15 Facts About Marcel Granet

Marcel Granet was revered in his own time as a sociological sinologist, or sinological sociologist, and member of the Durkheimian school of sociology.

Marcel Granet's father was an engineer, and his grandfather, a landowner.

Marcel Granet attended lycee at Aix-en-Provence and then at the prestigious Lycee Louis-le-Grand in Paris, which traditionally attracted bright students striving to gain entrance to the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris.

Marcel Granet passed the baccalaureat examination and entered the Ecole Normale in 1904, just as the tumultuous Dreyfus Affair was coming to a close and the French educational system was changing.

Therefore, Marcel Granet first became introduced to Durkheim and his theories during his first year at the Ecole.

At the Ecole Normale, Marcel Granet embraced philosophy, law, and history, along with sociology, though his work in any field would adopt a Durkheimian character.

Marcel Granet became part of an elite group of students which included future medieval historian and founder of the Annales school of history Marc Bloch, the geographer Philippe Arbos, sociologist Georges Davy, Hellenist and future librarian of the Ecole Normale Paul Etard, mathematician Paul Levy, and more.

Chavannes in turn counseled Marcel Granet to begin with Chinese as the necessary first step towards Japanese studies, warning him that he would get entangled in Chinese, never to reach Japanese.

Marcel Granet spent three years at Thiers, working alongside fellow pensioners Bloch and Louis Gernet, both former normaliens.

Marcel Granet stayed briefly in Beijing in 1918 while on a mission there.

In 1919, Marcel Granet returned to France and in June, married Marie Terrien, after which he resumed his academic life.

Marcel Granet was to work on the sections of religious sociology and legal sociology.

Two years after his friend and colleague Mauss became president of the fifth section of religious science at l'Ecole Pratique, Britain declared war on Germany, and in 1940, Marcel Granet replaced his friend upon the latter's resignation.

One month later, after the defeat of the French Republic, Marcel Granet died at Sceaux, outside Paris, at the age of 56.

Marcel Granet divided his teaching into the mythique and the juridique, though he did not necessarily succeed in eliciting in his students the same enthusiasm he possessed for both areas simultaneously.