Valery
Achievements: One of the few poets to work with scientific methods in the creation of his art and his theories of language and creation.
Born: October 30, 1871; Sète, France
Died: July 20, 1945; Paris, France (Aged 73)
Field & Discipline: Literature; Science; Physics; Poetry
Language: French
Education: Dominican School; College at Sète; lycée at Montpellier; law study at the University of Montpellier (left school before earning a degree)
Major Work:
“La Jeune Parque” (“The Young Fate”)
“le cimetiere marin” (“The Graveyard by the Sea”)
“Cahiers” (“Notebooks,” a series covering his research and musings over 51 years)
Life & Times:
One of the poets that influenced Valéry very early in his career was the French Symbolist poet, [influenced by] Mallarmé*. [knew] Gide* introduced Valéry to Mallarmé when Valéry came to Paris, and both attended Mallarmé’s Tuesday evening salons. The three remained lifelong friends. Gide and Valéry also counted the Austrian poet [a pal of] Rilke* as a friend. Gide translated Rilke into French, and Rilke translated Valéry into German.
Valéry began submitting his poetry to Symbolist journals, but viewed their publication more as a failure to master science and mathematics than as a success in literature. After the failure of a love affair, he renounced all human passion, including that expressed in poetry.
He devoted himself to his science studies, and began meditating several hours every morning. He began work on his “Cahiers,” a series of notebooks in which he contemplated his life, art, science and language. He continued the notebooks for the next 51 years, and in them he set forth his ideas on art, architecture, science, culture, language, poetry and consciousness. By the time he died, he had filled 261 notebooks, about 28,000 pages. He spent time at La Bibliotheque Nationale, consulting the Da Vinci notebooks, and finally wrote a treatise on Leonardo Da Vinci’s scientific methods, “Introduction à la méthode de Léonard de Vinci.” He began reading the works of [studied] Kelvin*, [studied] Riemann*, Nikolai Lobatchevsky, [studied] Russell*, Georg Cantor, [studied] Faraday*, and [studied] JH Poincaré*.
On 31 May 1900, Valery married Jeannie Gobillard, a niece of the painter Berthe Morisot. His work duties were light, allowing him time to pursue his scientific interests. He was attempting to find a mathematically expressed model of mental function that would represent all the practical disciplines under one theory of operation. He also continued to write and revise his poems, and participated in the literary and artistic community in Paris. He was acquainted with [knew] Degas*, [knew] Monet*, [knew] Renoir*, [knew] Ravel* and Odilon Redon.
In addition to knowing artists and authors, Valéry was acquainted with many of top scientists including [knew] Einstein*. He was known to visit the laboratories of [visited labs of] Marie Curie* and Jean Perrin, and besides atomic and quantum physics, studied biology, philosophy, architecture, and mathematics.
In 1912, André Gide convinced Valéry to revise his early poetry. The revisions took five years, and once they were published, gained him new acceptance as one of the premier poets of the time.
A review of Valéry’s work in the “London Times Literary Supplement” in August 1917 introduced Valéry to the English-speaking world, and brought his work to the notice of [published by] T.S. Eliot*. In 1922, Valéry visited London again, this time to inaugurate a plaque on the house where Paul Verlaine had lived. He gave a lecture which was attended by many English writers, including [met] Woolf*, Lytton Strachey, [met] Aldous Huxley*, Edmund Gosse, George Moore, Arnold Bennett, Harold Nicolson and Vita Sackville-West. He also met with [met] Conrad*, who had read “Charmes” and was eager to meet the author.
During this time between WWI and WWII, he was also a member of the Committee of Letters and Arts of the League of Nations, serving as its president in the 1930’s. In 1925, Valéry was elected to the Académie Française, succeeding [succeeded] France*, and the College de France created a new position for him: “Professor of Poetry.”
Valéry’s poems “Semirámis” and “Amphion” were both set to music by Arthur Honegger, in 1931 and 1934. In 1933, he was appointed Director of the Centre Méditerranéen. 1933 was also the year Valéry attended a lecture in Spain under the auspices of the Committee of Letters and Arts of the League of Nations. Entitled “The Future of Culture,” the lecture was chaired by Mme. Dr. Marie Curie. In 1937, he gave a lecture which was attended by several scientists, including [met] De Broglie*, and [met] Langevin*.
In 1939, Valéry visited the United States, and began work on a play, “Mon Faust,” which remained unfinished at his death. Back in Paris, in 1941, he gave a speech in honor of the Nobel Prize winning philosopher, [a fan of] Bergson*, which was recognized as an “act of courage under the Occupation.” In 1944, Valéry participated in the celebrations that attended the liberation of Paris, and was invited to meet General De Gaulle. When Valéry died on 20 July 1945, [state funeral from] De Gaulle* authorized a state funeral in honor of his service to French science and literature. When the collection of “Notebooks” were published after Valéry’s death, they contained a preface written by Louis De Broglie, the theoretical physicist.
Extra Connections: He met [met] Beardsley* in 1894 in London
He proposed [supported] Breton* for a prize
Assessment: Valéry is considered by some to be the last great writer of the 20th Century to write in rhymed verse.
Oneliner: Paul Valery, well-connected modern scientist-poet
Bibliography:
- Unknown, “Paul Valéry Biography, “ www.miexamen.com.sa, © 2001 miexamen.com.
- Evan Goodwin, “Paul Valéry Biography,” © 2001 Little Blue Light, www.littlebluelight.com.
- Unknown, “Valéry, Paul,” The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, New York: Columbia University Press, © 2001. (online edition – www.bartleby.com/65).
- Unknown, “Paul Valéry,” Cultural Service of the Embassy of France in Canada, website, © 2001.
- Unknown, “Paul Valéry,” “Poetry Exhibits” Website, © 1997-2001, Academy of American Poets (www.poets.org).
- Unknown, “André Gide Chronology,” www.andregide.org, © 2001, Center for Gidian Studies.
- André Gide, “Nobel Acceptance Speech,” © 2002, Nobel eMuseum, official website of the Nobel Foundation (http://www.nobel.se/literature/laureates/1947/).
- Michael Dirda, “Devil or Angel,” “The Washington Post” online (www.washingtonpost.com), first published Sunday, March 31, 1996; © 2001, The Washington Post.
- Unknown, “Paul Valéry’s Chronology,” Valery Studies website, Centre for Valery Studies, University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, © 2001, University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (www.paulvalery.org).
- Brian Stimpson, “Valéry and the English Speaking World,” Valery Studies website, Centre for Valery Studies, University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, © 2001, University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (www.paulvalery.org).
- Richard Grossman, “Paul Valéry & Microsoft,” “The Writer Reads: Grossman on Valéry,” Rain Taxi online review website, © 2001 Richard Grossman (www.raintaxi.com).
- Bernard Rapp, “Paul Valéry,” “Un siècle d’écrivains,” transcription of television program aired by France 3; date of first air: 3 September 1997, 11:00pm, from the France 3 en ligne: Un siècle d’écrivains website.
- Gérard Milhaud, “Centenaire de Paul Valéry,” © 1971.
- Unknown, “Paul Valéry,” Encyclopaedia Universalis France S.A., © 1995, online edition.
Father: Barthélémy Valerj
Mother: Fanny Grassi
Siblings: at least one sibling (unnamed)
Spouse: Jeannie Gobillard (m. 1900)
Children: Claude (b. 1903); Agathe (b. 1906); François (b. 1916)