jean starobinski (17 november 1920 – 4 march 2019) was a swiss literary critic. he was born in geneva, switzerland. his works on medicine and psychiatry brought him to study the history of melancholia (notably in the "trois fureurs", 1974). he was the first scholar to publish work (in 1964) on ferdinand de saussure's study of anagrams. starobinski was a member of the académie des sciences morales et politiques.