Antoine Compagnon

Antoine Compagnon is a Professor of French Literature at Collège de France since 2006 and the Blanche W. Knopf Professor of French and Comparative Literature at Columbia University since 1985. He holds a Doctorate from Paris Diderot University and studied at École Polytechnique and École nationale des Ponts et Chaussées.

Research Interests: Compagnon specializes in French literature, comparative literature, and literary theory, with a focus on modernity, postmodernism, and canonical figures like Proust, Montaigne, and Baudelaire. His work explores auto-biographical forms, rhetorical traditions, and the cultural impact of French literature.

Publications Trends: His recent books analyze intersections between 17th-century philosophy and modern criticism, emphasizing autobiographical literature and digital humanities. He frequently examines French cultural identity, literary pedagogy, and the paradoxes of modernity.

Scientific Awards:

• Fellow of the Thiers Foundation (1975-1978)
• Guggenheim Fellow (1988)
• Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1997)
• Fellow of Academia Europaea (2006)
• Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy (2009)
• Honorary Degrees from King's College London (2010), HEC Paris (2012), and University of Liège (2013)
• Claude Lévi-Strauss Prize (2011)

Additional Contributions: He curated a Proust manuscript exhibition at the Morgan Library (2013) and produced popular radio series like Un été avec Montaigne (2012) and Un été avec Pascal (2020).