Barrès, Maurice

Barrès, Maurice

▪ French author and politician
in full  Auguste-maurice Barrès  
born Aug. 19, 1862, Charmes-sur-Moselle, France
died Dec. 5, 1923, Paris

      French writer and politician, influential through his individualism and fervent nationalism.

      After completing his secondary studies at the Nancy lycée, Barrès went to Paris to study law but instead turned to literature. Then he embarked on a solitary project of self-analysis, through a rigorous method described in the trilogy of novels entitled Le Culte du moi (“The Cult of the Ego”). This work comprises Sous l'oeil des Barbares (1888; “Under the Eyes of the Barbarians”), Un Homme libre (1889; “A Free Man”), and Le Jardin de Bérénice (1891; “The Garden of Bérénice”).

      At 27 he embarked on a tumultuous political career. He ran successfully for deputy of Nancy on a platform demanding the return to France of Alsace-Lorraine. From this patriotic stance he adopted an increasingly intransigent nationalism. This stage was minutely reported in a new trilogy of novels, Le Roman de l'énergie nationale (“The Novel of National Energy”), made up of Les Déracinés (1897; “The Uprooted”), L'Appel au soldat (1900; “The Call to the Soldier”), and Leurs figures (1902; “Their Figures”). In these works he expounded an individualism that included a deep-rooted attachment to one's native region. Les Déracinés tells the story of seven young provincials who leave their native Lorraine for Paris but suffer disillusionment and failure because they have been uprooted from their native traditions. With Charles Maurras, he expounded the doctrines of the French Nationalist Party in the pages of two papers: La Cocarde and Le Drapeau. His series of novels entitled “Les Bastions de l'Est” (Au service de l'Allemagne, 1905 [“In the Service of Germany”]; Colette Baudoche, 1909) earned success as French propaganda during World War I. La Colline inspirée (1913; The Sacred Hill) is a mystical novel that urges a return to Christianity for social and political reasons.

      At times, however, the artist may be found to supersede the politician in Barrès' writing. His travels in Spain, Italy, Greece, and Asia inspired the beautiful pages, free from ideology, of Du sang, de la volupté et de la mort (1894; “Of Blood, Pleasure, and Death”) and of Un Jardin sur l'Oronte (1922; “A Garden on the Orontes”). He was elected to the French Academy in 1906.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Barrès, Maurice — (1862 1923)    writer, political figure    Born in Charmes, Vosges, Maurice Barrè s began his literary career shortly after he entered political life. The first of two volumes of his trilogy Le Culte du moi (Sous l œil des barbares, 1888; Un… …   France. A reference guide from Renaissance to the Present

  • Maurice Barres — Maurice Barrès Pour les articles homonymes, voir Barrès. Maurice Barrès …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Maurice Barrès — (eigentlich Auguste Maurice Barrès; * 19. August 1862 in Charmes, Lothringen; † 4. Dezember 1923 in Neuilly sur Seine) war ein französischer Romancier, Journalist und Politiker. Inhaltsverzeichnis …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Barrès — Maurice Barrès Maurice Barrès (eigentlich Auguste Maurice Barrès; * 19. August 1862 in Charmes sur Moselle, Lothringen; † 4. Dezember 1923 in Neuilly sur Seine) war ein französischer Romancier, Journalist und Politiker. Inhaltsverzeichnis …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Maurice Barres — Maurice Barrès Maurice Barrès (eigentlich Auguste Maurice Barrès; * 19. August 1862 in Charmes sur Moselle, Lothringen; † 4. Dezember 1923 in Neuilly sur Seine) war ein französischer Romancier, Journalist und Politiker. Inhaltsverzeichnis …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Maurice Barrès — Maurice Barrès. Auguste Maurice Barrès, escritor, político y publicista francés. Nace el 19 de agosto de 1862 en Charmes sur Moselle y muere el 4 de diciembre de 1923 en Neuilly sur Seine). Analista sutil y elevado lirismo. Exponente del yoísmo y …   Wikipedia Español

  • Maurice Barrès — Maurice Barrès. Maurice Barrès (19 August 1862 – 4 December 1923) was a French novelist, journalist, and socialist politician and agitator known for his nationalist and antisemitic views. In his youth a Boulangist deputy, he progressively… …   Wikipedia

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  • BARRÉS, AUGUSTE MAURICE° — (1862–1923), French writer and politician. His extreme individualism and nationalism greatly influenced his generation. He contributed regularly to the nationalist antisemitic daily La Cocarde (founded in 1888), which he edited for a while, and… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

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