Guest Author - Jordan McCollum
Sully Prudhomme was born René François Armand Prudhomme in Paris, France in 1839. The son of a shopkeeper, he studied to become an engineer. However, an eye disorder cut his school career short. He eventually turned to practicing law—but his heart always lay in poetry.
His early writing was well received by other distinguished students in Conference La Bruyère as well as his literary circles. In 1865, he published his first volume of poetry, Stances et Poèmes (Stanzas and Poems). The publication of his book and its excellent reception positioned Prudhomme to become one of the contributors to the first edition of the Le Parnasse contemporain journal.
The Parnasse was named after Mount Parnassus, the home of the muses in Greek mythology, and focused on “art for art’s sake.” The journal spawned an entire poetry movement among its contributors and literary circles around the world, Parnassianism focused on perfecting the art form, eschewing political and social undertones, the exotic and the classical. (Latin American Modernismo and its father, Rubén Darío, would also be influenced by this movement.)
The journal was published from 1866 to 1876. During that decade, Prudhomme published three more volumes of poetry. Although he enjoyed immense literary success at the time, he also suffered great personal loss, including a debilitating illness contracted while serving in the French Garde Mobile (he later wrote about his experiences in Impressions de la guerre/Impressions of the War).
Despite some residual paralysis, Prudhomme continued to publish his literary works. He continued to write poetry, and expanded his repertoire to include translations and essays. In 1881 he was elected to the French Academy, the leading French literary authority. By 1888, he had published what was to be his final volume of poetry, as he concentrated more on other literary pursuits and was eventually limited by his deteriorating health.
The Academy would not be his only honor for his literary achievements. In 1901, Prudhomme was awarded the first ever Nobel Prize for Literature. The Nobel Foundation said the prize was awarded “in special recognition of his poetic composition, which gives evidence of lofty idealism, artistic perfection and a rare combination of the qualities of both heart and intellect.”
Despite their ringing endorsement, Prudhomme never returned to publishing poetry. He died in 1907, leaving several essays and some poetry to be published posthumously. His contributions to the style and art of poetry have influenced poetry around the world.
Sources:
Wikipedia
NNDB
Nobel Foundation
Read the works of Sully Prudhomme in the original French in two volumes: Works (OEuvres) from 1865-1866 and Poetry (Poesies) from 1866-1872.
