Groussac, Paul (1848–1929)

Paul Groussac (b. 15 February 1848; d. 27 June 1929), Argentine essayist, philosopher, and historian. François Paul Groussac was born in Toulouse, France, and finished secondary school in Brest. He settled in Argentina in 1866, during the War of the Triple Alliance (Paraguayan War), and went on to become a leading intellectual in his adopted country. Groussac taught mathematics at the Colegio Nacional in Buenos Aires and spent many hours in the national library broadening his intellectual horizons. He lived in San Miguel de Tucumán in northwestern Argentina, taught at the Colegio Nacional in Tucumán (1871–1874), became superintendent of education in that province (1874–1878), and was appointed director of the Teachers' College in 1878.

Keenly interested in Argentine history and Latin American thought, Groussac wrote for Argentine newspapers and authored important books in the field. His works include: Los jesuítas en Tucumán (The Jesuits in Tucuman [1873]), Les îles Malouines (The Malvinas [1910]), Viaje intelectual (Intellectual Voyage [1904]), El pensamiento de América (American, i.e., Latin American, Thought [1989]), El Congreso de Tucumán (1916), Los que pasaban (Some Who Passed Through [1919]), and Del Plata al Niágara (1897). Combative in his newspaper articles, Groussac was befriended by such influential intellectuals and politicians as Nicolás Avellaneda, José Manuel Estrada, Eduardo Wilde, Lucio V. Mansilla, Aristóbulo Del Valle, and Carlos Pellegrini. Groussac's lasting contributions included the reorganization of the National Library, of which he became director in 1885; the publication of the scholarly journal La Biblioteca (1896), which became Anales de la Biblioteca in 1900 (it ceased publication in 1915); and participation in the founding of El Sud Americano and La Nación. He belonged to the influential group of educators and writers at the turn of the century who shaped modern Argentina. He died in Buenos Aires.

See alsoEducation: Overview; War of the Triple Alliance.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Alfonso De Laferrère, "Noticia preliminar," in Páginas de Groussac (1928), pp. 7-41.

Joaquín G. Martínez, François Paul Groussac: Su vida, su obra (1948).

Paul Groussac, Jorge Luis Borges selecciona lo mejor de Paul Groussac (1981).

Additional Bibliography

Bruno, Paula. Paul Groussac: un estratega intelectual. Victoria, Pcia. De Buenos Aires: Universidad de San Andrés, 2005.

Páez de la Torre, Carlos. La cólera de la inteligencia: una vida de Paul Groussac. Buenos Aires: Emecé, 2005.

                             Georgette Magassy Dorn