Amiel, HENRI FRÉDÉRIC

Amiel, HENRI FRÉDÉRIC, was born at Geneva in 1821. After travelling in Italy, he studied at Berlin (1844-48), where he read widely and industriously, and returned to Geneva saturated with German science and philosophy. In 1849 he was appointed professor of Aesthetics and French Literature at the Academy (University) of Geneva; which post, four years later, he exchanged for the professorship of Moral Philosophy. He died in 1881. His wide culture, critical power, and profound but melancholy speculation, would probably have remained unknown to the outside world, had not a selection been published after his death from his Journal Intime (2 vols. 1882-84; Eng. trans. 1885). He also wrote two small volumes of poetry.