels and tales, among which are ''La Canne de jaspe'' (2nd ed., 1897), ''La Double maîtresse'' (5th ed., 1900), ''Les Vacances d’un jeune homme sage'' (1903), and ''Les Amants singuliers'' (1905). Régnier married Marie de Heredia, daughter of the poet José María de Heredia, and herself a novelist and poet under the pen name of Gérard d'Houville. Henri de Régnier in April 1895 Edition of The Bookman

Henri de Régnier in April 1895 Edition of The Bookman

He was a contributor to ''Le Visage de l'Italie'', a 1929 book about Italy prefaced by

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in ...

. ''La Canne de jaspe'' and ''Histoires Incertaines'' (1919) were translated in 2012 by

Brian Stableford Brian Michael Stableford (born 25 July 1948) is a British academic, critic and science fiction writer who has published more than 70 novels. His earlier books were published under the name Brian M. Stableford, but more recent ones have dropped ...

under the title ''A Surfeit of Mirrors'' Henri de Régnier died in 1936 at age 71 and was interred in the

Père Lachaise Cemetery Père Lachaise Cemetery (french: Cimetière du Père-Lachaise ; formerly , "East Cemetery") is the largest cemetery in Paris, France (). With more than 3.5 million visitors annually, it is the most visited necropolis in the world. Notable figure ...

in Paris.

Other media

*An edition of

Maurice Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In ...

's waltz ''

Valses nobles et sentimentales The ''Valses nobles et sentimentales'' is a suite of waltzes composed by Maurice Ravel. The piano version was published in 1911, and an orchestral version was published in 1912. The title was chosen in homage to Franz Schubert, who had released ...

'' was published with a quotation from de Régnier ''"…le plaisir délicieux et toujours nouveau d'une occupation inutile"'' *In the introductory cutscene to the 2012 video game

Dragon's Dogma ''Dragon's Dogma'' is an action role-playing hack and slash video game developed and published by Capcom for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2012. An enhanced version titled ''Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen'' was released for the game's original consol ...

, by

Capcom is a Japanese video game developer and publisher. It has created a number of multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being '' Resident Evil'', '' Monster Hunter'', '' Street Fighter'', ''Mega Man'', ''De ...

, the quotation ''"le plaisir délicieux... d'une occupation inutile"'' (subtitled trans. "The delightful and ever-novel pleasure of a useless occupation.") is given and attributed to de Régnier himself.

Film

* 2019 : '' Curiosa'', Lou Jeunet's French movie.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Regnier, Henri de 1864 births 1936 deaths People from Honfleur Collège Stanislas de Paris alumni 19th-century French poets 20th-century French poets Writers from Normandy Symbolist poets French ballet librettists French horror writers Members of the Académie Française Grand Officiers of the Légion d'honneur Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery