Friends of ancient Greece, classical literature, are in mourning. I reproduce here an article from Agence France-Presse.
1913-2010 - The eminent Hellenist Jacqueline de Romilly
joined his "dear Greeks
Photo: Agence France-Presse Bertrand Guay Jacqueline de Romilly, photographed in 2008 at occasion of the tribute to him
made by the Greek government for
his "outstanding contribution" to the Greek literature
Associated Press December 20, 2010 Current Events
Paris - She joined his "dear Greeks, Thucydides, Herodotus, Aeschylus, Euripides and Sophocles. First woman professor at the College de France, Academy Jacqueline de Romilly had linked her life in ancient Greece, sharing its wonders for the treasures of its literature and the birth of big ideas. The great Hellenistic
died Saturday at the Hospital Ambroise Pare, Boulogne-Billancourt, according to its editor, Bernard Fallois. She was 97 years old.
All his life, the philologist had led a struggle for learning ancient languages and knowledge of words to Stop violence in society. In his view, the teaching of humanities gave the opportunity to "regain the momentum within the original simplicity and enlightenment."
His career is dotted with many books about the authors of the classical era (as Thucydides and tragic) or the history of ideas and their analysis in Greek thought, particularly the law and democracy, gentleness, psychology.
In 1995, she received Greek citizenship before being appointed six years later, Ambassador of Hellenism. "I much met Pericles Aeschylus and my contemporaries, "she confided to the magazine to read 91 years. They inhabit my life, I awoke to my bed. "
His career
Born in Chartres March 26, 1913, daughter of Joan Malvoisin, author of novels and stories, and Maxime David, Professor of Philosophy killed during the First World War, a passion very quickly to the classics. While in high school Molière, she won prizes for Greek and Latin to the competition in 1930, the first year where girls can compete. "Nothing then I've never made so happy," she says later.
Her studies lead her to Louis-le-Grand, the Ecole Normale Superieure d'Ulm and at the Sorbonne. And it is a "chance" - a summer reading - which has lead to work-on Thucydides, historian of the fifth century BC. "In dense sentences, laden with meaning, lofty, subtle, Thucydides thought for me, in front of me," she wrote in Why Greece? (1992).
Fellow of Letters (1936), Doctor of Letters (1947), the young woman, who married in 1940 Michel de Romilly Worms - she divorced - teaches some years in high school, then is forced to stop, the status of Jews applied in October 1940 prevented him from delivering the course. The war ended, she became professor of Greek language and literature at the University of Lille (1949-1957) before joining the Sorbonne from 1957 to 1973, when it will be the first woman professor at the College de France, where the pulpit will be called Greece and the formation of moral and political thought.
In 1975, Jacqueline de Romilly is also the first woman to become a member of the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-lettres, she will chair in 1987. And eight years after Marguerite Yourcenar, it will be the second woman to join in 1988, the French Academy.
"It is undeniable, I was spoiled," she confessed in 2007 to Point. I was fortunate to belong to a generation where women entering for the first time at the podium, where the doors opened at last. "
His knowledge of ancient Greece earned him honors abroad: it is a member of many academies and received honorary doctorates from several universities in Europe, Canada and the United States. Several awards will be awarded him, including the Grand Prize of the French Academy (1984) and the Onassis prize for culture (Athens, 1995).
The cause of education
The general public will discover in 1984 on the occasion of his visit to the television show Apostrophes for his book entitled The Teaching in distress. A cry of alarm that it will continue to launch literary lessons based backup and Élan new citizens, two associations to "wake up the values of democracy" and "refocus the public debate."
In 2007, this woman of formidable energy had signed an appeal to presidential candidates denouncing the "educational disaster". "Not very optimistic," she hoped a start, if not, she warned, "we are heading towards a disaster and we are entering an era of barbarism."
Asked to reveal his secret of youth, Jacqueline de Romilly said inhabited by the "belief" and carried by the "force" it provides. But old age is a "terrible battle," "everything deteriorates, discards, ugh, terrible!", Launched the philologist became virtually blind.
The Hellenist, who "loved the story since it explains the literature" declared himself passionately in the Greek texts, by "meeting with the birth of rational thinking" and "burst of light" in "a world still confused and obscure."
In addition to his scholarly works, Jacqueline de Romilly had written books public, and a new novel opens in heart at age 75. In one of his last books, published in 2008, innumerable Smile - a storage facility for Laughs "- she spoke of her mother fondly. A further book of ancient Greece, but whose very title recalled the power of the ties that bound him to its authors. At its source, a verse of Aeschylus: "The smile of the innumerable waves of the sea."
Tributes
President Nicolas Sarkozy hailed his memory, saying it goes with "a great humanist, whose speech will be missed."
"Jacqueline de Romilly has contributed much to building intellectual young generation, education of the general public through his many books, only the liberation of women through the example she gave of her own elevation, "he says in a statement.
Minister of Culture, Frederic Mitterrand, paid tribute to "one of very great minds of our time. "
"Greece is in mourning today, said the Greek Ministry of Culture said in a statement. In difficult times for the country, whose reputation is often put to the test, his voice and his work was crucial to emphasize Greek culture [...], our country has rarely had such allies. "
"It's a loss for our country", said on France Info, historian Helene Carrere d'Encausse, finding that the best tribute to him "would attach more importance now to the Greek language , it was the largest advocate in our country. "
"It was the conquest of many people because it was extremely simple, but at the same time she was quite firm in his manner," wrote Bernard Fallois. She disarmed by his kind of natural authority. It was this combination of simplicity, seriousness and gaiety of the great teachers, "he added.
***
With Agence France-Presse
can learn more about Jacqueline de Romilly
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