Jacques Ehrmann
Encyclopedia
Jacques Ehrmann was a French literary theorist and a faculty member of the Yale University
French Department from 1961 until his death in 1972.
(Haut-Rhin, France
) on March 31, 1931, the son of Paul Ehrmann and Henriette Weber. Born in the Alsace
region by a twist of fate, as both the Ehrmann and Weber families were originally from Alsace but had left after the 1871 loss to Germany
, it just happened that Mulhouse, then Strasbourg
, were the first assignments of his father, an Engineering graduate from "École Polytechnique
".
The family, including his older brother Jean-Daniel (JD), came back to Paris
in 1939 and he graduated from the Lycée Henri IV
with a Baccalauréat
in 1949, then studied at the Sorbonne
where he obtained a Licence-des-Lettres in 1953. In the meantime, he received a Fulbright
scholarship and spent an academic year from 1951 to 1952 at Carleton College
in Northfield, Minnesota
, the "City of Colleges, Cows and Contentment", a logo he loved to quote.
He was called to military service from 1953 to 1955 and served in the "Régiment de Tirailleurs Algériens", and later as a translator in Germany for the US headquarters. During this time he met Pierre Riboulet who would go on to create the French architectural firm l'Atelier de Montrouge with Gérard Thurnauer (1926) and Jean-Louis Véret (1927) with whom he became life-long friends while furthering his deep interest in Architecture
.
In 1956 he married Françoise Laborie and the couple moved to Los Angeles
where he attended The University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA
) and received a PhD
in French Literature in 1961. There he met and befriended Raymond Federman
with whom he perfected his tennis game. From 1959 to 1961 he taught at Pomona College
in Claremont
California while completing his doctoral dissertation.
Concurrently working as a freelance correspondent for France Presse he was offered a full time assignment in New York
at the same time as he was invited to join the Yale University
Faculty. Having to choose between journalism and academia, he chose Yale University in 1961.
As full professor he taught there in the French and Comparative Literature Departments and edited three issues of the "Yale French Studies" review which were later published as books. He was very involved in academic activities including lectures, conferences, and colloquia ... and continued to work through a long illness until his premature death on June 11, 1972.
He leaves two sons, Guillaume, born February 24, 1959, and Laurent, born December 27, 1961.
Editor of:
Articles:
Book Reviews:
Lectures and Papers:
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
French Department from 1961 until his death in 1972.
Biography
Jacques Ehrmann was born in MulhouseMulhouse
Mulhouse |mill]] hamlet) is a city and commune in eastern France, close to the Swiss and German borders. With a population of 110,514 and 278,206 inhabitants in the metropolitan area in 2006, it is the largest city in the Haut-Rhin département, and the second largest in the Alsace region after...
(Haut-Rhin, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
) on March 31, 1931, the son of Paul Ehrmann and Henriette Weber. Born in the Alsace
Alsace
Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...
region by a twist of fate, as both the Ehrmann and Weber families were originally from Alsace but had left after the 1871 loss to Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, it just happened that Mulhouse, then Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
, were the first assignments of his father, an Engineering graduate from "École Polytechnique
École Polytechnique
The École Polytechnique is a state-run institution of higher education and research in Palaiseau, Essonne, France, near Paris. Polytechnique is renowned for its four year undergraduate/graduate Master's program...
".
The family, including his older brother Jean-Daniel (JD), came back to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
in 1939 and he graduated from the Lycée Henri IV
Lycée Henri IV
The Lycée Henri-IV is a public secondary school located in Paris. Along with Louis-le-Grand it is widely regarded as one of the most demanding sixth-form colleges in France....
with a Baccalauréat
Baccalauréat
The baccalauréat , often known in France colloquially as le bac, is an academic qualification which French and international students take at the end of the lycée . It was introduced by Napoleon I in 1808. It is the main diploma required to pursue university studies...
in 1949, then studied at the Sorbonne
Sorbonne
The Sorbonne is an edifice of the Latin Quarter, in Paris, France, which has been the historical house of the former University of Paris...
where he obtained a Licence-des-Lettres in 1953. In the meantime, he received a Fulbright
Fulbright Program
The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright-Hays Program, is a program of competitive, merit-based grants for international educational exchange for students, scholars, teachers, professionals, scientists and artists, founded by United States Senator J. William Fulbright in 1946. Under the...
scholarship and spent an academic year from 1951 to 1952 at Carleton College
Carleton College
Carleton College is an independent non-sectarian, coeducational, liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota, USA. The college enrolls 1,958 undergraduate students, and employs 198 full-time faculty members. In 2012 U.S...
in Northfield, Minnesota
Northfield, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 17,147 people, 4,909 households, and 3,210 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,452.2 people per square mile . There were 5,119 housing units at an average density of 732.1 per square mile...
, the "City of Colleges, Cows and Contentment", a logo he loved to quote.
He was called to military service from 1953 to 1955 and served in the "Régiment de Tirailleurs Algériens", and later as a translator in Germany for the US headquarters. During this time he met Pierre Riboulet who would go on to create the French architectural firm l'Atelier de Montrouge with Gérard Thurnauer (1926) and Jean-Louis Véret (1927) with whom he became life-long friends while furthering his deep interest in Architecture
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
.
In 1956 he married Françoise Laborie and the couple moved to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
where he attended The University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...
) and received a PhD
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
in French Literature in 1961. There he met and befriended Raymond Federman
Raymond Federman
Raymond Federman was a French–American novelist and academic, known also for poetry, essays, translations, and criticism. He held positions at the University at Buffalo from 1973 to 1999, when he was appointed Distinguished Emeritus Professor. Federman was a writer in the experimental style, one...
with whom he perfected his tennis game. From 1959 to 1961 he taught at Pomona College
Pomona College
Pomona College is a private, residential, liberal arts college in Claremont, California. Founded in 1887 in Pomona, California by a group of Congregationalists, the college moved to Claremont in 1889 to the site of a hotel, retaining its name. The school enrolls 1,548 students.The founding member...
in Claremont
Claremont, California
Claremont is a small affluent college town in eastern Los Angeles County, California, United States, about east of downtown Los Angeles at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains. The population as of the 2010 census is 34,926. Claremont is known for its seven higher-education institutions, its...
California while completing his doctoral dissertation.
Concurrently working as a freelance correspondent for France Presse he was offered a full time assignment in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
at the same time as he was invited to join the Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
Faculty. Having to choose between journalism and academia, he chose Yale University in 1961.
As full professor he taught there in the French and Comparative Literature Departments and edited three issues of the "Yale French Studies" review which were later published as books. He was very involved in academic activities including lectures, conferences, and colloquia ... and continued to work through a long illness until his premature death on June 11, 1972.
He leaves two sons, Guillaume, born February 24, 1959, and Laurent, born December 27, 1961.
Image gallery
See the complete Yale French Studies bibliographyComplete Bibliography
Books:- Un paradis désespéré: l'amour et l'illusion dans "l'Astrée", PUF, 1962
- "Textes" suivi de La mort de la littérature, l'Herne, 1970
Editor of:
- La France contemporaine (in collaboration with Michel Beaujour) - US edition: MacMillan, 1965; French edition: A. ColinArmand ColinArmand Colin is a historically important French publishing house created in 1870 by Auguste Armand Colin. It quickly became the principal publisher in the world of education, including higher education, with works for students and faculty in the human sciences, economics and education...
, 1965 - Structuralism - Yale French Studies, 36/37 and Anchor Books, 1970
- Literature and Revolution - Yale French Studies, 39 and Beacon Press, 1967
- Game, Play and Literature - Yale French Studies, 41 and Beacon Press, 1968
Articles:
- Camus and the Existentialist Venture - Yale French Studies, 25, 1960
- A Los Angeles le futur a déjà commencé - Le MondeLe MondeLe Monde is a French daily evening newspaper owned by La Vie-Le Monde Group and edited in Paris. It is one of two French newspapers of record, and has generally been well respected since its first edition under founder Hubert Beuve-Méry on 19 December 1944...
, August 13, 1958 - Simone de Beauvoir and the related destinies of Woman and Intellectual - Yale French Studies, 27, 1961
- Jean Genet's theatre - Yale French Studies, 29, 1962
- Of Rats and Man: notes on Sartre's prefaces - Yale French Studies, 30, 1963
- The power of the French student - The Moderator, 1 (1962): 1.
- L'Ecole des Femmes ou, aux lumières de l'obscurantisme – Revue des Sciences Humaines, October 1962
- La temporalité dans l'oeuvre de Rabelais - The French Review, Dec. 1963
- P. Rudolph architecte - L'Oeil, 122, Feb. 1965
- Introduction to Gaston Bachelard - MLNMLNModern Language Notes is an academic journal established in 1886 at the Johns Hopkins University, where it is still edited and published, with the intention of introducing continental European literary criticism into American scholarship. Each year, one issue is devoted to each of the four...
, Fall 1966. - Cinna et la politique de l'échange - Les Temps Modernes, Nov. 1966 (translated in Yale French Studies, 36/37, 1966) (translated into Spanish and German)
- A semiotic approach to culture - Foreign Language Annals, Dec. 1967 (in collaboration with Michel Beaujour)
- Le Neveu de Rameau. An existential psychoanalysis of Diderot by himself - Journal of Existential Psychiatry, Winter 1968
- On articulation. The languages of history and the terror of language – Yale French Studies, 39, 1967; French revised edition: Critique, June 1968
- L'homme en jeu. - Critique, 266, July 1969
- Jeu (article anthropologie) - Encyclopedia Universalis, Vol. IX.
- Live in Utopia. - Perspecta, Vol. 13/14; French abridged version: Habiter l'utopie? in l'Architecture d'aujourd'hui, July 1970
- L'Emprise des signes - SemioticaSemioticaSemiotica is an academic journal covering semiotics. It is the official journal of the International Association for Semiotic Studies.-Publication:Since 2000, the journal publishes five issues per year. It is published in English and French....
VI, 1972 - The minimum narrative - Sub-stance, Winter 1972
- Le dedans et le dehors - Poétique, 9, 1972
- Greffe - Exil, 1, Fall 1973
Book Reviews:
- Book reviews in La Table Ronde, 1953.
- Michel Butor's Degrés - The French Review, October 1961
- James Doolittle's Rameau's Nephew - MLN, Jan. 1962
- R. Girard's Mensonge romantique... - The French Review, Oct. 1963
- R. Queneau's Bords - The French Review, April 1954
- S. de Beauvoir's La Force des choses - The French Review, May 1964
- K. Axelos' Vers la pensée planetaire - The French Review, Feb. 1965
- Qui parle? - Mantala, 1
- Tendances et volontés de la société française - The French Review.
Lectures and Papers:
- Sartre et Barthes - MLAModern Language AssociationThe Modern Language Association of America is the principal professional association in the United States for scholars of language and literature...
1959 - Le Neveu de Rameau - MLA 1060
- Hyles, Don Juan baroque - MLA 1961
- La critique de G. Bachelard - U. of KentuckyUniversity of KentuckyThe University of Kentucky, also known as UK, is a public co-educational university and is one of the state's two land-grant universities, located in Lexington, Kentucky...
, Modern Language Conference 1965 - Cinéma, réalité, vérité - Yale U. French Department Lecture 1964
- Histoire, Tragédie, Utopie - Yale U. French Department Lecture 1966
- A Semiotic Approach to Culture - MLA December 1966
- Lecture tour in California: UCLA, San Diego, Irvine, February 1970
- Colloquium on Continuity and Discontinuity - SUNY BuffaloUniversity at Buffalo, The State University of New YorkUniversity at Buffalo, The State University of New York, also commonly known as the University at Buffalo or UB, is a public research university and a "University Center" in the State University of New York system. The university was founded by Millard Fillmore in 1846. UB has multiple campuses...
, March 1970 - Utopy / Signs / Tragedy - Wesleyan U.Wesleyan UniversityWesleyan University is a private liberal arts college founded in 1831 and located in Middletown, Connecticut. According to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Wesleyan is the only Baccalaureate College in the nation that emphasizes undergraduate instruction in the arts and...
Center for the Humanities, November 1971 - Symposium on Literature and the City - Yale U. Institute for Social Sciences, November 1971