Star Status: Rennes and Spitzbergen (1839)

On 18 September 1838, while Marmier was still in Sweden, he was appointed, in his absence, to the newly created chair of Foreign Literature at the University of Rennes. This was one of a number of new posts created in an expansion of provincial universities by an initiative of the Ministre de l'Instruction publique, Salvandy. Once back with his parents in Bourgfeld, Marmier learned with great satisfaction that Salvandy would allow him to spend the remainder of the year on sabbatical in Paris. After becoming bored with his post, he urged Gaimard to organise a new expedition. In his expedition in Spitzbergen, the things that struck Marmier most during his contacts with the local population were their hospitality, their honesty, their physical beauty, and their terrible poverty. On the whole, his comments about them are sympathetic and positive, although he condemns the treatment of animals there.

Germany (1832–5): ‘la rêveuse, la poétique, la mélancolique Allemagne’1

Marmier spent some two years in the German-speaking world, with Leipzig as his base, returning only briefly to France in the intervening period. Immersing himself in the language and culture of these countries, Marmier met a number of the great literary figures of the day including Tieck, Schwab, Uhland, the brothers Grimm, Chamisso, Holtei, and many others. The publications resulting from his work here established his reputation as an exceptional linguist, travel writer, literary critic, and translator. However, it was Marmier's work on Goethe which really sealed his reputation as a literary critic in France. In retrospect, this chapter argues that he must be viewed as the most influential figure in Franco-German literary relations of the era.

Formative Years in the Franche-Comté (1808–31)

If the death of Jean–Marie Xavier Marmier in 1892 made headline news in the national press, the date and place of his birth were certainly not common knowledge, and have given rise to biographical errors. The second of six children, he was born to parents descended from long-established Franche-Comté families with strong Catholic and royalist sympathies. The Marmier family was one of the oldest families of Frasne (Haut–Doubs). On a more general level, a number of his reminiscences of Franche-Comté life in the early decades of the century help people to understand the unusual way in which he was later able to form relationships built on respect with others from all social classes.

From the Doubs to the Desert (1843–6)

The first section of this chapter describes Xavier Marmier's marriage to Françoise Eugénie Pourchet. The civil ceremony took place in the town hall of Pontarlier on 8 May 1843. Unfortunately, the marriage ended in the tragic deaths of both mother and child, shortly after the birth on 17 April 1844 at their Paris home in the rue Saint–Thomas d'Aquin. The child died first during the labour. The second section describes Marmier's journey from the Rhine to the Nile. The third section describes his mission in Algeria. On 22 June 1846, Le Moniteur Universel announced that Marmier would be departing the following day for Port-Vendres, where he would meet up with the Ministre de l'Instruction publique, Salvandy, whom he was to accompany, with Salvandy's family, on a ministerial mission to Algeria.

Denmark (1837): ‘le bon, le noble pays du Danemark’1

The year 1837 marked a new departure for Marmier to the Scandinavian countries: an extended journey over the next eighteen months took him to Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Lapland. This visit brought him into contact with a number of important figures from all spheres of society, notably the literary and the political, but also the scientific, the artistic, and the world of learning. It resulted in an outstanding series of publications, marking Marmier as the most influential Franco-Scandinavian intermediary of the era. In addition to the above, this chapter describes the contents of the Histoire de la littérature scandinave, dealing much with Danish literature.

Introduction

Xavier Marmier's vast output, the variety of his achievements, and his celebrity status made him an influential figure in nineteenth-century France. In retrospect, his greatest achievement was probably as an initiator in bringing an awareness of foreign literatures and cultures to France; but his contribution is so vast that it is impossible to summarise it succinctly. Although he is now generally neglected, his name still occurs quite frequently, most often in studies of comparative literature analysing the introduction of a particular author or culture to France. Some of his travel narratives are slowly being recognised today as important social documents of the ways in which people lived in particular countries.

The Last Years (1880–92)

Marmier was now over 70 years old, and the coming decade saw him limiting his activities to the Parisian sphere. He had naturally experienced a decline in his physical vigour, although his mind remained active and his general state of health permitted him to pursue many of his former interests. Marmier maintained a steady flow of publications and settled into a new routine centred principally on his sessions at the Bibliothèque Sainte–Geneviève on Saturdays, and his Thursday meetings at the Académie française, which he attended assiduously right up to the end of his life. He died on 11 October 1892. Almost all the obituaries mentioned his travels, his role in introducing foreign literature to France, his membership of the Académie française, and his personal qualities.

A Decade of Tumult (1870–9)

The year 1870 proved momentous both in terms of French life and history and for Marmier personally. His joy at being elected to the Académie française was set against the grim backdrop of the Franco–Prussian War, the Siege of Paris, and the bloodbaths at the end of the Commune. Marmier suffered from pneumonia, which kept him in bed for two months. On 19 May, he was elected to fill the seat vacated by Pongerville in the Academy.

Sweden II (1838): Norway, Lapland, and the Northern Star

The departure of Marmier and Gyldenstolpe from Stockholm to join La Recherche at Trondheim marked the beginning of the 1838 expedition of the Commission du Nord, and Marmier was appointed to write the official report. This part of his journey is described in some detail in the Relation du voyage of the official publication, which is full of historical data about the sites described, details of local customs, folklore, climate, population, political organisation, public institutions, statistics, different modes of transport, local curiosities, monuments, and various other information. This chapter notes the apparent ease with which Marmier seems to make the transition from life in presumably fairly luxurious and sophisticated circles at court, or intellectual circles in Uppsala, to contact with some of the least privileged in that society. He seems to have made friends on his travels at all social levels; he recorded those contacts in his official reports.

The Early Swedish Experience (1837–8): ‘jours de paix, d’étude, d’amour’1

Marmier's residence in Denmark from May to December 1837 was broken by a two-month visit to Sweden and Norway in June and July. In the course of this preliminary short stay, he made fleeting visits to Lund, Växsjö, Uppsala, Stockholm, Dannemora, Falun, and Christiania. Marmier returned to Sweden early in January 1838, where he worked principally in Stockholm and Uppsala before travelling on to Trondheim via Christiania in May to join La Recherche for its next expedition. The first visit was spent predominantly in finding his feet and in establishing contacts, while the second involved more intensive study and consolidation. Marmier visited Sweden again briefly in 1839 on his return from Lapland, and again in 1842 on his way to Russia.