PAUL VALÉRY: BIOGRAPHY, STYLE AND WORKS - LITERATURE - 2025

Paul Valéry, full name Ambroise Paul Toussaint Jules Valéry (1871-1945), was a French writer, essayist, poet, and philosopher. His poetic work has been considered one of the most important within the so-called pure poetry or reaction against interwar romanticism.

On the other hand, his essays were characterized by being a reflection of his own personality, distrustful and tolerant at the same time. His essay work was oriented to reason, work, conscience and the preeminent value of the moral, always leaving his skepticism clear.

Paul Valéry. Source: Studio Harcourt, via Wikimedia Commons

Valéry's work was based on showing his perception of the world and of things. His writings were classic, and at the same time intellectual, where reflection and philosophy occupied an important place. Some scholars of his work have agreed that it was dark and dense.

Biography

Birth and family

Paul was born in the French town of Sète on October 30, 1871. Little information is known about his family life. From the little information that is handled, it is known that his parents were Barthelmy Valéry and Fanny Grassi. His first years of life and education were spent in his hometown.

Academic training and first publications

Valéry, upon finishing his school training studies, had considered entering the navy. However, in 1884 adverse circumstances led him to put aside the course at the Naval Academy. Five years later he began to study law at the Lycée de Montpellier.

From 1888 Paul came into contact with literature, he did so through the reading of authors such as George Huysmans, Baudelaire, Paul Marie Verlaine, Arthur Rimbaud and Stéphane Mallarmé. He also wrote his first poems in newspapers, such as Revue Maritime and La Conque magazine.

A thoughtful crush

In 1892, Paul Valéry had an affair that led him into an existential crisis. He fell in love with a woman known as Madame Rovira, some ten years older than him, who did not reciprocate. This is how the writer decided to put poetry aside, to dedicate himself only to the cult of reasonableness.

In 1894, after having completed his military service, he went to live in the capital of France. During this period he began to read Edgar Allan Poe. A year later his essays of a philosophical nature came to light: Introduction to the method of Leonardo da Vinci and The evening with Mr. Edmond Teste.

Paul Valéry, his wife and their son. Source: History of French Literature, via Wikimedia Commons

A suicide attempt

In 1895 Valéry had served as a journalist in the War Office, then the Chartered company employed him as part of the press team of the British businessman and colonizer, Cecil Rhodes. It was as a result of this that the poet moved to London.

A year later the writer tried to kill himself, in the middle of a desperate crisis. However, the lines of a book that were near the place made him give up. According to the anecdote that the poet told, the words he perceived made him feel free, and his vision of existence changed.

Marriage of Valéry

Paul Valéry married a woman named Jeannie Gobillard in 1900, who was a distant relative of the French painter Edouard Manet. The couple's life passed normally and the couple had three children: Agathe, François and Claude Valéry.

At that time the writer dedicated himself to work, and was also focused on the development of his research, both in relation to language, as well as in spiritual matters. Later, in 1913, he refused to let André Gide publish some of his Paul writings in the Nouvelle Revue Francaise magazine.

The greatest poet of his time

In 1917 Paul Valéry published what would become one of his most important works: The Young Grim Reaper. With that writing he managed to gain popularity, humility and humor were his responses. Three years later The Marine Cemetery came to light, and in 1922 a survey recognized him as the greatest poet of his time.

During those years the professional life of the writer boomed. In 1922 he published Charmes, an edition of his complete poetic work. Then, in 1925, the French Academy chose him as a member, later he devoted himself to writing various works in prose.

Last years and death of Paul Valéry

Between 1938 and 1945 Valéry had a "secret" affair with Jeanne Loviton, some thirty years his junior, who in addition to being a lawyer, also dedicated herself to writing novels under the alias Jean Voilier. The experience was one of the most rewarding in the writer's life.

Grave of Paul Valéry in the Sète cemetery. Source: Fagairolles 34, via Wikimedia Commons

However, in May 1945, the lady ended the relationship, because she would marry an editor named Robert Denoël. The break up left Paul in deep sadness, and he died two months later, on July 20, 1945, in Paris. His remains were buried in Sète.

Style

The literary style of Paul Valéry was characterized by the use of a careful and cultured language. The work of this French writer was composed of abstract and imprecise ideas and thoughts, where soft rhythms were combined with symbolism.

The theme used by Valéry was spiritual, intellectual and philosophical. He developed themes that were opposed to each other; the universe and man, the emotions and the intellect, as well as the human creation process versus the naturalness of genius.

Plays

References

1. Paul Valéry. (2019). Spain: Wikipedia. Recovered from: wikipedia.org.
2. Tamaro, E. (2004-2019). Paul Valéry. (N / a): Biographies and Lives. Recovered from: biografiasyvidas.com.
3. Paul Valéry. (2019). Cuba: Ecu Red. Recovered from: ecured.cu.
4. Ramírez, M., Moreno, V., Moreno, Ey De la Oliva, Cristian. (2018). Paul Valéry. (N / a). Recovered from: Buscabiografias.com.
5. Saraceno, M. (S. f.). Paul Valéry. (N / a): Tripod. Recovered from: marcelosaraceno.tripod.com.