Born in Paris on June 22 1893. Died 26 August 1984.
Education and professional career
- Studied at the Lycées Montaigne and Louis-le-Grand, then at the Sorbonne
- 25 July 1914 : Accepted at the Ecole Normale Supérieure (rue d'Ulm)
- Mobilized from August 10 1914 to November 15 1919. At the front from January 25 1916, as second-lieutenant then lieutenant in the 46th Infantry Regiment. Vauquois, Argonne, Somme. Wounded at Bouchavesnes on September 20 1916. Discharged n° 1
- Studies resumed at the École normale supérieure and the Sorbonne. Pupil of Henri Hauvette and Alfred Jeanroy.
- 1919 : Agrégé d'italien
- 1919-1920 : Teacher at the Lycées of Avignon and Lyon (Ampère)
- 1921-1945 : Lecturer at the Faculté des Lettres de Lyon
- 10 March 1945 : Docteur ès Lettres (Paris) Lecturer at the Faculté des Lettres de Lyon
- 1951-1965 : Professor at the Collège de France, holding the chair of Italian Literature and Civilization