Sainte-Beuve, Charles Augustin, << sant BUHV, shahrl oh goo STAN >> (1804-1869), a French critic, was the greatest exponent of the biographical method of literary criticism. His works reveal that his main interest was in human psychology and the origin of a literary work in the creator’s mind, family, friends, and time.
Sainte-Beuve possessed excellent taste and tireless curiosity. Writing in a delicate, subtle style, he covered the entire field of arts and letters, and probably did more than any other person to determine attitudes on French literature in his time. His brilliant essays were published in Literary Portraits (1829-1846), Contemporary Portraits (1846), 15 volumes of Monday Chats (1853-1862), and 10 volumes of More Monday Chats (1863-1872).
Sainte-Beuve was also an outstanding historian of French aesthetic and intellectual movements. Tableau of French Poetry (1828) is a sympathetic study of the French origins of romanticism. History of Port-Royal (1840-1860) examines Port-Royal, a French convent that became the center of a religious and literary movement in the 1600’s. Chateaubriand and His Literary Circle (1860) is a critical assessment of the French statesman and author and his literary circle during the First Empire in the early 1800’s. Sainte-Beuve also wrote poetry and a partly autobiographical novel, Volupte (Pleasures of the Senses, 1834).
Sainte-Beuve was born on Dec. 23, 1804, in Boulogne-sur-Mer. He spent much of his career writing for newspapers and for literary magazines. He died on Oct. 13, 1869.
