Robert Goffin

Robert Goffin ( born May 21, 1898 in Ohain ( Lasne ); † June 27, 1984 in Genval ) was a Belgian lawyer and writer, known as the author of the first non-fiction book about jazz Aux Frontières du Jazz ( 1932).

Goffin studied at the Athenaeum of Saint- Gilles and law at the Free University of Brussels. Besides, he published poems in 1918 (La rosare of soirs ). Shortly after, he discovered about Clément Pansaers Dadaism, 1921 he founded the literary journal La Lanterne sourde; also he invited Blaise Cendrars, and Jean Cocteau one to Brussels. In 1922 he published another volume of poems, entitled Jazz Bands ( Foreword Jules Romains ) - many more volumes of poetry followed until 1982 In 1923, he became a lawyer at the Court of Appeal in Brussels.. In 1928 he married. Part-time he studied with jazz and published in 1932 Aux Frontiers du Jazz ( Éditions Sagittaire, Paris), which is often regarded as the first serious work of jazz (even before the books of French Hugues Panassie and Charles Delaunay ). He was already ahead of the occupation by the German troops opposed the fascists who stood up for the task of neutrality of Belgium and fight on the side of France. Prior to the occupation of Belgium, he went to the USA where he worked as a writer. Besides novels he published a translated into English by Leonard Feather Jazz Book ( Jazz: from the Congo to the Metropolitan, 1944) and gave Feather with a jazz course at the New School for Social Research in New York City. In 1947 he published a book about Louis Armstrong ( Horn of Plenty ) and 1946 over New Orleans (La Nouvelle Orleans, capitale du Jazz ). After the war he returned to Belgium, where he was again at the Court of Appeal. Since 1952 he was a member of the Royal Belgian Academy of French Language and Literature and in 1971 its director. In 1956 he became director of the Belgian Pen Club. In retirement, he moved to Lake Geneva. 1979 and 1980 he published memoirs.

Goffin knew many writers of his time. Paul Delvaux and Paul- Henri Spaak were classmates in his youth. Later, he was friends with Blaise Cendrars, Jean Cocteau and Paul Eluard.