Editing Amiens (section)

===Literature===
Amiens saw rise, over the centuries, to major writers.<ref>Collectif, " Amiens Ville d'Art et d'Histoire – le guide ". " Vie littéraire à Amiens sous l'ancien Régime " et " La vie littéraire au siècle XIX ", éditions du patrimoine, centre des monuments nationaux, 2007, p.26 and p.35.</ref> In the first half of the 17th century, [[Vincent Voiture]], poet and letter writer, was the darling of the [[Précieuses]] for the fluidity of his style. In 1634, he was member of the 1st [[Académie française]]. In 1678, [[Charles du Fresne, sieur du Cange]], nicknamed "the French [[Marcus Terentius Varro|Varro]]", published his ''Glossarium'' in 3 volumes. This glossary of medieval Latin is still authoritative today. In 1750, [[Jean-Baptiste-Louis Gresset|Jean Baptiste Gresset]], a playwright and poet who was celebrated in his time and was a member of the [[Académie française]], founded the {{interlanguage link|Académie des sciences, des lettres et des arts d'Amiens|fr|3=Académie des sciences, des lettres et des arts d'Amiens|lt=Academy of Amiens}} which is still active today. He was named perpetual president.

In 1782, the Amiens native [[Pierre Choderlos de Laclos|Choderlos de Laclos]] published ''[[Les Liaisons dangereuses]]'' where he staged a depraved nobility. Considered one of the masterpieces of 18th-century literature, the book has toured the world and is known as an [[Dangerous Liaisons|Oscar-winning film adaptation]].

{{pull quote|Here I am quite citizen of Amiens. It seems to me that I was born. I live very happy, although uncomfortable to work. Amiens is a wise city, even-tempered, and the company is friendly and literate. It is near Paris, close enough to have the highlights without unbearable noise and bustle.|author =[[Jules Verne]]}}

In the 19th century, there was a brilliant literary life around the {{interlanguage link|Académie des sciences, des lettres et des arts d'Amiens|fr}} with historian [[Albéric de Calonne]] and the [[Yvert et Tellier#Genealogy of the Yvert family|Yvert family]]. However, the great name of Amiens literary life is [[Jules Verne]]. He animated all intellectual activity, giving balls and parties, while his wife held a famous [[Salon (gathering)|salon]]. He often attended the library of the industrial society, which subscribed to numerous scientific journals. A member of the Academy of Sciences, Letters and Arts of Amiens from 8 March 1872, he was elected Director in 1875, and in 1881 and, on this occasion, he delivered several speeches of welcome, especially for one of his friends, Amiens cartoonist {{interlanguage link|Gédéon Baril|fr}}, who signed illustrations of {{interlanguage link|Dix heures en chasse|fr}} with [[Pierre-Jules Hetzel|Hetzel]]. Engaged in local life, he was Councillor of Amiens from 1888 to 1904. He was closely interested in the affairs of the city, wrote many reports on the theatre and brought its support to the construction of the {{interlanguage link|Cirque Jules-Verne|fr|3=Cirque Jules-Verne|lt=municipal circus}}.

Amiens does appear explicitly in his novels but there are however characteristic elements of the city such as the cathedral and the river. This is the case, for example, for the imaginary city of Ragz in ''Le secret de Wilhem Storitz''. In the novel ''Une fantaisie du docteur Ox'', the inhabitants of the fictional town of Virgamen, the Virgamenois, refer directly to the Amiénois and their prudent nature.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.encyclopedie.picardie.fr/index.php/Dans_les_pas_de_Jules_Verne_%C3%A0_Amiens|title=Dans les pas de Jules Verne à Amiens|first=Anne-Marie|last=Cojez|date=7 August 2009|work=encyclopedie.picardie.fr|access-date=16 March 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130410144330/http://www.encyclopedie.picardie.fr/index.php/Dans_les_pas_de_Jules_Verne_%C3%A0_Amiens|archive-date=10 April 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 1875, he delivered before the Academy of Sciences, Letters and Arts of Amiens a speech entitled "An ideal city: Amiens in the year 2000" where he portrays himself wandering in a forward-thinking city of Amiens. Since then, the city has built a tourist route from this text.

He died in Amiens in 1905, and he deeply marked the town's footprint, so that today many places, monuments and events bear his name. He rests at {{interlanguage link|Cimetière de La Madeleine (Amiens)|fr|3=Cimetière de La Madeleine (Amiens)|lt=La Madeleine cemetery}} where one can read on his tomb: ''Vers l'immortalité et l'éternelle jeunesse.'' [Towards immortality and eternal youth].

{{pull quote|Such as it is with his distinctive smile, how much I love the Golden Virgin, with her smile of heavenly hostess; how much I love its home at the door of the Cathedral in its adornment exquisite and simple of hawthorns.|author =[[Marcel Proust]] (about the portal of the Virgin Golden of the Cathedral of Amiens)}}

In 1885, Englishman [[John Ruskin]] published the Bible of Amiens, which was translated into French, extensively annotated and prefaced, in 1904, by Marcel Proust. This book dedicated to [[Amiens Cathedral|Notre-Dame d'Amiens]] was the opportunity for Proust to recall his admiration for the English author and the Cathedral of Amiens.

{{pull quote|I would like to give the reader the desire and the means to spend a day at Amiens in a sort of Ruskinesque pilgrimage. It was not worth starting by asking him to go to Florence or Venice, when Ruskin wrote a whole book on Amiens.|author =Marcel Proust}}

In the second half of the 19th century, {{interlanguage link|Jules Barni|fr}}, {{interlanguage link|List of députés of the Somme|fr|3=Liste des députés de la Somme|lt=Member of Parliament for the Somme}}, Associate Professor of philosophy and brilliant scholar translated Kant's work in French and thus enabled its dissemination in France.

A native of Amiens, [[Paul Bourget]] published ''[[Le Disciple]]'' in 1889, a novel today considered his major work. He was elected, 5 years later, to the Académie française.

Born in Sainte-Anne district in 1885, [[Roland Dorgelès]] published {{interlanguage link|Les Croix de bois|fr|3=Les Croix de bois|lt=''Les Croix de bois''}} in 1919. A masterpiece written from his notes taken at the [[Western Front (World War I)|Front]], the novel won the [[Prix Femina]] the same year. Though capable of obtaining the [[Prix Goncourt]], it was beaten by {{interlanguage link|À l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs|fr}} by Marcel Proust, 6 votes against 4. A member of the [[Académie Goncourt]] in 1929, he was elected president in 1954 until his death in 1973.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.editionstrotteuraile.fr/Roland-Dorgeles_a37.html|title=Roland Dorgeles|first=Jean-Louis|last=Andreani|publisher=Les éditions du trotteur ailé|access-date=16 March 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130409033153/http://www.editionstrotteuraile.fr/Roland-Dorgeles_a37.html|archive-date=9 April 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 1926, the Amiens native [[Henri Deberly]], won the Prix Goncourt with {{interlanguage link|Le Supplice de Phèdre|fr}}, a novel inspired by his home city.