Jacques Barzun
French-born American historian, philosopher of education, and author of over forty books, known for his cultural history and magnum opus From Dawn to Decadence.
Jacques Martin Barzun was born in Créteil, France, in 1907 to a family deeply connected to the arts; his father was a member of the Abbaye de Créteil group and a Ministry of Labor official, and the family home in Paris was a gathering place for modernist figures including Guillaume Apollinaire, Marcel Duchamp, and Edgard Varèse. During World War I, his father’s favorable impression of the United States led him to send the twelve-year-old Jacques to America for his education.
After attending the Lycée Janson-de-Sailly in France and graduating from Harrisburg Technical High School in 1923, Barzun entered Columbia University. As an undergraduate at Columbia College, he served as drama critic for the student newspaper, led the Philolexian Society, and was class valedictorian in 1927. He earned a master’s degree in 1928 and a Ph.D. in 1932, then taught history at Columbia from 1928 until 1955, becoming the Seth Low Professor of History and helping to establish cultural history as a discipline.
For many years, he co-taught Columbia’s renowned Great Books course with literary critic Lionel Trilling. From 1955 to 1968, he served as Dean of the Graduate School, Dean of Faculties, and Provost, and was also an Extraordinary Fellow of Churchill College at Cambridge. He became a University Professor at Columbia in 1968 and retired in 1975. Alongside his academic roles, Barzun was a managing editor of The Readers’ Subscription Book Club and its successor, the Mid-Century Book Society, with W. H. Auden and Lionel Trilling, and later served as Literary Adviser to Charles Scribner’s Sons from 1975 to 1993.
He married Mariana Lowell, a violinist, in 1936; they had three children. After her death in 1979, he married Marguerite Lee Davenport in 1980, and the couple moved to her hometown of San Antonio, Texas, in 1996. Barzun died there in 2012 at age 104. His work was praised for its extraordinary scope, covering subjects from Darwin and Marx to detective fiction and the music of Hector Berlioz, of whom he was a leading expert.
He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1954 and a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1984.
Quick Facts
- Birth name
- Jacques Martin Barzun
- Born
- 30 November 1907
- Birthplace
- Créteil, France
- Died
- 25 October 2012
- Place of death
- San Antonio, Texas, U.S.
- Occupation
- Historian
- Relatives
- Lucy Barzun Donnelly (granddaughter); Matthew Barzun (grandson)
- Education
- Columbia University (BA, MA, PhD)
Facts from the source article.
Background
Jacques Martin Barzun was born in Créteil, France, to Henri-Martin Barzun and Anna-Rose Barzun, and spent his childhood in Paris and Grenoble. His father was a member of the Abbaye de Créteil group of artists and writers, and also worked in the French Ministry of Labor. His parents' Paris home was frequented by many modernist artists of Belle Époque France, such as the poet Guillaume Apollinaire, the Cubist painters Albert Gleizes and Marcel Duchamp, the composer Edgard Varèse, and the writers Richard Aldington and Stefan Zweig.
While on a diplomatic mission to the United States during the First World War (1914–1918), Barzun's father so liked the country he decided that his son should receive an American university education; thus, the twelve-year-old Jacques Martin, after attending the Lycée Janson-de-Sailly, was sent to America, where he graduated from Harrisburg Technical High School in 1923 and then went off to Columbia University, where he obtained a liberal arts education.
As an undergraduate at Columbia College, Barzun was drama critic for the Columbia Daily Spectator, a prize-winning president of the Philolexian Society, the Columbia literary and debate club, and valedictorian of the class of 1927. He obtained a master's degree in 1928 and a Ph.D. in 1932 from Columbia, and taught history there from 1928 to 1955, becoming the Seth Low Professor of History and a founder of the discipline of cultural history. For years, he and literary critic Lionel Trilling conducted Columbia's famous Great Books course.
He was elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1954 and a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1984. From 1955 to 1968, he served as Dean of the Graduate School, Dean of Faculties, and Provost, while also being an Extraordinary Fellow of Churchill College at the University of Cambridge. From 1968 until his 1975 retirement, he was University Professor at Columbia. From 1951 to 1963 Barzun was one of the managing editors of The Readers' Subscription Book Club, and its successor the Mid-Century Book Society (the other managing editors being W. H. Auden and Lionel Trilling), and afterwards was Literary Adviser to Charles Scribner's Sons, 1975 to 1993.
In 1936, Barzun married Mariana Lowell, a violinist from a prominent Boston family. They had three children: James, Roger, and Isabel. Mariana died in 1979.
Did You Know?
- Barzun's magnum opus, From Dawn to Decadence, was published when he was 93 years old.
- He was a knight of the French Legion of Honor and received the American Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Notable Quotes (Wikiquote)
"The one thing that unifies men in a given age is not their individual philosophies but the dominant problem that these philosophies are designed to solve." — Jacques Barzun
"Teaching is not a lost art, but the regard for it is a lost tradition." — Jacques Barzun
"A student under my care owes his first allegiance to himself and not to my specialty; and must not be burdened with my work as if he followed no other and had contracted no obligation under heaven but that of satisfying my requirements." — Jacques Barzun
"Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball, the rules and realities of the game — and do it by watching first some high school or small-town teams." — Jacques Barzun
More in Scientists & Inventors
Elsewhere in Historical Figures
Spotted an error? Know more?
Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced