Gustave Kahn (21 December 1859, in

Metz Metz ( , , , then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle (river), Moselle and the Seille (Moselle), Seille rivers. Metz is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments ...

– 5 September 1936, in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

) was a French

Symbolist Symbolism or symbolist may refer to: *Symbol, any object or sign that represents an idea Arts *Artistic symbol, an element of a literary, visual, or other work of art that represents an idea ** Color symbolism, the use of colors within various c ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

and art critic. He was also active, via publishing and essay-writing, in defining Symbolism and distinguishing it from the

Decadent Movement The Decadent movement (from the French language, French ''décadence'', ) was a late 19th-century Art movement, artistic and literary movement, literary movement, centered in Western Europe, that followed an aesthetic ideology of excess and artif ...

Personal life

Kahn was a

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

from

Lorraine Lorraine, also , ; ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; ; ; is a cultural and historical region in Eastern France, now located in the administrative region of Grand Est. Its name stems from the medieval kingdom of ...

. He chose sides with

Émile Zola Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola (, ; ; 2 April 184029 September 1902) was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of Naturalism (literature), naturalism, and an important contributor to ...

in the Dreyfus affair. His wife Elizabeth converted to

Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...

as a protest against

antisemitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

, changing her name to Rachel.

Poetry

Kahn claimed to have invented the term

vers libre Free verse is an open form of poetry which does not use a prescribed or regular meter or rhyme and tends to follow the rhythm of natural or irregular speech. Free verse encompasses a large range of poetic form, and the distinction between free v ...

, or

free verse Free verse is an open form of poetry which does not use a prescribed or regular meter or rhyme and tends to follow the rhythm of natural or irregular speech. Free verse encompasses a large range of poetic form, and the distinction between free ...

. Lucie-Smith, Edward. (1972) ''Symbolist Art''. London:

Thames & Hudson Thames & Hudson (sometimes T&H for brevity) is a publisher of illustrated books in all visually creative categories: art, architecture, design, photography, fashion, film, and the performing arts. It also publishes books on archaeology, history, ...

, p. 58. He was in any case one of the form's first European exponents. His principal publications include ''Les Palais nomades'' (1887), ''Domaine de fée'' (1895), and ''Le Livre d'images'' (1897). He also made a valuable contribution to the movement's history with his book ''Symbolistes et décadents'' (1902).

Other work

In addition to his poems, Kahn was a public

intellectual An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and Human self-reflection, reflection about the nature of reality, especially the nature of society and proposed solutions for its normative problems. Coming from the wor ...

who wrote

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

s, plays, and

literary criticism A genre of arts criticism, 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 analysis of literature's ...

. He was also extremely influential as a publisher of symbolist writing. Together with

Félix Fénéon Félix Fénéon (; 22 June 1861 – 29 February 1944) was a French art critic, gallery director, writer and anarchist during the late 19th century and early 20th century. He coined the term '' Neo-Impressionism'' in 1886 to identify a group of ...

and Leo d'Orfer, both critics, Kahn founded and then directed ''La Vogue'' in 1886. Through that magazine, Kahn and his partners were able to influence the careers of developing decadent writers such as Jules Laforgue, as well as to inject new life into the careers of established figures such as

Arthur Rimbaud Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud (, ; ; 20 October 1854 – 10 November 1891) was a French poet known for his transgressive and surreal themes and for his influence on modern literature and arts, prefiguring surrealism. Born in Charleville, he s ...

, whose '' Les Illuminations'' manuscript was published in its pages. Together with Jean Moréas, he also founded and directed '' Le Symboliste'', a short-lived journal intended as a counter-point to Anatole Bajule's ''Le Décadent'', which they viewed as a false and exploitative publication that represented a vain, shallow mockery of symbolist thought. He played a key role in a number of other periodicals, including ''La Revue Indépendante'', ''La Revue Blanche'' and '' Le Mercure de France''. He was also an art critic and collector who stayed current with developments in

painting Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

and

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

until his death. He wrote a widely-read obituary for neo-impressionist painter

Georges Seurat Georges Pierre Seurat ( , ; ; 2 December 1859 – 29 March 1891) was a French post-Impressionist artist. He devised the painting techniques known as chromoluminarism and pointillism and used conté crayon for drawings on paper with a rough ...

, in which he suggested a symbolist approach to interpreting the artist's work. He also played a role in a number of debates on public issues, including

anarchism Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

socialism Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

, and

Zionism Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...

. In the 1920s he was (head)editor of '' Menorah'', a Jewish bimonthly magazine which folded in 1933. In 1903, American composer Charles Loeffler set four of Kahn's poems to music for piano and voice. The poems were from ''Les Palais Nomades'': Timbres Oublies, Adieu Pour Jamais, Les Soirs d'Automne, and Les Paons. After his death, his manuscripts were placed in the collection of the library of the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...

Quotation

:::Les Paons :Se penchant vers les dahlias, :Des paons cabraient des rosaces lunaires, :L'assouplissement des branches vénère :Son pâle visage aux mourants dahlias. : Elle écoute au loin les brèves musiques : Nuit claire aux ramures d'accords, : Et la lassitude a bercé son corps : Au rythme odorant des pures musiques. : Les paons ont dressé la rampe ocellée : Pour la descente de ses yeux vers le tapis : De choses et de sens : Qui va vers l'horizon, parure vermiculée : De son corps alangui. : En l'âme se tapit : le flou désir molli de récits et d'encens.

Principal works

* ''Palais nomades'' (1887) * ''Les Chansons d'amant'' (1891) * ''Domaine de fée'' (1895) * ''Le Roi fou'' (1896) * ''La Pluie et le beau temps ''(1896) * ''Limbes de lumières'' (1897) * ''Le Livre d'images'' (1897) * ''Premiers poèmes'' (1897) * ''Le Conte de l'or et du silence'' (1898) translated by

Brian Stableford Brian Michael Stableford (25 July 1948 – 24 February 2024) was a British academic, critic and science fiction writer who published a hundred novels and over a hundred volumes of translations. His earlier books were published under the name Br ...

as ''The Tale of Gold and Silence'' (2011) * ''Les Petites Ames pressées'' (1898) * ''Le Cirque solaire'' (1898) translated into English by Sam Kunkel as ''The Solar Circus'' ( First To Knock, 2023) * ''Les Fleurs de la passion'' (1900) * ''L'Adultère sentimental'' (1902) * ''Symbolistes et décadents'' (1902) * ''Odes de la "Raison"'' (1902 réédité aux Editions du Fourneau 1995) * ''Contes hollandais'' (1903) * ''La Femme dans la caricature française'' (1907) * ''Contes hollandais'' (deuxième série) (1908) * ''La Pépinière du Luxembourg'' (1923) * ''L'Aube enamourée'' (1925) * ''Mourle'' (1925) * ''Silhouettes littéraires'' (1925) * ''La Childebert'' (1926) * ''Contes juifs'' (1926 réédité chez "Les Introuvables" 1977) * ''Images bibliques'' (1929) * ''Terre d'Israël'' (1933)

References

External links

* *
Poems by Gustave Kahn
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kahn, Gustave 1859 births 1936 deaths Writers from Metz Symbolist poets French art critics French poets Jewish poets French male poets 19th-century French Jews French male non-fiction writers