Jean Varenne | |
---|---|
Born | 12 June 1926
Marseille, France |
Died | 12 July 1997
Paris, France | (aged 71)
Nationality | French |
Occupation | Indologist |
Jean Varenne (12 June 1926 – 12 July 1997) was a French Indologist and a prominent figure of the Nouvelle Droite. He taught Sanskrit at the Aix-Marseille University, then at Jean Moulin University Lyon 3, where he was eventually nominated professor emeritus. Varenne has also been a visiting professor at the University of Chicago, and at other universities in India, Cambodia and Mexico. [1]
Jean Varenne was born on 12 June 1926 in Marseille, Provence. [2] [1] He attended Lycée Thiers , then Aix-Marseille University and the University of Paris, earning a PhD in Sanskrit studies at the École des Hautes Études. Varenne was a member of the French School of the Far East, and taught in India and Cambodia. [1]
In 1962, he received a teaching position at Aix-Marseille, [1] where he founded the Department of Indian Studies in the early 1960s. [3] Varenne also worked as a visiting professor at El Colegio de México and at the University of Chicago in the second part of the 1960s. [4] [1]
In 1974, Varenne joined the patronage committee of Nouvelle École, a review published by GRECE, an ethno-nationalist think tank led by Alain de Benoist. [3] He quit his teaching position at Aix-Marseille in 1980, [1] and co-founded with Jean Haudry and Jean-Paul Allard the "Institute of Indo-European Studies" (IEIE) at the Jean Moulin University Lyon 3 the same year. [5] He was appointed professor of Sanskrit philology, Indian civilization and history of religions at Lyon 3 in 1981. [1] [3] Varenne was also involved with the neo-fascist magazine Défense de l'Occident, led by Maurice Bardèche. [6]
During the 1980s, Varenne directed the series "Le Monde Indien" in the prestigious publishing house Les Belles Lettres, and he founded the Belles Lettres collection "Études Indo-Européennes" in 1987. [7] He served as the president of GRECE from 1984 to 1987, [3] [8] and was also a member of the Institute of Formation of the Front National (FN) of Jean-Marie Le Pen. [9] In 1990 he was nominated to the "Scientific Council" of the FN. [10]
At the end of his life, Varenne was working on an Encyclopedic Dictionary of Religions; only articles on Hinduism were published at the time of his death on 12 July 1997. [1] [2]