Bazin René. Charles De Foucauld, explorateur du Maroc, ermite au Sahara

Paris: Plon, 1921 (2010) ‒ 486 p.
Electronic edition of the original book published in 1921 (a printed edition appeared in 2003 in Paris, Nouvelle Cité). It is considered a quite hagiographic biography (see, e.g., “René Bazin et Charles de Foucauld: un rendez-vous manqué?” by Dominique Casajus, in Impacts 34.2-4 (2000), pp. 149-163) even though written just a few years after the murder of the humble friar (1916) who wonderfully learned tamāhak, the Berber language spoken by the Tuaregs of Ahaggar (Hoggar) mountains (southern Algeria). Actually, the religious role played by Charles de Foucauld had an official recognition only on 13 November 2005 when pope Benedict XVI beatified him. Among the scholars of Berber languages and linguistics, on the contrary, de Foucauld’s fame has been undisputable since the first years of the 20th century and especially after the publication of his 4-volume Tuareg-French dictionary (1951-1952). If Bazin’s perspective in his biography of de Foucauld can be controversial no one can deny that his book remains the broadest treatment concerning that friar-linguist’s life.