Joseph Arthur, comte de Gobineau
Ville d'Avray 1816 - Torino 1882
French Orientalist, man of letters and politician. Alex de Toqueville brought him into the foreign ministry while he was foreign minister (1849). As a diplomat he was posted to Persia, Greece, Brazil and Sweden. In the Essay on the inequality of human races (1853-1855) he maintained that the Aryan race is superior to the others and took sides with aristocratic individualism. He was a fervent anti-colonialist. The European racist movements of the late nineteenth century borrowed much of Gobineau’s ideology.
Main works: Essai sur l'inégalité des races humaines (Paris 1853-1855); Lecture des écritures cunéiformes (Paris, 1858); Trois ans en Asie (Paris 1859); Traité des écritures cunéiformes (Paris 1864); Les religions et les philosophies dans l'Asie centrale (Paris 1865); Histoire des Perses (Paris 1869); Mémoire sur diverses manifestations de la vie individuelle (Paris 1869); Les Pléiades (Paris 1874).
Bibliography: A.J. Rowbotham, The literary works of Count de Gobineau, Paris, Honoré Champion 1929; J.-N. Faure-Biguet, Gobineau, Paris, Plon 1930; Arthur de Gobineau: cent ans après:1882-1982, par M. Crouzet, Paris, Minard 1990; F. Castradori, Le radici dell'odio: il conte de Gobineau e le origini del razzismo, Milano, Xenia 1991.