Paul-Georges Sansonetti/en

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Paul-Georges Sansonetti is a French scholar of comparative literature, mythology, alchemy, and medieval initiatory traditions. He taught at the École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE) in Paris, section of Religious Sciences, where he regularly published lectures on Arthurian chivalry and the symbolism of the Grail between 1987 and 1990. His work links three methodological frameworks: the Anthropological Structures of the Imaginary by Gilbert Durand (under whose direction Sansonetti discussed his doctoral thesis in Grenoble in 1980), alchemical thought, and Indo-European traditions (particularly Celtic, Germanic-Scandinavian, and Indo-Iranian via Henry Corbin).

Sansonetti mainly publishes with Éditions ARMA-Édire in Menton — the same publishing house as Robert Giudicelli and part of the work of Rémi Boyer. Together with them, he constitutes the Édire-ARMA current of contemporary Francophone initiatory tradition (cf. La tradizione cavalleresca come via delluomo al rosso sec. XIII).

Main works

Chevalerie du Graal et Lumière de Gloire (Éditions Édire-ARMA, Menton, 2002) — major work. Reworking of the 1980 doctoral thesis (University of Grenoble, jury: Gilbert Durand, Simone Vierne, Jacques Ribard). Systematic study of Perceval by Chrétien de Troyes (ca. 1180) through the dual key of Durand's Anthropological Structures of the Imaginary and alchemical thought. Five chapters: I. Vision du Vermeil — II. La Lumière et l'Épée — III. Perception d'un autre corps — IV. Formes et Puissances — V. Genèse d'un destin. Extended treatment in the cluster page La tradizione cavalleresca come via delluomo al rosso sec. XI

Graal e Alchimia (Iduna Edizioni, Italian edition with preface by Gilbert Durand) — Italian version of the doctrinal core establishing the Grail-athanor parallel as devices containing the same Principle (the seven primordial forces, the Mercury of the philosophers). Treatment in the page La tradizione cavalleresca come via delluomo al rosso sec. XIV

Les Runes et la Tradition Primordiale — study of esoteric runology as a textual trace of the archaic Indo-European substratum. Sansonetti links runes to the four elements, the solar cycle, and initiatory chivalry (runes engraved on swords, cloaks, vestments). It does not follow the racial or national-romantic reductions of late 19th-century German runology

L'Hyperborée — essay on the Hyperborean theme as the original matrix of Indo-European traditions. Convergent with Evola's theses in Il Mistero del Graal secondo Evola on the Grail as a Hyperborean mystery

The three essays at EPHE (1987-1990)

Sansonetti holds annual lectures at the École Pratique des Hautes Études (Religious Sciences section) and publishes their proceedings in the Annuaire. Three key essays available on Persée:

«Yvain ou le chevalier au Lion» (Annuaire EPHE Vol. 96, 1987-88) — the Barenton fountain in the Brocéliande forest as Axis Mundi. The golden basin and the empty emerald slab joined to the fountain = Chaudron Bruyant of Scandinavian cosmogony (Gylfaginning ch. 4). Becoming lord of the fountain = being the holder of a superior state of consciousness and civilization

«Or du Graal» (Annuaire EPHE Vol. 103, 1989-90) — the gold of the Graal in correlation with the Arthurian tradition and the Hyperborean «berceau boréal». Reference to the tomb of Emperor Maximilian in Innsbruck with the statue of King Arthur among the great figures of Christianity — Arthur as model of chivalry in the Holy Roman Empire. The Tuatha de Danann of Irish tradition as a memory of the boreal cradle of the Indo-European people

«Sang Lumière» (Annuaire EPHE Vol. 102, 1989-90) — the luminous blood in chivalric legends: from the drop of blood on the snow contemplated by Perceval, to the blood from the lance, to the blood of the Fisher King. Blood becomes luminous when the initiate is ready to receive it — convergence with the Lumière de Gloire of the title of the major book

Key themes

The «Lumière de Gloire»

The title of the major work — Chevalerie du Graal et Lumière de Gloire — expresses Sansonetti's core thesis: the Quest for the Grail and the appearance of the Lumière de Gloire are the same event seen from two sides. The knight who reaches the Fisher King's Castle, reforges the broken sword, and obtains the revelation of the Grail becomes luminous himself — he receives the Lumière de Gloire which is the proper condition of the legitimate King in Indo-Iranian and Celtic tradition.

The term is the Iranian Xvarnah (studied by Henry Corbin in En Islam iranien): the luminous aura that recognizes the legitimate sovereign, identical to the Germanic Glanz, the Byzantine royal nimbus, the aureole of Christian saints, the glory of sacred iconographies. Sansonetti operationally links it to the alchemical rubedo (cf. Il Risveglio sec. VIII-bis) — the man in red radiates, not merely is present.

The dual key: Durand + alchemy

Sansonetti applies to Perceval a systematic reading:

Durand's Anthropological Structures of the Imaginary — three Regimes of the Image (Diurnal-heroic, Nocturnal mystical, Nocturnal synthetic-dramatic) as a classification grid for medieval images
Alchemical thought — Perceval read as a coded text of the Great Work, with its sequence of colors (vermeil, blanc, rouge), trials, substances, states of transformation

The dual key allows Sansonetti to not reduce Perceval either to archaic folklore (purely ethnographic reading) or to moralistic allegory (purely Christian-devotional reading): it shows that the text is operative — it describes an initiatory practice that is actually traversable.

The three convergent Indo-European traditions

Sansonetti documents how Perceval synthesizes three traditions:

Celtic tradition — British Arthurian cycle, Wild Hunt, Waste Land, Enchanted Castle, Lady of the Waters, Tuatha de Danann
Germanic-Scandinavian tradition — hamr (subtle form), hamingja (personal spirit), fylgja (female guiding double), Valkyries, rune-swords, Yggdrasill as Axis Mundi
Christian symbolism — Grail as Eucharistic chalice in Robert de Boron's version, blood of the cosmocrator Christ as source of regenerated life

To these is added the mediation of Henry Corbin for Indo-Iranian themes (Xvarnah, Lumière de Gloire, Persian celestial chivalry).

Sansonetti in the wiki cluster

Sansonetti is the main doctrinal source of the page La tradizione cavalleresca come via delluomo al rosso, cited in sections:

XI — Sansonetti and the alchemical-imaginal reading of Perceval
XIV — Other works and major themes (Graal e Alchimia, Runes, Hyperborée, the three EPHE essays)
XIII — The Édire-ARMA current (Sansonetti + Giudicelli + Boyer)

For the extended treatment of themes only named here, see that page.

Sources

Paul-Georges Sansonetti, Chevalerie du Graal et Lumière de Gloire, Éditions Édire-ARMA, Menton, 2002
Paul-Georges Sansonetti, Graal e Alchimia, Iduna Edizioni (preface by Gilbert Durand)
Paul-Georges Sansonetti, Les Runes et la Tradition Primordiale
Paul-Georges Sansonetti, L'Hyperborée
Paul-Georges Sansonetti, «Yvain ou le chevalier au Lion», in Annuaire EPHE vol. 96, 1987-88, pp. 350-353 (Persée)
Paul-Georges Sansonetti, «Or du Graal», in Annuaire EPHE vol. 103, 1989-90, pp. 420-422 (Persée)
Paul-Georges Sansonetti, «Sang Lumière», in Annuaire EPHE vol. 102, 1989-90 (Persée)
Gilbert Durand, Les Structures anthropologiques de l'imaginaire, PUF, 1960 — fundamental methodological source for Sansonetti
Gilbert Durand, L'Imagination symbolique, PUF — introductory text recommended by Sansonetti himself
Henry Corbin, En Islam iranien, 4 vols., Gallimard, Paris, 1971-72 — source for the category of Xvarnah / Lumière de Gloire