Death of poet and philosopher Michel Deguy

Michel Deguy, the founder of the journal po&sie, was the author of numerous works, including collections, essays, and translations, as well as the recipient of numerous honors. This writer passed away on Thursday at the age of 91.

Michel Deguy, a poet and philosopher who won the Goncourt prize for poetry in 2020, died on Thursday, February 17th, at the age of 91, according to the publishing company Gallimard.

The publisher did not specify the reason of death. In October, he was honored by the French Academy with the literary prize Guez de Balzac, a lavishly funded honor bestowed only once in a lifetime. Michel Deguy was born in Paris on May 23, 1930, from a family of industrialists. He dedicated his life to preserving poetry as a vital language against the commodification of the world. He’s always been interested in the march of time, and in recent years, he’s been concerned about the future of intellect and poetry in a world of screens.

A compilation of poems and essays, as well as a review

This brilliant thinker with an eternal cigarette attacked all realms of knowledge as a poet-philosopher, studying the links between these two disciplines brought together in a “thinking poetry” in 1977, founding the journal po&sie (Belin), a reference publication for modern poetry. He was close friends with Jacques Derrida and contributed to the Critique and Modern Times reviews, as well as chairing the International College of Philosophy from 1989 to 1995. He was also a member of Gallimard’s Reading Committee for 25 years.

Several collections of poems (Poems from the Peninsula, Lying, Giving, Giving 1960-1980, To what never ends, Desolatio), tests (The Energy of Despair, Poetry is not alone, Reopening after works…), translations of Heidegger (Hölderlin approach) or the Greek philosopher Empedocles are among his publications.

By Editor

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