Brunet
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
JACQUES CHARLES, a French bibliographer; born born in Paris, Nov. 2, 1780; published a "Supplement" to the "Bibliographical Dictionary" of Duclos; "Manual du libraire et de l'amateur de livres" (1810, 5th ed. 1865); "Recherches bibliographiques et critiques sur les éditions originales des cinq livres du roman satirique de Rabelais" (1852), etc. He died in Paris, Nov. 16, 1867. BRUNETIÈRE, FERDINAND (brüntyār'), a French critic, bora in Toulon, July 19, 1849. He was the editor of the "Revue des Deux Mondes" and became a member of the French Academy in 1893. In criticism he inclined to the idealist as opposed to the naturalist school. His principal works are "History and Literature" (1884, 3 vols.); "The Naturalist Romance" (1883); "Essays on Contemporary Literature" (1892); "Epochs of the French Theater" (1892). In 1897 he delivered a series of lectures in American universities. He died Dec. 9, 1906. BRUNHILDA (1) in the "Nibelungenlied," the young and stalwart Queen of Isenstein, wife of Gunther, the Burgundian king. She hated passionately Kriemhild and her husband, Siegfried, who had once been her own lover; and she caused his murder by the hands of Hagen. Originally she was identical with the Norse Walkyrie Brynhildr, who, for a fault, was stripped of her divinity by Odin and sunk into a charmed sleep sleep from which she was awakened by Sigurd (Siegfried). (2) The daughter of the Visigothic King Athanagild, married King Sigbert of Austrasia, in 567, and afterward, as regent of her two grandsons, Theodebert II., King of Austrasia, and Theodoric II., King of Burgundy, divided the government of the whole Frankish world with her rival Fredegond, who governed Neustria for the youthful Clotaire II. On the death of Fredegond, in 598, she seized on Neustria and, for a while, united under her rule the whole Merovingian dominions, but was overthrown in 613, by a combination in their own interests of the Austrasian nobles under the nominal leadership of Clotaire II., and put to death by being dragged at the heels of a wild horse. BRUNI (brō'nē) ISLAND, an island off the S. part of the E. coast of Tasmania, from which it is separated by D'Entrecasteaux Channel. It has a length of 32 miles, a varying breadth of 1 to 11 miles, and an area of 160 square miles. Coal is mined.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Brunet's "Manuel du libraire" has held up remarkably well: rare-book dealers still cite "Brunet numbers" from the 1860-65 edition, now freely readable in scanned form online. Brunetière, whom Collier's in 1921 treated as a living force in criticism, has faded almost entirely from reading lists, though his 1893 election to the Academy and his campaign against naturalism still get a paragraph in histories of French letters. The Merovingian Brunhilda has fared better than her death notice suggests: modern historians read the horse-dragging execution of 613 as propaganda from chronicles written for her enemies, and treat her as one of the more capable rulers of the age. "Bruni" Island is now spelled Bruny, its coal workings are gone, and it lives on tourism, oysters and cheese, and on remembrance of its Nuenonne inhabitants.
Written for this edition, 2026.