Biography

Born in Pertuis (Vaucluse) on December 18 1917. Died May 14 2015.

  • 1937 : École normale supérieure (Lettres)
  • 1941 : Agrégé des Lettres
  • 1958 : Docteur ès-Lettres (Sorbonne)

Training and professional career

  • October 1939-1940 : Teacher at Lycée Chateaubriand and Centre d'Études Supérieures in Rome
  • 1st May 1942-1st October 1945 : Teacher at Lycées Gouraud in Rabat and Sainte-Aulaire in Tangier
  • Until October1946 : Seconded for literary activities
  • 1946-1959 : Chair of Modern French Literature at the University of Basel, then co-director and director of Romance Studies at the same university
  • 1959-1965 : Lecturer, then Professor of Modern French Literature at the Sorbonne
  • 1959-1962 : Lecturer at the École normale supérieure
  • Since 1959 : Director of the Bibliothèque Littéraire J. Doucet des Universités de Paris
  • 1965-1988 : Professor of Modern French Literature at the Collège de France

Awards and honors

  • Officer of the Order of the Legion of Honor
  • Officer of the Palmes académiques
  • Officer of the National Order of Arts and Letters