Henri Barbusse

French writer, poet, and journalist (1873-1935)

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About

Henri Barbusse, born on May 17, 1873, in Asnières-sur-Seine and died on August 30, 1935, in Moscow, was a French writer. He began with the Symbolist poetry collection Pleureuses (1895) and later published the novel L'Enfer (1908). A volunteer in 1914, he recounted his trench experience in Le Feu (1916), which won the Prix Goncourt and became a major anti-war testimony. A pacifist, he founded the ARAC in 1917, then the Clarté movement in 1919. He joined the French Communist Party in 1923 and founded the journal Monde in 1928. He died in Moscow in 1935.

* 1873-05-17 — † 1935-08-28

Major works

Pleureuses (1895)poetry collection
L'Enfer (1908)novel
Le Feu (1916)novel
Clarté (1919)essay
Staline (1935)biography

Key milestones

1914Volunteers for the French infantry at age 41.
1916Publishes Le Feu, which wins the Prix Goncourt.
1923Joins the French Communist Party.

Themes

pacifismwarcommunismsocial realismpolitical commitment

Sources: britannica.com · europeana.eu

“The sun shines and warms and lights us and we have no curiosity to know why this is so; but we ask the reason of all evil, of pain, and of hunger, and of mosquitoes and silly people.”

— Henri BarbusseTheme · Philosophy

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“War is a massacre of people who don't know each other for the profit of people who know each other but don't massacre each other.”

— Henri BarbusseTheme · Politics

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“The most dangerous of all falsehoods is a slightly distorted truth.”

— Henri BarbusseTheme · Philosophy

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