Albert Thibaudet

Albert Thibaudet came from the Burgundian bourgeoisie and was a popular French literary critic of the interwar period. He began his literary career without known success, however. In 1897, he published Le Cygne rouge (The Red Swan), a drama in verse and prose, influenced by the work of Stéphane Mallarmé (1842-1898), one of the most important symbolist writers. He then published essays and in 1912, published his first work as a literary critic, again about Mallarmé. In 1896, he was awarded the prize for eloquence by the Académie française.

Thibaudet spent two years in Greece (1901-1903) and published his respective reflections in Les Images de Grèce (Images of Greece). He led a career as a teacher and literary critic and was to become very influential in French literature during the interwar period. From 1912 until his death, he wrote for La Nouvelle Revue française (NRF). His critical method combined sympathy and pleasure, knowledge, and taste.

In August 1914, Thibaudet was mobilized for World War I. However, he never was involved in fighting though he was not demobilized until January 1919. In 1924, he was appointed professor of French literature in Genève and held the chair until his death. There, he also co-founded the “Geneva School of literary criticism”. His essays covered a broad spectrum of topics, from Greek historian Thucydides, and several French authors to political parties in France.

Two of Thibaudet’s main works are Réflexions (Reflections, 1938-41), classifying literary currents and generations, and Histoire de la littérature française de 1789 à nos jours (History of French literature from 1789 to the present day, 1936). A staunch Europeanist, he participated in the first university course in Davos in 1928, together with many French and German intellectuals.