Background

Émile-Auguste Chartier was born on March 3, 1868, in Mortagne-au-perche, Basse-Normandie, France. He was the son of a veterinary surgeon.

Education

Alain attended a Catholic elementary school in Mortagne and in 1881 he entered Lycée Alencon (now Lycee Alain). From 1886 to 1889 he studied at the Lycee Michelet in Vanves, where he developed a strong interest in philosophy. Alain spent the next three years studying philosophy and literature at the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris.

Career

In 1892 Alain started his career as an educator. He taught philosophy at various lycees during the next four decades. In addition to teaching, Alain wrote a weekly column for the newspaper the Depeche de Rouen between 1903 and 1906. He subsequently conceived of the propos as a form requiring less effort to produce than a full-length column and he published daily propos during the next eight years to much popular acclaim.

At the beginning of World War I, Alain volunteered to serve in a French artillery unit; although he was an ardent pacifist, he believed that one must experience war to pass judgment on it. Wounded in action, he returned in 1917 to teach philosophy at the Lycee Henri-Quatre in Paris, while writing numerous propos for national periodicals, and four years later Mars; or, The Truth about War was published.

Throughout the 1920s and 1930s Alain produced several book-length works primarily on philosophical and literary subjects. He retired from teaching in 1933, and his autobiography, Histoire de mes pensees, appeared three years later.

Achievements

• An influential philosopher and educator in France during the first half of the twentieth century, Alain is best known for his writings in a literary form that he termed the propos, a brief, informal essay commenting on a philosophical, cultural, or political subject. His major works, including Mars; ou La guerre jugee (Mars; or, The Truth about War), a collection of propos condemning war, and Les dieux (The Gods), a book-length study of metaphysics, have been lauded for their witty and insightful observations on modern society, religion, and literature. Widely read during his lifetime, Alain’s propos have earned him recognition as a notable figure in French philosophy. His other important publications are The Dreamer, 81 chapters about the spirit and passions, About Happiness and The citizen against powers.
  
  Besides his main works, during his lifetime Alain also wrote more than five thousand propos, many of which have been gathered in collections that focus on such recurring topics in his writing as war, religion, political authority, and literature.
  
  On 13 June 1956, the Lycée Alencon was renamed Lycée Alain, after its most famous student.

Works

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  • The Gods 1974
  • Système des Beaux-Arts 1978
  • Alain on Happiness 1973
  • Éléments De Philosophie
  • En Lisant Dickens
  • Hommage à la poésie

Connections

Alain was married to Gabrielle Landormy since 1933.

Wife:

Gabrielle Landormy