Amiel, Henri Frédéric (1821–1881)

Swiss poet and philosopher. His Journal intime/The Private Journal of Henri Frédéric Amiel, first published 1883–84, was an introspective diary kept from 1847 until his death. It revealed a sensitive man of great intellectual ability, struggling for values against the skepticism of the age.

Considered a masterpiece of introspection, the diary work was first published in part as Fragments d'un journal intime 1883–84, then in later enlarged editions; the definitive edition was published 1939–48.

He also wrote collections of poetry, Grains de mil/Countless Grains (1854) and Jour à jour/Day to Day (1880), and on philosophy Caractéristique générale de Rousseau/General Characteristics of Rousseau (1879).

He was born in Geneva, and was professor of aesthetics 1849–81 and of moral philosophy 1853–81 at the university there.