LASSERRE, PIERRE. - French writer, b. at Orthez on 30 May 1867, d. in Paris on 7 Nov. 1930. He began with several essays on Nietzsche and musical drama, but established himself with a work (Le romantisme français, 1907) in which, under the influence of Ch. Maurras’s theories, he vigorously opposed all Romanticism, advocating a return to the classical ideals of literature.
Of the same tendency is his other work, slightly later, in defence of humanism and the traditional values of French culture: La doctrine officielle de l’Université (1912). After the First World War, Lasserre acquired, together with a greater critical moderation, a sense of Catholic values. He remained on this path in his important studies on the religious crisis of the 19th century (Renan et nous, 1923; La jeunesse d’Ernest Renan, of which the third volume is posthumous, 1925-32; Des romantiques à nous, 1927).