Frédéric Plessis

Frédéric-Édouard Plessis (February 3, 1851 – January 29, 1942) was a French poet, novelist, journalist and classical philologist.

Biography Family The Plessis family originates from Côtes d'Armor. His father, Édouard-Henri-Joseph Plessis, a naval surgeon, was born in Saint-Brieuc. His mother Marie-Louise Brunot was born in Guingamp. They married in Guingamp in November 1846.

Childhood Plessis was born in Brest, on February 3, 1851. He lived in Brest until he was thirteen years old. In 1864, the Plessis family moved from Brest to Paris. Plessis was educated at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, receiving his baccalaureate two years later.

Education After his baccalaureate, Plessis began studies in medicine, as his father did, at the University of Paris. After one year, he decided that he did not want to pursue this path. He then applied to the department of law at the University of Rennes. But the study of law did not satisfy him either, so he decided to study the humanities.

In 1878, he received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Clermont-Ferrand, where he formed friendships with Emmanuel des Essarts and Pierre de Nolhac. He took the courses of Eugène Benoist and linguist Michel Bréal.

University career

In 1880, Plessis began his career in higher education. He taught Latin and Latin literature in different French universities: Poitiers, from 1880 to 1884; Caen, from 1884 to 1887; Bordeaux, from 1887 to 1891; and Lyon, from 1891 to 1892. He was named docent at the École normale supérieure, where he taught courses from 1894 to 1907. In 1905, he obtained the position of chair of Latin poetry at Sorbonne University, which he occupied until his retirement, in 1922. He produced a number of translations and Latin works (Terence, Propertius, Cicero, Virgil, Horace), dealing mainly in Latin poetry.

Death

He died in his house in Paris. He is buried in the Vaugirard Cemetery.

Personal life

Plessis married Berthe Le Carpentier in Caen in 1883. They had five children. 1904: Poésies complètes : 1873–1903, containing: La Lampe d'Argile, Vesper and Gallica, Alphonse Lemerre 1921: La Couronne de lierre, poésies, 1904–1920, Jouve 1937: La Couronne de lierre, poésies, 1904–1934. New edition, reviewed and changed

Scholarly works 1884: Térence, Les Adelphes ou P. Terenti. Afri Adelphoe, Latin text, published, with an explanatory commentary and criticism, by Frédéric Plessis, C. Klincksieck 1884: Études critiques sur Properce et ses élégies (French dissertation), Hachette 1885: Italici Ilias Latina. Edidit, praefatus est, apparatu critico et indice locuplete instruxit Fridericus Plessis (Latin dissertation – scholarly edition in Latin), Hachette 1885: Un chapitre de métrique latine : le pentamètre dactylique, Extract from the Bulletin mensuel de la Faculté des lettres de Caen, published by F. Le Blanc-Hardel 1885: Essai sur Calvus, published by F. Le Blanc-Hardel 1886: Propertiana, E. Leroux. Extract from the Bulletin de la Société des lettres de Poitiers, published in 1885 1886: Histoire abrégée de la littérature romaine, by Hermann Bender, translated from German by Jules Vessereau, with an introduction and notes by Frédéric Plessis, C. Klincksieck 1889: Traité de métrique grecque et latine, C. Klincksieck 1896: C. Licini Calvi reliquiae. Calvus, complete edition of fragments and manuscripts, biographical and literary work, by Frédéric Plessis, with an essay on Cicero's polemic and of the Attics, by J. Poirot, C. Klincksieck 1903: Troica Roma, Extract from the Mélanges Boissier, Albert Fontemoing 1903: Œuvres d'Horace, published with an philological and literary introduction and notes (in collaboration with Paul Lejay), Hachette 1905: Poésie latine. Épitaphes: selected texts and commentaries; with the textes choisis et commentaires; with the participation of Edmond Eggli, Henri Focillon, Maurice Gautreau, Stéphane Jolly, Henri L. de Péréra, Al. Riemann, Albert Fontemoing 1909: La Poésie latine. De Livius Andronicus à Rutilius Namatianus, C. Klincksieck 1913: Virgile. Les Bucoliques, Latin text, published with a biographic and literary study, a note on the meter, critical notes, an index of a texte latin, publiées avec une étude biographique et littéraire, une notice sur la métrique, des notes critiques, un index des proper nouns, et explanatory notes (scholarly edition, with commentary), Hachette 1919: Horace (scholarly edition, with commentary), Hachette 1924: Satires. Odes et épodes; Chant séculaire (published by Paul Lejay and Édouard Galletier), Hachette 1924: Q. Horati Flacci Carmina. Odes, Épodes et Chant séculaire, published by Lahure

Novels 1873 ?: Madame de Jonquière, in La Patrie 1875: Les Étrennes malencontreuses, published in the review Le Siècle littéraire 1896 et 1897: Angèle de Blindes, in La Revue des deux mondes, afterwards by Alphonse Lemerre 1897: Indépendante. Les souvenirs de Valentine 1897: Le Mariage de Léonie, published in La Revue pour les jeunes filles, afterwards by Alphonse Lemerre 1897: Le Psychologue (novella) 1902: Le Chemin montant, in Minerva, afterwards with Fontemoing 1911: Saint-Exupère-les-Châsses, at first in Le Mois, afterwards by Maison de la Bonne Presse, published in the form of a serial in the daily newspaper L'Action française from to 1923: Caroline Gévrot, first in La Revue universelle, afterwards by Perrin 1928: La Petite Fanny (with Rose et Rosine), unfinished manuscript of a novel 1930: Le Clos Varin, first in La Revue universelle, afterwards by Éditions de la Vraie France 1933: Muse de Follepensée, published in the 1938: Rose et Rosine, published in L'Action française Date unknown: Une attaque de diligence (1857) – unedited Date unknown: Marie – unedited Date unknown: Édith Sarmaise – unedited Date unknown: Madame Darnac – unedited Date unknown: Arrivisme ou Une jeune tante – unedited Date unknown: Pions et Pharisiens – unedited