Editing Sully Prudhomme

{{Short description|French poet (1839–1907)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2018}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->
| name = Sully Prudhomme<!-- do not add image icons such as nobel peace, see [[:Template:Infobox writer]] -->
| image = Sully Prudhomme, René-François-Armand, BNF Gallica.jpg
| imagesize = 200px
| caption = Prudhomme in the 1880s
| birth_name = René François Armand Prudhomme
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1839|3|16}}
| birth_place = [[Paris]], [[July Monarchy|France]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1907|9|6|1839|3|16}}
| death_place = [[Châtenay-Malabry]], [[French Third Republic|France]]
| occupation = Writer
| language = French
| nationality = [[France|French]]
| genre = {{hlist|[[Poetry]]|[[essay]]}}
| movement = [[Parnassianism]]
| awards = {{awd|[[Nobel Prize in Literature]]|1901}}<!-- do not add image icons such as nobel peace, see [[:Template:Infobox writer]] -->
}}

'''René François Armand''' "'''Sully'''" '''Prudhomme''' ({{IPA|fr|syli pʁydɔm|lang}}; 16 March 1839 – 6 September 1907) was a French poet and essayist. He was the first winner of the [[1901 Nobel Prize in Literature|Nobel Prize in Literature in 1901]].

Born in Paris, Prudhomme originally studied to be an engineer, but turned to philosophy and later to poetry; he declared it as his intention to create scientific poetry for modern times. In character sincere and melancholic, he was linked to the [[Parnassianism|Parnassus school]], although, at the same time, his work displays characteristics of its own.

==Early life==
Prudhomme's parents were M. Sully Prudhomme and Clotilde Caillat.  They had been engaged for 10 years before they had felt financially able to marry. When Prudhomme was two, his father, a shopkeeper, died.  His mother and he relocated to Prudhomme's uncle's house. Prudhomme joined his father's name "Sully" with his surname Prudhomme, becoming Sully-Prudhomme. He was interested in classic literature and mathematics in school. He also considered entering the Dominican order, but decided against it.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1901/prudhomme-bio.html|title=Sully Prudhomme – Biographical|publisher=Nobel Foundation|access-date=13 July 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.authorscalendar.info/prudhomm.htm | title=René Sully-Prudhomme (1839-1907) - original name RENÉ FRANCOIS ARMAND PRUDHOMME | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240630025747/http://authorscalendar.info/prudhomm.htm | archive-date=30 June 2024 }}</ref>

Prudhomme attended the [[Lycée Condorcet|Lycée Bonaparte]], but eye trouble interrupted his studies. He worked for a while in the [[Le Creusot|Creusot]] region for the [[Schneider Electric|Schneider]] steel [[foundry]], and then began studying law in a notary's office. The favourable reception of his early poems by the ''Conférence La Bruyère'' (a student society) encouraged him to begin a literary career.

==Writing==
His first collection, ''Stances et Poèmes'' ("Stanzas and Poems", 1865), was praised by [[Sainte-Beuve]]. It included his most famous poem, ''Le vase brisé''. He published more poetry before the outbreak of the [[Franco-Prussian War]]. This war, which he discussed in ''Impressions de la guerre'' (1872) and ''La France'' (1874), permanently damaged his health.

During his career, Prudhomme gradually shifted from the sentimental style of his first books towards a more personal style which unified the formality of the [[Parnassianism|Parnassus]] school with his interest in philosophical and scientific subjects. One of his inspirations was clearly [[Lucretius]]'s ''[[De rerum natura]]'', whose first book he translated into verse. His philosophy was expressed in ''La Justice'' (1878) and ''Le Bonheur'' (1888). The extreme economy of means employed in these poems has, however, usually been judged as compromising their poetical quality without advancing their claims as works of philosophy. He was elected to the [[Académie française]] in 1881. Another distinction, ''Chevalier de la [[Légion d’honneur]]'', was to follow in 1895.

After ''Le Bonheur'', Prudhomme turned from poetry to write essays on [[aesthetics]] and philosophy. He published two important essays: ''L'Expression dans les beaux-arts'' (1884) and ''Réflexions sur l'art des vers'' (1892), a series of articles on [[Blaise Pascal]] in ''[[La Revue des Deux Mondes]]'' (1890), and an article on [[free will]] (''La Psychologie du Libre-Arbitre'', 1906) in the ''Revue de métaphysique et de morale''.

==Nobel Prize==
{{Main article|1901 Nobel Prize in Literature}}
The first writer to receive the [[Nobel Prize for Literature]] (given "in special recognition of his poetic composition, which gives evidence of [[lofty idealism]], artistic perfection and a rare combination of the qualities of both heart and intellect"), he devoted the bulk of the money he received to the creation of a poetry prize awarded by the ''[[Société des gens de lettres]]''. He also founded, in 1902, the ''[[Société des poètes français]]'' with [[Jose-Maria de Heredia]] and [[Leon Dierx]].

==Death==
[[File:SullyPrudhommetomb.JPG|thumb|Grave of Sully Prudhomme at [[Père-Lachaise]] in Paris.]]
At the end of his life, his poor health (which had troubled him ever since 1870) forced him to live almost as a [[recluse]] at [[Châtenay-Malabry]], suffering attacks of paralysis while continuing to work on essays. He died suddenly on 6 September 1907, and was buried at [[Père-Lachaise]] in Paris.

==Bibliography==

===Poetry===
* 1865: ''Stances et poèmes''
* 1866: ''Les épreuves''
* 1868: ''Croquis italiens''
* 1869: ''Les solitudes: poésies'' [''Les écuries d’Augias'']
* 1872: ''Les destins''
* 1874: ''La révolte des fleurs''
* 1874: ''La France''
* 1875: ''Les vaines tendresses''
* 1876: ''Le zénith'', previously published in ''[[Revue des deux mondes]]''
* 1878: ''La justice''
* 1865–1888: ''Poésie''
* 1886: ''Le prisme, poésies diverses''
* 1888: ''Le bonheur''
* 1908: ''Épaves''

===Prose===
* 1883–1908: ''Œuvres de Sully Prudhomme'' (poetry and prose), 8 volumes, A. Lemerre
* 1896: ''Que sais-je?'' (philosophy)
* 1901: ''Testament poétique'' (essays)
* 1905: ''La vraie religion selon Pascal'' (essays)
* 1922: ''Journal intime: lettres-pensée''

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Sully-Prudhomme, Rene François Armand Prudhomme | volume= 26 |last= Gosse |first= Edmund William |author-link= Edmund William Gosse| page = 59 }}
* Gale Contemporary Authors Online, from the Gale Biography Resource Center database
* {{Books and Writers |id=prudhomm |name=Sully Prudhomme}}
* {{Nobelprize}}
* [http://www.britannica.com/nobel/micro/572_43.html britannica.com]
* [http://noblib.internet-box.ch/NLEW.php?authorid=1 List of works]
* [http://www.poesies.net/prudhome.html Poesies.net: Sully Prudhomme]
* [http://www.poesies.net/poeme0.html Poesies.net: Le Zénith]
* {{Gutenberg author | id=7695| name=Sully Prudhomme}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Sully Prudhomme}}
* {{Librivox author}}
{{clear}}

{{Académie française Seat 24}}
{{Nobel Prize in Literature Laureates 1901-1925}}
{{1901 Nobel Prize winners}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prudhomme, Sully}}
[[Category:1839 births]]
[[Category:1907 deaths]]
[[Category:Poets from Paris]]
[[Category:Members of the Académie Française]]
[[Category:Nobel laureates in Literature]]
[[Category:French Nobel laureates]]
[[Category:Symbolist poets]]
[[Category:Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery]]
[[Category:French male essayists]]
[[Category:French male poets]]
[[Category:19th-century French poets]]
[[Category:19th-century French male writers]]
[[Category:19th-century French essayists]]