Amiel, Henri-Frédéric (1821-81). Professor of aesthetics and subsequently of philosophy at Geneva, Amiel was a poet and perceptive literary critic, but his reputation rests on his incomparable Journal intime, a monument of Romantic introspection. The act of writing helped to preserve the sense of personal identity in the face of the relentless onrush of time. Extracts from this vast undertaking first appeared in print in 1883. A complete critical edition of the text is currently being published (eight volumes, covering the period 1839-72, each of over 1, 000 pages, had appeared by 1991). Amiel offers a detailed and probing form of self-analysis. He questions the stability of the self and the nature of its relation to the world, exploring the Romantic themes of loss and failure, flux and permanence, contemplation and action. In these pages we witness a hypersensitive mind turning inward and engaging in a dialogue with itself, investigating the processes of thought and their relation to the body. In addition to the insights drawn from self-analysis, the Journal is also valuable for its discussion of literature, history, philosophy, and religion.

[Ceri Crossley]

The New Oxford Companion to Literature in French. Copyright © 1995, 2005 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.