Sergent, Bernard 1946-

PERSONAL: Born February 23, 1946, in Paris, France; son of Georges and Lucienne (Didner) Sergent; divorced; children: Flore, Marion. Ethnicity: "French." Education: University of Paris, baccaulaureat, 1966, licence d'histoire, 1969, maitrise d'histoire, 1970, agregation, 1972, doctorat, 1975, habilitation, 2000. Hobbies and other interests: European, Asian, and Mediterranean ancient history; African and American ethnology; prehistory; anthropology; Indo-European culture, principally Greek and Celtic.

ADDRESSES: Home—3 rue Saint-Laurent, 75010 Paris, France.

CAREER: Secondary school teacher in Paris, France, 1972–88; National Center for Scientific Research, Paris, researcher, 1988–.

MEMBER: Society of French Mythology, Louis Gernet Center for Comparative Research about Ancient Societies.

WRITINGS:

L'Homosexualité dans la mythologie grecque (also see below), preface by Georges Dumézil, Payot (Paris, France), 1984, translation by Arthur Goldhammer published as Homosexuality in Greek Myth, Beacon Press (Boston, MA), 1986.

L'Homosexualité initiatique dans l'Europe ancienne (also see below), Payot (Paris, France), 1986.

(With Pascale Jeambrun) Les Enfants de la Lune, les albinos amérindiens (title means "The Children of the Moon, the Amerindian Albinos"), Inserm & Orstom (Paris, France), 1991, revised edition, 2005.

Les Indo-Europeens. Histoire, langues, mythes, Payot (Paris, France), 1995, revised edition 2005.

(With Jean-Luc Le Quellec) La Pomme: Contes et Mythes, Société de mythologie française (Beauvais, France), 1995.

Genèse de l'Inde, Payot (Paris, France), 1997.

Les trois fonctions indo-europeennes en Grèce ancienne, Economica (Paris, France), 1998.

Celtes et Grecs. Le livre des heros, Payot (Paris, France), 1999.

Celtes et Grecs. Le livre des dieux, Payot (Paris, France), 2004.

La guerre à la culture: aspects des attaques contre l'intelligence dans la période jospino-raffynesque, Harmattan (Paris, France), 2005.

L'Homosexualité dans la mythologie grecque and L'Homosexualité initiatique dans l'Europe ancienne were published in a single volume titled Homosexualité et initiation chez les peuples indo-europeens. Contributor to books, including Peuples et civilisations, Presses Universitaires de France (Paris, France), 1987.

WORK IN PROGRESS: L'Atlantide et la mythologie grecque, for Verdier (Paris, France); Critical Dictionary of Mythology, with Jean-Luc Le Quellec.

SIDELIGHTS: Bernard Sergent's nonfiction work L'Homosexualité dans la mythologie grecque serves as an anthropological study of homosexuality in ancient Greece. Sergent focuses on relationships in which older men provide affection, guidance, and instruction to young boys. In a review in the Times Literary Supplement, Helen King noted that the author's "main interest is … homosexuality as a deliberate rejection of women in the course of making the boy into a real man." Using ancient Greek literature to support his theory, Sergent points to several passages included in some versions of Homer's Iliad which suggest homosexual tendencies in characters. Some critics have suggested that European translators of Greek myth edited texts to rid them of homoerotic elements. In a review of the translation, Homosexuality in Greek Myth, in the London Observer, Philip Faulconbridge called Sergent's work "an impressive effort to map one of the broadest areas of Greek myth."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Liberation, November 11, 1999.

Observer, February 8, 1987, Philip Faulconbridge, review of Homosexuality in Greek Myth, p. 29.

Times Literary Supplement, May 22, 1987, Helen King, review of Homosexuality in Greek Myth and L'Homosexualité initiatique dans l'Europe ancienne, p. 546.