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Roger Caillois
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'''Roger Caillois''' (
March 3,
1913 -
December 21,
1978), was a French
intellectual whose idiosyncratic work brought together
literary criticism,
sociology, and
philosophy by focusing on subjects as diverse as
gems and the
sacred. He was also instrumental in introducing Latin American authors to the French public.
Caillois was born in
Reims but moved to
Paris as a child. There he studied at the prestigious
Lycée Louis-le-Grand, an elite school where students took courses after graduating from secondary school in order to prepare for examinations for a top spot at university. Caillois's efforts paid off and he entered the
École Normale Supérieure, graduating in
1933. After this he studied at the
École Pratique des Hautes Études where he came into contact with thinkers such as
Georges Dumézil,
Alexandre Kojève, and
Marcel Mauss.
The years before the war were marked by Caillois's increasingly leftist political commitment, particularly in his fight against fascism. He was also engaged in Paris's avant-garde intellectual life. With
Georges Bataille he founded the
College of Sociology, a group of intellectuals who lectured regularly to one another. Formed partly as a reaction to the
Surrealist movement that was dominant in the 1920s, the College sought to move away from surrealism's focus on the fantasy life of an individual's unconscious and focus instead more on the power of ritual and other aspects of communal life. Caillois's background in
anthropology and
sociology, and particularly his interest in the sacred, exemplified this approach.
Caillois left France in
1939 for Argentina, where he stayed until the end of
World War II WWII. During the war he was active in fighting the spread of Nazism in Latin America as an editor and author of anti-Nazi periodicals. In
1948, after the war, he worked with
UNESCO and traveled widely. In 1971 he was elected to the
Académie Française.
Today Caillois is remembered for founding and editing ''Diogenes'', an interdisciplinary journal funded by
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization UNESCO, and ''Southern Cross'', a translation of contemporary Latin American authors published by
Gallimard that is responsible for introducing authors such as
Borges J.L. Borges or
Alejo Carpentier to the French-speaking public.
External links
-
Biographical note of the Académie Française (in French)
-
http://www.academie-francaise.fr/immortels/base/publications/
œuvres.asp?param=639 (in French)
-
A site on Caillois (in French)
{{start box}}
{{succession box | title=
List of members of the Académie française#Seat 3 Seat 3Académie française1971-
1978 .html">Jérôme Carcopino
after=Marguerite Yourcenar
| years=}}
{{end box}}
Category:1913 births Caillois, Roger
Category:1978 deaths Caillois, Roger
Category:Members of the Académie française Caillois, Roger
Category:Former Students of Lycée Louis-le-Grand Caillois, Roger
Category:Alumni of the École Normale Supérieure Caillois, Roger
de:Roger Caillois
fr:Roger Caillois
ja:ロジェ・カイヨワ
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