Xavier Marmier - Encyclopedia

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES

XAVIER MARMIER (1809-1892), French author, was born at Pontarlier, in Doubs, on the 24th of June 1809. He had a passion for travelling, and this he combined throughout his life with the production of literature. After journeying in Switzerland, Belgium and Holland, he was attached in 1835 to the Arctic expedition of the "Recherche"; and after a couple of years at Rennes as professor of foreign literature, he visited (1842) Russia, (1845) Syria, (1846) Algeria, (1848-1849) North and South America, and numerous volumes from his pen were the result. In 1870 he was elected to the Academy, and he was for many years prominently identified with the Sainte-Genevieve library. He did much to encourage the study of Scandinavian literature in France, publishing translations of Holberg, Oehlenschlager and others. He died in Paris on the 11th of October 1892.