Beguin - Began (English spelling) Albert Béguin

French critic. Swiss, he was one of the leading figures of the Geneva School of Criticism together with Marcel Raymond. Born in Chaux-de-Fonds. He studied classical Greek literature at the University of Geneva, and later travelled to Paris to study and live a life of intellectual wandering. During that time, he opened up an original realm that connected, so to speak, the French experience of surrealism with the German experience of romanticism, which began with the discovery of Jean Paul (1763-1825). The result of this was The Romantic Soul and Dream (1937), a critical essay that led him to become a professor at the University of Basel (1937-46). However, during the height of the Nazi era, his literary activities also leaned towards French spirituality, as seen in his conversion to Catholicism and his appointment as editor-in-chief of the Catholic magazine Esprit (1950), due to the decline of German mysticism and his own awakening to humanism. This can also be seen in his devotion to Peguy and Bernanos as subjects of his criticism. However, what is particularly noteworthy during this period is that he found mysticism in the texts of Nerval and Balzac, and in particular, "Balzac the Visionary" (1946, translated into Japanese as "Balzac the True Seer") revealed Balzac's existence as anything other than a realist, and at the same time, on two subsequent occasions, he restructured "The Comédie Humaine" in a powerful way that was different from Balzac's own.

[Yoshitaka Matsuzaki]

"Romantic Soul and Dreams" (translated by Toshiro Obama and Nobuyuki Goto, 1972, Kokubunsha) "Balzac, the Man of True Sight" (translated by Noriaki Nishioka, 1973, Shinbisha)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

フランスの批評家。スイス人であり、マルセル・レーモンとともにジュネーブ学派批評を代表する。ショー・ド・フォン市の生まれ。ジュネーブ大学で古典ギリシア文学を修め、のちパリに遊学、知的放浪の生活を送る。その間フランスの超現実主義経験と、ジャン・パウルJean Paul（1763―1825）発見がそのきっかけとなったドイツ・ロマン主義経験とを、いわば通底するような独創的境地を開いた。『ロマン主義的魂と夢』（1937）はその成果であり、この批評的エッセイによって彼はバーゼル大学教授となる（1937～46）。時代はしかしナチスの全盛期にあたり、彼の文学的活動も、ドイツ神秘主義の堕落と彼自身の内部におけるヒューマニズムへの目覚めとによって、カトリックへの改宗、カトリック系の雑誌『エスプリ』編集長就任（1950）などにみられるように、フランス的霊性に傾くようになる。このことはまた、批評対象としては、ペギー、ベルナノスへの傾倒にみられる。しかしこの間に特筆すべきは、ネルバルとバルザックのテクストに神秘性を読んだことであり、とりわけ『幻視者バルザック』（1946。邦訳『真視の人バルザック』）は現実主義者ならざるバルザックの存在を開示すると同時に、その後、二度にわたり、彼はバルザック自身とは異なる、迫力あるやり方で『人間喜劇』を編成し直してみせた。

［松崎芳隆］

『小浜俊郎・後藤信幸訳『ロマン的魂と夢』（1972・国文社）』▽『西岡範明訳『真視の人バルザック』（1973・審美社）』

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