In Memoriam: Celebrating the Life and Work of Jacques Barchilon

Honoring the life and work of the late Jacques Barchilon

Jacques Barchilon (1923-2018) was a noted scholar of the early modern French fairy tale. Born in Morocco in 1923, Barchilon spent his childhood in Casablanca. His family later moved to Tangiers in response to the rise of the Nazis and Vichy France. At age twenty, Barchilon joined the Free French Forces, making a covert passage from Tangiers to Gibraltar on a fishing boat in the dead of night. Over the course of World War II, he served in both England and France. Like many soldiers wishing to conceal their Jewish background, Barchilon assumed an alias during the war: Jack Lawrence. In 1950, Barchilon immigrated to the United States. Here, he attended the University of Rochester, earning a B.A in History. He continued his education at Harvard, earning an M.A. in Comparative Literature followed by a Ph.D. in Romance Languages. In 1959, Barchilon secured a professorship in the Department of French and Italian at the University of Colorado Boulder, where he taught until 1991. During his tenure, he played a key role in developing the library’s rare books room (Special Collections for many decades, we have returned to our roots as the Rare Books Collection).  He donated several of his own prized books to the collection, including many early French fairy tales.

As a scholar, Barchilon’s interests centered on the life and works of Charles Perrault. In assessing fairy tales as works of literature, he established himself as a pioneer in the field. In addition to authoring several books and articles, Barchilon oversaw the publication of the journal Marvels and Tales.

For additional information and a select bibliography of Barchilon's works, please see Duggan, E. "An Interview with Jacques Barchilon: From Free French Soldier to Fairy-Tale Pioneer." Marvels & Tales 25, no. 2 (2011).