List of French language authors
Encyclopedia
Chronological list of French language authors (regardless of nationality), by date of birth. For an alphabetical list of writers of French nationality (broken down by genre), see French writers category.
Middle Ages
- Turold (eleventh century)
- WaceWaceWace was a Norman poet, who was born in Jersey and brought up in mainland Normandy , ending his career as Canon of Bayeux.-Life:...
(1110 – c.1180) - Chrétien de TroyesChrétien de TroyesChrétien de Troyes was a French poet and trouvère who flourished in the late 12th century. Perhaps he named himself Christian of Troyes in contrast to the illustrious Rashi, also of Troyes...
(c.1135 – c.1183) - Richard the LionheartRichard I of EnglandRichard I was King of England from 6 July 1189 until his death. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Count of Nantes, and Overlord of Brittany at various times during the same period...
(Richard Coeur de Lion) (1157–1199) - Benoît de Sainte-MaureBenoît de Sainte-MaureBenoît de Sainte-Maure was a 12th century French poet, most probably from Sainte-Maure de Touraine near Tours, France. The Plantagenets' administrative center was located in Chinon - west of Tours....
(twelfth century) - Le Châtelain de Couci (d.1203)
- Jean BodelJean BodelJean Bodel, who lived in the late twelfth century, was an Old French poet who wrote a number of chansons de geste as well as many fabliaux. He lived in Arras....
(12th century – c.1210) - Conon de BéthuneConon de BéthuneConon de Béthune was a crusader and "trouvère" poet.-Life:...
(c.1150–1220) - Geoffroi de Villehardouin (c.1160 – c.1213)
- BéroulBéroulBéroul was a Norman poet of the 12th century. He wrote Tristan, a Norman language version of the legend of Tristan and Iseult of which a certain number of fragments have been preserved; it is the earliest representation of the so-called "vulgar" version of the legend...
(c.1170) - Thomas d'Angleterre (c.1170)
- Gace BruléGace BruléGace Brulé , French trouvère, was a native of Champagne.His name is simply a description of his Blazonry. He owned land in Groslière and had dealings with the Knights Templar, and received a gift from the future Louis VIII. These facts are known from documents from the time...
(c.1170) - Marie de FranceMarie de FranceMarie de France was a medieval poet who was probably born in France and lived in England during the late 12th century. She lived and wrote at an undisclosed court, but was almost certainly at least known about at the royal court of King Henry II of England...
(c.1175) - Gautier de CoincyGautier de CoincyGautier de Coincy was a French abbot, poet and musical arranger, chiefly known for his devotion to the Virgin Mary.While he served as prior of Vic-sur-Aisne he compiled Les Miracles de Nostre-Dame in which he set poems in praise of the Virgin Mary to popular melodies and songs of his...
(1177/8–1236) - Gautier de DargiesGautier de DargiesGautier de Dargies was a trouvère from Dargies. He was one of the most prolific of the early trouvères; possibly twenty-five of his lyrics survive, twenty-two with accompanying melodies, in sixteen separate chansonniers. He was a major influence on contemporary and later trouvères, and one of the...
(c.1170–after 1236) - Gautier d'Espinal († before July 1272)
- Gillebert de Berneville (flFloruitFloruit , abbreviated fl. , is a Latin verb meaning "flourished", denoting the period of time during which something was active...
c.1255) - Gontier de SoigniesGontier de SoigniesGontier de Soignies was a medieval trouvère and composer who was active from around 1180 to 1220.-Biography:Gontier was from the region of Soignies in the County of Hainaut, a region that was then a state of the Holy Roman Empire...
(flFloruitFloruit , abbreviated fl. , is a Latin verb meaning "flourished", denoting the period of time during which something was active...
c.1180–1220) - Guiot de DijonGuiot de DijonGuiot de Dijon was a Burgundian trouvère. The seventeen chansons ascribed to him are found in two chansonniers: the Chansonnier du Roi and the less reliable Berne Chansonnier...
(flFloruitFloruit , abbreviated fl. , is a Latin verb meaning "flourished", denoting the period of time during which something was active...
c.1200–30) - Perrin d'Angicourt (flFloruitFloruit , abbreviated fl. , is a Latin verb meaning "flourished", denoting the period of time during which something was active...
c.1245–50) - Jean RenartJean RenartJean Renart, also known as Jean Renaut, was a Norman trouvère or troubadour from the end of the 12th century and the first half of the 13th century to whom three works are ascribed. Nothing else is known of him or his life...
(fl. late 12th-first half of 13th century) - Philippe de RémiPhilippe de Rémi (died 1265)Philippe de Rémi was an Old French poet and trouvère from Picardy, and the bailli of the Gâtinais from 1237 to at least 1249. He was also the father of Philippe de Beaumanoir, the famous jurist, by his wife Marie....
(c.1205–c1265) - Philippe de Beaumanoir (c.1247–c1296)
- Raoul de SoissonsRaoul de SoissonsRaoul de Soissons was a French nobleman, Crusader, and trouvère. He was the second son of Raoul le Bon, Count of Soissons, and became the Sire de Coeuvres in 1232. Raoul participated in three Crusades....
(c.1215–1272) - Richard de FournivalRichard de FournivalRichard de Fournival or Richart de Fornival was a medieval philosopher and trouvère perhaps best known for the Bestiaire d'amour .-Life:...
(1201– c.1260) - Andrieu Contredit d'ArrasAndrieu Contredit d'ArrasAndrieu Contredit d'Arras was a trouvère from Arras and active in the Puy d'Arras. "Contredit" is probably a nickname. He wrote mostly grand chants, but also a pastourelle, a lai, and a jeu-parti with Guillaume li Vinier....
(† c.1248) - Jehan le Cuvelier d'ArrasJehan le Cuvelier d'ArrasJehan le Cuvelier d'Arras was a trouvère associated with the so-called "school of Arras". He may be the same person as Johannes Cuvellarius from Bapaume, a suburb of Arras, who is mentioned in documents of 1258. He was the respondent in nine jeux partis and judge of six; he also composed six...
(flFloruitFloruit , abbreviated fl. , is a Latin verb meaning "flourished", denoting the period of time during which something was active...
c.1240–70) - Guillaume le VinierGuillaume le VinierGuillaume le Vinier was a French trouvère and poet. He was the older brother of Gilles le Vinier. He wrote over thirty essays, many accompanied by melodies, including jeu parti and partimen with Andrieu Contredit d'Arras.-References:...
(flFloruitFloruit , abbreviated fl. , is a Latin verb meaning "flourished", denoting the period of time during which something was active...
c.1220–45; †1245) - Audefroi le BâtardAudefroi le BatardAudefroi le Bastart was a French trouvère from Artois, who flourished in the early thirteenth century.Of his life nothing is known, though he is certainly the illegitimate child of a noble or upper-class bourgeouis family, but his family is not to be identified with the noble family Arras or with...
(flFloruitFloruit , abbreviated fl. , is a Latin verb meaning "flourished", denoting the period of time during which something was active...
c.1200–1230) - Jehan BretelJehan BretelJehan Bretel was a trouvère. Of his known oeuvre of probably 97 songs, 96 have survived. Judging by his contacts with other trouvères he was famous and popular...
(c.1200–1272) - Jehan ErartJehan ErartJehan Erart was a trouvère from Arras, particularly noted for his favouring the pastourelle genre. He has left behind eleven pastourelles, ten grand chants, and one serventois....
(† c.1259) - Moniot d'ArrasMoniot d'ArrasMoniot d'Arras was a French composer and poet of the trouvère tradition. He was a monk of the abbey of Arras in northern France; the area was at the time a center of trouvère activity, and his contemporaries included Adam de la Halle and Colin Muset. His songs were all monophonic in the tradition...
(flFloruitFloruit , abbreviated fl. , is a Latin verb meaning "flourished", denoting the period of time during which something was active...
c.1250–75) - Robert de ClariRobert de ClariRobert de Clari was a knight from Picardy. He participated in the Fourth Crusade with his lord, Count Peter of Amiens, and his brother, Aleaumes de Clari, and left a chronicle of the events in Old French...
(late twelfth century) - Blondel de Nesle (late twelfth century)
- Robert de BoronRobert de BoronRobert de Boron was a French poet of the late 12th and early 13th centuries who is most notable as the author of the poems Joseph d'Arimathe and Merlin.-Work:...
(twelfth–thirteenth century) - Guiot de ProvinsGuiot de ProvinsGuiot de Provins was a French poet and trouvère from the town of Provins in the Champagne area. A declining number of scholars identify him with Kyot the Provençal, the alleged writer of the source material used by Wolfram von Eschenbach for his romance Parzival, but most others consider such a...
(d. After 1208) - Bertrand de Bar-sur-AubeBertrand de Bar-sur-AubeBertrand de Bar-sur-Aube was an Old French poet from the Champagne region of France who wrote a number of chansons de geste. He is the author of Girard de Vienne, and it is likely that he also wrote Aymeri de Narbonne...
(late twelfth-early thirteenth) - Guillaume de LorrisGuillaume de LorrisGuillaume de Lorris was a French scholar and poet from Lorris. He was the author of the first section of the Roman de la Rose. Little is known about him, other than that he wrote the earlier section of the poem around 1230, and that the work was completed forty years later by Jean de Meun.-...
(c.1200 – c.1238) - Theobald IV of Champagne (1201–1253)
- Jean de JoinvilleJean de JoinvilleJean de Joinville was one of the great chroniclers of medieval France.Son of Simon de Joinville and Beatrice d'Auxonne, he belonged to a noble family from Champagne. He received an education befitting a young noble at the court of Theobald IV, count of Champagne: reading, writing, and the...
( c.1224 – c.1317) - RutebeufRutebeufRutebeuf , a trouvère, was born in the first half of the 13th century, possibly in Champagne ; he was evidently of humble birth, and he was a Parisian by education and residence. His name is nowhere mentioned by his contemporaries...
(c.1230 – c.1285) - Adam de la HalleAdam de la HalleAdam de la Halle, also known as Adam le Bossu was a French-born trouvère, poet and musician, whose literary and musical works include chansons and jeux-partis in the style of the trouveres, polyphonic rondel and motets in the style of early liturgical polyphony, and a musical play, "The Play of...
(c.1250 – c.1285) - Jean de MeunJean de MeunJean de Meun was a French author best known for his continuation of the Roman de la Rose.-Life:...
g or Jean de MeunJean de MeunJean de Meun was a French author best known for his continuation of the Roman de la Rose.-Life:...
(1250 – c.1305) or Jean Clopinel or Chopinel - Jacques Bretel (c. 1285 – c. 1310)
- Jean Le BelJean Le BelJean Le Bel was a Medieval Flemish chronicler. His father, Gilles le Beal des Changes, was an alderman of Liege, where Jean himself was active....
(c.1290–1370) - Colin MusetColin MusetColin Muset was an Old French trouvère and a native of Lorraine. He made his living in the Champagne by travelling from castle to castle singing songs of his own composition and playing the vielle. These are not confined to the praise of courtly love that formed the usual topic of the trouvères,...
(end of thirteenth century) - Guillaume de MachautGuillaume de MachautGuillaume de Machaut was a Medieval French poet and composer. He is one of the earliest composers on whom significant biographical information is available....
( c.1300 – c.1377) - Nicole Oresme (1325–1382)
- Philippe de MézièresPhilippe de MézièresPhilippe de Mézières , French soldier and author, was born at the chateau of Mézières in Picardy.He belonged to the poorer nobility, and first served under Lucchino Visconti in Lombardy, but within a year he entered the service of Andrew, Duke of Calabria, who was assassinated in September 1345...
(c.1327–1405) - Jean FroissartJean FroissartJean Froissart , often referred to in English as John Froissart, was one of the most important chroniclers of medieval France. For centuries, Froissart's Chronicles have been recognized as the chief expression of the chivalric revival of the 14th century Kingdom of England and France...
(1333 – c.1404) - Eustache DeschampsEustache DeschampsEustache Deschamps was a medieval French poet, also known as Eustache Morel . Born at Vertus, in Champagne, he received lessons in versification from Guillaume de Machaut and later studied law at Orleans University. He then traveled through Europe as a diplomatic messenger for Charles V...
(c.1346 – c.1407) - Jean Charlier called Gerson (1363–1429
- Christine de Pisan (1364–1430)
- Alain ChartierAlain ChartierAlain Chartier was a French poet and political writer.He was born at Bayeux, into a family marked by considerable ability. His eldest brother Guillaume became bishop of Paris; and Thomas became notary to the king. Jean Chartier, a monk of St Denis, whose history of Charles VII is printed in vol. III...
(c.1385 – c.1435) - Jean Juvénal des UrsinsJean Juvénal des UrsinsJean Juvénal des Ursins was a French chronicler and historian. He wrote Histoire de Charles VI Roy de France, and is one of the main sources for information on the Battle of Agincourt....
(1388–1473) - Antoine de la SaleAntoine de la SaleAntoine de la Sale or la Salle was a French writer.-Family and Early Years:He was born in Provence, probably at Arles, the illegitimate son of Bernardon de la Salle, a celebrated Gascon mercenary, mentioned in Froissart's Chronicles. His mother was a peasant, Perrinette Damendel.-At the Court of...
(1388 – c.1469) - Enguerrand de MonstreletEnguerrand de MonstreletEnguerrand de Monstrelet , French chronicler, belonged to a noble family of Picardy.In 1436 and later he held the office of lieutenant of the gavenier at Cambrai, and he seems to have made this city his usual place of residence...
(c.1390 – c.1453) - Charles, duc d'OrléansCharles, duc d'OrléansCharles of Valois was Duke of Orléans from 1407, following the murder of his father, Louis I, Duke of Orléans, on the orders of John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy...
(1394–1465)
Fifteenth century
- Martin Le FrancMartin le FrancMartin le Franc was a French poet of the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance.He was born in Normandy, and studied in Paris. He entered clerical orders, becoming an apostolic prothonotary, and later becoming secretary to both Antipope Felix V and Pope Nicholas V.He was named provost at Lausanne...
(c.1410–1461) - Eustache MarcadéEustache MarcadéEustache Marcadé, born in Artois at an unknown date, died in 1440, is accused of one of the first mysteries French known date.He is provost of Dampierre, official of the Abbey of Corbie from 1414 and dean of the Faculty of Order, the forerunner of the Faculty of laws...
(1414–1440) - Georges ChastellainGeorges ChastellainGeorges Chastellain , Burgundian chronicler and poet, was a native of Aalst in Flanders. In spite of excessive partiality to the Duke of Burgundy, Chastellain's historical works are valuable for the accurate information they contain. As a poet he was famous among his contemporaries...
(1415–1475) - Arnoul Gréban (c.1420 – c.1470)
- Olivier de la MarcheOlivier de la MarcheOlivier de la Marche was a courtier, soldier, chronicler and poet in the last decades of the independent Duchy of Burgundy. He was close to Charles the Bold, and after his death held the important position of maître d'hotel to his daughter Mary of Burgundy, and her husband, and was sent on a...
(1425–1502) - Martial d'Auvergne ( c.1430–1508)
- François VillonFrançois VillonFrançois Villon was a French poet, thief, and vagabond. He is perhaps best known for his Testaments and his Ballade des Pendus, written while in prison...
(c.1431–after 1463) - Jean MichelJean MichelJean Michel was a French dramatic poet of the fifteenth century known for revising and enlarging "the Mystery of the Passion" composed by Arnoul Gréban. There are three Michels mentioned in connection with this work...
(c.1435–1501) - Jean MolinetJean MolinetJean Molinet was a French poet, chronicler, and composer. He is best remembered for his prose translation of Roman de la rose.Born in Desvres, which is now part of France, he studied in Paris...
(1435–1507) - Philippe de ComminesPhilippe de ComminesPhilippe de Commines was a writer and diplomat in the courts of Burgundy and France. He has been called "the first truly modern writer" and "the first critical and philosophical historian since classical times"...
(1445–1511) - Jean MarotJean MarotJean Marot was a French poet and the father of French Renaissance poet Clément Marot. He is often grouped with the "Grands Rhétoriqueurs"....
(1450–1526) - Lefèvre d'Etaples (1455–1537)
- Guillaume CrétinGuillaume Crétin-Life:He was treasurer of the Sainte-Chapelle de Vincennes, then cantor of the Sainte-Chapelle de Paris and ordinary almoner to Francis I of France....
(Guillaume Dubois) (1460–1525) - Octavien de Saint-GelaisOctavien de Saint-GelaisOctavien de Saint-Gelais was a French churchman, poet, and translator. He translated the Aeneid into French, as well as Ovid's Heroides....
(1468–1505) - Guillaume BudéGuillaume BudéGuillaume Budé was a French scholar.-Life:Budé was born in Paris. He went to the University of Orléans to study law, but for several years, being possessed of ample means, he led an idle and dissipated life...
(1468–1540) - Jean MeschinotJean MeschinotJean Meschinot was a Breton poet who wrote in French at the court of the dukes of Brittany. His birthplace was in the Mortiers domain, around 30km south of Nantes, capital of the duchy, and he came from the minor nobility...
(active from 1450–1490) - Guillaume AlexisGuillaume AlexisGuillaume Alexis was a French Benedictine monk and poet of the late 15th and early 16th centuries, nicknamed the "Good Monk". His abbey was that at Lire , in the diocese of Évreux, He became prior of Bussy, in Perche...
(active from 1450–1490) - Jacques Millet (active from 1450–1466)
- Henri Baude (active from 1460–1495)
- Jean Castel (active from 1460–1480)
- Jean Robertet (active from 1460–1500)
- Roger de Collerye (1470–1538)
- Jean Lemaire de BelgesJean Lemaire de BelgesJean Lemaire de Belges was a Walloon poet and historian who lived primarily in France.He was born in Hainaut , the godson and possibly a nephew of Jean Molinet, and spent some time with him at Valenciennes, where the elder writer held a kind of academy of poetry. Lemaire in his first poems calls...
(1473 – c.1525) - Pierre GringorePierre GringorePierre Gringoire was a popular French poet and playwright. He was born in Normandy, at Thury-Harcourt, but the exact date and place of his death are unknown. His first work was Le Chasteau de Labour , an allegorical poem....
or Gringoire (c.1475–1538/1539) - Jean Bouchet (1476 – c.1558)
- François RabelaisFrançois RabelaisFrançois Rabelais was a major French Renaissance writer, doctor, Renaissance humanist, monk and Greek scholar. He has historically been regarded as a writer of fantasy, satire, the grotesque, bawdy jokes and songs...
(c.1483–1553) - Aliénor de PoitiersAliénor de PoitiersAliénor de Poitiers , flourished late 15th century, Poitiers, France, was the daughter of the countess of Poitiers. It is known she was also the widowed Viscountess of Veurne....
(fl.1484) - Mellin de Saint-GelaisMellin de Saint-GelaisMellin de Saint-Gelais was a French poet of the Renaissance and Poet Laureate of Francis I of France.- Life :...
(c.1491–1558) - Marguerite de NavarreMarguerite de NavarreMarguerite de Navarre , also known as Marguerite of Angoulême and Margaret of Navarre, was the queen consort of Henry II of Navarre...
(c.1492–1549) - Clément MarotClément MarotClément Marot was a French poet of the Renaissance period.-Youth:Marot was born at Cahors, the capital of the province of Quercy, some time during the winter of 1496-1497. His father, Jean Marot , whose more correct name appears to have been des Mares, Marais or Marets, was a Norman from the Caen...
(c.1496–1544) - André de La Vigne (active from 1485–1515)
- Jean d'Auton (active from 1499–1528)
1500-1549
- Bonaventure des PériersBonaventure des PériersBonaventure des Périers was a French author.He was born of a noble family at Arnay-le-duc in Burgundy at the end of the fifteenth century....
(c.1500–1544) - Maurice ScèveMaurice ScèveMaurice Scève , French poet, was born at Lyon, where his father practised law.He was the centre of the Lyonnese côterie that elaborated the theory of spiritual love, derived partly from Plato and partly from Petrarch...
(c.1505 – c.1562) - Michel de l'HospitalMichel de l'HôpitalMichel de l'Hôpital was a French statesman.-Biography:De l'Hôpital was born near Aigueperse in Auvergne ....
(1505–1573) - Étienne DoletÉtienne DoletÉtienne Dolet was a French scholar, translator and printer.-Early life:He was born in Orléans. A doubtful tradition makes him the illegitimate son of Francis I; but it is evident that he was at least connected with some family of rank and wealth.From Orléans he was taken to Paris about 1521, and...
(1509–1546) - Jean Calvin (1509–1564)
- De Cholières, sieur (sometimes listed as Nicolas de Cholières) (1509–1592)
- Hélisenne de CrenneHélisenne de CrenneHélisenne de Crenne was the pseudonym of Marguerite Briet , a French novelist, epistolary writer and translator during the Renaissance.-Life:...
(Marguerite Briet de Crenne) (c.1510–after 1552) - Pierre ViretPierre ViretPierre Viret was a Swiss Reformed theologian.- Early life :Pierre Viret was born to a devout middle class Roman Catholic family in Orbe, a small town now in Switzerland. He was a close friend of John Calvin....
(1511–1571) - Thomas SébilletThomas SébilletThomas Sébillet was a French jurist and grammarian. He is now remembered for his Art Poétique from 1548, on French verse. He was strongly contradicted later by Joachim du Bellay, whose art poétique became normative. This "decapitation of richesse" lead to a centralisation of language, too...
(c.1512–1589) - Jacques AmyotJacques AmyotJacques Amyot , French Renaissance writer and translator, was born of poor parents, at Melun.He found his way to the University of Paris, where he supported himself by serving some of the richer students. He was nineteen when he became M.A. at Paris, and later he graduated doctor of civil law at...
(1513–1593) - Louis des Masures (c.1515–1574)
- Guillaume Bouchet (1515–1594)
- Jacques Peletier du MansJacques Peletier du MansJacques Pelletier du Mans, also spelled Peletier, in Latin: Peletarius , was a humanist, poet and mathematician of the French Renaissance....
(1517–1582) - Théodore de Bèze (1519–1605)
- Noël du FailNoël du FailNoël du Fail, seigneur de La Hérissaye , was a French jurist and writer of the Renaissance...
(1520–1591) - Pernette Du GuilletPernette Du GuilletPernette Du Guillet was a female French poet of the Renaissance.She was born in a noble family and married in 1537 or 1538 a man with the last name Du Guillet. In the spring of 1536, she met the poet Maurice Scève , and she would serve as Scève's poetic muse, inspiring his Délie...
(c.1520–1545) - Jacques Yver (1520–1570)
- Gilles de Gouberville (1521–1578)
- Pontus de TyardPontus de TyardPontus de Tyard was a French poet and priest, a member of "La Pléiade".He was born at Bissy-sur-Fley in Burgundy, of which he was seigneur, but the exact year of his birth is uncertain. He became a friend of Antoine Héroet and Maurice Scève...
or de Thiard (1521–1605) - Joachim du BellayJoachim du BellayJoachim du Bellay was a French poet, critic, and a member of the Pléiade.-Biography:He was born at the Château of La Turmelière, not far from Liré, near Angers, being the son of Jean du Bellay, Lord of Gonnor, first cousin of the cardinal Jean du Bellay and of Guillaume du Bellay.Both his parents...
(1522–1560) - Pierre de RonsardPierre de RonsardPierre de Ronsard was a French poet and "prince of poets" .-Early life:...
(1524–1585) - Pierre BoaistuauPierre BoaistuauPierre Boaistuau, also known as Pierre Launay or Sieur de Launay was a French humanist. 'Boaistuau' is the manner of spelling followed by the majority of secondary works in which he has been mentioned...
(?–1566) - Louise LabéLouise LabéLouise Labé, , also identified as La Belle Cordière, , was a female French poet of the Renaissance, born at Lyon, the daughter of a rich ropemaker, Pierre Charly, and his second wife, Etiennette Roybet...
(c.1526 – c.1565) - Jacques Tahureau (1527–1555)
- Remy BelleauRemy BelleauRemy Belleau , was a poet of the French Renaissance. He is most known for his paradoxical poems of praise for simple things and his poems about precious stones....
(1528–1577) - Etienne PasquierÉtienne PasquierÉtienne Pasquier , French lawyer and man of letters, was born at Paris, on 7 June 1529 by his own account, according to others a year earlier. He was called to the Paris bar in 1549....
(1529–1615) - Étienne de La BoétieÉtienne de La BoétieÉtienne de La Boétie was a French judge, writer, anarchist, and "a founder of modern political philosophy in France." He "has been best remembered as the great and close friend of the eminent essayist Michel de Montaigne, in one of history's most notable friendships."-Life:"La Boétie was born in...
(1530–1563) - Claude FauchetClaude Fauchet (historian)Claude Fauchet was a French historian and antiquary.He was born at Paris; of his early life few particulars are known. He applied himself to the study of the early French chroniclers, and proposed to publish extracts which would throw light on the first periods of the monarchy...
(1530–1601) - Jean BodinJean BodinJean Bodin was a French jurist and political philosopher, member of the Parlement of Paris and professor of law in Toulouse. He is best known for his theory of sovereignty; he was also an influential writer on demonology....
(1530–1596) - François de BelleforestFrançois de BelleforestFrançois de Belleforest was a prolific French author, poet and translator of the Renaissance. He was born in a poor family and his father was killed when he was seven...
(1530–1583) - Henri Estienne (1531–1598)
- Jean Antoine de Baïf (1532–1589)
- Étienne JodelleÉtienne JodelleÉtienne Jodelle, seigneur de Limodin , French dramatist and poet, was born in Paris of a noble family.He attached himself to the poetic circle of the Pléiade and proceeded to apply the principles of the reformers to dramatic composition...
(1532–1573) - Michel de MontaigneMichel de MontaigneLord Michel Eyquem de Montaigne , February 28, 1533 – September 13, 1592, was one of the most influential writers of the French Renaissance, known for popularising the essay as a literary genre and is popularly thought of as the father of Modern Skepticism...
(Michel Eyquem, seigneur de Montaigne) (1533–1592) - Jean de la TailleJean de La TailleJean de La Taille was a French poet and dramatist born in Bondaroy.He studied the humanities in Paris under Muretus, and law at Orléans under Anne de Bourg. He began his career as a Huguenot, but afterwards adopted a mild Catholicism...
(c.1533/1540 – c.1617) - Robert GarnierRobert GarnierRobert Garnier was a French tragic poet. He published his first work while still a law-student at Toulouse, where he won a prize in the Académie des Jeux Floraux. It was a collection of lyrical pieces, now lost, entitled Plaintes amoureuses de Robert Garnier...
(1534–1590) - Nicolas RapinNicolas RapinNicolas Rapin was a French Renaissance magistrate, royal officer, translator, poet and satirist, known for being one of the authors of the Satire Ménippée and an outspoken critic of the excesses of the Holy League during the Wars of Religion.- Life :Born at Fontenay-le-Comte, Vendée into a family...
(1535–1608) - Jacques GrévinJacques GrévinJacques Grévin was a French dramatist.Grévin was born at Clermont, Oise in about 1539, and he studied medicine at the University of Paris. He became a disciple of Ronsard, and was one of the band of dramatists who sought to introduce the classical drama in France...
(1538–1570) - Olivier de SerresOlivier de SerresOlivier de Serres was a French author and soil scientist whose Théâtre d'Agriculture was the text book of French agriculture in the 17th century..Serres was born at Villeneuve-de-Berg, Ardèche...
(1539–1619) - Pierre PithouPierre PithouPierre Pithou was a French lawyer and scholar. He is also known as Petrus Pithoeus.He was born at Troyes. From childhood he loved literature, and his father Pierre encouraged this interest. Young Pithou was called to the Paris bar in 1560...
(1539–1596) - Pierre de Bourdeille, seigneur de BrantômePierre de Bourdeille, seigneur de BrantômePierre de Bourdeille, seigneur de Brantôme was a French historian, soldier and biographer.-Life:Brantôme was born in Périgord, Aquitaine, the third son of the baron de Bourdeille...
(1540–1614) - Pierre de LariveyPierre de LariveyPierre de Larivey was a French dramatist of Italian origin. He is credited with introducing the Italian "comedy of intrigue" into France.-Life:Little is known of Larivey's biography...
(1540–1619) - Florent ChrestienFlorent ChrestienFlorent Chrestien was a French satirist and Latin poet.Chrestien was the son of Guillaume Chrestien, an eminent French physician and writer on physiology, was born at Orléans. A pupil of Henri Estienne, the Hellenist, at an early age he was appointed tutor to Henry of Navarre, afterwards Henry IV,...
(1540–1596) - Pierre CharronPierre CharronPierre Charron was a French 16th-century Catholic theologian and philosopher, and a disciple and contemporary of Michel Montaigne.-Biography:...
(1541–1603) - Guillaume de Salluste Du BartasGuillaume de Salluste Du BartasGuillaume de Salluste Du Bartas was a French poet. A Huguenot, he served under Henry of Navarre. He is known as an epic poet. La Sepmaine; ou, Creation du monde was a hugely influential hexameral work, relating the creation of the world and the history of man...
(1544–1590) - Antoine du VerdierAntoine du VerdierAntoine du Verdier , lord of Vauprivast, was a French politician and writer. He was conseiller du roi and controller-general in Lyon, but is best known for his work as a bibliographer alongside his friend and contemporary François Grudé.-Publications:* Prosopographie, description des...
(1544–1600) - Pierre Joulet, sieur de Chastillon (1545–1621)
- Philippe DesportesPhilippe DesportesPhilippe Desportes was a French poet.-Biography:Philippe Desportes was born in Chartres. While serving as secretary to the bishop of Le Puy he visited Italy, where he learned Italian poetry. This experience became a good account. On his return to France he attached himself to the duke of Anjou,...
(1546–1606) - Pierre de L'EstoilePierre de L'Estoile-Life:Born in Paris into a middle-class background, Pierre de l'Estoile was tutored by Mathieu Béroalde. He knew Agrippa d'Aubigné. He became a law student at Bourges...
(1546–1611) - Gabrielle Chappuys (1546? – c.1613)
- Jean de La Ceppède (1548–1623)
- Etienne Tabourot des Accords (1549–1590)
- Philippe Duplessis-MornayPhilippe de MornayPhilippe de Mornay , seigneur du Plessis Marly, usually known as Du-Plessis-Mornay or Mornay Du Plessis, was a French Protestant writer and member of the Monarchomaques .- Biography :...
(Philippe de Mornay, called Duplessis-Mornay) (1549–1623)
1550-1599
- Benigne Poissenot (c.1550–?)
- François d'AmboiseFrançois d'AmboiseFrançois d'Amboise was a French jurist and writer. He was counseller to the Parlement of Brittany and advocate general to the Grand Conseil.- Biography :...
(1550–1619) - Odet de TurnèbeOdet de TurnèbeOdet de Turnèbe was a French dramatist.-Biography:Son of the Greek scholar Adrien Turnèbe, Odet de Turnèbe received a solid education and was known, from an early age, for his intelligence and wit...
(1552–1581) - Jean BertautJean BertautJean Bertaut , French poet, was born at Caen.He figures with Philippe Desportes in the disdainful couplet of Boileau on Ronsard:"Ce poëte orgueilleux, trébuché de si haut,Rendit plus retenus Desportes et Bertaut."...
(1552–1611) - Théodore Agrippa d'AubignéAgrippa d'AubignéThéodore-Agrippa d'Aubigné was a French poet, soldier, propagandist and chronicler. His epic poem Les Tragiques is widely regarded as his masterpiece.-Life:...
(1552–1630) - François de MalherbeFrançois de MalherbeFrançois de Malherbe was a French poet, critic, and translator.-Life:Born in Le-Locheur , his family was of some position, though it seems not to have been able to establish to the satisfaction of heralds the claims which it made to nobility older than the 16th century.He was the eldest son of...
(1552–1630) - Marc de Papillon a/k/a "Capitaine Lasphrise" (1555–1599)
- Jacques Davy Du Perron (1556–1618)
- François Béroalde de VervilleBéroalde de VervilleFrançois Béroalde de Verville was a French Renaissance novelist, poet and intellectual. He was the son of Matthieu Brouard , called "Béroalde", a professor of Agrippa d'Aubigné and Pierre de l'Estoile and a Huguenot; his mother, Marie Bletz, was the niece of the humanist and Hebrew scholar...
(1556–1626) - Guillaume du VairGuillaume du VairGuillaume du Vair was a French author and lawyer.He was born in Paris. After taking holy orders, he exercised only legal functions for most of his career. However, from 1617 till his death he was Bishop of Lisieux. His reputation is that of a lawyer, a statesman and a man of letters...
(1556–1621) - Jean de SpondeJean de SpondeJean de Sponde was a Baroque French poet.- Biography :Born at Mauléon, in what is now Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Jean de Sponde was raised in an austere Protestant family in the Basque region of France with close relations with the royal court of Navarre...
(1557–1595) - Maximilien de Béthune, baron de Rosny, duc de Sully (1560–1641)
- Alexandre HardyAlexandre HardyAlexandre Hardy was a French dramatist, one of the most prolific of all time. He claimed to have written some six hundred plays, but only thirty-four are extant....
(1560/1570 – c.1632) - Nicolas de MontreuxNicolas de MontreuxNicolas de Montreux was a French nobleman, novelist, poet, translator and dramatist.Born in province of Maine, he was the son of a maître des requêtes and may have become a priest around 1585. In 1591 he came under the protection of the Duke of Mercœur and participated in the civil wars on the...
(1561–1608) - Pierre MatthieuPierre MatthieuPierre Matthieu was a French writer, poet, historian and dramatist.-Biography:Pierre Matthieu studied under the Jesuits and mastered Latin, Ancient Greek and Hebrew...
(1563–1621) - Eustache de RefugeEustache de RefugeEustache de Refuge, seigneur de Précy et de Courcelles , was an Early Modern French courtier, statesman and author.- Biography :...
, seigneur de Précy et de Courcelles (1564–1617) - Saint François de SalesFrancis de SalesFrancis de Sales was Bishop of Geneva and is a Roman Catholic saint. He worked to convert Protestants back to Catholicism, and was an accomplished preacher...
(1567–1622) - Honoré d'UrféHonoré d'UrféHonoré d'Urfé, marquis de Valromey, comte de Châteauneuf was a French novelist and miscellaneous writer.- Life :...
(1567–1625) - Antoine de NervèzeAntoine de NervèzeAntoine de Nervèze was a French nobleman and writer of novels, translations, letters and moral works at the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th centuries.-Biography:...
(c.1570–after 1622) - Nicolas des EscuteauxNicolas des EscuteauxNicolas des Escuteaux was a French novelist from the early 17th century.-Life:He was born into a noble family in the region around Loudun...
(after 1570 – c.1628) - François du SouhaitFrançois du SouhaitFrançois du Souhait was a French language author of the late 16th and early 17th century from the Duchy of Lorraine .- Life :François du Souhait was born to a noble family in the Champagne region...
(between 1570 & 1580–1617) - Jean-Baptiste Chassignet (1570–1635)
- Jean Ogier de Gombaud (1570–1666)
- Mathurin RégnierMathurin RégnierMathurin Régnier was a French satirist.-Life:Régnier was born in Chartres, current region of Centre....
(1573–1613) - Antoine de MontchrestienAntoine de MontchrestienAntoine de Montchrestien was a French soldier, dramatist, adventurer and economist.Montchrestien was born in Falaise, Normandy...
(c.1575–1621) - Henri, duc de RohanHenri, duc de RohanHenri de Rohan, Viscount then Duke of Rohan , later duke of Rohan, French soldier, writer and leader of the Huguenots, was born at the Château de Blain , in Brittany....
(1579–1638) - Saint Vincent de Paul (1581–1660)
- Jean Duvergier de Hauranne, abbé de Saint-Cyran (1581–1643)
- François MaynardFrançois MaynardFrançois Maynard, sometimes seen as "de Maynard" was a French poet who spent much of his life in Toulouse.-Life and works:...
(1582–1646) - Jean-Pierre CamusJean-Pierre CamusJean-Pierre Camus de Pontcarré was a French bishop, preacher, and author of works of fiction and spirituality.-Biography:...
(1584–1652) - Jean de SchelandreJean de SchelandreJean de Schelandre , Seigneur de Saumazènes, was a French poet.-Biography:He was born about 1585 near Verdun of a Calvinist family, and studied at the university of Paris...
(c.1585–1635) - François de La Mothe-Le-Vayer (1588–1672)
- Honorat de Bueil, seigneur de RacanHonorat de Bueil, seigneur de RacanHonorat de Bueil, seigneur de Racan was a French aristocrat, soldier, poet, dramatist and member of the Académie française....
(1589–1670) - Théophile de ViauThéophile de ViauThéophile de Viau was a French Baroque poet and dramatist.Born at Clairac, near Agen in the Lot-et-Garonne and raised as a Huguenot, Théophile de Viau participated in the Protestant wars in Guyenne from 1615-1616 in the service of the Comte de Candale. After the war, he was pardoned and became a...
(1590–1626) - François le Métel de BoisrobertFrançois le Métel de BoisrobertFrançois le Métel de Boisrobert was a French poet.-Biography:He was born at Caen, and trained as a lawyer, practising for some time at the bar at Rouen. About 1622 he went to Paris, and by the next year had established a footing at court, for he had a share in the ballet of the Bacchanales...
(1592–1662) - Antoine Gérard de Saint-AmantAntoine Gérard de Saint-AmantAntoine Girard, sieur de Saint-Amant , French poet, was born near Rouen.His father was a merchant who had, according to his son's account, been a sailor and had commanded for 22 years "une escadre de la reine Elizabeth"--a vague statement that lacks confirmation...
(1594–1661) - Jean ChapelainJean ChapelainJean Chapelain was a French poet and writer.-Biography:Chapelain was born in Paris. His father wanted him to become a notary; but his mother, who had known Pierre de Ronsard, had decided otherwise...
(1595–1674) - Jean Desmarets de Saint-Sorlin (1595–1676)
- René DescartesRené DescartesRené Descartes ; was a French philosopher and writer who spent most of his adult life in the Dutch Republic. He has been dubbed the 'Father of Modern Philosophy', and much subsequent Western philosophy is a response to his writings, which are studied closely to this day...
(1596–1650) - Claude de MallevilleClaude de MallevilleClaude Malleville was a French poet and one of the founder members of the Académie française in 1634.- External links :...
(1597–1647) - Vincent VoitureVincent VoitureVincent Voiture , French poet, was the son of a rich merchant of Amiens. He was introduced by a schoolfellow, the count Claude d'Avaux, to Gaston, Duke of Orléans, and accompanied him to Brussels and Lorraine on diplomatic missions.Although a follower of Gaston, he won the favour of Cardinal...
(1597–1648) - Jean-Louis Guez de BalzacJean-Louis Guez de BalzacJean-Louis Guez de Balzac was a French author, best known for his epistolary essays, which were widely circulated and read in his day. He was one of the founding members of Académie française.-Biography:...
(1597–1684)
1600-1649
- Marin le Roy de GombervilleMarin le Roy de GombervilleMarin le Roy, sieur du Parc et de Gomberville was a French poet and novelist.He was born at Paris, and at fourteen he produced a volume of poetry. At twenty he wrote a Discours sur l'histoire and at twenty-two a pastoral, La Charité, which is really a novel...
(1600–1674) - Georges de ScudéryGeorges de ScudéryGeorges de Scudéry , the elder brother of Madeleine de Scudéry, was a French novelist, dramatist and poet.Georges de Scudéry was born in Le Havre, in Normandy, whither his father had moved from Provence...
(1601–1667) - François Tristan l'HermiteFrançois Tristan l'HermiteFrançois l'Hermite was a French dramatist who wrote under the name Tristan l'Hermite. He was born at the Château de Soliers in the Haute Marche....
(1601–1655) - Guy PatinGuy PatinGuy Patin was a French doctor and man of letters.Guy Patin was headmaster of the School of Medicine in Paris and professor in the Collège de France starting in 1655...
(1601–1672) - Charles Sorel (1602–1674)
- Le Père Le Moyne (1602–1671)
- Charles CotinCharles CotinCharles Cotin or Abbé Cotin was a French abbé, philosopher and poet. He was made a member of the Académie française on 7 January 1655....
(1604–1682) - Jean MairetJean MairetJean Mairet was a classical French dramatist who wrote both tragedies and comedies.- Life :He was born at Besançon, and went to Paris to study at the Collège des Grassins about 1625. In that year he produced his first piece Chryséide et Arimand...
(1604–1686) - François Hédelin, abbé d'AubignacFrançois Hédelin, abbé d'AubignacFrançois Hédelin, abbé d'Aubignac was a French author who was born in Paris.His father practised at the Paris bar, and his mother was a daughter of the great surgeon Ambroise Paré...
(1604–1676) - Pierre du RyerPierre du RyerPierre du Ryer was a French dramatist.He was born in Paris. His early comedies are loosely modelled on those of Alexandre Hardy, but after the production of the Cid he became an imitator of Pierre Corneille; this was the period when he produced his masterpiece Scévole, probably in 1644...
(1605–1658) - Charles Coypeau d'Assoucy (1605–1675)
- Jean François SarrazinJean François SarrazinJean François Sarrazin , or Sarasin, was a French author.-Biography:Sarrazin was born at Hermanville, near Caen, the son of Roger Sarasin, treasurer-general at Caen....
(1605–1654) - Pierre CorneillePierre CorneillePierre Corneille was a French tragedian who was one of the three great seventeenth-century French dramatists, along with Molière and Racine...
(1606–1684) - Antoine GombaudAntoine GombaudAntoine Gombaud, Chevalier de Méré was a French writer, born at Poitou in 1607, and died on December 29, 1684. Although he was not a nobleman, he adopted the title Chevalier for the character in his dialogues who represented his own views...
, chevalier de Méré (1607–1685) - Madeleine de ScudéryMadeleine de ScudéryMadeleine de Scudéry , often known simply as Mademoiselle de Scudéry, was a French writer. She was the younger sister of author Georges de Scudéry.-Biography:...
(1607–1701) - Jean RotrouJean RotrouJean Rotrou was a French poet and tragedian.Rotrou was born at Dreux in Normandy. He studied at Dreux and at Paris, and, though three years younger than Pierre Corneille, began writing before him. In 1632 he became playwright to the actors of the Hôtel de Bourgogne...
(1609–1650) - Paul ScarronPaul ScarronPaul Scarron was a French poet, dramatist, and novelist. His precise birthdate is unknown, but he was baptized on July 4, 1610...
(1610–1660) - François-Eudes de MézerayFrançois-Eudes de MézerayFrançois Eudes de Mézeray was a French historian.He was born at Rye near Argentan, where his father was a surgeon.He had two brothers, one of whom, Jean-Eudes, was the founder of the order of the Eudists. François studied at the University of Caen, and completed his education at the College of Ste...
(1610–1683) - Charles de Saint-EvremondCharles de Saint-ÉvremondCharles de Marguetel de Saint-Denis, seigneur de Saint-Évremond was a French soldier, hedonist, essayist and literary critic. After 1661, he lived in exile, mainly in England, as a consequence of his attack on French policy at the time of the peace of the Pyrenees . He is buried in Poets' Corner,...
(c.1610–1703) - Antoine ArnauldAntoine ArnauldAntoine Arnauld — le Grand as contemporaries called him, to distinguish him from his father — was a French Roman Catholic theologian, philosopher, and mathematician...
(1612–1694) - Isaac de BenseradeIsaac de BenseradeIsaac de Benserade was a French poet.Born in Lyons-la-Forêt in the Province of Normandy, his family appears to have been connected with Richelieu, who bestowed on him a pension of 600 livres. He began his literary career with the tragedy of Cléopâtre , which was followed by four other pieces...
(1612–1691) - Jean François Paul de Gondi, cardinal de RetzJean François Paul de Gondi, cardinal de RetzJean François Paul de Gondi, cardinal de Retz was a French churchman, writer of memoirs, and agitator in the Fronde....
(1613–1679) - François de la RochefoucauldFrançois de La RochefoucauldFrançois de La Rochefoucauld may be:* François de La Rochefoucauld , French author* François de La Rochefoucauld , French cardinal of the Catholic Church...
(1613–1680) - Gauthier de Costes, seigneur de la CalprenèdeGauthier de Costes, seigneur de la CalprenèdeGauthier de Costes, seigneur de la Calprenède was a French novelist and dramatist. He was born at the Château of Tolgou in Salignac-Eyvigues . After studying at Toulouse, he came to Paris and entered the regiment of the guards, becoming in 1650 gentleman-in-ordinary of the royal household...
(1614–1663) - Georges de BrébeufGeorges de BrébeufGeorges de Brébeuf was a French poet and translator best known for his verse translation of Lucan's Pharsalia which was warmly received by Pierre Corneille, but which was ridiculed by Nicolas Boileau in his Art poétique....
(1618–1661) - Roger de Rabutin, Comte de BussyRoger de Rabutin, Comte de BussyRoger de Rabutin, Comte de Bussy , commonly known as Bussy-Rabutin, was a French memoirist. He was the cousin and frequent correspondent of Madame de Sévigné....
, called Bussy-Rabutin (1618–1693) - Cyrano de BergeracCyrano de BergeracHercule-Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac was a French dramatist and duelist. He is now best remembered for the works of fiction which have been woven, often very loosely, around his life story, most notably the 1897 play by Edmond Rostand...
(Hector-Savinien Cyrano de Bergerac) (1619–1655) - Antoine FuretièreAntoine FuretièreAntoine Furetière , French scholar and writer, was born in Paris.-Biography:He studied law and practised for a time as an advocate, but eventually took orders and after various promotions became abbé of Chalivoy in the diocese of Bourges in 1662...
(1619–1688) - Gédéon Tallemant des RéauxGédéon Tallemant des RéauxGédéon Tallemant, Sieur des Réaux was a French writer known for his Historiettes, a collection of short biographies.-Biography:...
(1619–1692) - Jean de La FontaineJean de La FontaineJean de La Fontaine was the most famous French fabulist and one of the most widely read French poets of the 17th century. He is known above all for his Fables, which provided a model for subsequent fabulists across Europe and numerous alternative versions in France, and in French regional...
(1621–1695) - MolièreMolièreJean-Baptiste Poquelin, known by his stage name Molière, was a French playwright and actor who is considered to be one of the greatest masters of comedy in Western literature...
(Jean-Baptiste Poquelin) (1622–1673) - Blaise PascalBlaise PascalBlaise Pascal , was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer and Catholic philosopher. He was a child prodigy who was educated by his father, a tax collector in Rouen...
(1623–1662) - Jean Renaud de SegraisJean Renaud de SegraisJean Renaud de Segrais was a French poet and novelist born in Caen.In 1662, he was elected a member of the Académie française....
(1624–1701) - Paul PellissonPaul Pellissonthumb|Paul Pellisson,Paul Pellisson was a French author.He was born in Béziers, of a distinguished Calvinist family. He studied law at Toulouse, and practised at the bar of Castres. Going to Paris with letters of introduction to Valentin Conrart, a fellow Calvinist, he was introduced to the...
(1624–1693) - Thomas CorneilleThomas CorneilleThomas Corneille was a French dramatist.- Personal life :Born in Rouen nearly twenty years after his brother Pierre, the "great Corneille", Thomas's skill as a poet seems to have shown itself early. At the age of fifteen he composed a play in Latin which was performed by his fellow-pupils at the...
(1625–1709) - Samuel ChappuzeauSamuel ChappuzeauSamuel Chappuzeau was a French scholar, author, poet and playwright whose best-known work today is Le Théâtre François, a description of French Theatre in the 17th century....
(1625–1701) - Madame de Sévigné (Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de Sévigné) (1626–1696)
- Laurent DrelincourtLaurent DrelincourtLaurent Drelincourt was son of the French Reformed Church theologian Charles Drelincourt , who was a French Protestant divine. Laurent also was a theologian, who later became a pastor, and was the author of Sonnets chrétiens sur divers sujets .His orientation is said to have followed largely the...
(1626–1680) - Jacques Bénigne Bossuet (1627–1704)
- Gabriel-Joseph de La Vergne, comte de Guilleragues (1628–1685)
- Charles PerraultCharles PerraultCharles Perrault was a French author who laid the foundations for a new literary genre, the fairy tale, with his works derived from pre-existing folk tales. The best known include Le Petit Chaperon rouge , Cendrillon , Le Chat Botté and La Barbe bleue...
(1628–1703) - Pierre Daniel HuetPierre Daniel HuetPierre Daniel Huet was a French churchman and scholar, editor of the Delphin Classics, founder of the Academie du Physique in Caen and Bishop of Soissons from 1685 to 1689 and afterwards of Avranches.-Life:...
(1630–1721) - Louis BourdaloueLouis BourdaloueLouis Bourdaloue was a French Jesuit and preacher.He was born in Bourges. At the age of sixteen he entered the Society of Jesus, and was appointed successively professor of rhetoric, philosophy and moral theology, in various Jesuit colleges...
(1632–1704) - Esprit FléchierEsprit FléchierEsprit Fléchier was a French preacher and author, Bishop of Nîmes from 1687 to 1710.-Life:He was born at Pernes-les-Fontaines, in the département of Vaucluse, in the Comtat Venaissin, and brought up at Tarascon by his uncle, Hercule Audiffret, superior of the Congrégation des Doctrinaires...
(1632–1710) - Jacques PradonJacques PradonJacques Pradon, often called Nicolas Pradon, was a French playwright. Early in his career he was helped by Pierre Corneille and was introduced to the salons at the Hôtel de Nevers and the Hôtel de Bouillon by Madame Deshoulières....
(1632–1698) - Madame de Villedieu (Marie-Catherine-Hortence Desjardins, marquise de Villedieu) (1632–1683)
- Madame de Lafayette (Marie-Madeleine, comtesse de La Fayette) (1634–1693)
- Pierre ThomasPierre ThomasPierre Thomas, sieur du Fossé was a French scholar and author, and was the son of a master of accounts at Rouen. He was sent as a child to be educated to the Jansenists at Port-Royal des Champs. There he received his bent towards the life of a recluse, and even of a hermit, which drew him to...
, sieur du Fossé (1634–1698) - Philippe QuinaultPhilippe QuinaultPhilippe Quinault , French dramatist and librettist, was born in Paris.- Biography :Quinault was educated by the liberality of François Tristan l'Hermite, the author of Marianne. Quinault's first play was produced at the Hôtel de Bourgogne in 1653, when he was only eighteen...
(1635–1688) - Adrien Thomas Perdou de Subligny (1636–1696)
- Nicolas BoileauNicolas Boileau-DespréauxNicolas Boileau-Despréaux was a French poet and critic.-Biography:Boileau was born in the rue de Jérusalem, in Paris, France. He was brought up to the law, but devoted to letters, associating himself with La Fontaine, Racine, and Molière...
(1636–1711) - Edmé BoursaultEdmé BoursaultEdmé Boursault was a French dramatist and miscellaneous writer, born at Mussy l'Evéque, now Mussy-sur-Seine ....
(1638–1701) - Antoinette du Ligier de la Garde DeshoulièresAntoinette du Ligier de la Garde DeshoulièresAntoinette Du Ligier de la Garde Deshoulières was a French poet born in Paris. She was the daughter of Melchior du Ligier, sieur de la Garde, maitre d'hôtel to the queens Marie de Medici and Anne of Austria....
(1638–1694) - Nicolas MalebrancheNicolas MalebrancheNicolas Malebranche ; was a French Oratorian and rationalist philosopher. In his works, he sought to synthesize the thought of St. Augustine and Descartes, in order to demonstrate the active role of God in every aspect of the world...
(1638–1715) - Jean Donneau de ViséJean Donneau de ViséJean Donneau de Visé was a French journalist, royal historian , playwright and publicist. He was founder of the literary, arts and society gazette "le Mercure galant" and was associated with the "Moderns" in the "Quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns".Donneau de Visé was among the detractors...
(1638–1710) - Philippe de Courcillon, marquis de Dangeau (1638–1720)
- Guillaume Amfrye de ChaulieuGuillaume Amfrye de ChaulieuGuillaume Amfrye de Chaulieu , French poet and wit, was born at Fontenay, Normandy.His father, maître des comptes of Rouen, sent him to study at the Collège de Navarre. Guillaume early showed the wit that was to distinguish him, and gained the favor of the duke of Vendôme, who procured for him the...
(1639–1720) - César Vichard de Saint-RéalCésar Vichard de Saint-RéalCésar Vichard de Saint-Réal was a French polygraph.He was born in Chambéry, Savoy, but educated in Lyon by the Jesuits. He used to work in the royal library with Antoine Varillas. This French historiographer influenced the way Saint-Réal wrote history...
(1639–1692) - Jean RacineJean RacineJean Racine , baptismal name Jean-Baptiste Racine , was a French dramatist, one of the "Big Three" of 17th-century France , and one of the most important literary figures in the Western tradition...
(1639–1699) - Claude de FleuryFleuryFleury can refer to:* Abbo of Fleury abbot of the monastery of Fleury* Andrew of Fleury, historian from the monstery of Fleury* Cardinal André-Hercule de Fleury, Bishop of Fréjus , chief minister of Louis XV of France...
(1640–1723) - Louis MorériLouis MorériLouis Moréri was a French encyclopaedist.His encyclopaedia, Le grand Dictionaire historique, ou le mélange curieux de l'histoire sacrée et profane was first published in Lyon in 1674. The encyclopaedia focused particularly on historical and biographical articles...
(1643–1680) - Gatien de Courtilz de SandrasGatien de Courtilz de SandrasGatien de Courtilz de Sandras was a French novelist, journalist, pamphleteer and memorialist.His abundant output includes short stories, gallant letters, tales of historical love affairs , historical and political works, biographies and semi-fictional "memoirs" Gatien de Courtilz de Sandras (1644,...
(1644–1712) - Anne de La Roche-Guilhen (1644–1707)
- Jean de La BruyèreJean de La BruyèreJean de La Bruyère was a French essayist and moralist.-Ancestry:He was born in Paris, not, as was once thought, at Dourdan in 1645...
(1645–1696) - Pierre Le Pesant, sieur de BoisguilbertPierre Le Pesant, sieur de BoisguilbertPierre le Pesant, sieur de Boisguilbert or Boisguillebert was a French economist and a Jansenist, one of the inventors of the notion of an economical market....
( c.1646–1714) - Antoine GallandAntoine GallandAntoine Galland was a French orientalist and archaeologist, most famous as the first European translator of The Thousand and One Nights...
(1646–1715) - Pierre BaylePierre BaylePierre Bayle was a French philosopher and writer best known for his seminal work the Historical and Critical Dictionary, published beginning in 1695....
(1647–1706) - Charles Dufresny (1648–1724)
1650-1699
- Madame d'AulnoyMadame d'AulnoyMarie-Catherine Le Jumel de Barneville, Baroness d'Aulnoy , also known as Countess d'Aulnoy, was a French writer known for her fairy tales...
(Marie-Catherine le Jumelle de Barneville, Baronne d'Aulnoy) (1650/1651–1705) - François de Salignac de la Mothe-Fénelon (1651–1715)
- Charlotte-Rose de Caumont La ForceCharlotte-Rose de Caumont La ForceCharlotte-Rose de Caumont de La Force or Mademoiselle de La Force was a French novelist and poet. Her best-known work was her 1698 fairy tale Persinette which was adapted by the Brothers Grimm as the story Rapunzel....
(Mademoiselle de La Force) (1654–1724) - Jean-François RegnardJean-François RegnardJean-François Regnard , "the most distinguished, after Molière, of the comic poets of the seventeenth century", was a dramatist, born in Paris, who is equally famous now for the travel diary he kept of a voyage in 1681....
(1655–1709) - Jean Galbert de CampistronJean Galbert de CampistronJean Galbert de Campistron was a French dramatist-Biography:Campistron was born in Toulouse, France to a noble family.At the age of seventeen he was wounded in a duel and sent to Paris...
(1656–1723) - Bernard le Bovier de FontenelleBernard le Bovier de FontenelleBernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle , also called Bernard Le Bouyer de Fontenelle, was a French author.Fontenelle was born in Rouen, France and died in Paris just one month before his 100th birthday. His mother was the sister of great French dramatists Pierre and Thomas Corneille...
(1657–1757) - Henri de Boulainvilliers (1658–1712)
- Charles RollinCharles RollinCharles Rollin was a French historian and educator. He was born in Paris.-Biography:He was the son of a cutler, and at the age of twenty-two was made a master in the Collège du Plessis. In 1694 he was rector of the University of Paris, rendering great service among other things by reviving the...
(1661–1741) - Florent Carton DancourtFlorent Carton DancourtFlorent Carton aka Dancourt , French dramatist and actor, was born at Fontainebleau. He belonged to a family of rank, and his parents entrusted his education to Pere de la Rue, a Jesuit, who made earnest efforts to induce him to join the order...
(1661–1725) - Alain-René LesageAlain-René LesageAlain-René Lesage was a French novelist and playwright. Lesage is best known for his comic novel The Devil upon Two Sticks , his comedy Turcaret , and his picaresque novel Gil Blas .-Youth and education:Claude Lesage, the father of the novelist, held the united...
(1668–1747) - Jean-Baptiste RousseauJean-Baptiste RousseauJean-Baptiste Rousseau was a French poet.-Biography:Rousseau was born in Paris, the son of a shoemaker, and was well educated. As a young man, he gained favour with Boileau, who encouraged him to write. Rousseau began with the theatre, for which he had no aptitude...
(1670–1741) - Jean-Baptiste DubosJean-Baptiste DubosJean-Baptiste Dubos , also referred to as l'Abbé Du Bos, was a French author.-Life:He was born in Beauvais. After studying theology, he gave it up in favour of public law and politics. He was employed by M...
(1670–1742) - Prosper Jolyot de CrébillonProsper Jolyot de CrébillonProsper Jolyot de Crébillon was a French poet and tragedian.-Life and works:He was born in Dijon, where his father, Melchior Jolyot, was notary-royal. Having been educated at the Jesuit school in the town, and afterwards at the Collège Mazarin. He became an advocate, and was placed in the office...
(Crébillon père) (1674–1762) - Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-SimonLouis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-SimonLouis de Rouvroy commonly known as Saint-Simon was a French soldier, diplomatist and writer of memoirs, was born in Paris...
(1675–1755) - Philippe Néricault DestouchesPhilippe Néricault DestouchesPhilippe Néricault Destouches was a French dramatist.-Biography:Destouches was born at Tours, in the today's department of Indre-et-Loire....
(1680–1754) - Claudine Alexandrine Guérin de Tencin (Madame de Tencin) (1681–1749)
- Marivaux (Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux) (1688–1763)
- Alexis PironAlexis PironAlexis Piron was a French epigrammatist and dramatist.He was born at Dijon, where his father, Aimé Piron, was an apothecary. Piron senior wrote verse in the Burgundian language. Alexis began life as clerk and secretary to a banker, and then studied law...
(1689–1773) - Montesquieu (Charles Louis de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu) (1689–1755)
- Louis Petit de Bachaumont (1690–1771)
- VoltaireVoltaireFrançois-Marie Arouet , better known by the pen name Voltaire , was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit and for his advocacy of civil liberties, including freedom of religion, free trade and separation of church and state...
(François-Marie Arouet) (1694–1778) - René-Louis de Voyer de Paulmy, marquis d' ArgensonRené-Louis de Voyer de Paulmy, marquis d' ArgensonRené-Louis de Voyer de Paulmy, marquis d'Argenson was a French statesman, son of Marc-René de Voyer de Paulmy d'Argenson, the first Marquis d'Argenson, and brother of Marc-Pierre d'Argenson...
(1694–1757) - Françoise de GraffignyFrançoise de GraffignyFrançoise de Graffigny, née d'Issembourg Du Buisson d'Happoncourt was a French novelist, playwright and salon hostess....
(1695–1758) - Antoine François PrévostAntoine François PrévostAntoine François Prévost , usually known simply as the Abbé Prévost, was a French author and novelist.- Life and works :...
(Antoine Francois Prevost d'Exiles) a/k/a Abbé Prévost (1697–1763) - Marie Anne de Vichy-Chamrond, marquise du DeffandMarie Anne de Vichy-Chamrond, marquise du DeffandMarie Anne de Vichy-Chamrond, marquise du Deffand was a French hostess and patron of the arts.She was born at the Château de Chamrond, in Ligny-en-Brionnais, a village near Charolles of a noble family. Educated at a convent in Paris, she showed great intelligence and a sceptical, cynical turn of...
(1697–1780)
1700-1749
- Charles Pinot DuclosCharles Pinot DuclosCharles Pinot Duclos was a French author.-Life:He was born at Dinan, in Brittany. At an early age, he was sent to study at Paris...
(1704–1772) - Claude Prosper Jolyot de CrébillonClaude Prosper Jolyot de CrébillonClaude Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon was a French novelist.Born in Paris, he was the son of a famous tragedian, Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon. He received a Jesuit education at the elite Lycée Louis-le-Grand...
(Crébillon, fils) (1707–1777) - Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de BuffonGeorges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de BuffonGeorges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon was a French naturalist, mathematician, cosmologist, and encyclopedic author.His works influenced the next two generations of naturalists, including Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and Georges Cuvier...
(Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de Buffon) (1707–1788) - Julien Offray de La MettrieJulien Offray de La MettrieJulien Offray de La Mettrie was a French physician and philosopher, and one of the earliest of the French materialists of the Enlightenment...
(1709–1751) - Gabriel Bonnot de MablyGabriel Bonnot de MablyGabriel Bonnot de Mably , sometimes known as Abbé de Mably, was a French philosopher and politician. He was born in Grenoble of a legal family, and, like his younger brother, the well-known philosopher, Étienne Bonnot de Condillac , took holy orders...
(1709–1785) - Jean-Baptiste-Louis GressetJean-Baptiste-Louis GressetJean-Baptiste-Louis Gresset was a French poet and dramatist, best known for his poem Vert-Vert....
(1709–1777) - Jean-Jacques Lefranc, marquis de PompignanJean-Jacques Lefranc, marquis de PompignanJean-Jacques Lefranc , Marquis de Pompignan was a French man of letters and erudition, who published a considerable output of theatrical work, poems, literary criticism, and polemics; treatises on archeology, nature, travel and many other subjects; and a wide selection of highly-regarded...
(1709–1784) - Charles-Simon Favart (1710–1792)
- Jean-Jacques RousseauJean-Jacques RousseauJean-Jacques Rousseau was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer of 18th-century Romanticism. His political philosophy influenced the French Revolution as well as the overall development of modern political, sociological and educational thought.His novel Émile: or, On Education is a treatise...
(1712–1778) - Denis DiderotDenis DiderotDenis Diderot was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer. He was a prominent person during the Enlightenment and is best known for serving as co-founder and chief editor of and contributor to the Encyclopédie....
(1713–1784) - Étienne Bonnot de CondillacÉtienne Bonnot de CondillacÉtienne Bonnot de Condillac was a French philosopher and epistemologist who studied in such areas as psychology and the philosophy of the mind.-Biography:...
(1714–1780) - Marie Jeanne RiccoboniMarie Jeanne RiccoboniMarie-Jeanne Riccoboni , whose maiden name was Laboras de Mezières, was a French novelist.She was born in Paris in 1714.In 1735 she married Antoine François Riccoboni, a comedian and dramatist, from whom she soon separated...
(Madame Riccoboni) (1714–1792) - Claude Adrien HelvétiusClaude Adrien HelvétiusClaude Adrien Helvétius was a French philosopher and littérateur.-Life:...
(1715–1771) - VauvenarguesLuc de Clapiers, marquis de VauvenarguesLuc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues was a minor French writer, a moralist. He died at age 31, in broken health, having published the year prior—anonymously—a collection of essays and aphorisms with the encouragement of Voltaire, his friend. He first received public notice under his own name...
(Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues) (1715–1747) - Jean-François de Saint-Lambert (1716–1803)
- Louis Carrogis CarmontelleLouis Carrogis CarmontelleLouis Carrogis Carmontelle was a French dramatist, painter, architect, set designer and author, and designer of one of the earliest examples of the French landscape garden, Parc Monceau in Paris...
(1717–1806 - Jean Le Rond d'AlembertJean le Rond d'AlembertJean-Baptiste le Rond d'Alembert was a French mathematician, mechanician, physicist, philosopher, and music theorist. He was also co-editor with Denis Diderot of the Encyclopédie...
(1717–1783) - Michel-Jean SedaineMichel-Jean SedaineMichel-Jean Sedaine was a French dramatist, was born in Paris.- Biography :His father, who was an architect, died when Sedaine was quite young, leaving no fortune, and the boy began life as a mason's labourer...
(1719–1797) - Jacques CazotteJacques CazotteJacques Cazotte was a French author.Born at Dijon, he was educated by the Jesuits. Cazotte then worked for the French Ministry ofthe Marine and at the age of 27 he obtained a public office at Martinique....
(1720–1792) - Tiphaigne de la RocheTiphaigne de la RocheCharles-François Tiphaigne de la Roche, , was a French author.He was born at Montebourg, Cotentin, studied medicine at the University of Caen and became a physician in 1744....
(Charles-François Tiphaigne de la Roche) (1722–1774) - Baron d'HolbachBaron d'HolbachPaul-Henri Thiry, Baron d'Holbach was a French-German author, philosopher, encyclopedist and a prominent figure in the French Enlightenment. He was born Paul Heinrich Dietrich in Edesheim, near Landau in the Rhenish Palatinate, but lived and worked mainly in Paris, where he kept a salon...
(Paul Henri Dietrich, baron d'Holbach) (1723–1789) - Jean-François MarmontelJean-François MarmontelJean-François Marmontel was a French historian and writer, a member of the Encyclopediste movement.-Biography:He was born of poor parents at Bort, Limousin...
(1723–1799) - CasanovaGiacomo CasanovaGiacomo Girolamo Casanova de Seingalt was an Italian adventurer and author from the Republic of Venice. His autobiography, Histoire de ma vie , is regarded as one of the most authentic sources of the customs and norms of European social life during the 18th century...
a/k/a Jacques Casanova de Seingalt (1725–1798) - Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, Baron de LauneAnne Robert Jacques Turgot, Baron de LauneAnne-Robert-Jacques Turgot, Baron de Laune , often referred to as Turgot, was a French economist and statesman. Turgot was a student of Francois Quesnay and as such belonged to the Physiocratic school of economic thought...
(1727–1781) - Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (1732–1799)
- Jacques Charles Louis de Clinchamp de Malfilâtre (1733–1767)
- Nicolas Edme Restif de La BretonneNicolas-Edme RétifNicolas-Edme Rétif or Nicolas-Edme Restif , also known as Rétif de la Bretonne, was a French novelist. The term retifisme for shoe fetishism was named after him.-Biography:...
(1734–1806) - Charles Joseph, Prince de LigneCharles Joseph, Prince de LigneCharles-Joseph Lamoral, 7th Prince de Ligne in French, Charles Joseph Lamoral 7te Fürst von Ligne : was a Field marshal and writer, and member of the princely family of Ligne.-Military service:He was the son of Field Marshal Claude Lamoral, 6th Prince of Ligne and Elisabeth Alexandrine...
(1735–1814) - Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-PierreJacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-PierreJacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre was a French writer and botanist...
(1737–1814) - Jacques DelilleJacques DelilleJacques Delille was a French poet and translator. He was born at Aigueperse in Auvergne.-Life:He was an illegitimate child, and was descended by his mother from the chancellor De l'Hôpital. He was educated at the College of Lisieux in Paris and became an elementary teacher...
(1738–1813) - Jean-François de la HarpeJean-François de La HarpeJean-François de La Harpe was a French playwright, writer and critic.-Life:La Harpe was born in Paris of poor parents. His father, who signed himself Delharpe, was a descendant of a noble family originally of Vaud...
(1739–1803) - Marquis de SadeMarquis de SadeDonatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade was a French aristocrat, revolutionary politician, philosopher, and writer famous for his libertine sexuality and lifestyle...
(Donatien Alphonse François de Sade) (1740–1814) - Isabelle de CharrièreIsabelle de CharrièreIsabelle de Charrière , known as Belle van Zuylen in the Netherlands and Madame de Charrière elsewhere, is a Dutch writer of the Enlightenment who lived the latter half of her life in Switzerland. She is now best known for her letters although she also wrote novels, pamphlets, music and plays...
a/k/a Belle de Zuylen (1740–1805) - Pierre-Ambroise Choderlos de Laclos (1741–1803)
- Condorcet (Marie Jean Antoine Caritat, marquis de Condorcet) (1744–1794)
- Gabriel BrizardGabriel BrizardGabriel Brizard often known as Abbé Brizard, and sometimes by the pen-name Gallophile , was a writer and historian whose work was popular and respected in the 18th century. He was a lawyer at the Parliament of Paris...
(c1744–1793) - Jean Antoine Roucher (1745–1794)
- Jean-Sifrein MauryJean-Sifrein MauryJean-Sifrein Maury was a French cardinal and Archbishop of Paris.-Biography:The son of a poor cobbler, he was born on at Valréas in the Comtat-Venaissin, the enclave within France that belonged to the pope. His acuteness was observed by the priests of the seminary at Avignon, where he was educated...
(Abbé Maury) (1746–1817) - Joseph-Alexandre-Victor Hupay de Fuveau (1746–1818)
- Stéphanie Félicité Ducrest de St-Albin, comtesse de GenlisStéphanie Félicité Ducrest de St-Albin, comtesse de GenlisMadame de Genlis, full name Stéphanie Félicité Ducrest de St-Aubin, comtesse de Genlis, or Madame Brûlart, was a French writer, harpist and educator.-Biography:...
(Madame de Genlis) (1746–1830) - Armand Louis de GontautArmand Louis de GontautArmand Louis de Gontaut, Duc de Lauzun, later duc de Biron, and usually referred to by historians of the French Revolution simply as Biron was a French soldier and politician, known for the part he played in the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary Wars.-Early titles:Born in...
, duc de Biron, duc de Lauzun (1747–1793) - Olympe de GougesOlympe de GougesOlympe de Gouges , born Marie Gouze, was a French playwright and political activist whose feminist and abolitionist writings reached a large audience....
(1748–1793) - Pierre-Louis GinguenéPierre-Louis GinguenéPierre-Louis Ginguené was a French author.-Biography:He was born at Rennes, in Brittany, and educated at a Jesuit college there. He came to Paris in 1772, and wrote criticisms for the Mercure de France. He also composed a comic opera, Pomponin . The Satire des satires and the Confession de...
(1748–1815) - Honoré-Gabriel Riqueti, comte de MirabeauMirabeauMirabeau can refer to:People* Victor de Riqueti, marquis de Mirabeau, a French physiocrat and economist.* Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau, renowned orator, a figure in the French Revolution and son of Victor....
(1749–1791) - Jean-Marie Collot d'HerboisJean-Marie Collot d'HerboisJean-Marie Collot d'Herbois was a French actor, dramatist, essayist, and revolutionary. He was a member of the Committee of Public Safety during the Reign of Terror and, while he saved Madame Tussaud from the Guillotine, he administered the execution of more than 2,000 people in the city of...
(1749–1796)
1750-1799
- Nicolas Joseph Laurent GilbertNicolas Joseph Laurent GilbertNicolas-Joseph-Laurent Gilbert was a French poet born at Fontenoy-le-Château, Vosges, Lorraine.Having completed his education at the college of Dole, he devoted himself for a time to a half-scholastic, half-literary life at Nancy, but in 1774 he found his way to the capital...
(1751–1780) - Évariste de Forges de ParnyÉvariste de Forges de ParnyÉvariste Desiré de Forges, vicomte de Parny in Paris) was a French poet.- Biography :...
(1753–1814) - Joseph de MaistreJoseph de MaistreJoseph-Marie, comte de Maistre was a French-speaking Savoyard philosopher, writer, lawyer, and diplomat. He defended hierarchical societies and a monarchical State in the period immediately following the French Revolution...
(1753–1821) - Joseph JoubertJoseph JoubertJoseph Joubert was a French moralist and essayist, remembered today largely for his Pensées published posthumously....
(1754–1824) - Jean-Pierre Claris de FlorianFlorianFlorian may refer to:*Florian , including a list of people with the given name or surname of Florian* Marcus Annius Florianus, Roman emperor for a few months before his death in 276 AD* Saint Florian, patron saint of Poland, died around 304 AD...
(1754–1794) - Jacques Pierre BrissotJacques Pierre BrissotJacques Pierre Brissot , who assumed the name of de Warville, was a leading member of the Girondist movement during the French Revolution. Some sources give his name as Jean Pierre Brissot.-Biography:...
a/k/a Jean-Pierre Brissot (1754–1793) - Charles Maurice de Talleyrand (1754–1838)
- Constantin François de Chasseboeuf, Comte de Volney (1757–1820)
- Adelaide Filleul, Marquise de Souza-BotelhoAdelaide Filleul, Marquise de Souza-BotelhoAdélaïde-Emilie Filleul, Marquise de Souza-Botelho was a French writer.-Biography:She was born in Paris....
(Madame de Souza) (1761–1836) - André ChénierAndré ChénierAndré Marie Chénier was a French poet, associated with the events of the French Revolution of which he was a victim. His sensual, emotive poetry marks him as one of the precursors of the Romantic movement...
(1762–1794) - Louis-Charles Caigniez (1762–1842)
- Joseph ChénierJoseph ChénierMarie-Joseph Blaise de Chénier was a French poet, dramatist and politician.The younger brother of André Chénier, he was born at Constantinople, but brought up at Carcassonne. He was educated in Paris at the Collège de Navarre...
(1764–1811) - Barbara Juliana, Baroness von KrüdenerBarbara Juliana, Baroness von KrüdenerBaroness Barbara Juliane von Krüdener was a Baltic German religious mystic and author.Von Krüdener was born in Riga, Governorate of Livonia. Her father, Otto Hermann von Vietinghoff-Scheel, who had fought as a colonel in Catherine II's wars, was one of the two councillors for Livonia and a man of...
(Madame de Krüdener) (1764–1824) - Madame de Staël (1766–1817)
- Las Cases (Emmanuel-Augustin-Dieudonné, comte de Las Cases) (1766–1842)
- Benjamin ConstantBenjamin ConstantHenri-Benjamin Constant de Rebecque was a Swiss-born French nobleman, thinker, writer and politician.-Biography:...
(Benjamin Constant de Rebecque) (1767–1830) - Joseph FiévéeJoseph FiévéeJoseph Fiévée was a French journalist, novelist, essayist, playwright, civil servant and secret agent...
(1767–1839) - François-René de ChateaubriandFrançois-René de ChateaubriandFrançois-René, vicomte de Chateaubriand was a French writer, politician, diplomat and historian. He is considered the founder of Romanticism in French literature.-Early life and exile:...
(1768–1848) - Étienne Pivert de SenancourÉtienne Pivert de Senancourthumb|143px|right|Senancour Étienne Pivert de Senancour , was a French writer.-Life:...
(1770–1846) - Paul Louis CourierPaul Louis CourierPaul Louis Courier , French Hellenist and political writer, was born in Paris.Brought up on his father's estate of Méré in Touraine, he conceived a bitter aversion for the nobility, which seemed to strengthen with time. He would never take the name "de Méré", to which he was entitled, lest he...
de Méré (1772–1825) - René Charles Guilbert de PixérécourtRené Charles Guilbert de PixérécourtRené Charles Guilbert de Pixerécourt was a French theatre director and playwright, active at the Théâtre de la Gaîté and best known for his modern melodramas such as The Dog of Montarges, the performance of which at Weimar roused the indignation of Goethe.-Life:He was born at Nancy into a Lorraine...
(1773–1844) - Sophie Ristaud CottinSophie Ristaud CottinSophie Cottin was a French writer whose novels were popular in the 19th century, and were translated into several different languages.-Biography:...
(Madame Cottin) (1773–1807) - Eugène François VidocqEugène François VidocqEugène François Vidocq was a French criminal and criminalist whose life story inspired several writers, including Victor Hugo and Honoré de Balzac...
(1775–1857) - Claire de DurasClaire de DurasClaire, Duchess of Duras was a French writer best known for her 1823 novel called Ourika, which examines issues of racial and sexual equality, and which inspired the 1969 John Fowles novel The French Lieutenant's Woman.-Biography:Claire de Duras left her native France for London during the French...
(Madame de Duras) (1777–1828) - Charles NodierCharles NodierJean Charles Emmanuel Nodier , was a French author who introduced a younger generation of Romanticists to the conte fantastique, gothic literature, vampire tales, and the importance of dreams as part of literary creation, and whose career as a librarian is often underestimated by literary...
(1780–1844) - Pierre-Jean de BérangerPierre-Jean de BérangerPierre-Jean de Béranger was a prolific French poet and chansonnier , who enjoyed great popularity and influence in France during his lifetime, but faded into obscurity in the decades following his death...
(1780–1857) - Félicité Robert de Lamennais (1782–1854)
- Amable Guillaume Prosper Brugière, baron de BaranteAmable Guillaume Prosper Brugière, baron de BaranteAmable Guillaume Prosper Brugière, baron de Barante was a French statesman and historian.Barante was born at Riom, Puy-de-Dôme, the son of an advocate. At the age of sixteen he entered the École Polytechnique at Paris, and at twenty obtained his first appointment in the civil service...
(1782–1866) - Victor Henri-Joseph Brahain Ducange (1783–1833)
- StendhalStendhalMarie-Henri Beyle , better known by his pen name Stendhal, was a 19th-century French writer. Known for his acute analysis of his characters' psychology, he is considered one of the earliest and foremost practitioners of realism in his two novels Le Rouge et le Noir and La Chartreuse de Parme...
(Henri Beyle) (1783–1842), (The Red and the BlackThe Red and the BlackLe Rouge et le Noir , 1830, by Stendhal, is a historical psychological novel in two volumes, chronicling a provincial young man’s attempts to socially rise beyond his plebeian upbringing with a combination of talent and hard work, deception and hypocrisy — yet who ultimately allows his passions to...
, 1830) - Pierre-Antoine LebrunPierre-Antoine LebrunPierre-Antoine Lebrun was a French poet.Lebrun was born in Paris. An Ode à la grande armée, mistaken at the time for the work of Écouchard Lebrun, attracted Napoleon's attention, and secured for the author a pension of 1200 francs. Lebrun's plays, once famous, are now forgotten...
(1785–1873) - Marceline Desbordes-ValmoreMarceline Desbordes-ValmoreMarceline Desbordes-Valmore was a French poet.She was born in Douai. Following the French Revolution, her family emigrated to Guadeloupe. In 1817 she married her second husband, the actor Prosper Lanchantin-Valmore....
(1786–1859) - Alphonse RabbeAlphonse RabbeAlphonse Rabbe was a French writer, historian, critic, and journalist.-Life:Disfigured by syphilis and addicted to opium in an effort to make his life bearable, Rabbe is today remembered for his Album d’un pessimiste in which he writes of the pointlessness of existence. It was published...
(1786–1829) - Théodore Leclercq (1787–1851)
- François GuizotFrançois GuizotFrançois Pierre Guillaume Guizot was a French historian, orator, and statesman. Guizot was a dominant figure in French politics prior to the Revolution of 1848, a conservative liberal who opposed the attempt by King Charles X to usurp legislative power, and worked to sustain a constitutional...
(1787–1874) - Alexandre GuiraudAlexandre GuiraudPierre Marie Jeanne Alexandre Thérèse Guiraud better known as Alexandre Guiraud was a French poet, dramatic author and novelist.-Biography:...
(1788–1847) - Alphonse de LamartineAlphonse de LamartineAlphonse Marie Louis de Prat de Lamartine was a French writer, poet and politician who was instrumental in the foundation of the Second Republic.-Career:...
(1790–1869) - Charles Paul de KockCharles Paul de KockCharles Paul de Kock was a French novelist.-Biography:His father, Jean Conrad de Kock, a banker of Dutch extraction, victim of the Terror, was guillotined in Paris 24 March 1794. His mother, Anne-Marie Perret, née Kirsberger, was a widow from Basel. Paul de Kock began life as a banker's clerk...
(1793–1871) - Casimir DelavigneCasimir DelavigneJean-François Casimir Delavigne was a French poet and dramatist.-Biography:Delavigne was born at Le Havre, but was sent to Paris to be educated at the Lycée Napoleon. He read extensively...
(Jean-François Casimir Delavigne) (1793–1843) - Augustin Thierry (1795–1856)
- Alfred de VignyAlfred de VignyAlfred Victor de Vigny was a French poet, playwright, and novelist.-Life:Alfred de Vigny was born in Loches into an aristocratic family...
(1797–1863) - Antoinette Henriette Clémence RobertAntoinette Henriette Clémence Robert-External links:...
(1797-1872) - Adolphe ThiersAdolphe ThiersMarie Joseph Louis Adolphe Thiers was a French politician and historian. was a prime minister under King Louis-Philippe of France. Following the overthrow of the Second Empire he again came to prominence as the French leader who suppressed the revolutionary Paris Commune of 1871...
(1797–1877) - Auguste ComteAuguste ComteIsidore Auguste Marie François Xavier Comte , better known as Auguste Comte , was a French philosopher, a founder of the discipline of sociology and of the doctrine of positivism...
(1798–1857) - Eugène DelacroixEugène DelacroixFerdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix was a French Romantic artist regarded from the outset of his career as the leader of the French Romantic school...
(1798–1863) - Charles DezobryCharles DezobryLouis Charles Dezobry was a French historian and historical novelist, born at St-Denis.-Works:* Rome au siècle d'Auguste, ou Voyage d'un Gaulois à Rome à l'époque du règne d'Auguste et pendant une partie du règne de Tibère...
, (1798–1871) - Jules MicheletJules MicheletJules Michelet was a French historian. He was born in Paris to a family with Huguenot traditions.-Early life:His father was a master printer, not very prosperous, and Jules assisted him in the actual work of the press...
(1798–1874) - Sophie Rostopchine, Comtesse de SégurSophie Rostopchine, Comtesse de SégurSophie, Countess of Ségur was a French writer of Russian birth....
(1799–1874) - Henri-Bonaventure Monnier (1799–1877)
- Honoré de BalzacHonoré de BalzacHonoré de Balzac was a French novelist and playwright. His magnum opus was a sequence of short stories and novels collectively entitled La Comédie humaine, which presents a panorama of French life in the years after the 1815 fall of Napoleon....
(1799–1850)
1800-1824
- Claude Tillier (1801–1844)
- Victor HugoVictor HugoVictor-Marie Hugo was a Frenchpoet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights activist and exponent of the Romantic movement in France....
(1802–1885), (Les MisérablesLes MisérablesLes Misérables , translated variously from the French as The Miserable Ones, The Wretched, The Poor Ones, The Wretched Poor, or The Victims), is an 1862 French novel by author Victor Hugo and is widely considered one of the greatest novels of the nineteenth century...
, 1862) - Alexandre Dumas, pèreAlexandre Dumas, pèreAlexandre Dumas, , born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie was a French writer, best known for his historical novels of high adventure which have made him one of the most widely read French authors in the world...
(1802–1870) - Prosper MériméeProsper MériméeProsper Mérimée was a French dramatist, historian, archaeologist, and short story writer. He is perhaps best known for his novella Carmen, which became the basis of Bizet's opera Carmen.-Life:...
(1803–1870) - Edgar QuinetEdgar QuinetEdgar Quinet was a French historian and intellectual.-Early years:Born at Bourg-en-Bresse, in the département of Ain. His father, Jérôme Quinet, had been a commissary in the army, but being a strong republican and disgusted with Napoleon's 18 Brumaire coup, he gave up his post and devoted himself...
(1803–1875) - Eugène SueEugène SueJoseph Marie Eugène Sue was a French novelist.He was born in Paris, the son of a distinguished surgeon in Napoleon's army, and is said to have had the Empress Joséphine for godmother. Sue himself acted as surgeon both in the Spanish campaign undertaken by France in 1823 and at the Battle of Navarino...
(1804–1857) - Charles-Augustin Sainte-Beuve (1804–1869)
- Jules JaninJules JaninJules Gabriel Janin was a French writer and critic.-Biography:Born in Saint-Étienne , Janin's father was a lawyer, and he was educated first at St. Étienne, and then at the lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris...
(1804–1874) - George SandGeorge SandAmantine Lucile Aurore Dupin, later Baroness Dudevant , best known by her pseudonym George Sand , was a French novelist and memoirist.-Life:...
(Amandine-Lucie-Aurore Dupin, baronne Dudevant) (1804–1876) - Alexis Henri Charles de Clérel, vicomte de TocquevilleAlexis de TocquevilleAlexis-Charles-Henri Clérel de Tocqueville was a French political thinker and historian best known for his Democracy in America and The Old Regime and the Revolution . In both of these works, he explored the effects of the rising equality of social conditions on the individual and the state in...
(1805–1859) - Anicet Bourgeois (1806–1871
- Emile de GirardinÉmile de GirardinÉmile de Girardin , was a French journalist, publicist, and politician. He was born in Paris in 1802, the son of General Alexandre de Girardin and of Madame Dupuy , wife of a Parisian advocate....
(1806–1881) - Désiré NisardDésiré NisardJean Marie Napoléon Désiré Nisard was a French author and critic. He was born at Châtillon-sur-Seine.In 1826 he joined the staff of the Journal des Débats, but subsequently transferred his pen to the National...
(1806–1888) - Émile SouvestreÉmile SouvestreÉmile Souvestre was a French novelist who was a native of Morlaix, Finistère.He was the son of a civil engineer and was educated at the college of Pontivy, with the intention of following his father's career by entering the Polytechnic School...
(1806–1854) - Aloysius BertrandAloysius BertrandLouis-Jacques-Napoléon “Aloysius” Bertrand was a French poet instrumental in the introduction of the prose poem into French literature and is credited with inspiring later Symbolist poets...
(1807–1841) - Gérard de NervalGérard de NervalGérard de Nerval was the nom-de-plume of the French poet, essayist and translator Gérard Labrunie, one of the most essentially Romantic French poets.- Biography :...
(Gérard Labrunie) (1808–1855) - Jules-Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly (1808–1889)
- Petrus BorelPetrus BorelPetrus Borel was a French writer of the Romantic movement.Born Joseph-Pierre Borel dHauterive at Lyon, the 12 of 14 children of an ironmonger, he studied architecture in Paris but abandoned it for literature...
(1809–1859) - Pierre-Joseph ProudhonPierre-Joseph ProudhonPierre-Joseph Proudhon was a French politician, mutualist philosopher and socialist. He was a member of the French Parliament, and he was the first person to call himself an "anarchist". He is considered among the most influential theorists and organisers of anarchism...
(1809–1865) - Xavier ForneretXavier ForneretXavier Forneret was a French writer; poet, playwright and journalist.- Life :Born in Beaune in a rich bourgeois family by the name Antoine Charles Ferdinand, he was one of the few members of the Romantic movement who never experienced poverty and could afford to publish his books himself...
(1809–1884) - Hégésippe MoreauHégésippe MoreauHégésippe Moreau was a French lyric poet. From birth, he was called by the last name of his biological father and took on the pseudonym Hégésippe when he first began publishing poetry in 1829...
(1810–1838) - Maurice de GuérinMaurice de GuérinGeorges Maurice de Guérin du Cayla was a French poet.Descended from a noble and rich family, he was born at the chateau of Le Cayla in Andillac, Tarn. He was educated for the church at a religious seminary at Toulouse, and then at the Collège Stanislas, Paris, after which he entered the society at...
(1810–1839) - Alfred de MussetAlfred de MussetAlfred Louis Charles de Musset-Pathay was a French dramatist, poet, and novelist.Along with his poetry, he is known for writing La Confession d'un enfant du siècle from 1836.-Biography:Musset was born on 11 December 1810 in Paris...
(1810–1857) - Joseph Bouchardy (1810–1870)
- Adolphe-Philippe d'EnneryAdolphe d'EnneryAdolphe Philippe d'Ennery or Dennery was a French Jewish dramatist and novelist.Born in Paris, his real surname was Philippe...
(1811–1889) - Théophile GautierThéophile GautierPierre Jules Théophile Gautier was a French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, art critic and literary critic....
(1811–1872) - Louis BlancLouis BlancLouis Jean Joseph Charles Blanc was a French politician and historian. A socialist who favored reforms, he called for the creation of cooperatives in order to guarantee employment for the urban poor....
(1811–1882) - Victor de LapradeVictor de LapradePierre Martin Victor Richard de Laprade , known as Victor de Laprade, was a French poet and critic.-Biography:...
(1812–1883) - Eugène Labiche (1815–1888)
- Joseph Arthur, comte Gobineau (1816–1882)
- Victor SéjourVictor SéjourJuan Victor Séjour Marcou et Ferrand was an American expatriate writer who worked in France. Though mostly unknown to later African American authors, his short story "Le Mulâtre" is the earliest known work of fiction by an African American author.Séjour was born in New Orleans to a free mulatto...
(1817–1874) - Paul Féval, pèrePaul Féval, pèrePaul Henri Corentin Féval, père was a French novelist and dramatist.He was the author of popular swashbuckler novels such as Le Loup Blanc and the perennial best-seller Le Bossu...
(1817–1887) - Pierre Zaccone (1817–1895)
- Charles-Marie Leconte de Lisle (1818–1894)
- Eugène FromentinEugène FromentinEugène Fromentin was a French painter and writer.He was born in La Rochelle. After leaving school he studied for some years under Louis Cabat, the landscape painter...
(1820–1876) - Émile AugierÉmile AugierGuillaume Victor Émile Augier was a French dramatist. He was the thirteenth member to occupy seat 1 of the Académie française on 31 March 1857.-Biography:...
(1820–1889) - Charles BaudelaireCharles BaudelaireCharles Baudelaire was a French poet who produced notable work as an essayist, art critic, and pioneering translator of Edgar Allan Poe. His most famous work, Les Fleurs du mal expresses the changing nature of beauty in modern, industrializing Paris during the nineteenth century...
(1821–1867), (Les Fleurs du malLes Fleurs du malLes Fleurs du mal is a volume of French poetry by Charles Baudelaire. First published in 1857 , it was important in the symbolist and modernist movements...
, 1857) - Gustave FlaubertGustave FlaubertGustave Flaubert was a French writer who is counted among the greatest Western novelists. He is known especially for his first published novel, Madame Bovary , and for his scrupulous devotion to his art and style.-Early life and education:Flaubert was born on December 12, 1821, in Rouen,...
(1821–1880), (Madame BovaryMadame BovaryMadame Bovary is Gustave Flaubert's first published novel and is considered his masterpiece. The story focuses on a doctor's wife, Emma Bovary, who has adulterous affairs and lives beyond her means in order to escape the banalities and emptiness of provincial life...
, 1857) - Octave FeuilletOctave FeuilletOctave Feuillet was a French novelist and dramatist.- Overview :Octave Feuillet was born at Saint-Lô, Manche . His father Jacques Feuillet was a prominent lawyer and Secretary-General of La Manche, but also a hypersensitive invalid. His mother died when he was an infant...
(1821–1890) - Jules-François-Félix HussonChampfleuryJules François Felix Fleury-Husson , who wrote under the name Champfleury, was a French art critic and novelist, a prominent supporter of the Realist movement in painting and fiction.In 1843 Fleury-Husson moved to Paris...
a/k/a Champfleury (1821–1889) - Edmond de GoncourtEdmond de GoncourtEdmond de Goncourt , born Edmond Louis Antoine Huot de Goncourt, was a French writer, literary critic, art critic, book publisher and the founder of the Académie Goncourt.-Biography:...
(1822–1896) - Erckmann-Chatrian (Emile Erckmann & Alexandre Chatrian) (1822–1899 & 1826–1890)
- Louis-Nicolas MénardLouis-Nicolas MénardLouis-Nicolas Ménard was a French man of letters also known for his early discoveries on collodion.He was born in Paris. His versatile genius occupied itself in turn with chemistry, poetry, painting and history. In 1843 he published, under the pseudonym of L. de Senneville, a translation of...
(1822–1901) - Théodore de BanvilleThéodore de BanvilleThéodore Faullain de Banville was a French poet and writer.-Biography:Banville was born in Moulins in Allier, Auvergne, the son of a captain in the French navy. His boyhood, by his own account, was cheerlessly passed at a lycée in Paris; he was not harshly treated, but took no part in the...
(1823–1891) - Ernest RenanErnest RenanErnest Renan was a French expert of Middle East ancient languages and civilizations, philosopher and writer, devoted to his native province of Brittany...
(1823–1892) - Alexandre Dumas, filsAlexandre Dumas, filsAlexandre Dumas, fils was a French author and dramatist. He was the son of Alexandre Dumas, père, also a writer and playwright.-Biography:...
(1824–1895)
1825-1849
- Charles De CosterCharles De CosterCharles-Theodore-Henri De Coster was a Belgian novelist whose efforts laid the basis for a native Belgian literature....
(1827–1879) - Eugène Chavette (1827–1902)
- Clair TisseurClair TisseurClair Tisseur , was a French architect whose best known work is Église du Bon-Pasteur, a prominent Romanesque Revival church in the 1st arrondissement of Lyon...
(Nizier du Puitspelu) (1827–1896) - Edmond About (1828–1885)
- Hyppolyte Taine (1828–1893)
- Jules VerneJules VerneJules Gabriel Verne was a French author who pioneered the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , A Journey to the Center of the Earth , and Around the World in Eighty Days...
(1828–1905) - Zénaïde FleuriotZénaïde FleuriotZénaïde-Marie-Anne Fleuriot , was a French novelist. She wrote eighty three novels, all aimed at young women, most of which were published in the series Bibliothèque rose and Bibliothèque bleue...
(1829–1890) - Numa-Denis Fustel de Coulanges (1830–1889)
- Jules de GoncourtJules de GoncourtJules de Goncourt , born Jules Alfred Huot de Goncourt, was a French writer, who published books together with his brother Edmond.- Works :With Edmond de Goncourt:* Sœur Philomène...
(1830–1870) - Hector MalotHector MalotHector Malot was a French writer born in La Bouille, Seine-Maritime. He studied law in Rouen and Paris, but eventually literature became his passion. He worked as a dramatic critic for Lloyd Francais and as a literary critic for L'Opinion Nationale.His first book, published in 1859, was Les...
(1830–1907) - Henri Rochefort (1830–1913)
- Raoul de Naverry (1831–1885)
- Henri MeilhacHenri MeilhacHenri Meilhac , was a French dramatist and opera librettist.-Biography:Meilhac was born in Paris in 1831. As a young man, he began writing fanciful articles for Parisian newspapers and vaudevilles, in a vivacious boulevardier spirit which brought him to the forefront...
(1831–1897) - Victorien SardouVictorien SardouVictorien Sardou was a French dramatist. He is best remembered today for his development, along with Eugène Scribe, of the well-made play...
(1831–1908) - Émile GaboriauÉmile GaboriauÉmile Gaboriau , was a French writer, novelist, and journalist, and a pioneer of modern detective fiction.- Life :Gaboriau was born in the small town of Saujon, Charente-Maritime...
(1832–1873) - Jules VallèsJules VallèsJules Vallès was a French journalist and author.-Early life:Vallès was born in Le Puy-en-Velay, Haute-Loire. His father was a supervisor of studies , later a teacher, and unfaithful to Jules' mother. Jules was a brilliant student...
(1832–1885) - G. Bruno (Augustine Tuillerie) (1833–1923)
- Edouard PailleronÉdouard PailleronÉdouard Jules Henri Pailleron was a French poet and dramatist.-Biography:Born in Paris, he was educated for the bar, but after pleading a single case he entered the first dragoon regiment and served for two years. With the artist J.A...
(1834–1899) - Ludovic HalévyLudovic HalévyLudovic Halévy was a French author and playwright. He was half Jewish : his Jewish father had converted to Christianity prior to his birth, to marry his mother, née Alexandrine Lebas.-Biography:Ludovic Halévy was born in Paris...
(1834–1908) - Jean-Marie Déguignet (1834–1905)
- Amélie GexAmélie GexAmélie Rose Françoise Gex, was a Savoyard writer and poet who created works in French and Franco-Provençal . Until 1880, she published most of her writings under the pen name Dian de la Jeânna.-Biography:Amélie Gex was the daughter of the physician and winemaker Marc-Samuel Gex...
(Dian de la Jeânna) (1835–1883) - Henry BecqueHenry BecqueHenry François Becque , French dramatist, was born in Lille.In 1867, he wrote, in imitation of Lord Byron, the libretto for Victorin de Joncières's opera Sardanapale, but his first important work, Michel Pauper, appeared in 1870. The importance of this sombre drama was first realized when it was...
(1837–1899) - Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-AdamAuguste Villiers de l'Isle-AdamJean-Marie-Mathias-Philippe-Auguste, comte de Villiers de l'Isle-Adam was a French symbolist writer.-Life:Villiers de l'Isle-Adam was born in Saint-Brieuc, Brittany, to a distinguished aristocratic family...
(1838–1889) - Sully PrudhommeSully PrudhommeRené François Armand Prudhomme was a French poet and essayist, winner of the first Nobel Prize in Literature, in 1901....
(1839–1907) - Jules LerminaJules LerminaJules Lermina was a French writer. He began his career as a journalist in 1859. He was arrested for his socialist political opinions, and received Victor Hugo's support....
(1839–1913) - Alphonse DaudetAlphonse DaudetAlphonse Daudet was a French novelist. He was the father of Léon Daudet and Lucien Daudet.- Early life :Alphonse Daudet was born in Nîmes, France. His family, on both sides, belonged to the bourgeoisie. The father, Vincent Daudet, was a silk manufacturer — a man dogged through life by misfortune...
(1840–1897) - Emile ZolaÉmile ZolaÉmile François Zola was a French writer, the most important exemplar of the literary school of naturalism and an important contributor to the development of theatrical naturalism...
(1840–1902) - Arvède BarineArvède BarineArvède Barine was a French writer and historian. Arvède Barine was the pseudonym of Mme. Charles Vincens, born Louise-Cécile Bouffé on 17 November 1840. She mostly wrote on the subject of women, but she also wrote about travel and the political issues of the day...
(1840–1908) - Jules Claretie (1840–1913)
- Catulle MendèsCatulle MendèsCatulle Mendès was a French poet and man of letters.Of Portuguese Jewish extraction, he was born in Bordeaux. He early established himself in Paris and promptly attained notoriety by the publication in the Revue fantaisiste of his Roman d'une nuit, for which he was condemned to a month's...
(1841–1909) - Charles CrosCharles CrosCharles Cros was a French poet and inventor. He was born in Fabrezan, Aude, France, 35 km to the East of Carcassonne....
(1842–1888) - Stéphane MallarméStéphane MallarméStéphane Mallarmé , whose real name was Étienne Mallarmé, was a French poet and critic. He was a major French symbolist poet, and his work anticipated and inspired several revolutionary artistic schools of the early 20th century, such as Dadaism, Surrealism, and Futurism.-Biography:Stéphane...
(1842–1898) - José María de HerediaJosé María de HerediaJosé-Maria de Heredia was a Cuban-born French poet. He was the fifteenth member elected for seat 4 of the Académie française during 1894.-Early years:...
(1842–1905) - François CoppéeFrançois CoppéeFrançois Edouard Joachim Coppée was a French poet and novelist.-Biography:He was born in Paris to a civil servant. After attending the Lycée Saint-Louis he became a clerk in the ministry of war, and won public favour as a poet of the Parnassian school. His first printed verses date from 1864...
(1842–1908) - Paul ArènePaul ArènePaul-Auguste Arène, born 26 June 1843 in Sisteron, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence and died 17 December 1896 in Antibes, was a Provençal poet and French writer....
(1843–1896) - Paul VerlainePaul VerlainePaul-Marie Verlaine was a French poet associated with the Symbolist movement. He is considered one of the greatest representatives of the fin de siècle in international and French poetry.-Early life:...
(1844–1896) - Anatole FranceAnatole FranceAnatole France , born François-Anatole Thibault, , was a French poet, journalist, and novelist. He was born in Paris, and died in Saint-Cyr-sur-Loire. He was a successful novelist, with several best-sellers. Ironic and skeptical, he was considered in his day the ideal French man of letters...
(Anatole François Thibault) (1844–1924) - Tristan CorbièreTristan CorbièreTristan Corbière , born Édouard-Joachim Corbière, was a French poet born in Coat-Congar, Ploujean in Brittany, where he lived most of his life and where he died....
(Edouard-Joachim) (1845–1875) - Comte de LautréamontComte de LautréamontComte de Lautréamont was the pseudonym of Isidore Lucien Ducasse , an Uruguayan-born French poet....
(Isidore Lucien Ducasse) (1846–1870) - Léon BloyLéon BloyLéon Bloy , was a French novelist, essayist, pamphleteer and poet.-Biography:Bloy was born in Notre-Dame-de-Sanilhac, in the arondissement of Périgueux, Dordogne. He was the second of six sons of Voltairean freethinker and stern disciplinarian Jean Baptiste Bloy and his wife Anne-Marie Carreau,...
(1846–1917) - Emile FaguetÉmile FaguetAuguste Émile Faguet was a French author and literary critic.Faguet was born at La Roche-sur-Yon, and educated at the École normale supérieure in Paris. After teaching for some time in La Rochelle and Bordeaux, he returned to Paris to act as assistant professor of poetry in the university. He...
(1847–1916) - Joris-Karl HuysmansJoris-Karl HuysmansCharles-Marie-Georges Huysmans was a French novelist who published his works as Joris-Karl Huysmans . He is most famous for the novel À rebours...
(1848–1907) - George de Peyrebrune (1848–1917)
- Ferdinand BrunetièreFerdinand BrunetièreFerdinand Brunetière was a French writer and critic.-Early years:Brunetière was born in Toulon, Var, Provence. After school at Marseille, he studied in Paris at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand. Desiring a teaching career, he entered for examination at the École Normale Supérieure, but failed, and the...
(1849–1906) - Jean RichepinJean RichepinJean Richepin , French poet, novelist and dramatist, the son of an army doctor, was born at Médéa, French Algeria.At school and at the École Normale Supérieure he gave evidence of brilliant, if somewhat undisciplined, powers, for which he found physical vent in different directions—first as a...
(1849–1926) - Georges de Porto-RicheGeorges de Porto-RicheGeorges de Porto-Riche was a French dramatist and novelist.At the age of twenty, his pieces in verse began to be produced at the Parisian theatres; he also wrote some books of verse which met with a favorable reception, but these early works were not reprinted...
(1849–1930)
1850-1859
- Guy de MaupassantGuy de MaupassantHenri René Albert Guy de Maupassant was a popular 19th-century French writer, considered one of the fathers of the modern short story and one of the form's finest exponents....
(1850–1893) - Octave MirbeauOctave MirbeauOctave Mirbeau was a French journalist, art critic, travel writer, pamphleteer, novelist, and playwright, who achieved celebrity in Europe and great success among the public, while still appealing to the literary and artistic avant-garde...
(1850–1917) - Pierre LotiPierre LotiPierre Loti was a French novelist and naval officer.-Biography:Loti's education began in his birthplace, Rochefort, Charente-Maritime. At the age of seventeen he entered the naval school in Brest and studied at Le Borda. He gradually rose in his profession, attaining the rank of captain in 1906...
(Julien Viaud) (1850–1923) - GypGypGyp may refer to:* A cheat or swindle* Gyp, the French writer and activist, Sibylle Gabrielle Marie Antoinette Riqueti de Mirabeau * Gypsophila, a flower* Gyp the Blood, a gangster* Gyp the Cat, a song by Bobby Darin...
(1850–1932) - Germain NouveauGermain NouveauGermain Marie Bernard Nouveau was born and died in Pourrières, Var, in France . He was a French poet associated with the symbolist movement, and a friend of Rimbaud and Verlaine. In 1874 he traveled to London with Rimbaud. In 1876 he published "Dixains réalistes," a parody of the Parnassians...
(1851–1920) - Élémir BourgesÉlémir BourgesÉlémir Bourges was a French novelist. A winner of the Goncourt Prize, he was also a member of the Académie Goncourt. Bourges, who accused the Naturalists of having "belittled and deformed man", was closely linked with the Decadent and Symbolist modes in literature...
(1852–1925) - Paul BourgetPaul BourgetPaul Charles Joseph Bourget , was a French novelist and critic.-Biography:He was born in Amiens in the Somme département of Picardie, France. His father, a professor of mathematics, was later appointed to a post in the college at Clermont-Ferrand, where Bourget received his early education...
(1852–1935) - Alfred Masson-ForestierAlfred Masson-ForestierAlfred Masson-Forestier was a French writer, born at Le Havre. He studied law and from 1884 to 1899 practiced his profession at Rouen. After 1899 Masson-Fortier settled in Paris and devoted all his time to literature, contributing to the Revue des Deux Mondes, Le Temps, La Revue, etc...
1852–1912 - Maurice RollinatMaurice RollinatMaurice Rollinat was a French poet.-Early works:His father represented Indre in the National Assembly of 1848, and was a friend of George Sand, whose influence is very marked in young Rollinat's first volume, Dans les brandes , and to whom it was dedicated.-Brief fame:After its publication, he...
(1853–1903) - Arthur RimbaudArthur RimbaudJean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud was a French poet. Born in Charleville, Ardennes, he produced his best known works while still in his late teens—Victor Hugo described him at the time as "an infant Shakespeare"—and he gave up creative writing altogether before the age of 21. As part of the decadent...
(1854–1891), Une Saison en Enfer - Alphonse AllaisAlphonse AllaisAlphonse Allais was a French writer and humorist born in Honfleur, Calvados.He is the author of many collections of whimsical writings. A poet as much as a humorist, he in particular cultivated the verse form known as holorhyme, i.e. made up entirely of homophonous verses, where entire lines rhyme...
(1854–1905) - Laurent TailhadeLaurent TailhadeLaurent Tailhade was a French satirical poet, anarchist polemicist, essayist, and translator, active in Paris in the 1890s and early 1900s...
(1854–1919) - Georges RodenbachGeorges RodenbachGeorges Raymond Constantin Rodenbach was a Belgian Symbolist poet and novelist.- Biography :Georges Rodenbach was born in Tournai to a French mother and a German father from the Rhineland . He went to school in Ghent at the prestigious Sint-Barbaracollege, where he became friends with the poet...
(1855–1898) - Jean LorrainJean LorrainJean Lorrain , born Paul Duval, was a French poet and novelist of the Symbolist school....
(1855–1906) - Emile VerhaerenEmile VerhaerenEmile Verhaeren was a Belgian poet who wrote in the French language, and one of the chief founders of the school of Symbolism....
(1855–1916) - Adolphe ChenevièreAdolphe Chenevière-External links:...
(1855-1917) - Jean MoréasJean MoréasJean Moréas , was a Greek poet, essayist, and art critic, who wrote mostly in the French language but also in Greek during his youth.-Background:...
(Jean Papadiamantopoulos) (1856–1910) - Pierre Decourcelle (1856–1926)
- Gustave LansonGustave LansonGustave Lanson was a French historian and literary critic. He taught at the Sorbonne in Paris.-Biography:...
(1857–1934) - Albert SamainAlbert SamainAlbert Victor Samain was a French poet and writer of the Symbolist school.Born in Lille, his family were Flemish and had long lived in the town or its suburbs. At the time of the poet's birth, his father, Jean-Baptiste Samain, and his mother, Elisa-Henriette Mouquet, conducted a business in "wines...
(1858–1900) - Jules LemaitreJules LemaîtreFrançois Élie Jules Lemaître , was a French critic and dramatist.He was born at Vennecy . He became a professor at the university of Grenoble, but was already well known for his literary criticism, and in 1884 he resigned his position to devote his time to literature...
(1858–1915) - Remy de GourmontRemy de GourmontRemy de Gourmont was a French Symbolist poet, novelist, and influential critic. He was widely read in his era, and an important influence on Blaise Cendrars...
(1858–1915) - Émile DurkheimÉmile DurkheimDavid Émile Durkheim was a French sociologist. He formally established the academic discipline and, with Karl Marx and Max Weber, is commonly cited as the principal architect of modern social science and father of sociology.Much of Durkheim's work was concerned with how societies could maintain...
(1858–1917) - Alfred CapusAlfred CapusAlfred Capus was a French journalist and playwright, born in Aix-en-Provence and deceased in Neuilly-sur-Seine.-Biography:Son to a lawyer from Marseille, Alfred Capus went to university in Toulon...
(1858–1922) - Georges CourtelineGeorges CourtelineGeorges Courteline was a French dramatist and novelist.Born Georges Victor Marcel Moinaux, in Tours in the Indre-et-Loire département, his family moved to Paris shortly after his birth...
(Georges Moineaux) (1858–1929) - Neel DoffNeel DoffCornelia Hubertina Doff was an author of Dutch origin living and working in Belgium and mainly writing in French...
(1858–1942) - Anatole Le BrazAnatole Le BrazAnatole le Braz, the "Bard of Brittany" was a Breton folklore collector and translator. He was highly regarded amongst both European and American scholars, and known for his warmth and charm....
(1859–1926) - Gustave KahnGustave KahnGustave Kahn was a French Symbolist poet and art critic.Kahn was born in Metz.He claimed to have invented the term vers libre, or free verse; he was in any case one of the first European exponents of the form. His principal publications include Les Palais nomades, 1887, Domaine de fée, 1895, and...
(1859–1936) - Henri BergsonHenri BergsonHenri-Louis Bergson was a major French philosopher, influential especially in the first half of the 20th century. Bergson convinced many thinkers that immediate experience and intuition are more significant than rationalism and science for understanding reality.He was awarded the 1927 Nobel Prize...
(1859–1941)
1860-1869
- Jules LaforgueJules LaforgueJules Laforgue was an innovative Franco-Uruguayan poet, often referred to as a Symbolist poet. Critics and commentators have also pointed to Impressionism as a direct influence and his poetry has been called "part-symbolist, part-impressionist".-Life:...
(1860–1887) - Paul MarguerittePaul MarguerittePaul Margueritte, , as his brother Victor Margueritte, was born in Algeria, the son of General Jean Auguste Margueritte , who was mortally wounded in the Battle of Sedan. An account of his life was published by Paul Margueritte as Mon père . The names of the two brothers are generally associated,...
(1860–1918) - Michel ZévacoMichel ZevacoMichel Zevaco was a French journalist, novelist, publisher, film director, and anti-clerical as well as anarchist activist....
(1860–1918) - Paul RouxPaul RouxPaul Roux is a small town in the flatlands of Free State province of South Africa that produces poplar wood for the safety match industry. General farming however remains the main industry. It was established in 1909 by Dutch Reform Reverend Paul Roux on the farm Palmietfontein, and today has a...
a/k/a Saint-Pol-Roux le Magnifique (1861–1940) - Paul Adam (1862–1920)
- Georges DarienGeorges DarienGeorges Darien , , was a French writer associated with anarchism and an outspoken advocate of Georgism.- Life :...
(1862–1921) - Georges FeydeauGeorges FeydeauGeorges Feydeau was a French playwright of the era known as the Belle Époque. He is remembered for his many lively farces.-Biography:Georges Feydeau was born in Paris, the son of novelist Ernest-Aimé Feydeau and Léocadie Bogaslawa Zalewska. At the age of twenty, Feydeau wrote his first comic...
(1862–1921) - Maurice BarrèsMaurice BarrèsMaurice Barrès was a French novelist, journalist, and socialist politician and agitator known for his nationalist and antisemitic views....
(1862–1923) - René Ghil (1862–1925)
- Max Elskamp (1862–1931)
- Maurice MaeterlinckMaurice MaeterlinckMaurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck, also called Comte Maeterlinck from 1932, was a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist who wrote in French. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911. The main themes in his work are death and the meaning of life...
(1862–1949) - Stuart MerrillStuart MerrillStuart Fitzrandolph Merrill was an American poet, born in Hempstead, New York, who wrote mostly in the French language. He belonged to the Symbolist school. His principal books of poetry were Les Gammes . Les Fastes , and Petits Poèmes d'Automne .-Life:Merrill was the product of a conservative,...
(1863–1915) - Marguerite AudouxMarguerite AudouxMarguerite Audoux was a French novelist.- Biography :Marguerite Donquichote, who took her mother's name, Audoux, in 1895, was orphaned by age three, following the death of her mother and abandonment by her father...
(1863–1937) - Jules RenardJules RenardPierre-Jules Renard or Jules Renard was a French author and member of the Académie Goncourt, most famous for the works Poil de carotte and Les Histoires Naturelles...
(1864–1910) - Henri de RégnierHenri de RégnierHenri François Joseph de Régnier was a French symbolist poet, considered one of the most important of France during the early 20th century....
(1864–1936) - Maurice LeblancMaurice LeblancMaurice Marie Émile Leblanc was a French novelist and writer of short stories, known primarily as the creator of the fictional gentleman thief and detective Arsène Lupin, often described as a French counterpart to Arthur Conan Doyle's creation Sherlock Holmes.- Biography :Leblanc was born in...
(1864–1941) - Romain RollandRomain RollandRomain Rolland was a French dramatist, novelist, essayist, art historian and mystic who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1915.-Biography:...
(1866–1944) - Tristan BernardTristan BernardTristan Bernard was a French playwright, novelist, journalist and lawyer.-Life:Born Paul Bernard into a Jewish family in Besançon, Doubs, Franche-Comté, France, he was the son of an architect...
(1866–1947) - René BoylesveRené BoylesveRené Boylesve , born René Marie Auguste Tardiveau, was a French author.-Works:* Le Médecin des Dames de Néans ,* Mademoiselle Cloque ,* La Becquée ,...
(René Tardivaux) (1867–1926 - Jehan RictusJehan RictusJehan Rictus was a French poet, born Gabriel Randon in Boulogne-sur-Mer ....
(Gabriel Randon) (1867–1933) - Léon DaudetLéon DaudetLéon Daudet was a French journalist, writer, an active monarchist, and a member of the Académie Goncourt.-Move to the right:...
(1867–1942) - Marcel SchwobMarcel SchwobMarcel Schwob was a Jewish French writer.-Biography:He was born in Chaville, Hauts-de-Seine on 23 August 1867...
(1867–1905) - Paul-Jean TouletPaul-Jean TouletPaul-Jean Toulet was a French poet, novelist and feuilleton writer.- Life and works :Paul-Jean Toulet was a descendant of Charlotte Corday, and son of a wealthy man living in Mauritius...
(1867–1920) - Patrice Contamine a/k/a J.P. Contamine de Latour a/k/a Lord Cheminot (1867–1926)
- Edmond RostandEdmond RostandEdmond Eugène Alexis Rostand was a French poet and dramatist. He is associated with neo-romanticism, and is best known for his play Cyrano de Bergerac. Rostand's romantic plays provided an alternative to the naturalistic theatre popular during the late nineteenth century...
(1868–1918) - Gaston LerouxGaston LerouxGaston Louis Alfred Leroux was a French journalist and author of detective fiction.In the English-speaking world, he is best known for writing the novel The Phantom of the Opera , which has been made into several film and stage productions of the same name, notably the 1925 film starring Lon...
(1868–1927), (The Phantom of the OperaThe Phantom of the OperaLe Fantôme de l'Opéra is a novel by French writer Gaston Leroux. It was first published as a serialisation in "Le Gaulois" from September 23, 1909 to January 8, 1910...
, Le Mystère de la chambre jaune) - Achille EssebacAchille EssebacAchille Essebac was a French writer primarily known for his novel Dédé about an ill-fated homoerotic friendship between two schoolboys...
(1868–1936) - Francis JammesFrancis JammesFrancis Jammes was a French poet. Coming from an ancient family, he spent most of his life in his native region of Béarn and the Basque Country and his poems are known for their lyricism and for singing the pleasures of a humble country life...
(1868–1938) - Emile Auguste Chartier a/k/a "Alain" (1868–1951)
- Paul ClaudelPaul ClaudelPaul Claudel was a French poet, dramatist and diplomat, and the younger brother of the sculptor Camille Claudel. He was most famous for his verse dramas, which often convey his devout Catholicism.-Life:...
(1868–1955) - André SpireAndré SpireAndré Spire was a French poet, writer, and Zionist activist.-Biography:Born in 1868 in Nancy to a Jewish family of the middle bourgeoisie, long established in the Lorraine, Spire studied literature, then law...
(1868–1966) - Emile Bodin (1869–1923)
- Gaston Arman de CaillavetGaston Arman de CaillavetGaston Arman de Caillavet was a French playwright. He was the son of Albert Arman de Caillavet and Léontine Lippmann, the muse of Anatole France. In April 1893 he married Jeanne Pouquet...
(1869–1915) - André GideAndré GideAndré Paul Guillaume Gide was a French author and winner of the Nobel Prize in literature in 1947. Gide's career ranged from its beginnings in the symbolist movement, to the advent of anticolonialism between the two World Wars.Known for his fiction as well as his autobiographical works, Gide...
(1869–1951)
1870-1879
- Marcelle TinayreMarcelle TinayreMarcelle Marguerite Suzanne Tinayre, born October 8, 1870 in Tulle, Corrèze, and died August 23, 1948 in Grossouvre, Cher, was a French woman of letters and prolific author...
(1870–1948) - Henri Bordeaux (1870–1963)
- Octave MirbeauOctave MirbeauOctave Mirbeau was a French journalist, art critic, travel writer, pamphleteer, novelist, and playwright, who achieved celebrity in Europe and great success among the public, while still appealing to the literary and artistic avant-garde...
(1870–1917) - Pierre LouÿsPierre LouÿsPierre Louÿs was a French poet and writer, most renowned for lesbian and classical themes in some of his writings. He is known as a writer who "expressed pagan sensuality with stylistic perfection."-Life:...
(Pierre Louis) (1870–1925) - Jacques Boulenger (1870–1944)
- Marcel ProustMarcel ProustValentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust was a French novelist, critic, and essayist best known for his monumental À la recherche du temps perdu...
(1871–1922), In Search of Lost TimeIn Search of Lost TimeIn Search of Lost Time or Remembrance of Things Past is a novel in seven volumes by Marcel Proust. His most prominent work, it is popularly known for its considerable length and the notion of involuntary memory, the most famous example being the "episode of the madeleine." The novel is widely... - Paul ValéryPaul ValéryAmbroise-Paul-Toussaint-Jules Valéry was a French poet, essayist, and philosopher. His interests were sufficiently broad that he can be classified as a polymath...
(1871–1945) - Henry BatailleHenry BatailleFélix-Henri Bataille was a French dramatist and poet. His works were extremely popular between 1900 and the start of World War I....
(1872–1922) - Robert de FlersRobert de FlersRobert de Flers was a French playwright, opera librettist, and journalist....
(1872–1927) - Louis Mandin (1872–1944)
- Paul FortPaul FortPaul Fort was a French poet associated with the Symbolist movement. At the age of 18, reacting against the Naturalistic theatre, Fort founded the Théâtre d’Art...
(1872–1960) - Alfred JarryAlfred JarryAlfred Jarry was a French writer born in Laval, Mayenne, France, not far from the border of Brittany; he was of Breton descent on his mother's side....
(1873–1907) - Charles PéguyCharles PéguyCharles Péguy was a noted French poet, essayist, and editor. His two main philosophies were socialism and nationalism, but by 1908 at the latest, after years of uneasy agnosticism, he had become a devout but non-practicing Roman Catholic.From that time, Catholicism strongly influenced his...
(1873–1914) - Henri BarbusseHenri BarbusseHenri Barbusse was a French novelist and a member of the French Communist Party.-Life:...
(1873–1935) - François Paul Alibert (1873–1953)
- ColetteColetteColette was the surname of the French novelist and performer Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette . She is best known for her novel Gigi, upon which Lerner and Loewe based the stage and film musical comedies of the same title.-Early life and marriage:Colette was born to retired military officer Jules-Joseph...
(Sidonie Gabrielle Colette) (1873–1954) - Pierre SouvestrePierre SouvestrePierre Souvestre was a French lawyer, journalist, writer and organizer of motor races. He is mostly remembered today for his co-creation with Marcel Allain of the fictional arch-villain and master criminal Fantômas...
(1874–1914) - Albert ThibaudetAlbert ThibaudetAlbert Thibaudet was a French essayist and literary critic. A former student of Henri Bergson, he was a professor of Jean Rousset...
(1874–1936) - Tristan KlingsorTristan KlingsorTristan Klingsor, birth name Léon Leclère , was a French poet, musician, painter and art critic, best known for his artistic association with the composer Maurice Ravel.His pseudonym, combining the names of Wagner's hero Tristan and his villain Klingsor...
(1874–1966) - Marc Leclerc (1874–1946)
- Henry J.-M. Levet (1874–1906)
- André Baillon (1875–1932)
- Binet-ValmerBinet-ValmerJean-Auguste-Gustave Binet , also known as Binet-Valmer, was a Franco-Swiss novelist and journalist. The trademark element of his style was the almost clinical precision with which he dissected the psychologies and motivations of his characters.-Biography:Born as the son of a physician,...
(1875–1940) - Anne de NoaillesAnne de NoaillesAnna, Comtesse Mathieu de Noailles , was a Romanian-French writer.-Biography:Born Princess Anna Elisabeth Bibesco-Bassaraba de Brancovan in Paris, she was a descendant of the Bibescu and Craioveşti families of Romanian boyars...
(Anne de Brancovan, comtesse de Noailles) (1876–1933) - Max JacobMax JacobMax Jacob was a French poet, painter, writer, and critic.-Life and career:After spending his childhood in Quimper, Brittany, France, he enrolled in the Paris Colonial School, which he left in 1897 for an artistic career...
(1876–1944) - Léon-Paul FargueLéon-Paul FargueLéon-Paul Fargue was a French poet and essayist.He was born in Paris, France on rue Coquilliére. As a poet he was noted for his poetry of atmosphere and detail. His work spanned numerous literary movements...
(1876–1947) - Pierre Albert-BirotPierre Albert-BirotPierre Albert-Birot was a French avant-garde author.Born in Angoulôme, he moved to Paris in 1894. There he attended art school and befriended Gustave Moreau. He worked for five decades as a restorer for antique dealer Madame Lelong....
(1876–1967) - Alphonse de Brédenbec de Châteaubriant (1877–1951)
- Raymond RousselRaymond RousselRaymond Roussel was a French poet, novelist, playwright, musician, and chess enthusiast. Through his novels, poems, and plays he exerted a profound influence on certain groups within 20th century French literature, including the Surrealists, Oulipo, and the authors of the nouveau...
(1877–1933) - Oscar Venceslas de Lubicz-MiloszOscar MiloszOscar Vladislas de Lubicz Milosz was a French-Lithuanian writer and representative of Lithuania at the League of Nations. His literary work was concerned with symbols and associations. A recluse, his poems were vibrant and tormented, concerned with love, loneliness and anger. Milosz was primarily...
(1877–1939) - Charles Ferdinand RamuzCharles Ferdinand RamuzCharles-Ferdinand Ramuz was a French-speaking Swiss writer.He was born in Lausanne in the canton of Vaud and educated at the University of Lausanne. He taught briefly in nearby Aubonne, and then in Weimar, Germany. In 1903, he left for Paris and remained there until World War I, with frequent...
, dit C.F. Ramuz (1878–1947) - Victor SegalenVictor SegalenVictor Segalen was a French naval doctor, ethnographer, archeologist, writer, poet, explorer, art-theorist, linguist and literary critic....
(1878–1919) - Henry de MonfreidHenry de MonfreidHenry de Monfreid was a French adventurer and author. Born in Leucate, Aude, France, he was the son of artist painter Georges-Daniel de Monfreid and knew Paul Gauguin as a child....
(1879–1974) - André Mary (1879–1962)
- Francis PicabiaFrancis PicabiaFrancis Picabia was a French painter, poet, and typographist, associated with both the Dada and Surrealist art movements.- Early life :...
(1879–1953) - Henri FauconnierHenri FauconnierHenri Fauconnier was a French writer, known mainly for his novel, Malaysia, which won the Prix Goncourt in 1930. He was part of the Groupe de Barbezieux.-Family:...
(1879–1973)
1880-1889
- Louis HémonLouis HémonLouis Hémon , was a francophone writer best known for his novel Maria Chapdelaine.- Biography :He was born in Brest, France. In Paris, where he resided with his family, he was enrolled in the Montaigne and Louis-le-Grand secondary schools...
(1880–1913) - Guillaume ApollinaireGuillaume ApollinaireWilhelm Albert Włodzimierz Apolinary Kostrowicki, known as Guillaume Apollinaire was a French poet, playwright, short story writer, novelist, and art critic born in Italy to a Polish mother....
(Wilhelm Apollinaris de Kostrowitzky) (1880–1918) - Lucie Delarue-MardrusLucie Delarue-MardrusLucie Delarue-Mardrus was a French journalist, poet, novelist, sculptor, historian and designer...
(1880–1945) - Francis de MiomandreFrancis de MiomandreFrancis de Miomandre was a French novelist and well-known translator from Spanish into French.-Biography:He was born in Tours, Indre-et-Loire and educated in Marseille. He began writing in his early twenties and won the Prix Goncourt in 1908 for his novel, Ecrít sur de l'Eau...
(Francis Durand) (1880–1959) - Valery LarbaudValery LarbaudValery Larbaud was a French writer.-Life:He was born in Vichy, Allier, the only child of a pharmacist. His father died when he was 8, and he was brought up by his mother and aunt. His father had been owner of the Vichy Saint-Yorre mineral water springs, and the family fortune assured him an easy...
(1881–1957) - Roger Martin du GardRoger Martin du GardRoger Martin du Gard was a French author and winner of the 1937 Nobel Prize for Literature. Trained as a paleographer and archivist, Martin du Gard brought to his works a spirit of objectivity and a scrupulous regard for details...
(1881–1958) - André SalmonAndré SalmonAndré Salmon was a French poet, art critic and writer. He was one of the defenders of cubism, with Guillaume Apollinaire and Maurice Raynal.-Biography:Andre Salmon was born in Paris...
(1881–1969) - Jérôme CarcopinoJérôme CarcopinoJérôme Carcopino was a French historian and author. He was the fifteen member elected to occupy seat 3 of the Académie française in 1955.-Biography:...
(1881–1970) - Louis PergaudLouis PergaudLouis Pergaud was a French writer and soldier, whose principal works were known as "Animal Stories" due to their rooting in the flora and fauna of the Franche-Comté. His most famous work was the novel La Guerre des boutons , written in 1912...
(1882–1915) - Jean GiraudouxJean GiraudouxHippolyte Jean Giraudoux was a French novelist, essayist, diplomat and playwright. He is considered among the most important French dramatists of the period between World War I and World War II. His work is noted for its stylistic elegance and poetic fantasy...
(1882–1944) - André BillyAndré BillyAndré Billy was a French writer....
(1882–1971) - Pierre MacOrlan (Pierre Dumarchais) (1883–1970)
- Marie Noël (1883–1933)
- Jules SupervielleJules SupervielleJules Supervielle was a French poet and writer born in Uruguay.Jules Supervielle always kept away from Surrealism which was dominant in the first half of the twentieth century...
(1884–1960 - Gaston BachelardGaston BachelardGaston Bachelard was a French philosopher. He made contributions in the fields of poetics and the philosophy of science. To the latter he introduced the concepts of epistemological obstacle and epistemological break...
(1884–1962) - Georges DuhamelGeorges DuhamelGeorges Duhamel , was a French author, born in Paris. Duhamel trained as a doctor, and during World War I was attached to the French Army. In 1920, he published Confession de minuit , the first of a series featuring the anti-hero Salavin...
(1884–1966) - Jacques ChardonneJacques ChardonneJacques Chardonne is the pseudonym of French writer Jacques Boutelleau...
(Jacques Boutelleau) (1884–1968) - Jean PaulhanJean PaulhanJean Paulhan was a French writer, literary critic and publisher, director of the literary magazine Nouvelle Revue Française from 1925 to 1940 and from 1946 to 1968. He was a member of the Académie Française...
(1884–1968) - Denis Amiel (1884–1977)
- Alexandre Arnoux (1884–1973)
- Georges Ribemont-DessaignesGeorges Ribemont-DessaignesGeorges Ribemont-Dessaignes was a French writer and artist associated with the Dada movement. He was born in Montpellier....
(1884–1974) - Sacha GuitrySacha GuitryAlexandre-Pierre Georges Guitry was a French stage actor, film actor, director, screenwriter, and playwright of the Boulevard theatre.- Biography :...
(1885–1957) - André MauroisAndré MauroisAndré Maurois, born Emile Salomon Wilhelm Herzog was a French author.-Life:Maurois was born in Elbeuf and educated at the Lycée Pierre Corneille in Rouen, both in Normandy. Maurois was the son of Ernest Herzog, a Jewish textile manufacturer, and Alice Herzog...
(Emile Herzog) (1885–1967) - Fernand CrommelynckFernand CrommelynckFernand Crommelynck was a Belgian dramatist. He was born into a family of actors, the child of a French mother and a Belgian father and he himself was also an actor...
(1885–1970) - Jules RomainsJules RomainsJules Romains, born Louis Henri Jean Farigoule , was a French poet and writer and the founder of the Unanimism literary movement...
(Jules-Louis de Farigoule) (1885–1972) - Marthe BibescoMarthe BibescoMarthe, Princess Bibesco was a Romanian-French writer of the Belle Époque...
(1885–1973) - Jean Pellerin (1885–1921)
- Alain-FournierAlain-FournierAlain-Fournier was the pseudonym of Henri Alban-Fournier , a French author and soldier. He was the author of a single novel, Le Grand Meaulnes , which has been twice filmed and is considered a classic of French literature.-Biography:Alain-Fournier was born in La Chapelle-d'Angillon, in the Cher...
(Henri Fournier) (1886–1914) - Francis CarcoFrancis CarcoFrancis Carco was a French author, born at Nouméa, New Caledonia. He was a poet, belonging to the Fantaisiste school, a novelist, a dramatist, and art critic for L'Homme libre and Gil Blas. During the War he became aviation pilot at Étampes, after studying at the aviation school there...
(François Carcopino-Tusoli) (1886–1958) - Pierre BenoitPierre BenoitPierre Benoit may refer to:*Pierre Benoit , novelist and member of the Académie française*Pierre Basile Benoit , former member of the Canadian House of Commons...
(1886–1962) - Geneviève FauconnierGeneviève FauconnierGeneviève Fauconnier was a French novelist who lived in the south of the Charente département, . She was one of the most sensitive members of the so called Groupe de Barbezieux...
(1886–1969) - Roland DorgelèsRoland DorgelèsRoland Dorgelès , was a French novelist and a member of the Académie Goncourt.Born Roland Lecavelé , he spent his childhood in Paris....
(Roland Lecavelé) (1886–1973) - Henri PourratHenri PourratHenry Pourrat was a French writer and anthropologist who collected the oral literature of the Auvergne.-Biography :...
(1887–1959) - Jean de La Varende (Jean-Balthazar Mallard, comte de La Varende) (1887–1959)
- Blaise CendrarsBlaise CendrarsFrédéric Louis Sauser , better known as Blaise Cendrars, was a Swiss novelist and poet naturalized French in 1916. He was a writer of considerable influence in the modernist movement.-Early years:...
(1887–1961) - François MauriacFrançois MauriacFrançois Mauriac was a French author; member of the Académie française ; laureate of the Nobel Prize in Literature . He was awarded the Grand Cross of the Légion d'honneur .-Biography:...
(1887–1970) - Saint-John PerseSaint-John PerseSaint-John Perse was a French poet, awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1960 "for the soaring flight and evocative imagery of his poetry." He was also a major French diplomat from 1914 to 1940, after which he lived primarily in the USA until 1967.-Biography:Alexis Leger was...
(Alexis Léger) (1887–1975) - Pierre-Jean Jouve (1887–1976)
- Marcel MartinetMarcel Martinet-Life:Martinet, a Communist and pacifist, opposed the First World War from its outset: his antiwar poems Les temps maudits were banned in France during the war, but circulated secretly: helped by Marguerite Rosmer, he sent copies on thin paper to soldiers at the front. La Maison à l'Abri, a novel...
(1887–1944) - Georges BernanosGeorges BernanosGeorges Bernanos was a French author, and a soldier in World War I. Of Roman Catholic and monarchist leanings, he was a violent adversary to bourgeois thought and to what he identified as defeatism leading to France's defeat in 1940.-Biography:Bernanos was born at Paris, into a family of...
(1888–1948) - Henri BoscoHenri BoscoHenri Bosco was a French writer.Bosco was born in Avignon, Vaucluse into a family of Piedmontese origin. Through his father, he was related to Saint John Bosco, of whom he wrote a biography. His novels for adults and children provide a sensitive evocation of Provençal life...
(1888–1976) - Paul MorandPaul MorandPaul Morand was a French diplomat, novelist, playwright and poet, considered an early Modernist.He was a graduate of the Paris Institute of Political Studies...
(1888–1976) - Marcel JouhandeauMarcel JouhandeauMarcel Jouhandeau was a French writer.-Biography:Marcel Jouhandeau grew up in a world of women presided over by his grandmother. Under the influence of a young woman from the Carmel of Limoges, he embraced a mystical form of Catholicism and for a time thought to enter the orders...
(1888–1979) - Jacques de LacretelleJacques de LacretelleJacques de Lacretelle was a French novelist. He was elected to the Académie française on November 12, 1936.-Bibliography:* 1920 La vie inquiète de Jean Hermelin...
(1888–1985) - Charles Silvestre (1889–1948)
- Tristan DerèmeTristan DerèmeTristan Derème , born Philippe Huc, was a French poet and writer.He had lived in Paris, but would often return to Oloron-Sainte-Marie, where his mother lived...
(1889–1941) - Pierre ReverdyPierre ReverdyPierre Reverdy was a French poet associated with surrealism and cubism.Pierre Reverdy was born in Narbonne and grew up near the Montagne Noire in his father's house. Reverdy came from a family of sculptors. His father taught him to read and write. He studied at Toulouse and Narbonne.Reverdy...
(1889–1960) - Jean CocteauJean CocteauJean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau was a French poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, playwright, artist and filmmaker. His circle of associates, friends and lovers included Kenneth Anger, Pablo Picasso, Jean Hugo, Jean Marais, Henri Bernstein, Marlene Dietrich, Coco Chanel, Erik Satie, María...
(1889–1963) - Émile HenriotÉmile Henriot (writer)Émile Henriot was a French poet, novelist, essayist and literary critic.-Life:A son of the caricaturist Henri Maigrot, known under the pen name Henriot, he fought in the First World War. He first wrote as a journalist for Temps in the inter-war period...
(1889–1961)
1890-1899
- Maurice GenevoixMaurice GenevoixMaurice Genevoix was a French author.Born on 29 November 1890 at Decize, Nièvre as Maurice-Charles-Louis-Genevoix, Genevoix spent his childhood in Châteauneuf-sur-Loire. After attending the local school, he studied at the lycée of Orléans and the Lycée Lakanal...
(1890–1980) - Victor SergeVictor SergeVictor Serge , born Victor Lvovich Kibalchich , was a Russian revolutionary and writer. Originally an anarchist, he joined the Bolsheviks five months after arriving in Petrograd in January 1919 and later worked for the Comintern as a journalist, editor and translator...
(1890–1947) - Max ErnstMax ErnstMax Ernst was a German painter, sculptor, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was one of the primary pioneers of the Dada movement and Surrealism.-Early life:...
(1891–1976) - Pierre Drieu La RochellePierre Drieu La RochellePierre Eugène Drieu La Rochelle was a French writer of novels, short stories and political essays, who lived and died in Paris...
(1893–1945) - Claude CahunClaude CahunClaude Cahun was a French artist, photographer and writer. Her work was both political and personal, and often played with the concepts of gender and sexuality.-Early life:...
(Lucy Schwob) (1894–1954) - Louis-Ferdinand CélineLouis-Ferdinand CélineLouis-Ferdinand Céline was the pen name of French writer and physician Louis-Ferdinand Destouches . Céline was chosen after his grandmother's first name. He is considered one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century, developing a new style of writing that modernized both French and...
(Louis Destouches) (1894–1961), (Voyage au bout de la nuit, 1932) - Joseph Delteil (1894–1978)
- Paul ÉluardPaul ÉluardPaul Éluard, born Eugène Émile Paul Grindel , was a French poet who was one of the founders of the surrealist movement.-Biography:...
(Eugène Grindel) (1895–1952) - Jean GionoJean GionoJean Giono was a French author who wrote works of fiction set in the Provence region of France.-First period:...
(1895–1970) - Marcel PagnolMarcel PagnolMarcel Pagnol was a French novelist, playwright, and filmmaker. In 1946, he became the first filmmaker elected to the Académie Française.-Biography:...
(1895–1974) - Albert CohenAlbert CohenAlbert Cohen was a Greek-born Romaniote Jewish Swiss novelist who wrote in French. He worked as a civil servant for various international organizations, such as the International Labour Organization...
(1895–1981) - Antonin ArtaudAntonin ArtaudAntoine Marie Joseph Artaud, more well-known as Antonin Artaud was a French playwright, poet, actor and theatre director...
(1896–1948) - André BretonAndré BretonAndré Breton was a French writer and poet. He is known best as the founder of Surrealism. His writings include the first Surrealist Manifesto of 1924, in which he defined surrealism as "pure psychic automatism"....
(1896–1966) - Henry de MontherlantHenry de MontherlantHenry de Montherlant or Henry Marie Joseph Frédéric Expedite Millon de Montherlant was a French essayist, novelist and one of the leading French dramatists of the twentieth century.- Works :...
(Henry Millon de Montherlant) (1896–1972) - Tristan TzaraTristan TzaraTristan Tzara was a Romanian and French avant-garde poet, essayist and performance artist. Also active as a journalist, playwright, literary and art critic, composer and film director, he was known best for being one of the founders and central figures of the anti-establishment Dada movement...
(1896–1963) - Louis AragonLouis AragonLouis Aragon , was a French poet, novelist and editor, a long-time member of the Communist Party and a member of the Académie Goncourt.- Early life :...
(1897–1982) - Georges BatailleGeorges BatailleGeorges Bataille was a French writer. His multifaceted work is linked to the domains of literature, anthropology, philosophy, economy, sociology and history of art...
(1897–1962) - Joë BousquetJoë BousquetJoë Bousquet was a French poet.Wounded on May 27, 1918 at Vailly near the Aisne battlelines at the end of the First World War, he was paralysed for the rest of his life, and lived a life largely bedridden, surrounded by his books...
(1897–1950) - Kikou Yamata (1897–1975)
- Philippe SoupaultPhilippe SoupaultPhilippe Soupault was a French writer and poet, novelist, critic, and political activist. He was active in Dadaism and later founded the Surrealist movement with André Breton...
(1897–1990) - Marcel ThiryMarcel ThiryMarcel Thiry was a French-speaking Belgian poet.He was awarded the Prix Littéraire Valery Larbaud in 1976 for Toi qui pâlis au nom de Vancouver, a book of poems reminiscent of Cendrars and Apollinaire...
(1897–1977) - Eugène DabitEugène DabitEugene Dabit was a French socialist writer.He was part of the group "proletarian literature" and had a great success for his short story collection Hôtel du Nord which won the du Prix du roman populiste and was filmed in 1938 by Marcel Carné...
(1898–1936) - Michel de GhelderodeMichel De GhelderodeMichel de Ghelderode was an avant-garde Belgian dramatist, writing in French.-Career:...
(1898–1962) - Michel Goffin (1898–1984)
- Joseph KesselJoseph KesselJoseph Kessel was a French journalist and novelist.He was born in Villa Clara, Entre Ríos, Argentina, because of the constant journeys of his father, a Lithuanian doctor of Jewish origin. Joseph Kessel lived the first years of his childhood in Orenburg, Russia, before the family moved to France...
(1898–1979) - Paul Vialar (1898–1996)
- Géo Norge (1898–1990)
- Roger VitracRoger VitracRoger Vitrac was a French surrealist playwright and poet.Born in Pinsac, Roger Vitrac moved to Paris in 1910. As a young man, he was influenced by symbolism and the writings of Lautréamont and Alfred Jarry, and he developed a passion for theatre and poetry...
(1899–1952) - Jacques AudibertiJacques AudibertiJacques Audiberti was a French playwright, poet and novelist and exponent of the Theatre of the Absurd.He was born in Antibes, France. He died in Neuilly-sur-Seine...
(1899–1965) - Marcel AchardMarcel AchardMarcel Achard was a French playwright and screenwriter whose popular sentimental comedies maintained his position as a highly-recognizable name in his country's theatrical and literary circles for five decades...
(1899–1974) - Louis GuillouxLouis GuillouxLouis Guilloux was a French writer born in Saint-Brieuc, Brittany, where he lived throughout his life. He is known for his Social Realist novels describing working class life and political struggles in the mid-twentieth century...
(1899–1980) - Henri MichauxHenri MichauxHenri Michaux was a highly idiosyncratic Belgian-born poet, writer, and painter who wrote in French. He later took French citizenship. Michaux is best known for his esoteric books written in a highly accessible style, and his body of work includes poetry, travelogues, and art criticism...
(1899–1984) - Marcel ArlandMarcel ArlandMarcel Arland , was a French novelist, literary critic, and journalist.-Life:...
(1899–1986) - Armand SalacrouArmand SalacrouArmand Camille Salacrou was a French dramatist.He was born in Rouen, but spent most of his childhood at Le Havre, and moved to Paris in 1917. His first works show the influence of the Surrealists....
(1899–1989) - Francis PongeFrancis PongeFrancis Jean Gaston Alfred Ponge was a French essayist and poet. In many ways, he combined the two — essay and poem — into a single art form.-Life:...
(1899–1988)
1900-1909
- Louis Brauquier (1900–1976)
- Antoine de Saint-ExupéryAntoine de Saint-ExupéryAntoine de Saint-Exupéry , officially Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger, comte de Saint Exupéry , was a French writer, poet and pioneering aviator. He became a laureate of France's highest literary awards, and in 1939 was the winner of the U.S. National Book Award...
(1900–1944) - Robert DesnosRobert DesnosRobert Desnos , was a French surrealist poet who played a key role in the Surrealist movement of his day.- Biography :...
(1900–1945) - Jacques PrévertJacques PrévertJacques Prévert was a French poet and screenwriter. His poems became and remain very popular in the French-speaking world, particularly in schools. Some of the movies he wrote are extremely well regarded, with Les Enfants du Paradis considered one of the greatest films of all time.-Life and...
(1900–1977) - André ChamsonAndré ChamsonAndré Chamson was a French archivist, novelist and essayist. He was the father of the novelist Frédérique Hébrard.-Life:Chamson was born at , Nîmes, Gard....
(1900–1983) - André Dhôtel (1900–1991)
- Albert AyguesparseAlbert AyguesparseAlbert Ayguesparse was a Belgian writer.-Poetry:* Neuf offrandes claires * Le Vin noir de Cahors * Langage-Novels:* La main morte* Notre ombre nous précède...
(1900–1996) - Julien GreenJulien GreenJulien Green , was an American writer, who authored several novels, including Léviathan and Each in His Own Darkness...
(1900–1998) - Nathalie SarrauteNathalie SarrauteNathalie Sarraute was a French lawyer and writer of Russian Jewish origin.-Life:Sarraute was born Natalia/Natacha Tcherniak in Ivanovo , 300 km north-east of Moscow in 1900 , and, following...
(1900–1999) - Amadou Hampâté BâAmadou Hampâté BâAmadou Hampâté Bâ was a Malian writer and ethnologist.-Biography:...
(1900 or 1901–1991) - Georges LimbourGeorges LimbourGeorges Limbour was a French writer of prose and poetry.He was a member of the Surrealist Movement in Paris during the 1920s, but was expelled in 1929. Before his association with André Breton and the Surrealists, Limbour co-edited, along with Roger Vitrac and René Crevel, the avant-garde review...
(1900–1970) - Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo (1901–1937)
- Jean PrévostJean PrévostJean Prévost was a French writer , journalist, and Resistance fighter.Born in Saint-Pierre-lès-Nemours, Prévost was educated at the primary school in Montivilliers. near Rouen, where his father was principal. In 1911, he moved to the prestidigious Lycée Pierre Corneille in Rouen...
(1901–1944) - Henri Daniel-RopsHenri Daniel-RopsDaniel-Rops , French writer and historian whose real name was Henri Petiot.-Early life:...
(Henri Petiot) (1901–1965) - Lanza del VastoLanza del VastoLanza del Vasto, , was a philosopher, poet, artist, catholic and nonviolent activist.He was born in San Vito dei Normanni, Italy and died in Elche de la Sierra, Spain....
(1901–1981) - Charles Lecocq (1901–1922)
- Michel LeirisMichel LeirisJulien Michel Leiris was a French surrealist writer and ethnographer.-Biography:...
(1901–1990) - Suzanne LilarSuzanne LilarSuzanne, Baroness Lilar was a Flemish Belgian essayist, novelist, and playwright writing in French...
(1901–1992) - André MalrauxAndré MalrauxAndré Malraux DSO was a French adventurer, award-winning author, and statesman. Having traveled extensively in Indochina and China, Malraux was noted especially for his novel entitled La Condition Humaine , which won the Prix Goncourt...
(1901–1976) - Alexandre Vialatte (1901–1971)
- Marcel AyméMarcel AyméMarcel Aymé was a French novelist, children's writer, humour writer and also a screenwriter and theatre playwright.- Biography :...
(1902–1967) - Malcom de Chazal, (1902–1981)
- Julien TormaJulien TormaJulien Torma was a French writer, playwright and poet who was part of the Dadaist movement. He was born in Cambrai, France, and died in Tyrol....
(1902–1933) - Louise de Vilmorin (1902–1969)
- Vercors (pseudonym for Jean BrullerJean BrullerJean Marcel Bruller was a French writer and illustrator who co-founded Les Éditions de Minuit with Pierre de Lescure and Yvonne Paraf. During the World War II occupation of northern France he joined the Resistance and his texts were published under the pseudonym Vercors.Several of his novels have...
) (1902–1991) - Jean TardieuJean TardieuJean Tardieu was a French artist, musician, poet and dramatic author. He earned a degree in literature and worked for a publishing house. He published several poetry collections in the 1930s before starting to write for the stage...
(1903–1995) - Raymond RadiguetRaymond RadiguetRaymond Radiguet was a French author whose two novels were noted for their explicit themes and writing style and tone.-Early life:...
(1903–1923) - Irène NémirovskyIrène NémirovskyIrène Némirovsky was a French novelist who died at the age of 39 in Auschwitz, Nazi Germany occupied Poland. She was killed by the Nazis for being classified as a Jew under the racial laws, which did not take into account her conversion to Roman Catholicism.-Biography:Irène Némirovsky was born in...
(1903–1942) - Jean FollainJean FollainJean Follain, was a French author, poet and corporate lawyer. In the early days of his career he was a member of the "Sagesse" group. Follain was a friend of Max Jacob, André Salmon, Jean Paulhan, Pierre Pussy, Armen Lubin, and Pierre Reverdy...
(1903–1971) - Georges SimenonGeorges SimenonGeorges Joseph Christian Simenon was a Belgian writer. A prolific author who published nearly 200 novels and numerous short works, Simenon is best known for the creation of the fictional detective Maigret.-Early life and education:...
(1903–1989) - Raymond QueneauRaymond QueneauRaymond Queneau was a French poet and novelist and the co-founder of Ouvroir de littérature potentielle .-Biography:Born in Le Havre, Seine-Maritime, Queneau was the only child of Auguste Queneau and Joséphine Mignot...
(1903–1976) - Marguerite YourcenarMarguerite YourcenarMarguerite Yourcenar was a Belgian-born French novelist and essayist. Winner of the Prix Femina and the Erasmus Prize, she was the first woman elected to the Académie française, in 1980, and the seventeenth person to occupy Seat 3.-Biography:Yourcenar was born Marguerite Antoinette Jeanne Marie...
(Marguerite de Crayencour) (1903–1987) - Gilbert Lely (1904–1985)
- Guy Levis Mano (1904–1980)
- Jean-Paul SartreJean-Paul SartreJean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre was a French existentialist philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic. He was one of the leading figures in 20th century French philosophy, particularly Marxism, and was one of the key figures in literary...
(1905–1980) - Maurice Fombeure (1906–1981)
- Charles ExbrayatCharles ExbrayatCharles Exbrayat was born in Saint-Étienne, Loire, France on 5 May 1906 and died in the same city on 8 March 1989. He published over 100 novels and short stories, most of them humorous thrillers...
(1906–1989) - Samuel BeckettSamuel BeckettSamuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet. He wrote both in English and French. His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humour.Beckett is widely regarded as among the most...
(1906–1989) - Roger Frison-Roche (1906–1999)
- Roger VaillandRoger VaillandRoger Vailland was a French novelist, essayist, and screenwriter.Vailland's novels include Drôle de jeu , Les mauvais coups , Un jeune homme seul , 325 000 francs , and La loi , winner of the Prix Goncourt...
(1907–1965) - Pauline RéagePauline RéageAnne Desclos was a French journalist and novelist who wrote under the pseudonyms Dominique Aury and Pauline Réage.-Early life:...
(Anne Desclos) (1907–1998) - Violette LeducViolette LeducViolette Leduc was a French author.She was born in Arras, Pas de Calais, France, the illegitimate daughter of a servant girl, Berthe. In Valenciennes, the young Violette spent most of her childhood suffering from poor self-esteem, exacerbated by her mother's hostility and overprotectiveness...
(1907–1972) - Raymond AbellioRaymond AbellioRaymond Abellio is the pseudonym of French writer Georges Soulès. He was born November 11, 1907 in Toulouse, and died August 26, 1986 in Nice.Abellio went to the Ecole Polytechnique and then took part in the X-Crise Group...
(Georges Soulès) (1907–1986) - René CharRené CharRené Char was a 20th century French poet.-Biography:Char was born in L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue in the Vaucluse department of France, the youngest of four children of Emile Char and Marie-Therese Rouget, where his father was mayor and managing director of the Vaucluse plasterworks...
(1907–1988) - Louis Guillaume (1907–1971)
- Maurice BlanchotMaurice BlanchotMaurice Blanchot was a French writer, philosopher, and literary theorist. His work had a strong influence on post-structuralist philosophers such as Jacques Derrida.-Works:...
(1907–2003) - Roger PeyrefitteRoger PeyrefitteRoger Peyrefitte was a French diplomat, writer of bestseller novels and gossipy non-fiction, and a defender of gay rights.-Life and work:...
(1907–2000) - Roger Gilbert-LecomteRoger Gilbert-LecomteRoger Gilbert-Lecomte was a French avant-garde poet and co-founder of the artistic group and magazine Le Grand Jeu. The group, associated with surrealists, was "excommunicated" from the movement by André Breton...
(1907–1943) - Jacques RoumainJacques RoumainJacques Roumain was a Haitian writer, politician, and advocate of Communism. He is considered one of the most prominent figures in Haitian literature. Although poorly known in the English-speaking world, Roumain has significant following in Europe, and is renowned in the Caribbean and Latin America...
(1907–1944) - René DaumalRené DaumalRené Daumal was a French spiritual para-surrealist writer and poet. He was born in Boulzicourt, Ardennes, France....
(1908–1944) - Simone de BeauvoirSimone de BeauvoirSimone-Ernestine-Lucie-Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir, often shortened to Simone de Beauvoir , was a French existentialist philosopher, public intellectual, and social theorist. She wrote novels, essays, biographies, an autobiography in several volumes, and monographs on philosophy, politics, and...
(1908–1986) - Paul BénichouPaul BénichouPaul Bénichou, was a French writer, intellectual, critic, and literary historian.Bénichou first achieved prominence in 1948 with Morales du grand siècle, his work on the social context of the French seventeenth-century classics...
(1908–2001) - Robert MerleRobert MerleRobert Merle was a French novelist.-Biography:Born in Tébessa in French Algeria, he moved to France in 1918. A professor of English Literature at several universities, during World War II Merle was conscripted in the French army and assigned as an interpreter to the British Expeditionary Force...
(1908–2004) - Simone WeilSimone WeilSimone Weil , was a French philosopher, Christian mystic, and social activist.-Biography:Weil was born in Paris to Alsatian agnostic Jewish parents who fled the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine to Germany. She grew up in comfortable circumstances, and her father was a doctor. Her only sibling was...
(1909–1943) - Anaïs NinAnaïs NinAnaïs Nin was a French-Cuban author, based at first in France and later in the United States, who published her journals, which span more than 60 years, beginning when she was 11 years old and ending shortly before her death, her erotic literature, and short stories...
(1909–1977) - Jean-Fernand BrierreJean-Fernand BrierreJean-Fernand Brierre was a Haitian poet. Born in Jérémie, Brierre worked as a politician and diplomat. He is recognized "as one of the most brilliant Haitian writers." Poet, dramatist, and Haiti's ambassador to Argentina. He emerged in the 1930s as a poet and militant in the backlash against the...
(1909–1993) - Robert BrasillachRobert BrasillachRobert Brasillach was a French author and journalist. Brasillach is best known as the editor of Je suis partout, a nationalist newspaper which came to advocate various fascist movements and supported Jacques Doriot...
(1909–1945) - André Pieyre de MandiarguesAndré Pieyre de MandiarguesAndré Pieyre de Mandiargues was a French writer born in Paris. He became an associate of the Surrealists and married the Italian painter Bona Tibertelli de Pisis...
(1909–1991) - Léo MaletLéo Malet-Biography:Leo Malet was born in Montpellier. He had little formal education and began work as a cabaret singer at "La Vache Enragee" in Montmartre, Paris in 1925....
(1909–1996)
1910-1919
- Jean AnouilhJean AnouilhJean Marie Lucien Pierre Anouilh was a French dramatist whose career spanned five decades. Though his work ranged from high drama to absurdist farce, Anouilh is best known for his 1943 play Antigone, an adaptation of Sophocles' Classical drama, that was seen as an attack on Marshal Pétain's...
(1910–1987) - Jean GenetJean GenetJean Genet was a prominent and controversial French novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and political activist. Early in his life he was a vagabond and petty criminal, but later took to writing...
(1910–1986) - Paul GuthPaul GuthPaul Guth was a French humorist, journalist and writer, and the President of the Académie des provinces françaises....
(1910–1997) - Julien GracqJulien GracqJulien Gracq , born Louis Poirier in Saint-Florent-le-Vieil, in the French département of Maine-et-Loire, was a French writer. He wrote novels, critiques, a play, and poetry. His literary works were noted for their Surrealism.Gracq first studied in Paris at the Lycée Henri IV, where he earned his...
(Louis Poirier) (1910–2007) - André Hardellet (1911–1974)
- Patrice de La Tour du Pin (1911–1975)
- René BarjavelRené BarjavelRené Barjavel was a French author, journalist and critic who may have been the first to think of the grandfather paradox in time travel. He was born in Nyons, a town in the Drôme department in southeastern France...
(1911–1985) - Guy des CarsGuy des CarsGuy Augustin Marie Jean de la Pérusse des Cars was a French author who specialized in detective stories. He was born on 6 May 1911 in Paris and died on 21 December 1993 in the same city.-Family:...
(Guy de Pérusse des Cars) (1911–1993) - Hervé BazinHervé BazinHervé Bazin was a French writer, whose best-known novels covered semi-autobiographical topics of teenage rebellion and dysfunctional families.- Biography :...
(Jean Hervé-Bazin) (1911–1996) - Jean CayrolJean CayrolJean Cayrol was a French poet, publisher, and member of the Académie Goncourt. He is perhaps best known for writing the narration in Alain Resnais's 1955 documentary film, Night and Fog...
(1911–2005) - Henri TroyatHenri TroyatHenri Troyat was a Russian born French author, biographer, historian and novelist.-Biography:Troyat was born Lev Aslanovich Tarasov, in Moscow to parents of mixed heritage, including Armenian, Russian, German and Georgian...
(Lev Tarassov) (1911–2007) - Pierre BoullePierre BoullePierre Boulle was a French novelist largely known for two famous works, The Bridge over the River Kwai and Planet of the Apes .-Biography:...
(1912–1994) - Edmond JabèsEdmond Jabes----Edmond Jabès was a Jewish writer and poet, and one of the best known literary figures to write in French after World War II.- Life :...
(1912–1991) - Eugène IonescoEugène IonescoEugène Ionesco was a Romanian and French playwright and dramatist, and one of the foremost playwrights of the Theatre of the Absurd...
(1912–1994) - Jacques de Bourbon BussetJacques de Bourbon BussetJacques de Bourbon Busset, Count of Busset was a French novelist, essayist and politician. He was elected to the Académie française on June 4, 1981.-Bibliography:...
(1912–2001) - Armand RobinArmand RobinArmand Robin was a French poet, translator, and journalist.- Life :Robin was born in Plouguernével by Rostrenen and came to Paris. He was unable to settle down for all his life. He traveled to USSR in 1934, and returned shocked by the reality of communism...
(1912–1961) - Claude SimonClaude SimonClaude Simon was a French novelist and the 1985 Nobel Laureate in Literature. He was born in Antananarivo, Madagascar, and died in Paris, France....
(1913–2005) - Luc DietrichLuc DietrichLuc Dietrich was a French writer.Dietrich was born in Dijon. His father died when he was very young, and his mother was ill and addicted to drugs. She was frequently incapable of taking care of her son; several times he was sent asylums and similar establishments...
(1913–1944) - Albert CamusAlbert CamusAlbert Camus was a French author, journalist, and key philosopher of the 20th century. In 1949, Camus founded the Group for International Liaisons within the Revolutionary Union Movement, which was opposed to some tendencies of the Surrealist movement of André Breton.Camus was awarded the 1957...
(1913–1960) - Mouloud FeraounMouloud FeraounMouloud Feraoun was an Algerian writer and martyr of the Algerian revolution born in Tizi Hibel, Kabylia. Some of his books, written in French, have been translated into several languages including English and German...
(1913–1962) - Gilbert CesbronGilbert CesbronGilbert Cesbron was a French novelist.Born in Paris, Cesbron attended what is now known as Lycée Condorcet. In 1944, he published his first novel, Les innocents de Paris , in Switzerland...
(1913–1979) - Armand LanouxArmand LanouxArmand Lanoux was a French writer.-Biography :He first made several trades, teacher, designer of subjects for boxes of candy, bank employee, amounting in luxury books, painter, journalist....
(1913–1983) - Pierre DaninosPierre DaninosPierre Daninos was a French writer and humorist.Daninos wrote Les carnets du Major Thompson, which was published in 1954, and was followed by many sequels. The books in the series pretended to be the observations of a retired British officer living in France, and were witty collections of...
(1913–2005) - Félicien MarceauFélicien MarceauFélicien Marceau is the pen name of Louis Carette a French novelist, playwright and essayist originally from Belgium. He was close to the Hussards right-wing literary movement, itself close to the monarchist .He received the Prix Goncourt for his book Creezy in 1969...
(Louis Carette)(1913–...) - Romain GaryRomain GaryRomain Gary was a French diplomat, novelist, film director, World War II aviator. He is the only author to have won the Prix Goncourt twice .- Early life :Gary was born in Vilnius under the name Roman Kacew...
(Romain Kacew a/k/a Romain Gary a/k/a Emile Ajar) (1914–1980) - Béatrix BeckBéatrix BeckBéatrix Beck was a French writer from Belgian origin.She was born at Villars-sur-Ollon, Switzerland, the daughter of the poet Christian Beck. After several jobs, she became the secretary of André Gide, he encouraged her to write about her experiences: her mother's suicide, the war, her poverty, etc...
(1914–...) - Marguerite DurasMarguerite DurasMarguerite Donnadieu, better known as Marguerite Duras was a French writer and film director.-Background:...
(Marguerite Donnadieu) (1914–1996) - Roland BarthesRoland BarthesRoland Gérard Barthes was a French literary theorist, philosopher, critic, and semiotician. Barthes' ideas explored a diverse range of fields and he influenced the development of schools of theory including structuralism, semiotics, existentialism, social theory, Marxism, anthropology and...
(1915–1980) - Virgil GheorghiuVirgil GheorghiuVirgil Gheorghiu may refer to:*Constantin Virgil Gheorghiu, novelist*Virgil Gheorghiu , poet and pianist who was immortalised in the work of Geo Bogza...
(1916–1992) - Jean-Louis CurtisJean-Louis CurtisJean-Louis Curtis , pseudonym of Louis Laffitte, was a French novelist best known for his second novel The Forests of the Night , which won France's highest literary award the Prix Goncourt in 1947. He has authored over 30 novels.Curtis was born in Orthez, Pyrénées-Atlantiques...
(Louis Laffitte) (1917–1995) - Maurice DruonMaurice DruonMaurice Druon was a French novelist and a member of the Académie française.Born in Paris, France, Druon was the nephew of the writer Joseph Kessel, with whom he translated the Chant des Partisans, a French Resistance anthem of World War II, with music and words originally by Anna Marly.In 1948...
(1918–...) - Alain BosquetAlain BosquetAlain Bosquet, born Anatole Bisk , was a French poet.-Life:In 1925, his family moved to Brussels and he studied at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, then at the Sorbonne....
(Anatole Bisk) (1919–1998) - Jacques Laurent-Cely a/k/a Jacques Laurent or Cécil Saint-Laurent (1919–...)
- Michel DéonMichel DéonMichel Déon is a French writer.With Antoine Blondin, Jacques Laurent and Roger Nimier, he belonged to the literary group of the Hussards. He is a novelist as well as a literary columnist....
(1919–...) - Armand Toupet (1919–...)
- Robert PingetRobert PingetRobert Pinget was a major avant-garde French writer, born in Switzerland, who wrote several novels and other prose pieces that drew comparison to Beckett and other major Modernist writers...
(1919–1997)
1920-1929
- Jean DutourdJean DutourdJean Gwenaël Dutourd was a French novelist. His mother died when he was seven years old. At the age of twenty, he was taken prisoner fifteen days after Germany's invasion of France in World War II...
(1920-2011) - Mohammed DibMohammed DibMohammed Dib was an Algerian author. He wrote over 30 novels, as well as numerous short stories, poems, and children's literature in the French language. He is probably Algeria's most prolific and well-known writer...
(1920–2003) - Boris VianBoris VianBoris Vian was a French polymath: writer, poet, musician, singer, translator, critic, actor, inventor and engineer. He is best remembered today for his novels. Those published under the pseudonym Vernon Sullivan were bizarre parodies of criminal fiction, highly controversial at the time of their...
(1920–1959) - Françoise d'EaubonneFrançoise d'EaubonneFrançoise d'Eaubonne was a French feminist, who introduced the term ecofeminism in 1974....
(1920–...) - Jean-Pierre Chabrol (1920–...)
- Albert MemmiAlbert MemmiAlbert Memmi is a Tunisian Jewish writer and essayist who migrated to France.- Biography :Born in colonial Tunisia,from a Tunisian Jewish mother and a Tunisian-Italian Jewish father, he speaks Hebrew and Tunisian-Arabic...
(1920–...) - Georges BrassensGeorges BrassensGeorges Brassens , 22 October 1921 – 29 October 1981), was a French singer-songwriter and poet.Brassens was born in Sète, a town in southern France near Montpellier...
(1921–1981) - Gérald NeveuGérald NeveuGérald Neveu was a French poet. Called by some "one of the gentlest poètes maudits" , he was born to Louis Neveu and Marthe Bonnaud in Marseille...
(1921–1960) - Antoine BlondinAntoine BlondinAntoine Blondin was a French writer.He belonged to the literary group called the Hussards. He was also a sports columnist in L'Équipe. Blondin also wrote under the name Tenorio.-Biography:...
(1922–1990) - Jean-CharlesJean-CharlesJean-Charles is a French masculine given name. It may refer to :* Jean Charles, Chevalier Folard , a French soldier and military author* Jean-Charles Alphand , a French engineer* Jean Charles Athanase Peltier...
(1922–2003) - Jean-Claude RenardJean-Claude RenardJean-Claude Renard was a French poet. He was born in Toulon and died in Paris.-Life:Renard entered the world of poetry, publishing Juan in 1945, his first book...
(1922–...) - Stefan WulStefan WulStefan Wul was the nom de plume of French science fiction writer Pierre Pairault . He was a dental surgeon, but science fiction was his real passion. Most of his books reflect that, showing a deep knowledge of scientific data...
(1922–2003) - Alain Robbe-GrilletAlain Robbe-GrilletAlain Robbe-Grillet , was a French writer and filmmaker. He was, along with Nathalie Sarraute, Michel Butor and Claude Simon, one of the figures most associated with the Nouveau Roman trend. Alain Robbe-Grillet was elected a member of the Académie française on March 25, 2004, succeeding Maurice...
(1922–2008) - Yves BonnefoyYves BonnefoyYves Bonnefoy is a French poet and essayist. Bonnefoy was born in Tours, Indre-et-Loire, the son of a railroad worker and a teacher....
(1923–...) - Roger Foulon (1923–...)
- Georges PerrosGeorges PerrosGeorges Perros was a French writer.He was awarded the Prix Littéraire Valery Larbaud in 1973....
(1923–1978) - Ousmane SembèneOusmane SembèneOusmane Sembène , often credited in the French style as Sembène Ousmane in articles and reference works, was a Senegalese film director, producer and writer...
(1923–... ) - André du BouchetAndré du BouchetAndré du Bouchet was a French poet.- Biography :Born in Paris, he lived in France until 1941, when his family left occupied Europe for the United States. He studied at Amherst College and then at Harvard University . After teaching for a year, he returned to France...
(1924–2003) - Philippe JaccottetPhilippe JaccottetPhilippe Jaccottet is a poet and translator who publishes in French.After completing his studies in Lausanne, he lived several years in Paris. In 1953, came to live in the town of Grignan in Provence...
(1925–...) - Roger Laporte (1925–...)
- Roger NimierRoger Nimier-Life:He was born in 1925, and served in the French Army, specifically in the 2nd Hussard Regiment in the Second World War .He began to write quite early in his life...
(1925–1962) - Jean d'OrmessonJean d'OrmessonCount Jean Lefèvre d'Ormesson is a French novelist whose work mostly consists of partially or totally autobiographic novels.- Life :...
(1925-...) - François Augiéras (1925–1971)
- Alphonse BoudardAlphonse BoudardAlphonse Boudard is a French novelist and playwright. He won the 1977 Prix Renaudot for Les Combattants du petit bonheur....
(1925–2000) - Roger GirouxRoger GirouxRoger Giroux was a French poet. Giroux's one book was awarded the Prix Max Jacob award. Translator of W.B. Yeats, Lawrence Durrell, and others. A sample of his poems is included in , edited by Paul Auster, and generally recognized as the best anthology of Modern French poetry in English...
(1925–1973) - Frantz FanonFrantz FanonFrantz Fanon was a Martiniquo-Algerian psychiatrist, philosopher, revolutionary and writer whose work is influential in the fields of post-colonial studies, critical theory and Marxism...
(1925–1961) - Michel FoucaultMichel FoucaultMichel Foucault , born Paul-Michel Foucault , was a French philosopher, social theorist and historian of ideas...
(1926–1984) - Michel ButorMichel Butor-Life and work:Michel Marie François Butor was born in Mons-en-Barœul. He studied philosophy at the Sorbonne, graduating in 1947. He has taught in Egypt, Manchester, Salonika, the United States, and Geneva...
(1926–...) - Jacques DupinJacques DupinJacques Dupin is a French poet, art critic, and co-founder of the journal L'éphemère.A resident of Paris since 1944, he is director of publication at Galerie Maeght.- Jacques Dupin's poetry in English :...
(1927–...) - Gisèle HalimiGisèle HalimiGisèle Halimi, born Zeiza Gisèle Élise Taïeb in 1927, is a French-Tunisian lawyer, feminist activist, and essayist.-Career:Born in La Goulette, to a Jewish mother and father, she was educated at a French lycée in Tunis, and then attended the University of Paris, graduating in law and philosophy...
(1927–...) - François NourissierFrançois NourissierFrançois Nourissier was a French journalist and writer.Nourissier was the secretary-general of Éditions Denoël , editor of the review La Parisienne , and an adviser with the Éditions Grasset Paris publishing house .In 1970, he won the Prix Femina for his book La crève...
(1927–...) - André Schwarz-BartAndre Schwarz-BartAndré Schwarz-Bart was a French novelist of Polish-Jewish origins....
(1928–2006) - Kateb YacineKateb YacineKateb Yacine was an Algerian writer notable for his novels and plays, both in French and Algerian Arabic dialect, and his advocacy of the Algerian Berber cause.-Biography:...
(1929–1989) - Nicolas BouvierNicolas BouvierNicolas Bouvier was a 20th-century Swiss traveller and writer as well as an iconographer and photographer.-Life:Bouvier was born at Grand-Lancy near Geneva, the youngest of three children...
(1929–1998)
1930-1939
- Françoise Mallet-JorisFrançoise Mallet-JorisFrançoise Mallet-Joris is the nom de plume of Françoise Lilar.She was born in Antwerp, the daughter of the writer Suzanne Lilar and the Belgian Minister of Justice and Minister of State Albert Lilar, and the sister of the 18th century art historian Marie Fredericq-Lilar...
(1930–...) - Jacques EhrmannJacques EhrmannJacques Ehrmann was a French literary theorist and a faculty member of the Yale University French Department from 1961 until his death in 1972.-Biography:...
(1931–1972) - Jack Thieuloy (1931–1996)
- Fernando ArrabalFernando ArrabalFernando Arrabal Terán is a Spanish playwright, screenwriter, film director, novelist and poet. He settled in France in 1955, he describes himself as “desterrado,” or “half-expatriate, half-exiled.”...
(1932–...) - Mongo BetiMongo BetiAlexandre Biyidi Awala , known as Mongo Beti, was a Cameroonian writer.- Life :Though he lived in exile for many decades, Beti's life reveals an unflagging commitment to improvement of his home country...
(1932–2001) - Hédi BouraouiHédi BouraouiHédi Bouraoui is a Tunisian/Canadian poet, novelist and academic, who regularly deals with themes involving the transcendence of cultural boundaries....
(1932–...) - Claude Pujade-RenaudClaude Pujade-RenaudClaude Pujade-Renaud is a French writer, whose first novel Le Ventriloque appeared in 1978. Since that time she has published over twenty novels, short-story and poetry collections, as well as combined creative works with long-time partner Daniel Zimmermann...
(1932-...) - Jacques RoubaudJacques RoubaudJacques Roubaud is a French poet and mathematician.Jacques Roubaud is a professor of poetry at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland, and he was a professor of Mathematics at University of Paris X...
(1932–...) - Marcelin PleynetMarcelin PleynetMarcelin Pleynet was born in Lyon, France in 1933. Writer, essayist, poet, he was Managing Editor of the influential magazine Tel Quel from 1962 to 1982, and co-edits the journal L'Infini with Philippe Sollers. He was Professor of Aesthetics at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux Arts in...
(1933–...) - Claude EstebanClaude EstebanClaude Esteban was a French poet.Author of a major poetic œuvre of this last half-century, Claude Esteban wrote numerous essays on art and poetry and was the French translator, inter alia, of Jorge Guillén, Octavio Paz, Borges, García Lorca, or again, Quevedo.-Biography:Of Spanish father and...
(1935–2006) - Agota KristofAgota KristofÁgota Kristóf was a Hungarian writer, who lived in Switzerland and wrote in French. Kristof received the European prize for French literature for The Notebook . She won the 2001 Gottfried Keller Award in Switzerland and the Austrian State Prize for European Literature in 2008.- Biography :Kristof...
(1935–...) - Françoise SaganFrançoise SaganFrançoise Sagan – real name Françoise Quoirez – was a French playwright, novelist, and screenwriter. Hailed as "a charming little monster" by François Mauriac on the front page of Le Figaro, Sagan was known for works with strong romantic themes involving wealthy and disillusioned bourgeois...
(Françoise Quoirez) (1935–2004) - Daniel ZimmermannDaniel ZimmermannDaniel Zimmermann is a German politician, founder of the PETO party and is the mayor of Monheim am Rhein since 21 October 2009. He is the youngest mayor in North Rhine-Westphalia.- Professional career :...
(1935–2000) - Assia DjebarAssia DjebarAssia Djebar is the pen-name of Fatima-Zohra Imalayen , an Algerian novelist, translator and filmmaker. Most of her works deal with obstacles faced by women, and she is noted for her feminist stance. Djebar is considered to be one of North Africa's pre-eminent and most influential writers...
(1936–...) - FrankétienneFrankétienneFrankétienne is an author, poet, playwright, musician and painter. He has written in both French and Haitian creole...
(1936–...) - Jean-Edern HallierJean-Edern HallierJean-Edern Hallier was a French author.- Overview :Hallier was the son of World War I French General André Hallier. Jean-Edern was born in 1936 and lost an eye during the siege of Budapest, where his father was on diplomatic posting...
(1936–1997) - Georges PerecGeorges PerecGeorges Perec was a French novelist, filmmaker, documentalist and essayist. He is a member of the Oulipo group...
(1936–1982) - Philippe SollersPhilippe SollersPhilippe Sollers is a French writer and critic. In 1960 he founded the avant garde journal Tel Quel , published by Seuil, which ran until 1982...
(1936–...) - Anne-Marie AlbiachAnne-Marie AlbiachAnne-Marie Albiach is a contemporary French poet and translator.-Overview:Anne-Marie Albiach's poetry is characterized by, among other things, an inventive use of spacing on the printed page...
(1937–...) - Marc AlynMarc AlynMarc Alyn , is a French poet.-Life:He was mobilized to Algeria in 1957.He lived far from Paris, a farmhouse in Uzès, Gard....
(1937–) - Pierre BillonPierre BillonPierre Billon, born in Geneva in 1937, is a québécois writer.-Novels:* L'ogre de Barbarie * La Chausse-Trappe * L'enfant du Cinquième Nord * Le Livre de Seul * L'ultime Alliance...
(1937–...) - Andrée BruninAndrée BruninAndrée Brunin was a French poet Her output includes :*Fille du Vent, Poems - Nomad’s land, Paris, 2003.*La pensée, story for children....
(1937–1993) - Hélène CixousHélène CixousHélène Cixous is a professor, French feminist writer, poet, playwright, philosopher, literary critic and rhetorician. She holds honorary degrees from Queen's University and the University of Alberta in Canada; University College Dublin in Ireland; the University of York and University College...
(1937–...) - Abdelkebir KhatibiAbdelkebir KhatibiAbdelkebir Khatibi was a Moroccan literary critic, novelist and playwright. Affected in his late twenties by the rebellious spirit of 1960s counterculture, he challenged in his writings the social and political norms upon which the countries of the Maghreb region were constructed.-Career:A native...
(1938–...)
1940-1949
- Annie ErnauxAnnie ErnauxAnnie Ernaux is a French writer.She won the Prix Renaudot in 1984 for her book La Place, an autobiographical narrative focusing on her relationship with her father and her experiences growing up in a small town in France, and her subsequent process of moving into adulthood and away from her...
(1940–...) - J.M.G. Le Clézio (1940–...)
- Maurice Thuilière (1940–...)
- Emmanuel HocquardEmmanuel HocquardEmmanuel Hocquard is a French poet who grew up in Tangier, Morocco. He served as the editor of the small press Orange Export Ltd., and, with Claude Royet-Journoud, edited two anthologies of new American poets, 21+1: Poètes américains ď aujourďhui and 49+1...
(1940–...) - Jean DaiveJean DaiveJean Daive is a poet and translator. He is the author of novels, collections of poetry and has translated work by Paul Celan and Robert Creeley among others....
(1941–...) - Julia KristevaJulia KristevaJulia Kristeva is a Bulgarian-French philosopher, literary critic, psychoanalyst, sociologist, feminist, and, most recently, novelist, who has lived in France since the mid-1960s. She is now a Professor at the University Paris Diderot...
(1941–...) - Jean MarcelJean MarcelJean Marcel was the seventh Anglican Bishop of Madagascar from 1961 to 1969 when the diocese split into three. Marcel then became Bishop of Antananarivo until 1975....
(1941–...) - François WeyergansFrançois WeyergansFrançois Weyergans is a Belgian writer and director. His father, Franz Weyergans, was a Belgian and also a writer, while his mother was from Avignon in France...
(1941–...) - Josaphat-Robert LargeJosaphat-Robert LargeJosaphat-Robert Large is a Haitian-American poet, novelist and art critic. His novel Les terres entourées de larmes [Shore surrounded with tears] won the prestigious Prix littéraire des Caraïbes in 2003...
(1942–...) - Yves ManglouYves Manglou200px|right|thumb|Yves Manglou, [[Paris]] 2006.Yves Manglou is a Réunionese writer who writes in both French and Réunion Creole.-Biography:...
(1943–...) - Tahar Ben JellounTahar Ben JellounTahar Ben Jelloun is a Moroccan poet and writer. The entirety of his work is written in French, although his first language is Arabic.-Life:...
(1944–...) - Doumbi FakolyDoumbi Fakoly-Biography:Born in 1944 in Kita, Mali, Doumbi Fakoly spent his childhood in Senegal. He went on to study in France, where he obtained a degree in banking...
(1944–...) - Daniel PennacDaniel PennacDaniel Pennac is a French writer. He received the Prix Renaudot in 2007 for his essay Chagrin d'école.After studying in Nice he became a teacher...
(1944–...) - Noëlle ChâteletNoëlle ChâteletNoëlle Châtelet , born 16 October 1944 in Meudon the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France, as Noëlle Jospin, is French writer and lecturer at the Paris Descartes University in the humanities...
(1944-...) - Françoise ChandernagorFrançoise ChandernagorFrançoise Chandernagor is a French writer, born June 15, 1945. She is the daughter of André Chandernagor. She is a former student of the National School of Administration - École nationale d'administration, and she became a member of the Council of State in 1969.-Biography:In 1991, Françoise...
(1945–...) - Tony DuvertTony DuvertTony Duvert was a French writer and philosopher. In the 1970s he achieved some renown, winning the Prix Medicis in 1973 for his novel Paysage de Fantaisie . Duvert's writings are notable both for their style and core themes: the celebration and defence of pedophilia, and criticism of modern...
(1945–...) - Pierre MichonPierre MichonPierre Michon is a French writer. His first novel, Small lives , is widely regarded as a masterpiece in contemporary French literature. He won several prizes for Small lives, The Origin of the World and his body of work...
(1945–...) - Gisèle BienneGisèle BienneGisèle Bienne is a French writer who has written many novels. She lives in Reims , where she conducts writing workshops after she has been literature teacher and painter. She has published more than a dozen novels and won two literary awards. She also writes for magazines...
(1946-...) - Renaud CamusRenaud Camus-Biography:He was born in 1946 in Chamalières, Puy-de-Dôme, in the Auvergne region of France. He spent some time studying in England and traveling in the United States, particularly New York and California...
(1946–...) - Élisabeth VonarburgÉlisabeth VonarburgÉlisabeth Vonarburg is a science fiction writer. She was born in Paris and has lived in Chicoutimi , Quebec, Canada since 1973....
(1947–...) - René Frégni (1947–...)
- Jean-Pierre PoccioniJean-Pierre PoccioniJean-Pierre Poccioni is a French writer, whose first novel, Le Beau Désordre was published in 2000.His latest novel was published in January 2006, and is entitled La Maison du Faune.-References:...
(1948–...) - Amin MaaloufAmin MaaloufAmin Maalouf , born 25 February 1949 in Beirut, is a Lebanese-born French author. Although his native language is Arabic, he writes in French, and his works have been translated into many languages. He received the Prix Goncourt in 1993 for his novel The Rock of Tanios...
(1949–...) - Didier DaeninckxDidier DaeninckxDidier Daeninckx is a French author and left-wing politician, best known for his romans noirs. He frequently uses fictional settings to transport social critique; his writings are characterized by a sobering social realism...
(1949–...) - Pierre BergouniouxPierre BergouniouxPierre Bergounioux is a French writer. He won the 1986 Prix Alain-Fournier for his second novel, Ce pas et le suivant...
(1949–...) - Boualem SansalBoualem SansalBoualem Sansal is an internationally acclaimed Algerian author.Boualem Sansal was born in Algeria in 1949. Trained as an engineer with a doctorate in economics, he began writing novels at the age of 50 after retiring from his job as a high-ranking official in the Algerian government...
(1949-...)
1950 to today
- Bernard BonnejeanBernard Bonnejean(born 10 June 1950 in Ernée (Mayenne), on June 10, 1950, is a French author, specialist of catholic French poetry of 19th and 20th centuries.-Youth:...
(1950-...) - Jean-Paul DuboisJean-Paul DuboisJean-Paul Dubois is a French writer.He is the author of several novels and travel pieces, and reports for Le Nouvel Observateur. His latest novel, Une vie française, published in French in 2004 and in English in 2007, is a saga of the French baby boom generation, from the idealism of the 1960s to...
(1950–...) - Moussa KonatéMoussa KonatéMoussa Konaté is a Malian writer, born in 1951 in Kita, Mali.A graduate in Humanities at Mali's Ecole Normale Supérieure in Bamako, he was a teacher for several years before turning to writing...
(1951–...) - Salim JaySalim JaySalim Jay is a Moroccan novelist, essayist and literary critic. He was born in Paris from a Moroccan father and a French mother. He has written about 20 books, numerous essays and more than thousand newspaper articles....
(1951–...) - Dan FranckDan FranckDan Franck is a French novelist.His novel La Séparation won the 1991 Prix Renaudot, and was made into a movie, La Séparation.-Works:*Apolline, Seuil, 1997, ISBN 9782020307451...
(1952–...) - Charbel Tayah (1953–...)
- Dany LaferrièreDany LaferrièreDany Laferrière is a francophone Haitian and Canadian novelist and journalist.Born in Port-au-Prince, Haïti, and raised in Petit Goâve, Laferrière worked as a journalist in Haïti before moving to Canada in 1976...
(1953–...) - Françoise Bettencourt MeyersFrançoise Bettencourt MeyersFrançoise Bettencourt-Meyers is a French heiress and author of Bible commentaries and works on Jewish-Christian relations. The only daughter and thus under French law heiress of Liliane Bettencourt, Meyers was raised in a strictly Catholic household. However she married the Jewish grandson of a...
(1953-...) - Gérard Caramaro (1953–...)
- Nancy HustonNancy HustonNancy Louise Huston, OC is a Canadian-born novelist and essayist who writes primarily in French and translates her own works into English.-Biography:...
(1953–...) - Patrick ChamoiseauPatrick ChamoiseauPatrick Chamoiseau is a French author from Martinique known for his work in the créolité movement.-Biography:Chamoiseau was born on December 3, 1953 in Fort-de-France, Martinique, where he currently resides. After he studied law in Paris he returned to Martinique inspired by Édouard Glissant to...
(1953–...) - François BonFrancois Bon- Bibliography :* Sortie d'Usine, - Minuit, 1979.* Limite, - Minuit, 1985* Le Crime de Buzon, - Minuit, 1986* Un fait divers, - Minuit, 1994* La Folie Rabelais, essai - Minuit, 1990* Calvaire des chiens, - Minuit, 1990...
(1953–...) - Paul DirmeikisPaul DirmeikisPaul Dirmeikis is a Francophone poet, composer, singer, and painter who lives in Brittany. He is of Lithuanian ancestry , and a member of the Lithuanian Composers Union....
(1954–) - Tahar DjaoutTahar DjaoutTahar Djaout was an Algerian journalist, poet, and fiction writer. He was assassinated by the Armed Islamic Group because of his support of secularism and opposition to what he considered fanaticism. He was attacked on May 26, 1993, as he was leaving his home in Bainem, Algeria. He died on June 2,...
(1954–1993) - Dai SijieDai SijieDai Sijie is a French author and filmmaker of Chinese ancestry.-Biography:Dai Sijie was born in China in 1954. Because he came from an educated middle-class family, the Maoist government sent him to a reeducation camp in rural Sichuan from 1971 to 1974, during the Cultural Revolution. After his...
(1954–) - Pascale RozePascale RozePascale Roze is a French playwright, and novelist.After a literature degree, she worked for fifteen years with Gabriel Garran International French Theater.-Novels:...
(1954–) - Didier Hallépée (1955-...)
- Jean-Pierre VallottonJean-Pierre VallottonJean-Pierre Vallotton is a French-speaking Swiss poet, writer and artist.-Background:Jean-Pierre Vallotton was born in Geneva in 1955. He studied literature and drama....
(1955-...) - Jean-Pierre ThiolletJean-Pierre ThiolletJean-Pierre Thiollet is a French writer and journalist. He usually lives in Paris and is the author of numerous books.Since 2007, he has been a member of the World Grand Family of Lebanon ....
(1956–...) - Khal TorabullyKhal TorabullyKhal Torabully is a Mauritian and French poet, who has coined the concept of "coolitude." Born in Mauritius in 1956, in the capital city Port Louis, his father was a Trinidadian sailor and his mother was a descendant of migrants from India and Malaysia....
(1956) - Hervé Le TellierHervé Le TellierHervé Le Tellier is a French writer and linguist, and a member of the international literary group Oulipo...
(1957–...) - Youssef RzougaYoussef RzougaYoussef Rzouga is a Tunisian poet, born on March 21, 1957 in Mahdia, Tunisia. He began writing in 1967. His first published text was "Something called need," a short story in the magazine Radio et Télévision .- Studies:*Primary :...
(1957–...) - Jean-Philippe ToussaintJean-Philippe ToussaintJean-Philippe Toussaint is a Belgian prose writer and filmmaker. His books have been translated into more than twenty languages and he has had his photographs displayed in Brussels and Japan. Toussaint won the Prix Médicis in 2005 for his novel Fuir...
(1957–...) - Azouz BegagAzouz BegagAzouz Begag, is a French writer, politician and researcher in economics and sociology at the CNRS. He was the delegate minister for equal opportunities of France in the government of French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin till 5 April 2007...
(1957–...) - Michel HouellebecqMichel HouellebecqMichel Houellebecq , born Michel Thomas, 26 February 1958—or 1956 —on the French island of Réunion, is a controversial and award-winning French author, filmmaker and poet. To admirers he is a writer in the tradition of literary provocation that reaches back to the Marquis de Sade and Baudelaire;...
(1958–...) - Marc-Édouard NabeMarc-Édouard NabeMarc-Édouard Nabe , whose real name is Alain Zannini, is a French writer. He is also a painter, and a jazz guitarist.-Biography:...
(1958–...) - Denis RobertDenis RobertDenis Robert is a French freelance journalist and a writer. Robert formerly worked for Libération newspaper for 12 years....
(1958–...) - Benjamin SeheneBenjamin SeheneBenjamin Sehene is a Rwandan author whose work primarily focuses on questions of identity and the events surrounding the Rwandan genocide. He has spent much of life in Canada and France....
(1959–...) - Christine AngotChristine AngotChristine Angot is a French writer, novelist and playwright.-Life:Born Pierrette, Marie-Clotilde Schwartz in Châteauroux, Indre, she is perhaps best known for her 1999 novel L'Inceste which recounts an incestuous relationship with her father.It is a subject which appears in several of her...
(1959–...) - Frédéric-Yves JeannetFrédéric-Yves JeannetFrédéric-Yves Jeannet is a writer and professor of French origin who emigrated to Mexico in his youth. He was born in Grenoble, France, in 1959 and left it in 1975. Jeannet earned B.A. and M.A. degrees in comparative literature at the University of Grenoble. He then lived in London until 1977,...
(1959–...) - Jacques BonjawoJacques BonjawoJacques Bonjawo is a software engineer, an author and a columnist in the application of technology to sustainable development. Jacques is most noted for his work at Microsoft in 1997–2006 as senior program manager for the MSN Group...
(1960–...) - Xavier Hanotte (1960–...)
- Éric-Emmanuel SchmittÉric-Emmanuel SchmittEric-Emmanuel Schmitt is a French dramatist, novelist and fiction writer. His plays have been staged in over fifty countries all over the world.- Life :...
(1960–...) - Simonetta GreggioSimonetta GreggioSimonetta Greggio is an Italian novelist who writes in French.- Biography :Born on 21 April 1961 in Padova, Italy, Simonetta Greggio moved to Paris, France, in 1981 and has been living there since. Before turning to literature, she contributed as a journalist to several magazines such as City,...
(1961–...) - Bernard WerberBernard WerberBernard Werber is a French science fiction writer active since the 1990s.-Novels:His style of writing mixes different literary genres, notably the saga, the science fiction of the inter-war years, and tracts of philosophy.In most of his novels, Bernard Werber uses the same form of construction,...
(1961–...) - Charles DantzigCharles Dantzig- Early life and career :Charles Dantzig was born into a family of professors of medicine. He obtained the baccalauréate at the age of seventeen, but rather than following the family tradition or taking up his place to prepare the entrance exams for the Ecole Normale Supérieure, he decided to study...
(1961–...) - Philippe ClaudelPhilippe ClaudelPhilippe Claudel , is a French writer and film director.Claudel was born in Dombasle-sur-Meurthe, Meurthe-et-Moselle. In addition to his writing, Claudel is a Professor of Literature at the University of Nancy....
(1962–...) - Beatrice HammerBeatrice HammerBeatrice Hammer is a French writer. She was born in Paris. Her work has not been translated yet into English.-Bibliography:* Camille, short story in Les Coupons de Magali et autres nouvelles, Sépia 1994...
(1963–...) - Frédéric Lenormand (1964–...)
- Patrick Lowie (1964–...)
- Olivia Rosenthal (1965–...)
- Ann ScottAnn ScottAnn Scott is a French novelist.She is regarded as a social realist for her novels, which paint detailed portraits of contemporary youth haunted by teenage boredom, drugs, materialism, status obsession and social trangression. Her second novel Superstars has given her a cult status in...
(1965–...) - Jose Da Silveira (1965–...)
- Françoise Nimal (1967–...)
- Jonathan LittellJonathan LittellJonathan Littell is a bilingual writer living in Barcelona. He grew up in France and United States and is a dual citizen of both countries. After acquiring his bachelor degree he worked for a humanitarian organisation for nine years, leaving his job in 2001 in order to concentrate on writing...
(1967–...) - Amélie NothombAmélie NothombAmélie Nothomb is a Belgian writer who writes in French.- Biography :Amélie Nothomb was born in Kobe, Japan to Belgian diplomats. She lived there until she was five years old, and then subsequently lived in China, New York, Bangladesh, Burma, Coventry and Laos...
(1967–...) - Loïc Barrière (1967–...)
- Hervé Caumont (1968–...)
- Christophe Ferré (1968–...)
- Virginie DespentesVirginie DespentesVirginie Despentes is a French writer, novelist and filmmaker.-Life:She settled in Lyon, where she worked multiple odd jobs; including maid, prostitute in "massage parlors" and peep shows, recorded store sales, and a freelance rock journalist and pornographic film critic.She moved to Paris.Her...
(1969–...) - Louis EmondLouis Émond- Biography :Émond was born in Lévis, Quebec, Canada and earned his International Baccalaureate at the Petit Séminaire in Quebec City, where he studied under such teachers as Monique Ségal and Albert Dallard. At this time he discovered Noam Chomsky and wrote a thesis on the social satire in Les...
(1969–...) - Christophe HonoréChristophe HonoréChristophe Honoré is a French writer and film director born in Carhaix, Finistère in 1970.After moving to Paris in 1995, he wrote articles in "Les Cahiers du Cinéma." He started writing soon-after. His 1996 book Tout contre Léo talks about HIV and is aimed at young adults; he made it into a movie...
(1970–...) - Nicolas Ancion (1971-...)
- Luis de MirandaLuis de MirandaLuis de Miranda is a man of letters, alternatively novelist, philosopher, editor, film director. Born in Portugal in 1971, Luis de Miranda lived in Paris since he was a child. Soon, he toured the world. Africa, Asia, and then America, after his degree at HEC in 1994...
(1971-...) - Roland Michel TremblayRoland Michel TremblayRoland Michel Tremblay is a French Canadian author, poet, scriptwriter, development producer and science-fiction consultant. He has been living in London since 1995.- Biography :...
(1972–...) - Yves Trottier (1973–...)
- Tanguy Viel (1973–...)
- Romain SardouRomain SardouRomain Sardou , is a French novelist born in Boulogne-Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine. He is the son of the singer and songwriter Michel Sardou.-Biography:...
(1974–...) - Guillaume MussoGuillaume MussoGuillaume Musso is one of the bestselling authors in France today.-Career:He was born in 1974 in Antibes , France and from his early childhood with reading books and plays, Guillaume Musso became convinced that one day, he too would write novels.After finishing high school in France, Guillaume...
(1974-...) - Olivier AdamOlivier AdamOlivier Adam is a French writer. His first novel Je vais bien, ne t’en fais pas was made into a movie. He also writes youth books, among them La messe anniversaire. Adam won the 2004 Prix Goncourt de la Nouvelle for Passer l'hiver.-External links:...
(1974-...) - Arno Bertina (1975–...)
- Emily Tanimura (1979-...)
See also
- French literatureFrench literatureFrench literature is, generally speaking, literature written in the French language, particularly by citizens of France; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of France other than French. Literature written in French language, by citizens...
- Francophone literatureFrancophone literatureFrancophone literature is literature written in the French language. Most often the term is misused to refer only to literature from francophone countries outside France, but this category includes French Literature, or Literature of France, that is literature written by French authors...
- Lists of French language poets, French novelists, French people, authors
- Quebec literature
- List of Quebec authors