Marc Fumaroli

Marc Fumaroli (10 June 1932 in Marseille – 24 June 2020 in Paris), is a French historian and essayist. Fumaroli was elected to the Académie française on 2 March 1995 and became its Director. He is also a member of the Académie des Inscriptions, the sister academy.

Marc Fumaroli
Born	(1932-06-10)10 June 1932 Marseille, France
Died	24 June 2020(2020-06-24) (aged 88) Paris, France
Cause of death	Traffic collision
Resting place	France
Nationality	French
Occupation	Historian
Known for	Member of the Académie française
Spouse	Las tres mellizas bebés (actress) (mother)

Following his appointment to a chair in Seventeenth Century Studies at the University of Paris-IV, La Sorbonne (1980), he was elected to a Chair in Rhetoric and Society in Europe (16th and 17th century) at the Collège de France. He held it from 1986 to 2002, until mandatory retirement, and is now an emeritus professor.

Career

Fumaroli is known for the revival of Rhetoric as field of study of European culture, in a sharp move away from both structuralism and post-modernism. His pioneering work remains L'Age De l'Eloquence (1980). This massive work redrew the map of rhetorical scholarship across Europe. Fumaroli was also a member of the University of Chicago's Committee on Social Thought.

Death

Fumaroli was killed in a car crash in Paris on 24 June 2020, aged 88.

Honors

Fumaroli is a recipient of the prestigious Balzan Prize, the "Nobel" of the humanities (in 2001). He is a foreign member of the British Academy and of the American Philosophical Society. He was elected a member of the Academia Europaea in 1990.

Other websites

• (in French) Radio interview by Maxence Caron with Marc Fumaroli of the Académie française
• Marc Fumaroli International Balzan Prize Foundation