SACRÉ, James 1939-
(James Jean Sacré)

PERSONAL:

Born May 17, 1939, in Cougou, France; son of Remy and Suzanne Sacré; married Mary Lynn K. Engstrom, July 2, 1964; children: Katia, Serge. Education: C.E.L.G. Université, Caen, France, 1965; Boston College, M.A., 1968, Ph.D., 1972.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Wright Hall, Smith College, Northampton, MA 01063.

CAREER:

Writer, poet, and educator. Secondary schoolteacher, France, 1959-65; Beaver County Day School, Chestnut Hill, MA, French teacher, 1965-67; Boston College, Boston, MA, instructor in Romance languages, 1968-72; Smith College, Northampton, MA, began as assistant professor, 1972, became associate professor, beginning 1972. Military service: French Army, 1960-62.

MEMBER:

Societe des professeurs francais en Amerique, Renaissance Society of America, Society francaise des Seiziemistes, Groupe de Recherches semio-linguistiques de l'Institut de la langue francaise.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Poetry prize, Academie Francaise, 1972; Presidential Bicentennial Award, Boston College, 1976.

WRITINGS:

Coeur élégie rouge; poèmes, Éditions du Seuil (Paris, France), 1972, reprinted, André Dimanche (Marseille, France), 2001.

Un sang maniériste: étude structurale autour du mot "sang" dans la poésie lyrique française de la fin du 16e siècle (criticism), La Baconnière (Neuchatel, France), 1977.

Figures qui bougent un peu (poetry), Gallimard (Paris, France), 1978.

(With Iain Baxter) Fire, Collectif Génération (Paris, France), 1980.

Quelque chose de mal raconté, Ryôan-ji (Marseille, France), 1981.

Rougigogne, Obsidiane (Paris, France), 1983.

Ancrits: poèmes, T. Bouchard (Losne, France), 1983.

Ecrire pour t'aimer: à S.B, Ryôan-ji (Marseille, France), 1984.

Un fin d'après-midi à Marrakech, Ryôan-ji (Marseille, France), 1988.

(Editor) Jean de Sponde, D'amour et de mort: poésies complètes, La Différence (Paris, France), 1989.

Paysan comme (quatre fois), illustrated by Ronald King, Collectif Génération (Paris, France), 1990.

Ecritures courtes, Chaillé-sous-les-Ormeaux; Le Dé Bleu; Écho optique (Les Herbiers, France), 1992.

Dos animaux plus ou moins familiers, A. Dimanche (Marseille, France), 1993.

La poésie, comment dire?, A. Dimanche (Marseille, France), 1993.

(With François Rabelais and François Bon) Pantagruéline prognostication, Le Dé bleu (Chaillesous-les-Ormeaux, France), 1994.

Ma guenille (fiction), Obsidiane (Paris, France), 1995.

Viens, dit quelqu'un, A. Dimanche éditeur (Marseille, France), 1996.

La nuit vient dans les yeux, Tarabuste (Saint-Benoitdu-Sault, France), 1996.

La peinture du poème s'en va, Tarabuste (Saint-Benoit-du-Sault, France), 1998.

Anacoluptères, illustrated by Pierre-Yves Gervais, Tarabuste (Saint-Benoit-du-Sault, France), 1998.

(With Madeleine Ouellette-Michalska) L'Amerique un peu, 2000.

Si peu de terre, tout, Dé bleu (Chaille-sous-les-Ormeaux, France), 2000.

Ecrire à coté, Tarabuste (Saint-Benoit-du-Sault, France), 2000.

On regarde un âne (poetry), Tarabuste (Saint-Benoitdu-Sault, France), 2000.

Une petite fille silencieuse: poèmes pour Katia, André Dimanche (Marseille, France), 2001.

SIDELIGHTS:

James Sacré is an award-winning French poet and literary critic who has taught in America for several decades. In one of his early volumes of poetry, Figures qui bougent un peu, the author writes in "response to objects perceived and otherwise experienced," according to World Literature Today contributor Robert C. Carroll. Referring to the author's use of language as "eclectic," Carroll added that "its voices modulate among various termini of linguistic utterance: speech … silent thought, … voices of conscience, [and] poetic pastiches." Sacré is also the author of Un sang maniériste: étude structurale autour du mot "sang" dans la poésie lyrique française de la fin du 16e siècle. This book of literary criticism focuses on the French word "sang," which means "blood" in English, as it is used in French poetry from the late sixteenth century. Writing in the French Review, Lance K. Donaldson-Evans commented that the author "rightly questions the assumption made by some critics that its use is a direct reflection of the bloodshed resulting from the religious wars." According to Donaldson-Evans: "The poetic connotations called into play by sang are shown to vary according to context, and blood is seen as a polyvalent sign, evoking now life, now death, now happiness, now unhappiness." The reviewer went on to note that the author "often presents stimulating and fresh insights into the texts studied." Modern Language Today contributor T.C. Cave saw the book as "as a contribution to the thematic studies of baroque and mannerist poetry."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Courrier du Centre International d'Etudes Poetiques, January-June, 1996, Christophe Wall-Romana, "Franchise de la poésie hors register: Sur les oeuvres récentes de James Sacré," pp. 47-65.

French Review, February, 1979, Lance K. Donaldson-Evans, review of Un sang maniériste: étude structurale autour du mot "sang" dans la poésie lyrique française de la fin du 16e siècle, pp. 481-482; December, 1979, Jean Leblon, review of Figures qui bougent un peu, pp. 319-320.

Modern Language Review, April 1979, T.C. Cave, review of Un sang maniériste, p. 457.

University of Toronto, winter, 2001-02, Roger Chamberland, "Poésie," pp. 432-451.

World Literature Today, summer, 1979, Robert C. Carroll, review of Figures qui bougent un peu, p. 475.*