) is a Swiss literary critic

Literary criticism

Literary criticism is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often informed by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of its methods and goals...

.

Biography

Jean Starobinski studied classical literature, and then medicine at the University of Geneva

University of Geneva

The University of Geneva is a public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland.It was founded in 1559 by John Calvin, as a theological seminary and law school. It remained focused on theology until the 17th century, when it became a center for Enlightenment scholarship. In 1873, it...

, and graduated from that school with a doctorate in letters (docteur ès lettres) and in medicine. He taught French literature

French literature

French literature is, generally speaking, literature written in the French language, particularly by citizens of France; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of France other than French. Literature written in French language, by citizens...

 at the Johns Hopkins University

Johns Hopkins University

The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...

, the University of Basel

University of Basel

The University of Basel is located in Basel, Switzerland, and is considered to be one of leading universities in the country...

 and at the University of Geneva, where he also taught courses in the history of ideas and the history of medicine

History of medicine

All human societies have medical beliefs that provide explanations for birth, death, and disease. Throughout history, illness has been attributed to witchcraft, demons, astral influence, or the will of the gods...

.

His existential and phenomenological literary criticism is sometimes grouped with the so-called "Geneva School

Geneva School

The expression Geneva School refers to a group of linguists based in Geneva who pioneered modern structural linguistics and a group of literary theorists and critics working from a phenomenological perspective.-Geneva School of Linguistics:...

." He has written landmark works on French literature of the 18th century

French literature of the 18th century

18th-century French literature is French literature written between 1715, the year of the death of King Louis XIV of France, and 1798, the year of the coup d’État of Bonaparte which brought the Consulate to power, concluded the French Revolution, and began the modern era of French history...

 – including works on the writers Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer of 18th-century Romanticism. His political philosophy influenced the French Revolution as well as the overall development of modern political, sociological and educational thought.His novel Émile: or, On Education is a treatise...

, Denis Diderot

Denis Diderot

Denis Diderot was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer. He was a prominent person during the Enlightenment and is best known for serving as co-founder and chief editor of and contributor to the Encyclopédie....

, Voltaire

Voltaire

François-Marie Arouet , better known by the pen name Voltaire , was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit and for his advocacy of civil liberties, including freedom of religion, free trade and separation of church and state...

, etc. – and also on authors of other periods (such as Michel de Montaigne

Michel de Montaigne

Lord Michel Eyquem de Montaigne , February 28, 1533 – September 13, 1592, was one of the most influential writers of the French Renaissance, known for popularising the essay as a literary genre and is popularly thought of as the father of Modern Skepticism...

). He has also written on contemporary poetry, art, and the problems of interpretation. His books have been translated in dozens of languages.

His knowledge of medicine and psychiatry

Psychiatry

Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the study and treatment of mental disorders. These mental disorders include various affective, behavioural, cognitive and perceptual abnormalities...

 brought him to study the history of melancholia

Melancholia

Melancholia , also lugubriousness, from the Latin lugere, to mourn; moroseness, from the Latin morosus, self-willed, fastidious habit; wistfulness, from old English wist: intent, or saturnine, , in contemporary usage, is a mood disorder of non-specific depression,...

 (notably in the Trois Fureurs, 1974). He was the first scholar to publish work (in 1964) on Ferdinand de Saussure

Ferdinand de Saussure

Ferdinand de Saussure was a Swiss linguist whose ideas laid a foundation for many significant developments in linguistics in the 20th century. He is widely considered one of the fathers of 20th-century linguistics...

's study of anagram

Anagram

An anagram is a type of word play, the result of rearranging the letters of a word or phrase to produce a new word or phrase, using all the original letters exactly once; e.g., orchestra = carthorse, A decimal point = I'm a dot in place, Tom Marvolo Riddle = I am Lord Voldemort. Someone who...

s.

Jean Starobinski is a member of the Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques (a component of the Institut de France

Institut de France

The Institut de France is a French learned society, grouping five académies, the most famous of which is the Académie française.The institute, located in Paris, manages approximately 1,000 foundations, as well as museums and chateaux open for visit. It also awards prizes and subsidies, which...

) and other French, European and American learned academies. He has honorary degrees (honoris causa) from numerous universities in Europe and America.

Works

• Montesquieu, Paris, Seuil, 1953; reedited, 1994.
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau
  Jean-Jacques Rousseau
  Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer of 18th-century Romanticism. His political philosophy influenced the French Revolution as well as the overall development of modern political, sociological and educational thought.His novel Émile: or, On Education is a treatise...
  
  : la transparence et l’obstacle, Paris, Plon, 1957; Gallimard, 1971.
• Histoire du traitement de la mélancolie, des origines à 1900 Thèse, Bâle, Acta psychosomatica, 1960.
• L’Œil vivant, Paris, Gallimard, 1961.
• L’Invention de la Liberté, Geneva, Skira, 1964.
• Hamlet
  Hamlet
  The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
  
   and Freud in Hamlet and Oedipus by Ernest Jones
  Ernest Jones
  Alfred Ernest Jones was a British neurologist and psychoanalyst, and Sigmund Freud’s official biographer. Jones was the first English-speaking practitioner of psychoanalysis and became its leading exponent in the English-speaking world where, as President of both the British Psycho-Analytical...
  
  , introduction by Jean Starobinski, Tel Gallimard, Poche, ISBN 2-07-020651-3
• Portrait de l’artiste en saltimbanque, Geneva, Skira, 1970; Paris, Gallimard, 2004.
• La Relation critique, Paris, Gallimard, 1970; coll. «Tel», 2000.
• Les Mots sous les mots: les anagrammes de Ferdinand de Saussure
  Ferdinand de Saussure
  Ferdinand de Saussure was a Swiss linguist whose ideas laid a foundation for many significant developments in linguistics in the 20th century. He is widely considered one of the fathers of 20th-century linguistics...
  
  , Paris, Gallimard, 1971.
• 1789: Les Emblèmes de la Raison, Paris, Flammarion, 1973.
• Trois Fureurs, Paris, Gallimard, 1974.
• "La conscience du corps" in Revue Française de Psychanalyse, 1981, n0 45/2,
• Montaigne en mouvement, Paris, Gallimard, 1982. (English edition: Montaigne in Motion, University of Chicago Press, 2009.
• Claude Garache, Paris, Flammarion, 1988.
• Table d’orientation, Lausanne, L’Âge d’homme, 1989.
• Le Remède dans le mal. Critique et légitimation de l’artifice à l’âge des Lumières, Paris, Gallimard, 1989.
• La mélancolie au miroir. Trois lectures de Baudelaire, Paris, Julliard, 1990.
• Diderot dans l’espace des peintres, Paris, Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1991.
• Largesse, Paris, Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1994.
• Action et réaction. Vie et aventures d’un couple, Paris, Seuil, 1999.
• La Poésie et la guerre, chroniques 1942-1944, Zoé, Geneva, 1999.
• La Caresse et le fouet, André Chénier
  André Chénier
  André Marie Chénier was a French poet, associated with the events of the French Revolution of which he was a victim. His sensual, emotive poetry marks him as one of the precursors of the Romantic movement...
  
  , with engravings by Claude Garache, Editart, D. Blanco, Geneva, 1999.
• Le poème d'invitation, La Dogana, Geneva, 2001.
• Les enchanteresses, Seuil, Paris, 2005.

External links

• Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques (in French)
• Société Jean-Jacques Rousseau (in French)
• Video Starobinski, Jean (in French)