René François Nicolas Marie Bazin (26 December 1853 – 20 July 1932) was a French
novelist
A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...
.
Biography
Born at
Angers
Angers (, , ;) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the Prefectures of France, prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Duchy of Anjou, Anjou until the French Revolution. The i ...
, he studied law 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 ...
, and on his return to Angers became Professor of Law in the Catholic university. In 1876, Bazin married Aline Bricard. The couple had two sons and six daughters. He contributed to Parisian journals a series of sketches of provincial life and descriptions of travel, and wrote ''Stephanette'' (1884), but he made his reputation with ''Une Tache d'Encre'' (''A Spot of Ink'') (1888), which received a prize from the Academy. He was admitted to the
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 ...
on 28 April 1904, to replace
Ernest Legouvé
Gabriel Jean Baptiste Ernest Wilfrid Legouvé (; 14 February 180714 March 1903) was a French dramatist.
Biography
Son of the poet Gabriel-Marie Legouvé (1764–1812), he was born in Paris. His mother died in 1810, and almost immediately aft ...
.
René Bazin was a Knight Commander of the
Order of St. Gregory the Great
The Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great (; ) was established on 1 September 1831, by Pope Gregory XVI, seven months after his election as Pope.
The order is one of the five Papal order of knighthood, orders of knighthood of th ...
, and was President of the ''Corporation des Publicistes Chretiens''.
[Hoehn, Matthew (1948). "René Bazin, 1853–1934." In: ''Catholic Authors: Contemporary Biographical Sketches''. Newark, N.J.: St. Mary's Abbey, p. 34.]
Works
Other novels:
*' (1890; English tr., ''This, My Son'', 1908)
*' (1892)
*' (1893; English tr., ''Those of his own Household'', 1914)
*' (1894)
*' (1897; English tr., ''Redemption'', 1908)
*' (1899; English tr., ''Autumn Glory'', 1901), a picture of the decay of peasant farming set in
La Vendée; it was an indirect plea for the development of provincial France
*' (1901; English tr., ''Children of Alsace''), a story which was dramatized and acted in the following year
*' (1903)
*' (1903)
*' (1905; English tr., ''The Nun'', 1908)
*' (1907; English tr., ''The Coming Harvest'', 1908)
*' (1908)
*''La Barrière'' (1910; English tr., ''The Barrier'')
*''Davidée Birot'' (1912; English tr. by Mary D. Frost)
*''Gingolph l'Abandonné'' (1914)
*' (1917)
*' (1919)
*' (1919), regarded as a masterpiece by some
*' and ' (1921)
*' (1921; English tr., ''Charles de Foucauld, Hermit and Explorer'', 1923)
A volume of ' appeared in 1906. He also wrote books of travel, including a ' (1891), ''Sicile'' (1892), ' (1896), and ' (1901). ' (1913). Bazin is known to English and American readers for rendering the Italy of his time, ''The Italians of To-Day'' (1904).
After 1914 he published two volumes of war sketches, ''Pages religieuses'' (1915) and ''Aujourd'hui et demain'' (1916).
Notes
*
*
Further reading
* Coll, Jessie Pauline (1936). ''The Novels of René Bazin''. University of Oklahoma.
*
Doumic, René (1899)
"René Bazin."In: ''Contemporary French Novelists.'' New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Company, pp. 377–402.
*
Gosse, Edmund (1905)
"M. René Bazin."In: ''French Profiles.'' New York : Dodd, Mead and company, pp. 266–291.
*
Mauriac, François (1931). ''René Bazin''. Paris: F. Alcan.
* Moreau, Abel (1957). ''René Bazin''. Paris: Caritas.
* Stimson, Henry A. (1904)
"The Novels of René Bazin,"''The Booklovers Magazine'', Vol. IV, pp. 745–747
* Waite, Alice Webber (1928). ''René Bazin: An Idealistic Realist''. University of Nebraska (Lincoln Campus).
External links
*
*
*
Edmund Burke et la RévolutionThe René Bazin society in FranceRené Bazin's works on the reference site Open Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bazin, Rene
1853 births
1932 deaths
People from Angers
Academic staff of the Catholic University of the West
Members of the Académie Française
19th-century French novelists
20th-century French novelists
20th-century French male writers
French male novelists
19th-century French male writers
Officers of the Legion of Honour
French travel writers
19th-century French non-fiction writers
20th-century French non-fiction writers
French male non-fiction writers