Octave Pirmez

Octave Pirmez (born April 19, 1832, Châtelet, Belg.—died May 1, 1883, Acoz) was one of the outstanding Belgian men of letters of the period immediately before the literary revival of the 1880s. His works consist primarily of collections of essays, letters, and literary discussions, e.g., Pensées et maximes (1862; “Thoughts and Maxims”) and Heures de philosophie (1873; “Hours of Thought”).

A gentleman of private means, Pirmez led an uneventful life, interrupting the placid stays in his castle only for leisurely tours in France, Germany, and Italy. His temperament was retiring and reflective, and he was deeply influenced by such French writers as Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Chateaubriand, whose melancholy appealed to him, as did their love of nature. Pirmez was deeply interested in Michel de Montaigne and Blaise Pascal, whose influence on the style and content of his maxims and philosophical notes is unmistakable. His view of man was pessimistic, for he considered that human reason was incapable of controlling sentiments and passions. The hallmark of Pirmez’s work is its stylistic elegance and purity. There is little that is essentially Belgian about his writing, and the tradition within which he worked was already passing in France. But, over a period when there were very few distinguished Belgian authors, Pirmez was outstanding.