Jean-Pierre Vernant
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Jean-Pierre Vernant | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Vernant in 2006 | |
| Born | January 4, 1914 Provins, France |
| Died | January 9, 2007 (aged 93) Sèvres, France |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Anthropologist, historian |
Jean-Pierre Vernant (French: [vɛʁnɑ̃]; January 4, 1914 – January 9, 2007) was a French historian and anthropologist, specialist in ancient Greece. Influenced by Claude Lévi-Strauss, Vernant developed a structuralist approach to Greek myth, tragedy, and society which would itself be influential among classical scholars.[1] He was an honorary professor at the Collège de France.
Biography
Born in Provins, France, Vernant at first studied philosophy, receiving his agrégation in this field in 1937.
A member of the Young Communists (Jeunes Communistes), Vernant joined the
He entered the
He was a member of the French sponsorship committee for the
He was awarded the CNRS gold medal in 1984. In 2002, he received an honorary doctorate at the University of Crete.
Vernant died a few days after his 93rd birthday in Sèvres.
After his death, his name was given to a French highschool in Sèvres, le "Lycée Jean-Pierre Vernant".
Influence
The structuralist approach pioneered by Vernant has been influential on a wide range of classical scholars. More specifically, Vernant's reading of the myth of
Criticism
Vernant's approach has been heavily criticized, particularly among Italian philologists, even by those of Marxist tendencies. He has been accused of a fundamentally ahistorical approach, allegedly going as far as to manipulate his sources by describing them in categories which do not apply (polysemy and ambiguity).[3]
Awards
Honours
- Commander of the Légion d'honneur
- Grand Cross of the Ordre national du Mérite
- Compagnon de la Libération
- Croix de Guerre
- Officier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
- Commander of the Order of the Phoenix (Greece)
Awards and prizes
- 1980 : Amic Award of the Académie Française (France)
- 1984 : Médaille d'or du CNRS (France)
- 1991 : Gold Medal of History (San Marino)
- 1993 : Award for Humanistic Studies of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences(USA)
Honorary degrees
- University of Chicago
- University of Bristol
- Masaryk University of Brno
- University of Naples
- University of Oxford
- University of Crete (2002)
- New Bulgarian University (2004)
Other awards
- Associate member of the Académie royale de Belgique
- Foreign honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy
- Honorary Member of the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies
- Membre de l'Academia Europaea
Select publications
- Les origines de la pensée grecque (Paris), 1962 (= Origins of Greek Thought, 1982)
- Mythe et pensée chez les Grecs: Etudes de psychologie historique (Paris), 1965 (= Myth and Thought among the Greeks, 1983)
- With Pierre Vidal-Naquet: Mythe et tragédie en Grèce ancienne, 2 vols. (Paris), 1972, 1986 (= Tragedy and Myth in Ancient Greece, 1981; Myth and Tragedy in Ancient Greece, 1988)
- Mythe et société en Grèce ancienne (Paris), 1974 (= Myth and Society in Ancient Greece, 1978)
- Divination et rationalité, 1974
- With Marcel Detienne: Les ruses de l'intelligence: La mètis des Grecs (Paris), 1974 (= Cunning Intelligence in Greek Culture and Society, 1977)
- Religion grecque, religions antiques (Paris), 1976
- Religion, histoires, raisons (Paris), 1979
- With Marcel Detienne: La cuisine de sacrifice en pays grec (Paris), 1979 (= Cuisine of Sacrifice among the Greeks, 1989)
- With Pierre Vidal-Naquet: Travail et esclavage en Grèce ancienne (Brussels), 1988
- L'individu, la mort, l'amour: soi-même et l'autre en Grèce ancienne (Paris), 1989
- Mythe et religion en Grèce ancienne (Paris), 1990
- Figures, idoles, masques (Paris), 1990
- With Pierre Vidal-Naquet: La Grèce ancienne, 3 vols. (Paris), 1990–92
- Mortals and Immortals: Collected Essays (Princeton), 1991
- With Pierre Vidal-Naquet: Œdipe et ses mythes (Brussels), 1994
- Entre mythe et politique (Paris), 1996
- With ISBN 978-0226067155.
- With Françoise Frontisi-Ducroux: Dans l'œil du miroir (Paris), 1997
- L'univers, les dieux, les hommes: récits grecs des origines Paris, Le Seuil, 1999 (= The Universe, The Gods, and Men: Ancient Greek Myths, 2001)
- La traversée des frontières (Paris), 2004
References
- ISBN 0-691-06831-3.
- ^ "Filosofia – USP". Archived from the original on 2011-09-21. Retrieved 2012-05-11. Official Webpage of the Faculty of Philosophy (University of São Paulo) (in Portuguese)
- ^ Vincenzo Di Benedetto, La tragedia greca di Jean-Pierre Vernant, in: Belfagor 32 (1977), p. 461-468; see also Vincenzo Di Benedetto, L'ambiguo nella tragedia greca: una categoria fuorviante, in: Euripide "Medea", introd. di V. Di Benedetto, trad. di E. Cerbo, p. 62-75, Milan 1997.
External links
- Independent obituary by Oswyn Murray
- Page with biographical information, French language
- Citation for Oxford honorary degree
- Council of Europe page
- Links to online interviews and media presentations by Vernant
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