René Sully-Prudhomme (1839-1907) - original name RENÉ FRANCOIS ARMAND PRUDHOMME
French poet, who won the first Nobel Prize for Literature in 1901. The decision arose much debate - Sully-Prudhomme had not published much poetry after 1888. Today Sully-Prudhomme is also relatively little read either in France or abroad. His early works were lyrical and expressed melancholic view of the world - in later volumes he favored the calm, impersonal techniques of the Parnassians, who reacted against the excessive emotion and subjectivity of Romaticism.
C. D. af Wirsén, Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy, stated in his Nobel presentation, that "Sully Prudhomme's work reveals an inquiring and observing mind which finds no rest in what passes and which, as it seems impossible to him to know more, finds evidence of man's supernatural destiny in the moral realm, in the voice of conscience, and in the lofty and undeniable prescriptions of duty."
René François Armand Sully-Prudhomme was born in Paris. His parents had been engaged for ten years, and after gaining financial security they married. At the age of two Sully-Prudhomme lost his father, and he grew up in his uncle's house, where mother moved. His father was called 'Sully' and the poet joined it with his surname Prudhomme. At school he was interested in classic literature and mathematics, but severe eye disorder caused him to abandon his plans to study engineering. He also thought seriously of entering the Dominican order. After graduating from the Lycée Bonaparte he became a factory correspondence at the industrial firm of Schneider-Creuzot. Sully-Prudhomme studied law and by 1860 he worked in a notary's office. Inspired by an unhappy love affair - he remained a lifelong bachelor - he studied in the evenings philosophy and wrote poetry. The poet Leconte de Lisle encouraged his first efforts, although he noted that his protégée was not faithful to the Parnassian ideals of classical elegance, but preferred to depict his own inner feelings. His first book, STANCES ET POÉMES, when he was 26. The collection of sorrowful poems was well received. It contained his best-known poem, 'The Broken Vase'. "Le vase où meurt cette vervaine / D'un coup d'éventail fut fêlé; / Le coup dut l'effleurer à peine, / Aucun bruit ne l'a révélé. " In 1886 Sully-Prudhomme was among the contributors to the anthology LE PARNASSE CONTEMPORAIN, and produced then LES ÉCURIAS D'AUGIAS (1866), CROQUIS ITALENS (1866-68), and LES SOLITUDES (1869).
Sully-Prudhomme wanted to restore the classical standards of elegance in poetry. The Roman poet and philosopher Lucretius (99-55 B.C.) influenced deeply Sully-Prudhomme. He published a verse translation of the first volume of Lucretius's On the Nature of Things (De Rerum Natura), together with the accompanying preface. Lucretius advocated in the didactic poem Epicurean doctrines and stated that "one should guide his life by true principles, man's greatest wealth is to live on little with contended mind; for a little is never lacking." Later Sully-Prudhomme became interested in expressing his philosophical thoughts, sometimes perhaps difficult to understand, through poetry. Sometimes this led to didactic use of images - he explained his symbols instead of letting the reader interpret them.
When the Franco-Prussian War began, Sully-Prudhomme enlisted in the militia and wrote IMPRESSIONS DE LA GUERRE (1870). In the same year his mother, uncle, and aunt died, and the poet had a stroke, which nearly paralyzed his lower body, a a condition with which he would struggle for the rest of his life. During that decade appeared also LES VAINES TENDRESSESS (1875) and LA JUSTICE (1878). 'Le Zénith', published in the Revue des deux mondes, dealt with the fatal ascent of three balloonists. In 1881 he was elected to the French Academy.
"No self-appointed messiah like Victor Hugo but no nihilist like Leconte de Lisle, he lifted poetry from some of the gloom into which positivistic pessimism had plunged it for a generation and taught his belief that the road to happiness lies through pain, self-sacrifice, and brotherly love." (Jean-Albert Béde in Columbia Dictionary of Modern European Literature, 1980)
Among Sully-Prudhomme's later works are 4 000 line epic LE BONHEUR (1888), a Faustian search for love and knowledge, and an ambitious attempt to create the so-called scientific-philosophic poem. For the rest of his career he devoted to the philosophy of poetry. In LE TESTAMENTE POÉTIQUE (1900) the poet registered his objections both to free verse and the work of the symbolists. LA VRAIERELIGION SELON PASCAL (1905), was about Blaise Pascal's Christian views, and in LA PSYCHOLOGIE DE LIBRE ARBITRE (1906) he concluded that the concept of free will is objectively grounded in nature and must therefore be true. During the last years of his life Sully-Prudhomme was seriously disabled by paralysis. He died at his villa in Châtenay-Malabry, near Paris, on September 7, 1907. The money from his Nobel award he donated to the French writers' association to help aspiring poets with the publication of their first book.
For further reading: Studies in Literature by E. Dowden (1892); Entretiens avec Sully-Prudhomme by E. Champion (1900); La Philosophie de M. Sully-Prudhomme by C. Hémon (1907); Sully-Prudhomme by E. Zyromsky (1907); Parisian Portraits by F. Grierson (1913); On Life and Letters by A. France (1922); Punch and Judy and Other Essays by M. Baring (1924); Sully Prudhomme, poète sentimental et poète philosophe by Edmond Estève (1925); Sully Prudhomme et sa pensée by Pierre Flottes (1930); Nobel Prize Winners, ed. by T. Wasson (1987) - Poets associated with the Parnassians: Leconte de Lisle, Théodore de Banville, François Coppée, Sully Prudhomme, and Paul Verlaine. - Suomeksi kirjailijalta on käännetty runoja mm. teokseen Ranskan kirjallisuuden kultainen kirja, toim. Anna-Maria Tallgren, 1934. Otto Manninen on suomentanut runon 'Särkynyt maljakko'. - For further information: Sully-Prudhomme
Selected works:
STANCES ET POÉMES, 1865 - contains his best poem LE VASE BRISÉ - The Broken Vase
LES ÉPREUVES, 1866 -Trials
LES ÉCURIES D'AUGIAS, 1866
CROQUIS ITALIENS, 1866-68
LES SOLITUDES, 1869 - Solitude
IMPRESSIONS DE LA GUERRE, 1870
LES VAINES TENDRESSES, 1875
LA JUSTICE, 1878 - Justice
The Problems of Good, Freedom and Immortality, 1891
LE BONHEUR, 1888 - Happiness
LE TESTAMENT POÉTIQUE, 1900
LA VRAIE RELIGION SELON PASCAL, 1905
PSYCHOLOGIE DU LIBRE ARBITAIRE, 1906
ÈPAVES, 1908
Œuvres, 1888-1908 (8 vols.)
JOURNAL INTIME, 1922