Henri-François-Joseph de Régnier (; 28 December 1864 – 23 May 1936) 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, considered one of the most important of

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

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 Hon ...

( Calvados) on 28 December 1864, and educated 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 ...

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

Gustave Kahn Gustave Kahn (21 December 1859, in Metz – 5 September 1936, in Paris) was a French language, French Symbolism (arts), Symbolist poet and art critic. He was also active, via publishing and essay-writing, in defining Symbolism and distinguishin ...

. 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 o ...

, 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. 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, upon assuming office as Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 un ...

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

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 (, , formerly , ) is the largest cemetery in Paris, France, at . With more than 3.5 million visitors annually, it is the most visited necropolis in the world. Buried at Père Lachaise are many famous figures in the ...

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 in music, Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composer ...

's waltz '' Valses nobles et sentimentales'' 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'' by

Capcom is a Japanese video game company. It has created a number of critically acclaimed and List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil'', ''Monster ...

, 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 Curiosa may refer to: * Curiosa (erotica), erotica and pornography as discrete, collectable items, usually in published or printed form * ''Curiosa'' (film), a 2019 French film directed by Lou Jeunet, with actress Amira Casar * '' Curiosa Festiv ...

'', 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 Officers of the Legion of Honour Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery