Jean Rousset (20 February 1910 – 15 September 2002) was a

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

literary critic Literary criticism (or literary studies) is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of literature's goals and methods. Th ...

who worked on French literature, and in particular on

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

literature of the late

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

and early seventeenth century. He is sometimes grouped with the '' Geneva School'' and with early

Structuralism In sociology, anthropology, archaeology, history, philosophy, and linguistics, structuralism is a general theory of culture and methodology that implies that elements of human culture must be understood by way of their relationship to a broader ...

Biography

Jean Rousset began his studies in law, before changing to literature. He studied under

Albert Thibaudet Albert Thibaudet (1 April 1874 in Tournus, Saône-et-Loire – 16 April 1936 in Geneva) was a French essayist and literary critic. A former student of Henri Bergson, he was a professor of Jean Rousset. He taught at the University of Gene ...

and

Marcel Raymond Marcel Raymond (December 20, 1897 in Geneva – November 28, 1981 in Geneva) was a Swiss literary critic who specialized in French literature. He is generally grouped with the so-called "Geneva School". Biography Marcel Raymond first studied in G ...

and after working as a French lecturer in

Halle Halle may refer to: Places Germany * Halle (Saale), also called Halle an der Saale, a city in Saxony-Anhalt ** Halle (region), a former administrative region in Saxony-Anhalt ** Bezirk Halle, a former administrative division of East Germany ** Hall ...

and

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

, became professor at the

University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by John Calvin as a theological seminary. It remained focused on theology until the 17th centu ...

. His thesis on French literature of the baroque period, published under the title ''La Littérature de l’âge baroque en France : Circé et le paon'', was an immense critical success. It was one of the first studies to use the term "baroque" – which had been, up to that point, used exclusively in art history – to refer to literary works. Under the signs of the sorceress

Circe Circe (; grc, , ) is an Magician (paranormal), enchantress and a minor goddess in ancient Greek mythology and Ancient Greek religion, religion. She is either a daughter of the Titans, Titan Helios and the Oceanid nymph Perse (mythology), Perse ...

and the ornamental

peacock Peafowl is a common name for three bird species in the genera ''Pavo (genus), Pavo'' and ''Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae, the pheasants and their allies. Male peafowl are referred to as peacocks, and female pea ...

(''paon''), and following the art historical analysis of Heinrich Wölfflin, Rousset explored movement, instability, ostentation, decoration and metamorphosis in the plays, novels and poetry of the period. He would return to the same period in his ''L’Intérieur et l’extérieur : essais sur la poésie et le théâtre au XVII^e siècle''. His 1963 work, his book ''Forme et signification'' explored new theoretical possibilities;

Jacques Derrida Jacques Derrida (; ; born Jackie Élie Derrida; See also . 15 July 1930 – 9 October 2004) was an Algerian-born French philosopher. He developed the philosophy of deconstruction, which he utilized in numerous texts, and which was developed t ...

has called it one of the principal works of early

structuralism In sociology, anthropology, archaeology, history, philosophy, and linguistics, structuralism is a general theory of culture and methodology that implies that elements of human culture must be understood by way of their relationship to a broader ...

. Distancing himself from the phenomenological approach of his friends and associates

Georges Poulet Georges Poulet (; 29 November 1902 – 31 December 1991) was a Belgian literary critic associated with the Geneva School. Best known for his four-volume work ''Studies in Human Time'', Poulet rejected formalist approaches to literary criticism and ...

and

Jean-Pierre Richard Jean-Pierre Richard (15 July 1922 – 15 March 2019) was a French writer and literary critic. Biography Jean-Pierre Richard began his advanced studies at the École normale supérieure, at the time a school of the University of Paris, in 1941 ...

, Rousset focussed on formal elements such as narrative structure in determining the meaning of a work. He would continue on this formal and narratological approach in his ''Narcisse romancier : essai sur la première personne dans le roman'' (which explored the role of

first person narration A first-person narrative is a mode of storytelling in which a storyteller recounts events from their own point of view using the first person It may be narrated by a first-person protagonist (or other focal character), first-person re-teller ...

in novels) and ''Le Lecteur intime''. In this way, his work of this period shares many characteristics with the work of

Gérard Genette Gérard Genette (7 June 1930 – 11 May 2018) was a French literary theorist, associated in particular with the structuralist movement and such figures as Roland Barthes and Claude Lévi-Strauss, from whom he adapted the concept of ''bricolage ...

. His later works of theory and criticism were however less centered on a purely structural approach. His ''"Leurs yeux se rencontrèrent" : la scène de première vue dans le roman'' explored the common place of " love at first sight" in the novel. His last book, ''Dernier regard sur le baroque'', was a final assessment of theory and theoretical debates concerning the baroque period.

Works

* 1953 - ''La Littérature de l’âge baroque en France: Circé et le paon'' * 1963 - ''Forme et signification, essais sur les structures littéraires de

Corneille Pierre Corneille (; 6 June 1606 – 1 October 1684) was a French tragedian. He is generally considered one of the three great seventeenth-century French dramatists, along with Molière and Racine. As a young man, he earned the valuable patronag ...

à Claudel'' * 1968 - ''L’Intérieur et l’extérieur: essais sur la poésie et le théâtre au XVIIe siècle'' - on

Jean de Sponde Jean de Sponde (''Joanes Ezponda''; 1557 in Basque – 18 March 1595) was a Baroque French poet. Biography Born at Mauléon, in what is now Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Jean de Sponde was raised in an austere Protestant family in the Basque region ...

and

Jean de La Ceppède Jean de La Ceppède (c. 1550 – 1623) was a French nobility, French nobleman, judge, and French poetry, poet from Aix-en-Provence. La Ceppède was a Christian poetry, Christian poet and wrote French Alexandrine, Alexandrine sonnets in Middle Fren ...

* 1972 - ''Narcisse romancier: essai sur la première personne dans le roman'' - on

in novels * 1981 - ''"Leurs yeux se rencontrèrent": la scène de première vue dans le roman'' * 1986 - ''Le Lecteur intime, de Balzac au journal'' * 1988 - ''Anthologie de la Poésie baroque française'' - anthology * 1990 - ''Passages, échanges et transpositions'' * 1998 - ''Dernier regard sur le baroque''

References

* This article is based on the biography published on Rousset's editor's site (see below).

External links

Jean Rousset
site on José Corti editions (in French) {{DEFAULTSORT:Rousset, Jean 1910 births 2002 deaths Writers from Geneva Swiss writers in French Swiss literary critics Members of the Académie royale de langue et de littérature françaises de Belgique Swiss male writers

Biography

Works

See also

References

Further reading

External links