Jacques Lacarrière (; 2 December 1925 – 17 September 2005) was a French writer, born in

Limoges Limoges ( , , ; , locally ) is a city and Communes of France, commune, and the prefecture of the Haute-Vienne Departments of France, department in west-central France. It was the administrative capital of the former Limousin region. Situated o ...

. He studied

moral philosophy Ethics is the philosophical study of moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches include normative ethics, applied et ...

classical literature Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek and Roman literature and their original languages, ...

, and

Hindu philosophy Hindu philosophy or Vedic philosophy is the set of philosophical systems that developed in tandem with the first Hinduism, Hindu religious traditions during the Iron Age in India, iron and Classical India, classical ages of India. In Indian ...

and

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

. Professionally, he was known as a prominent critic, journalist, and essayist.

Biography

A passionate admirer of

ancient Greece Ancient Greece () was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity (), that comprised a loose collection of culturally and linguistically r ...

and its

mythology Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...

, Lacarrière wrote about it extensively. His essay '' L'été grec'' (Greek Summer) was an immense popular success. His classical works ''Maria of Egypt'' and ''Dictionnaire amoureux de la Grèce'' (Dictionary for one who loves Greece) were also successes. Of interest to ethnographers and ecologists is his ''Chemin faisant: Mille kilomètres à pied à travers la France'' (1974, On the way: One thousand kilometers by foot across France). It was based on his walking across France in 1971, when he kept to small roads and byways, stopping at villages. Beginning in August, he traveled from

Saverne Saverne (, ; Alsatian language, Alsatian: ; ) is a communes of France, commune in the Bas-Rhin departments of France, department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. It is situated on the Rhine-Marne canal at the foot of a mountain pass, pass ...

in the

Vosges The Vosges ( , ; ; Franconian and ) is a range of medium mountains in Eastern France, near its border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the border, they form a single geomorphological unit and ...

, reaching

Leucate Leucate (; ) is a commune in the Aude department in southern France. It lies between the Mediterranean Sea and the lagoon Étang de Leucate. Geography Leucate is on the Mediterranean coast of France. It is part of the eastern Corbières M ...

in November, which is located in the Corbières. It was reprinted by Fayard in 1997 with a postscript entitled "Memory of roads," and addition of selected letters from readers. It was released again in 2014, again by Fayard. Lacarrière's 1973 literary essay, ''Les Gnostiques,'' is well respected for its insights into the early Christian religious movement of

Gnosticism Gnosticism (from Ancient Greek language, Ancient Greek: , Romanization of Ancient Greek, romanized: ''gnōstikós'', Koine Greek: Help:IPA/Greek, �nostiˈkos 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems that coalesced ...

. The writer had met English author

Lawrence Durrell Lawrence George Durrell (; 27 February 1912 – 7 November 1990) was an expatriate British novelist, poet, dramatist, and travel writer. He was the eldest brother of naturalist and writer Gerald Durrell. Born in India to British colonial pa ...

in 1971, who had been studying some Gnostic texts since the early 1940s. Durrell featured Gnosticism as a plot element in the novels of his '' The Avignon Quintet'' (1974 to 1985). He also wrote a "Foreword" to the 1974 English translation of Lacarrière's essay. He was Correspondent Member of Greek Writers Association “Unifying Process of Authors". For the whole of his work, in 1991 Lacarrière was awarded le Grand Prix de l'

Académie française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

(the Great Prize of the French Academy). He died 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 ...

on 17 September 2005, following complications from

orthopedic surgery Orthopedic surgery or orthopedics ( alternative spelling orthopaedics) is the branch of surgery concerned with conditions involving the musculoskeletal system. Orthopedic surgeons use both surgical and nonsurgical means to treat musculoskeletal ...

. His body was cremated and his ashes scattered in

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

, in the waters off the island of

Spetses Spetses (, "Pityussa") is an island in Attica, Greece. It is counted among the Saronic Islands group. Until 1948, it was part of the old prefecture of Argolis and Corinthia Prefecture, which is now split into Argolis and Corinthia. In ancient ...

Works

In French

* ''Les Hommes ivres de Dieu'' (Men drunk with God), Arthaud 1961, Fayard 1975, (rééd. Seuil, Coll. ''Sagesses'', 1983) * ''Les Gnostiques,'' 1973, Idées Gallimard (rééd. Albin Michel, Coll. ''Spiritualités Vivantes Poche'', 1998) * ''Chemin faisant, mille kilomètres à pied à travers la France d'aujourd'hui'', 1974 (rééd. 1983, Fayard) * ''L’été grec : une Grèce quotidienne de 4 000 ans,'' 1976, Plon, Paris * ''Promenades dans la Grèce antique,'' 1978, guide Hachette (éd. commentée et ill. des ''Voyages'' de Pausanias le Périégète) * ''En cheminant avec Hérodote,'' 1981, Seghers (rééd. 1982 par Hachette, coll. Pluriel ) * ''Marie d’Égypte,'' 1983 (rééd. 1999 Collection Points-Seuil) * ''Au cœur des Mythologies, en suivant les Dieux,'' 1984, Hachette, coll. Pluriel (rééd. 1998, éd. Folio, ) * ''Ce bel aujourd'hui,'' 1989, Jean-Claude Lattès * ''Dictionnaire amoureux de la Grèce,'' Plon, collection Dictionnaire amoureux, 2001, * ''La Poussière du monde,'' Nil Éditions, 1997 * ''Lexique érotique de la Grèce'', Plon, 2003 *'' La Grèce des Hommes,'' Jacques Lacarrière & Emanuel Sanz, Editions Livre Total SA, Lausanne (Suisse), Luce Wilquin éditrice Dour, 1994, (épuisé)

Translated into English

*''The God-Possessed,'' London: George Allen & Unwin LTD, 1963. *''Men Possessed By God. The Story of the Desert Monks of Ancient Christendom,'' Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Co, 1964. *''The Gnostics,'' San Francisco, CA: City Lights Books, 1989.() *''The Wisdom of Ancient Greece'' (Wisdom Of Series), edited, NY: Abbeville Press, 1996. () {{DEFAULTSORT:Lacarriere, Jacques 1925 births 2005 deaths 20th-century French non-fiction writers 21st-century French non-fiction writers People from Limoges Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres