Régis Messac
Régis Messac (1893-1943) was a multifaceted French intellectual, known for his roles as a teacher, union organizer, pacifist, anarchist, and a member of the French resistance during World War II. After surviving serious injuries from World War I, he embarked on an academic career that included teaching at various colleges in England and Canada before returning to France in 1929. Messac's influential doctoral dissertation, "Le 'Detective novel' et l'influence de la pensée scientifique," published the same year, established him as a prominent literary critic, particularly in the field of mystery and detective fiction. His analyses recognized the innovative storytelling techniques of Edgar Allan Poe and he argued for the significance of Caleb Williams by William Godwin as the first detective novel. In addition to his scholarly contributions, Messac authored science fiction novels, including "Quinzinzinsili" and "La Cité des asphyxies," further demonstrating his commitment to examining popular culture seriously. As a teacher, he challenged conventional pedagogical practices, which led to his involvement in labor organization as the secretary of the French teachers' union in 1936. Tragically, his resistance efforts against the Nazi occupation resulted in his arrest in 1943, and he ultimately perished in concentration camps.
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Régis Messac
Writer
- Born: August 2, 1893
- Birthplace: Charente, France
- Died: 1943
Biography
Régis Messac, born in 1893 in the Champagnac district of France, was a teacher, union organizer, militant, pacifist, anarchist, and a member of the French resistance movement during World War II. In addition, he was a literary critic and novelist who sometimes used the pseudonyms Sancho Lhorente and Columbus North.
After recovering from serious wounds suffered in World War I, Messac worked and taught at several English and Canadian colleges and universities. In 1929, he returned to France and began teaching at a college in Montpellier.
Messac’s doctoral dissertation on police literature, Le "Detective novel" et l’influence de la pensée scientifique, was considered groundbreaking at the time. As a result, it was first published in 1929 and has since been reprinted numerous times. Messac’s masterful analysis of mystery and detective fiction stood as a reference tool for anyone who wished to critique works in the genre. In fact, it is only in recent times that Messac’s work has been considered outdated. The book also showcased Messac’s scholarship on Edgar Allan Poe, proving he was an authority on the American author. It was Messac who pointed out that Poe’s originality rest not in plot or plot development but in the treatment of his story; Poe’s work was innovative, Messac maintained, because the author imagined himself within the brain of the culprit. Messac also considered Caleb Williams (1794) by William Godwin to be the first detective novel ever written, and he described an association between the American frontier and Les Mohicans de Paris (1854-1855) by Alexandre Dumas, père.
Messac’s literary interests seemed to reside within the confines of popular culture. While he wrote scholarly articles for libertarian reviews or proletarian literature, he added science fiction novels to his detective fiction analysis. In 1935, two of his best-known novels, Quinzinzinsili and La Cité des asphyxies, were published. As in the case of detective fiction, Messac treated science fiction seriously and became one of the first to critique from a scholarly standpoint. Quinzinzinsili is an end-of-the-world romance in which a new and better civilization arises.
As a professor and a teacher, Messac questioned the usual pedagogy and dogma related to his profession. This questioning resulted in his being labeled an anarcho-syndicalist. His opinions and militancy enabled him to become secretary of the French teachers’ union in 1936. After the Nazis occupied France, Messac became a member of the French resistance. He was arrested on May 10, 1943, and sent to several concentration camps, from which he never returned.