Chédel, A.
| English Phonetics | André Chédel |
|---|---|
| Sort Name | Chédel, André |
| Birth: | 1915 |
|---|---|
| Death: | 1984 |
| Place of birth: | Neuchâtel |
Tibetan calendar dates
Biographical Information
André Chédel, born in Neuchâtel in 1915 and died in Le Locle in 1984, was a self-taught Swiss philosopher and researcher, writer, orientalist and journalist.
The only child of a family from Le Locle, he had a great interest in Eastern languages and civilizations from a very young age. He first studied as an autodidact and then in Paris at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, at the School of Oriental Languages and at the Sorbonne between 1936 and 1939.
Fascinated by the East and interested in philosophical, spiritual and religious ideas, in 1944 he composed an anthology of Eastern religious and sacred texts, then several essays, in particular Judaism and Christianity: the bases of an agreement between Jews and Christians, towards a spiritualist religion (1951), For a secular humanism (1963), On the threshold of Solomon's temple: reflections on Freemasonry (1977) and finally The absolute, this research: analysis of monotheistic religions (1980). His literary activity is rich, varied and accessible. Among other things, he also wrote a novel, The Rise to Carmel (1958), a collection of short stories Contes et portraits (1958), a set of short texts Vagabondages: evocations and reflections (1974), as well as various travel stories.
At the same time, he translated numerous texts into French, in particular works in Russian (La Russie face à l'Occident by Dostoyevsky in 1945, Les Nouvelles by Anton Chekhov in 1959), in ancient Greek (Les Perses d' Eschyle in 1946), in Arabic (Choice of Tales from the Arabian Nights in 1949), in Sanskrit (Bhagavad-Gîtâ in 1971 ). In addition, he wrote several prefaces.
In addition to his abundant publications, André Chédel was also a freelance journalist and collaborated with numerous daily newspapers and reviews: the Journal de Genève, the Gazette de Lausanne, L'Essor (of which he was the head from 1950 to 1952), L'Impartial, La Revue de Suisse, La Vie protestante, and others.
André Chédel was a Freemason, a member of the Swiss Grand Lodge Alpina.
He finally received several prizes and distinctions, he is notably Doctor of Letters Honoris Causa from the University of Neuchâtel in 1962. From the French Academy, he received the Louis-Paul-Miller Prize in 1972 for his book Vers l'Universalité. (Source Accessed Apr 7, 2022)
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