Gourmont, Remy de

Gourmont, Remy de (1858-1915), French writer and critic, who was a leader of the Symbolist movement. He was born in Bazoches-sur-Hoëne and educated at the University of Caen. He joined the staff of the Bibliothèque Nationale, in Paris, in 1883 and co-founded the noted periodical Le Mercure de France (1890). He was compelled to resign from the library in 1891 because of an allegedly unpatriotic article he had written. His later writings include several notable series of essays, such as the Épilogues, réflexions sur la vie (1903-1913), dealing in rather cynical terms with contemporary life, and Promenades littéraires (1904-1928; Literary Excursions), perceptive criticisms of contemporary writing. In L'Esthétique de la langue française (1899), La Culture des idées (1900; Decadence and Other Essays on the Culture of Ideals, 1921), and Le Problème du style (1902), Gourmont concerned himself with general problems of aesthetics and literary craftsmanship. He also wrote the novels Sixtine (1890), Le Songe d'une Femme (1899; The Dream of a Woman, 1927), and Un Coeur virginal (1908; A Virgin Heart, 1921).