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Philéas
Lebesgue, an all-embracing writer
"But
who was Philéas Lebesgue?" That is a question
that is often asked. As one of his biographers said "the
name has a familiar ring" and added "a sort of legendary
figure, if he is dead he surely must have lived in the middle
Ages, somewhere between Charlemagne and guillaume Budé.
If he's alive he must live in the depths of Gallic forest
or on an island in the mediteranean. I'm sure he was a poet,
but what type of verse did he write ?
Phileas
Lebesgue was born in November 1869 in a small village of Picardy
an died there in 1958.
He attended a school in Beauvais until the age of sixteen,
then he studied foreign languages and poetry on his parents'
farm by himself. He knew his vocation was in literature.
Influenced by symbolism his started to collaborate on many
literary reviews and from 1896 became a member of the editorial
staff in the famous Mercure de France. There he wrote
the "Portuguese Letters" columns followed by the
"Yugoslavian Letters" and the "Neo-Greek Letters"
columns. We can still find hundred of his articles and poetry
in local, national and international publications from the
years 1900-1940.
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Philéas
Lebesgue's home
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In
Beauvais, Between the first and second world war he was
the leading writer on the République de l'Oise,
a daily newspaper in which he developed his literary and
political themes and gave an editoral on the issues of the
day. He also participed in the weekly paper of Grandvilliers.
What made Philéas Lebesgue unique was his extraordinary
range of talent. He had contact with writers, artists and
intellects from all over Europe, North Africa and South
America. He travelled widely abroad, often to Portugal,
Greece, Yugoslavia and Great Britain. Among his artist friends
he counted the ceramists Delaherche and Gréber. He
met regulary with his friend, the painter Henri Le Sidaner
who settled in Gerberoy. Other friend included van Hollebeke,
Manceaux, Bréval and Devarenne. The last two illustrated
several of his poetry collections.
Philéas
Lebesgue worked dozens of works on many diverse subjects
(poetry, novels, editorials, essays, songs and literary
critiques).
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