Profession: critic

Max Jacob

poet, painter, critic

1876 (Quimper, France) – 1944 (Drancy)

Jacob lodged at the famous Bâteau-Lavoir, along with Picasso, Apollinaire, Cocteau, van Dongen and Salmon. He and Picasso time-shared a bed and a hat, one working by night, the other by day. Modigliani, another friend, painted his portrait. Gris, Braque, Picasso and Jacob spent the summer of 1913 together; he had met both Braque and de Chirico through Apollinaire. Poulenc, another friend, set some of his words to music. He corresponded intensely with Jabès and with Leiris, illustrated Hugnet’s poems, was at Apollinaire’s deathbed, and met the 17-year-old Dubuffet (Jacob was his favourite poet) when he came to Paris to study.

Max Jacob knew…

Maurice Blanchot

novelist, critic

1907 (Quain, France) – 2003 (Le Mesnil-Saint-Denis)

Lévinas was a fellow-student and long-standing friend, whose children Blanchot sheltered during the occupation. Leiris, Caillois, and Klossowski were all Collège de Sociologie affiliates. Bataille and Char were friends (Bataille closely) and important influences. Blanchot was in wartime contact with Queneau and Paulhan, while Foucault, an admirer, met him during the 1968 events. His close friend Duras said he was one of the two writers she most esteemed. He and Jabès may never have met, despite living in Paris and regularly corresponding. Increasingly reclusive towards his death, he still stayed in touch with Derrida, whom he had influenced.

Maurice Blanchot knew…

John Keats

poet, critic

1795 (London) – 1821 (Rome)

Hazlitt was Keats’ most admired acquaintance; they met through Leigh Hunt, who first published his work, always kept a bed made up for him in his library, and also introduced him to Wordsworth, Lamb, Shelley and Haydon. Keats asked Haydon to be remembered to Bewick and Hazlitt. However Haydon failed to repay a loan, and they fell out. Coleridge and Keats met only once, walking for an hour on Hampstead Heath, Coleridge discoursing non-stop on a thousand things. Always more reserved with Shelley than Shelley was with him, Keats turned down his invitation to Pisa, and died of tuberculosis in Rome.

John Keats knew…

Johann Christoph Gottsched

writer, critic

1700 (Königsberg, Prussia, now Kaliningrad, Russia) – 1766 (Leipzig)

Gottsched tried strenuously to elevate German literary culture to the level of the French. He met Goethe when he went to study in Leipzig, where Grimm studied under him and Boswell visited him. Luise sent him some of her work, they corresponded, they married. He was one of Haller’s numerous correspondents, and among the group who met at Ziegler’s house; he encouraged her to publish her poetry. Bach (also based in Leipzig) set some of his verses to music, though found himself reprimanded by church authorities for assuming a responsibility. It’s thought Bach altered some words, without Gottsched objecting.

Johann Christoph Gottsched knew…

James Schuyler

poet, critic, curator

1923 (Chicago) – 1991 (New York)

Koch, Ashbery and Mathews co-founded the magazine ‘Locus Solus’ with him. He and O’Hara shared an apartment, Auden employed him as a typist, and Ashbery collaborated on a novel with him. Ashbery was also a colleague working at ‘Art News’, as were Guest and Elaine de Kooning. Willem de Kooning and Fairfield Porter were among artists he became friends with through his activities as a critic, Porter (after a brief fling) becoming a lifelong friend. Schuyler lived in the Porters’ house as a guest for over a decade, following a breakdown; Myles later took care of him.

James Schuyler knew…

Friedrich Melchior Grimm

Frédéric Melchior Grimm

writer, critic

1723 (Regensburg, Germany) – 1807 (Gotha)

Gottsched taught him at the University of Leipzig. Rousseau was a great friend, until Grimm (whom he’d introduced) became his companion d’Épinay’s lover. The friendship with Rousseau led to an association with Diderot, d’Alembert and the other encyclopaedists; Diderot became his most intimate friend, and Grimm became one of the mainstays of d’Holbach’s intellectual and libertarian côterie. Grimm described Garrick as the only actor to meet the demands of the imagination, and arranged concerts and society introductions for Mozart when the young prodigy, his father and sister arrived in Paris.

Friedrich Melchior Grimm knew…

Henry James

novelist, short-story writer, critic

1843 (New York) – 1916 (London)

William James was his brother, Thackeray a house-guest of their parents. He was photographed as a boy by Brady, writing about it as an adult. Howells published much of his writing. He befriended Morris, Rossetti, Ruskin, Browning, Eliot and Tennyson when he moved to London, and befriended Zola, Turgenev and Flaubert when he lived in France. Stevenson and Conrad were among his correspondents, Conrad and Wells becoming neighbours when he moved to Rye, Wells not entirely flatteringly basing a character on him. Wharton, a good friend, helped him financially and campaigned in vain for him to get a Nobel Prize.

Henry James knew…

Hector Berlioz

composer, critic

1803 (La Côte Saint-André, France) – 1869 (Paris)

Reicha taught him. He met his idol Spontini in 1830, and stayed friends for life. He met Liszt the same year, the start of a close friendship and copious correspondence. Paganini, Meyerbeer (despite his criticism of Meyerbeer’s music) and the loyal Legouvé all gave or lent him money to buy time to compose. He met Mendelssohn, Wagner and Schumann on a concert tour. Chopin, Hiller, Vigny and Dumas were among his friends in Paris (but Courbet’s singing grated). His friendship with Hugo started with a fan letter. Balzac lent him his fur coat before a journey to Russia involving a freezing four-day sleigh-ride.

Hector Berlioz knew…

Guillaume Apollinaire

poet, critic

1880 (Rome) – 1918 (Paris)

Apollinaire’s friends and acquaintances largely define the Parisian avant-garde of the early 20th C. He introduced Picasso to Braque (indirectly siring Cubism), watched Chaplin films with Léger, was friends with Jarry, Jacob, Salmon, Cendrars, Derain and Vlaminck, and lived with Laurencin for six years. He coined the term ‘surrealism’ for Satie and Cocteau’s ‘Parade,’ and accompanied Picabia to England. Picasso witnessed his wedding, while he witnessed Severini’s. Derain and Dufy illustrated his early books, Metzinger and de Chirico painted him, while Rousseau portrayed him and Laurencin as Poet and Muse.

Guillaume Apollinaire knew…