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Biography[edit]
Born in Provins, France, Vernant at first studied philosophy, receiving his agrgation in this field
in 1937.
A member of the Young Communists (Jeunes Communistes), Vernant joined the French
Resistance during World War II and was a member of Libration-sud (founded byEmmanuel
d'Astier). He later commanded the French Interior Forces (FFI) in Haute-Garonne under the
pseudonym of "Colonel Berthier." He was a Companion of the Liberation. After the war, he
remained a member of the French Communist Party until 1969.
He entered the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) in 1948 and, under the
influence of Louis Gernet, turned to the study of ancient Greek anthropology. Ten years later, he
became director of studies at the cole des hautes tudes en sciences sociales (EHESS). In
1971 he was professor in the University of So Paulo.[1] This visit was also an act of protest that
he made with Franois Chtelet against the brazilian military government (dictatorship).
He was a member of the French sponsorship committee for the Decade for the Promotion of a
Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World. He supported the funding
organisation Non-Violence XXI.
He was awarded the CNRS gold medal in 1984. In 2002, he received an honorary doctorate at
the University of Crete.
Vernant died a few days after his 93rd birthday in Svres.
After his death, his name was given to a French highschool in Svres, le "Lycee Jean-Pierre
Vernant".
Influence[edit]
The structuralist approach pioneered by Vernant has been influential on a wide range of classical
scholars. More specifically, Vernant's reading of the myth of Prometheus was an important
influence on philosopher Bernard Stiegler's book, Technics and Time, 1: The Fault of
Epimetheus.
Criticism[edit]
Vernant's approach has been heavily criticized, particularly among Italian philologists, even by
those of Marxist tendencies. He has been accused of a fundamentally ahistoricalapproach,
allegedly going as far as to manipulate his sources by describing them in categories which do not
apply (polysemy and ambiguity).[2]
Awards[edit]
Compagnon de la Libration
Croix de Guerre
University of Chicago
University of Bristol
University of Naples
University of Oxford
Other awards[edit]
Select publications[edit]
Les origines de la pense grecque (Paris), 1962 (= Origins of Greek Thought, 1982)
Mythe et pense chez les Grecs: Etudes de psychologie historique (Paris), 1965 (= Myth
and Thought among the Greeks, 1983)
With Pierre Vidal-Naquet: Mythe et tragdie en Grce ancienne, 2 vols. (Paris), 1972,
1986 (= Tragedy and Myth in Ancient Greece, 1981; Myth and Tragedy in Ancient Greece,
1988)
Mythe et socit en Grce ancienne (Paris), 1974 (= Myth and Society in Ancient Greece,
1978)
With Marcel Detienne: Les ruses de l'intelligence: La mtis des Grecs (Paris), 1974
(= Cunning Intelligence in Greek Culture and Society, 1977)
With Marcel Detienne: La cuisine de sacrifice en pays grec (Paris), 1979 (= Cuisine of
Sacrifice among the Greeks, 1989)
With Jean Bottro and Clarisse Herrenschmidt: (French) L'orient ancien et nous (Paris),
1996. (English) Ancestor of the West: Writing, Reasoning, and Religion in Mesopotamia,
Elam, and Greece, translated by Teresa Lavender Fagan. University of Chicago Press,
2000. ISBN 978-0226067155.
L'univers, les dieux, les hommes: rcits grecs des origines Paris, Le Seuil, 1999 (= The
Universe, The Gods, and Men: Ancient Greek Myths, 2001)
References[edit]
1.
2.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Pierre_Vernant