Joseph Bédier(28 January 1864 – 29 August 1938) was a French writer and historian of medieval France.
Joseph Bédier | |
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| Born | 28 January 1864 |
| Died | 29 August 1938 (aged 74) |
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Biography
editBédier was born inParis,France, to Adolphe Bédier, a lawyer ofBretonorigin, and spent his childhood inRéunion.He was a professor of medieval French literature at theUniversité de Fribourg,Switzerland(1889–1891) and theCollège de France,Paris (c. 1893).
Modern theories of thefabliauxand thechansons de gesteare based on two of Bédier's studies.[citation needed]
Bédier revived interest in several important old French texts, includingTristan et Iseut(1900),La chanson de Roland(1921), andLes fabliaux(1893). He was a member of theAcadémie françaisefrom 1920 until his death.
HisLe roman de Tristan et Iseutwas translated intoCornishbyA. S. D. Smith,intoEnglishbyHilaire BellocandPaul Rosenfeld,and intoGermanbyRudolf G. Binding.In 2013, a new English translation by Edward J. Gallagher was published by Hackett Publishing Company.
Bédier was also joint editor of the two-volumeLittérature française,one of the most valuable modern general histories of French literature. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciencesin 1929[1]and an International Member of theAmerican Philosophical Societyin 1937.[2]
Bédier died inLe Grand-Serre,France. He was awarded the Grand-Croix de la Legion d'honneur in 1937.
Works
edit- Le lai de l’ombre(1890)
- Le fabliau deRicheut(1891)
- Les fabliaux, études de littérature populaire et d’histoire littéraire du Moyen Âge(1893)
- De Nicolao Museto (gallice Colin Muset), francogallico carminum scriptore(1893)
- Le roman de Tristan et Iseut(1900)
- Le roman de Tristan par Thomas(2 vol., 1902–1905)
- Études critiques(1903)
- Les deux poèmes de la folie Tristan(1907)
- Légendes épiques, recherches sur la formation des chansons de geste(1908–1913)
- Les chansons de croisade(1909)
- Les chansons de Colin Muset(1912)
- Les crimes allemands d’après les témoignages allemands(1915)
- Comment l’Allemagne essaie de justifier ses crimes?(1915)
- Joseph Bédier and Paul Hazard: Histoire de la littérature francaise.2 Vol. (1923/24)
- L’effort français(1919)
- La chanson de Roland(critical edition, 1920)
- La chanson de Roland(after the Oxford manuscript, 1922)
- Commentaires sur la chanson de Roland(1927)
Use of military diaries
editBédier used thewar diaries(German:Kriegstagebücher) ofGermansoldiers of differentmilitary ranksinWorld War Ias a source for various articles dealing with what he describes asatrocitiesinflicted uponBelgiancivilians and French soldiers. Some of these diaries had been kept for military reasons: in order to provide daily accounts of troop movements, orders, engagements, losses etc. Others were private diaries. From them Bédier connected together accounts of thirty-six incidents of what he saw assexualandsadisticcrimes by the German soldiers.[3]
Uses
editFran Martin set chapters fromLe roman de Tristan et Iseutto music asLe Vin herbéfirst performed in 1942, conceived as anoratoriofor 12 vocalists, seven strings and piano, which was staged in 1948 for theSalzburg Festival.
References
edit- ^"Book of Members, 1780-2010: Chapter B"(PDF).American Academy of Arts and Sciences.Retrieved29 May2011.
- ^"APS Member History".search.amphilsoc.org.Retrieved2023-05-30.
- ^Horne, John, and Alan Kramer. German "Atrocities" and Franco-German Opinion, 1914: The New Evidence of German Soldiers' Diaries. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1994.
Further reading
edit- Warren, Michelle R. (2011).Creole medievalism: colonial France and Joseph Bédier's Middle Ages.Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.ISBN978-0-8166-7541-8.OCLC704272815.
External links
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- Works by Joseph BédieratProject Gutenberg
- Works by Joseph BédieratFaded Page(Canada)
- Works by or about Joseph Bédierat theInternet Archive
- Works by Joseph BédieratLibriVox(public domain audiobooks)
- More about Bédier(in French)