Léon-Paul Fargue (1876 - 1947)

Léon-Paul Fargue

Léon-Paul Fargue was a French poet and novelist, journalist and publicist.

Léon-Paul studied at the Lycée Henry IV in Paris and as a young man became a member of the Symbolist circle associated with Le Mercure de France. His first collection of poems was published in 1912 and reprinted in 1918. After 1930, Fargue practiced journalism almost exclusively, writing newspaper columns and lyrical essays on Parisian life.

Léon Fargue's work encompasses various literary movements, being a kind of bridge from Symbolism to Surrealism. His work has also been associated with the Dadaists and the Cubists, but he followed his own path throughout his life. Fargue was among the founders of the Nouvelle Revue Française in 1912 and participated in the first issue of the surrealist journal Literature in 1919, and was one of the leaders of the experimental journal Commerce in the 1920s. Farg was friends with many writers, artists and composers, including Pablo Picasso and Igor Stravinsky.

In 1937, Léon-Paul Fargue was elected a member of the Académie Mallarmé, and in 1946 he won the Grand Poet Laureate of Paris.