Henri Frédéric Amiel

A descendant of Huguenots driven to Switzerland by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, Henri Frédéric Amiel was born in Geneva, Switzerland in 1821. Amiel lost his parents at a young age, after which he traveled Europe and studied philosophy in Germany. In 1849, he became a professor at the Academy of Geneva, first teaching aesthetics and then moral philosophy. These subjects were unpopular with the prevailing aristocratic party in Geneva, however. The isolation Amiel felt in Geneva is documented in his book Journal Intime, published after his death. Amiel also published studies on Madame de Stael, Erasmus, and other writers, as well as several volumes of poetry.