Henri Peyre

Henri Maurice Peyre (21 February 1901 – 9 December 1988) was an American linguist and literary scholar of French origin. Quotes There is only one type of decadence which is dangerous in art and literature, and unfortunately critics seldom scourge it as it deserves: it consists in being conventional and imitative, in tritely expressing cheap and superficial emotions. Writers & Their Critics, Ithaca, New York, 1944. One of the most considerable achievements of Surrealism was its discovery that many writers and painters of the past had been Surrealists without knowing it. As quoted in Cohn Existentialism (1948), p. 36 The primary condition for being sincere is the same as for being humble: not to boast of it, and probably not even to be aware of it. Literature and Sincerity (1963), p. 5 Writing a novel is not very difficult: you simply write ten pages a day for a month and then you have a novel. Henri Peyre, at Yale, as quoted in Graham, Garrett, The Writer's Voice: Conversations with Contemporary Writers (1973), p. 272 External links Henri Peyre obituary, 1988 Category:1988 deaths Category:People from Paris Category:Academics from the United States Category:Linguists from the United States Category:Yale University faculty Category:1901 births Category:Emigrants