WRITER

René Guénon

1886 - 1951

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Icon of person René Guénon

René Jean-Marie-Joseph Guénon (15 November 1886 – 7 January 1951), also known as Abdalwahid Yahia (Arabic: عبد الـوٰاحد يحيیٰ; ʿAbd al-Wāḥid Yaḥiā), was a French intellectual who remains an influential figure in the domain of metaphysics, having written on topics ranging from esotericism, "sacred science" and "traditional studies" to symbolism and initiation. In his writings, he proposes to hand down eastern metaphysics and traditions, these doctrines being defined by him as of "universal character", and adapt them to western readers "while keeping strictly faithful to their spirit". Initiated into Islamic esotericism from as early as 1910 when he was 24, he mainly wrote and published in French, and his works have been translated into more than twenty languages; he also wrote in Arabic an article for the journal Al Marifah. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of René Guénon has received more than 1,196,091 page views. His biography is available in 42 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 38 in 2019). René Guénon is the 408th most popular writer (up from 465th in 2019), the 472nd most popular biography from France (up from 555th in 2019) and the 70th most popular French Writer.

René Guénon is most famous for his work in comparative religion and metaphysics.

Memorability Metrics

  • 1.2M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 68.27

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 42

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 8.00

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 2.67

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Notable Works

Aperçus sur l'initiation
1985
La crise du monde moderne
1946
Orient et Occident
Civilization
Study on civilization, East and West.
1924
Homme et son devenir selon le Vêdânta
1928
The multiple states of the being
Philosophy
The Multiple States of the Being is the companion to, and the completion of, The Symbolism of the Cross, which, together with Man and His Becoming according to the Vedanta, constitute Ren Gunon's great trilogy of pure metaphysics. In this work, Gunon offers a masterful explication of the metaphysical order and its multiple manifestations-of the divine hierarchies and what has been called the Great Chain of Being-and in so doing demonstrates how jana, intellective or intrinsic knowledge of what is, and of That which is Beyond what is, is a Way of Liberation. Gunon the metaphysical social critic, master of arcane symbolism, comparative religionist, researcher of ancient mysteries and secret histories, summoner to spiritual renewal, herald of the end days, disappears here. Reality remains.
20015 / 5
Introduction to the study of the Hindu doctrines
Religion
1945

Among WRITERS

Among writers, René Guénon ranks 408 out of 7,302. Before him are Ágota Kristóf, Edmondo De Amicis, Henning Mankell, Henry James, Joseph Roth, and Dan Brown. After him are Michel Houellebecq, Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux, Alfred de Musset, Qu Yuan, Sylvia Plath, and Thomas Bernhard.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1886, René Guénon ranks 11. Before him are Oskar Kokoschka, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Manne Siegbahn, Béla Kun, Sergey Kirov, and Marc Bloch. After him are Jean Arp, Ernst Thälmann, Karl Barth, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Karl von Frisch, and Roman von Ungern-Sternberg. Among people deceased in 1951, René Guénon ranks 9. Before him are Philippe Pétain, Ferdinand Porsche, Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, Arnold Schoenberg, Abdullah I of Jordan, and Wilhelm, German Crown Prince. After him are Arnold Sommerfeld, Otto Fritz Meyerhof, Hermann Broch, August Horch, Otto Ohlendorf, and Alfred Hugenberg.

Others Born in 1886

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Others Deceased in 1951

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In France

Among people born in France, René Guénon ranks 472 out of 6,770. Before him are Eugène Boudin (1824), Stephen, King of England (1095), Jacques Prévert (1900), Isabelle Adjani (1955), Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824), and Alfred Kastler (1902). After him are Jean-Baptiste Biot (1774), Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux (1636), Alfred de Musset (1810), Ambroise Paré (1510), Yves Klein (1928), and Charles-Henri Sanson (1739).

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Among WRITERS In France

Among writers born in France, René Guénon ranks 70. Before him are Alphonse de Lamartine (1790), Arthur de Gobineau (1816), Georges Bataille (1897), Jean Genet (1910), Gregory of Tours (538), and Jacques Prévert (1900). After him are Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux (1636), Alfred de Musset (1810), Patrick Modiano (1945), William of Rubruck (1220), Hector Malot (1830), and Louis Aragon (1897).

French born Writers

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