Guy de Pourtalès
Encyclopedia
Guy de Pourtalès was a Swiss
author.
(1847–1904) and his first wife, Marguerite "Daisy" Marcet (1857–1888). Guy was born in Berlin
, where his father at that time was an officer in the service of the Prussia
n king Wilhelm I. When he was six years old, the family returned to Switzerland, where they lived first at Malagny near Versoix
in the Canton of Geneva
and then, after his father's second marriage (with Hélène Barbey) in 1891, at Mies
in the Canton de Vaud. Guy de Pourtalès went to schools in Geneva and in Vevey
and then to the gymnasium
in Neuchâtel. After his matura
in 1899, he studied in Germany. In Karlsruhe
, he began to study Chemistry
, which he abandoned soon in favor of musical studies, which he continued from 1902 to 1905 at the University of Bonn
. In 1905, he moved to Paris
, where he studied literature
at the Sorbonne
.
s who had fled from France to Neuchâtel after the Edict of Nantes
. Just before World War I
, his second novel appeared.
In 1914, he was drafted into service in the French army as a translator for the British troops in Flanders. At Ypres
, he was gassed in 1915 and evacuated to Paris where he slowly recovered. He co-founded the Société littéraire de France, where he also published in 1917 his Deux contes de fées pour les grandes personnes ("Two fairy tales for grown-ups"). At the end of the war, he again served as a translator, this time for the American troops. After he was diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis
in 1919, he rented the castle of Etoy
in the Canton of Vaud in Switzerland in 1921 and henceforth would spend several months a year there. A large part of his literary work was written in Etoy.
From the 1920s on, Pourtalès published a series of romantic
biographies of musicians and also wrote essays, critiques, and journalistic pieces for a variety of French magazines, amongst them the Nouvelle Revue Française
. He also began to translate the works of Shakespeare in French, which raised the interest of Jacques Copeau
. Pourtalès's translation of Measure for Measure
was performed by the company of Georges Pitoëff in 1920 in Geneva and in Lausanne
(with music by Arthur Honegger
), and his translation of The Tempest
was played by the company of Firmin Gémier in 1929 in Monte Carlo
and at the Odéon
theater in Paris.
In 1937, he published La Pêche miraculeuse, the novel for which he is best known today and which won him the Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française
.
Pourtalès's health had been slowly deteriorating, and when World War II
broke out, he was severely ill and wouldn't leave Etoy anymore. His son Raymond (1914–1940), who served in the French army, fell in combat on 28 May 1940. The death of his only son and the surrender of France seem to have weakened Guy the Pourtalès, who died at Lausanne on 12 June 1941.
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
author.
Early life and education
He was the son of Herman Alexander de PourtalèsHermann de Pourtalès
Hermann Alexander de Pourtalès was a Swiss sailor who competed in the 1900 Summer Olympics.He was a member of the Swiss boat Lérina, which won the gold medal in the first race of 2-3 ton class and silver medal in the second race of 2-3 ton class. He also participated in the open class, but did not...
(1847–1904) and his first wife, Marguerite "Daisy" Marcet (1857–1888). Guy was born in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, where his father at that time was an officer in the service of the Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
n king Wilhelm I. When he was six years old, the family returned to Switzerland, where they lived first at Malagny near Versoix
Versoix
Versoix is a municipality in the Canton of Geneva, Switzerland, which sits on the right bank of Lac Léman. It is the last town of the Canton of Geneva on the road northeast towards Lausanne, before the Canton of Vaud starts. It is a train stop on the SBB-CFF-FFS railway line running between...
in the Canton of Geneva
Canton of Geneva
The Republic and Canton of Geneva is the French speaking westernmost canton or state of Switzerland, surrounded on almost all sides by France. As is the case in several other Swiss cantons The Republic and Canton of Geneva is the French speaking westernmost canton or state of Switzerland,...
and then, after his father's second marriage (with Hélène Barbey) in 1891, at Mies
Mies
Mies is a municipality in the district of Nyon in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland.It is approximately half-way between Geneva and Nyon. Mies sits on Lake Geneva , which lies to the southeast and is 410m above sea-level. The highest point of Mies is 455m above sea level. The part of Mies touching...
in the Canton de Vaud. Guy de Pourtalès went to schools in Geneva and in Vevey
Vevey
Vevey is a town in Switzerland in the canton Vaud, on the north shore of Lake Geneva, near Lausanne.It was the seat of the district of the same name until 2006, and is now part of the Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut District...
and then to the gymnasium
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
in Neuchâtel. After his matura
Matura
Matura or a similar term is the common name for the high-school leaving exam or "maturity exam" in various countries, including Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Kosovo, Liechtenstein, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Serbia,...
in 1899, he studied in Germany. In Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe
The City of Karlsruhe is a city in the southwest of Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border.Karlsruhe was founded in 1715 as Karlsruhe Palace, when Germany was a series of principalities and city states...
, he began to study Chemistry
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
, which he abandoned soon in favor of musical studies, which he continued from 1902 to 1905 at the University of Bonn
University of Bonn
The University of Bonn is a public research university located in Bonn, Germany. Founded in its present form in 1818, as the linear successor of earlier academic institutions, the University of Bonn is today one of the leading universities in Germany. The University of Bonn offers a large number...
. In 1905, he moved to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, where he studied literature
Literature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
at the Sorbonne
Sorbonne
The Sorbonne is an edifice of the Latin Quarter, in Paris, France, which has been the historical house of the former University of Paris...
.
Career as a writer
Guy de Pourtalès published his first novel in Paris in 1910. One year later, he married Hélène Marcuard, with whom he would have three children, and in 1912, his French nationality was restored upon his demand, since his family were HuguenotHuguenot
The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...
s who had fled from France to Neuchâtel after the Edict of Nantes
Edict of Nantes
The Edict of Nantes, issued on 13 April 1598, by Henry IV of France, granted the Calvinist Protestants of France substantial rights in a nation still considered essentially Catholic. In the Edict, Henry aimed primarily to promote civil unity...
. Just before World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, his second novel appeared.
In 1914, he was drafted into service in the French army as a translator for the British troops in Flanders. At Ypres
Ypres
Ypres is a Belgian municipality located in the Flemish province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Ypres and the villages of Boezinge, Brielen, Dikkebus, Elverdinge, Hollebeke, Sint-Jan, Vlamertinge, Voormezele, Zillebeke, and Zuidschote...
, he was gassed in 1915 and evacuated to Paris where he slowly recovered. He co-founded the Société littéraire de France, where he also published in 1917 his Deux contes de fées pour les grandes personnes ("Two fairy tales for grown-ups"). At the end of the war, he again served as a translator, this time for the American troops. After he was diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
in 1919, he rented the castle of Etoy
Etoy
Etoy is a European digital art group. Etoy won several international awards including the Prix Ars Electronica in 1996. Their main slogan is: "leaving reality behind."...
in the Canton of Vaud in Switzerland in 1921 and henceforth would spend several months a year there. A large part of his literary work was written in Etoy.
From the 1920s on, Pourtalès published a series of romantic
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
biographies of musicians and also wrote essays, critiques, and journalistic pieces for a variety of French magazines, amongst them the Nouvelle Revue Française
Nouvelle Revue Française
La Nouvelle Revue Française is a literary magazine founded in 1909 by a group of intellectuals, including André Gide, Jacques Copeau, and Jean Schlumberger...
. He also began to translate the works of Shakespeare in French, which raised the interest of Jacques Copeau
Jacques Copeau
Jacques Copeau was an influential French theatre director, producer, actor, and dramatist. Before he founded his famous Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier in Paris, he wrote theater reviews for several Parisian journals, worked at the Georges Petit Gallery where he organized exhibits of artists' works...
. Pourtalès's translation of Measure for Measure
Measure for Measure
Measure for Measure is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1603 or 1604. It was classified as comedy, but its mood defies those expectations. As a result and for a variety of reasons, some critics have labelled it as one of Shakespeare's problem plays...
was performed by the company of Georges Pitoëff in 1920 in Geneva and in Lausanne
Lausanne
Lausanne is a city in Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and is the capital of the canton of Vaud. The seat of the district of Lausanne, the city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva . It faces the French town of Évian-les-Bains, with the Jura mountains to its north-west...
(with music by Arthur Honegger
Arthur Honegger
Arthur Honegger was a Swiss composer, who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. He was a member of Les six. His most frequently performed work is probably the orchestral work Pacific 231, which is interpreted as imitating the sound of a steam locomotive.-Biography:Born...
), and his translation of The Tempest
The Tempest
The Tempest is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1610–11, and thought by many critics to be the last play that Shakespeare wrote alone. It is set on a remote island, where Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan, plots to restore his daughter Miranda to her rightful place,...
was played by the company of Firmin Gémier in 1929 in Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo is an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco....
and at the Odéon
Odéon
The Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe is one of France's six national theatres.It is located at 2 rue Corneille in the 6th arrondissement of Paris on the left bank of the Seine, next to the Luxembourg Garden...
theater in Paris.
In 1937, he published La Pêche miraculeuse, the novel for which he is best known today and which won him the Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française
Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française
Le Grand Prix du Roman is a French literary award, created in 1918, and given each year by the Académie française. Along with the Prix Goncourt, it is one of the oldest and most prestigious literary awards in France...
.
Pourtalès's health had been slowly deteriorating, and when World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
broke out, he was severely ill and wouldn't leave Etoy anymore. His son Raymond (1914–1940), who served in the French army, fell in combat on 28 May 1940. The death of his only son and the surrender of France seem to have weakened Guy the Pourtalès, who died at Lausanne on 12 June 1941.
Works
- La Cendre et la flamme, Félix Juven, 1910
- Solitudes, Bernard Grasset, 1913
- À mes amis Suisses, Crès, 1916
- Deux contes de fées pour les grandes personnes, Paris, Société littéraire de France, 1917
- "Odet de La Noue, soldat et poète huguenot de la fin du XVIe siècle", Bulletin de la Société d'histoire du protestantisme français, 1918–1919
- Marins d'eau douce, Paris, Société littéraire de France, 1919
- La parabole des talents, 1923
- De Hamlet à Swann, essais de critique. Gallimard, 1924
- La vie de Franz LisztFranz LisztFranz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...
, Gallimard, 1925 - Chopin ou le poète, Gallimard, 1926
- Montclar, Gallimard, 1926
- Louis II de Bavière ou Hamlet Roi, Gallimard, 1928
- Trilogie Shakespearienne, traduction de Hamlet, Mesure pour Mesure et la Tempête, Gallimard, 1929
- Nietzsche en Italie, Bernard Grasset, 1929
- Florentines, Gallimard, 1930
- Nous, a qui rien n'appartient, voyage au pays Kmer, FlammarionGroupe FlammarionGroupe Flammarion is the fourth largest publishing group in France, comprising many units, including its namesake, founded in 1876 by Ernest Flammarion, as well as units in distribution, sales, printing and bookshops . Flammarion became part of the Italian media conglomerate RCS MediaGroup in 2000...
, 1931 - Wagner histoire d'un artiste, Gallimard, 1932
- La Pêche miraculeuse, Gallimard, 1937 - Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie françaiseGrand Prix du roman de l'Académie françaiseLe Grand Prix du Roman is a French literary award, created in 1918, and given each year by the Académie française. Along with the Prix Goncourt, it is one of the oldest and most prestigious literary awards in France...
- Berlioz et l'Europe romantique, Gallimard, 1939
- Les Contes du milieu du monde, FribourgFribourgFribourg is the capital of the Swiss canton of Fribourg and the district of Sarine. It is located on both sides of the river Saane/Sarine, on the Swiss plateau, and is an important economic, administrative and educational center on the cultural border between German and French Switzerland...
: Egloff, 1940 - Saints de pierre, Fribourg: Egloff, 1941 (posthumous)
- Chaque Mouche a son ombre, memoires, Gallimard, 1980
- Journal, diary, Gallimard, 1991
Literature
- Rougemont, Denis de: Guy de Pourtalès: Exposition du Centenaire, Genève: Château de Penthes, 1981
- Fornerod, Françoise: Histoire d’un roman : "La pêche miraculeuse" de Guy de Pourtalès, Genève: Slatkine, 1985. ISBN 2-05-100717-9.
- Fornerod, Françoise: Guy de Pourtalès, pp. 473–490 in Francillon, R.: Histoire de la littérature en Suisse romande, Lausanne: Editions Payot, 1997. ISBN 2-601-03183-2.