Chronological list of

French language French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Nor ...

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) *

Wace Wace ( 1110 – after 1174), sometimes referred to as Robert Wace, was a Medieval Norman poet, who was born in Jersey and brought up in mainland Normandy (he tells us in the ''Roman de Rou'' that he was taken as a child to Caen), ending his care ...

(1110 – c.1180) *

Chrétien de Troyes Chrétien de Troyes (Modern ; fro, Crestien de Troies ; 1160–1191) was a French poet and trouvère known for his writing on Arthurian subjects, and for first writing of Lancelot, Percival and the Holy Grail. Chrétien's works, including ''E ...

(c.1135 – c.1183) * Richard the Lionheart (Richard Coeur de Lion) (1157–1199) *

Benoît de Sainte-Maure Benoît de Sainte-Maure (; died 1173) 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. ''Le Roman de Troie'' His 40,000 ...

(12th-century) *

Herman de Valenciennes Herman de Valenciennes, 12th-century French poet, was born at Valenciennes. Life His father and mother, Robert and Herembourg, belonged to Hainaut, and gave him for god-parents Count Baldwin and Countess Yoland—doubtless Baldwin IV of Hainault ...

(12th-century) * Le Châtelain de Couci (d.1203) *

Jean Bodel Jean Bodel (c. 1165 – c. 1210), was an Old French poet who wrote a number of ''chanson de geste, chansons de geste'' as well as many fabliaux. He lived in Arras. Writings Bodel wrote ("Song of the Saxons") about the war of King Charlemagne wi ...

(12th century – c.1210) * Conon de Béthune (c.1150–1220) *

Geoffroi de Villehardouin Geoffrey of Villehardouin (c. 1150 – c. 1213) was a French knight and historian who participated in and chronicled the Fourth Crusade. He is considered one of the most important historians of the time period,Smalley, p. 131 best known for w ...

(c.1160 – c.1213) * Béroul (c.1170) * Thomas d'Angleterre (c.1170) * Aimeric de Peguilhan (c.1170 -c. 1230) *

Gace Brulé Gace Brulé (''c.'' 1160 – ''after'' 1213) was a French nobleman and trouvère from 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 t ...

(c.1170) * Marie de France (c.1175) *

Gautier de Coincy Gautier de Coincy (1177–1236) was a French abbot, trouvère 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'' (known in English as ''T ...

(1177/8–1236) *

Gautier de Dargies Gautier de Dargies (ca. 1170 – ca. 1240) 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 ''chansonn ...

(c.1170–after 1236) *

Gautier d'Espinal Gautier d'Espinal (also d'Epinal, d’Épinal or d'Espinau) (died before July 1272).Theodore Karp, "Gautier d'Espinal". Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/10765 (accessed 24 Dec ...

(† before July 1272) * Gillebert de Berneville ( fl c.1255) *

Gontier de Soignies Gontier 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. His life is mo ...

( fl c.1180–1220) *

Guiot de Dijon Guiot de Dijon ('' fl.'' 1215–25) was a Burgundian trouvère. The seventeen ''chansons'' ascribed to him in the standard listing of Raynaud-Spanke are found in fifteen chansonniers, some without attribution or with conflicting attributions w ...

( fl c.1200–30) * Perrin d'Angicourt ( fl c.1245–50) * Jean Renart (fl. late 12th-first half of 13th century) * Philippe de Rémi (c.1205–c1265) * Philippe de Beaumanoir (c.1247–c1296) * Raoul de Soissons (c.1215–1272) *

Richard de Fournival Richard de Fournival or Richart de Fornival (1201 – ?1260) was a medieval philosopher and trouvère perhaps best known for the '' Bestiaire d'amour'' ("The Bestiary of Love"). Life Richard de Fournival was born in Amiens on October 10, 1201. He ...

(1201– c.1260) *

Andrieu Contredit d'Arras Andrieu Contredit d'Arras ( 1200 – 1248) 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 Guillaum ...

(† c.1248) * Jehan le Cuvelier d'Arras ( fl c.1240–70) * Guillaume le Vinier ( fl c.1220–45; †1245) *

Audefroi le Bâtard Audefroi le Bastart (modern French Bâtard) 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 bourgeoisie famil ...

( fl c.1200–1230) *

Jehan Bretel Jehan Bretel (''c''.1210 – 1272) 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. Seven works by other trouvères ( Jehan de Grieviler, Jehan Era ...

(c.1200–1272) *

Jehan Erart Jehan Erart (or Erars) (''c''.1200/10–1258/9) 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''. Erart's pres ...

(† c.1259) *

Moniot d'Arras Moniot d'Arras ('' fl.'' 1213–1239) was a French composer and poet of the trouvère tradition. He was a monk ("Moniot" is a diminutive for monk) of the abbey of Arras in northern France; the area was at the time a center of ''trouvère'' activi ...

( fl c.1250–75) * Robert de Clari (late twelfth century) * Blondel de Nesle (late twelfth century) *

Robert de Boron Robert de Boron (also spelled in the manuscripts "Roberz", "Borron", "Bouron", "Beron") was a French poet of the late 12th and early 13th centuries, notable as the reputed author of the poems and ''Merlin''. Although little is known of him apart f ...

(twelfth–thirteenth century) *

Guiot de Provins Guiot de Provins, also spelled Guyot (died after 1208), 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 materia ...

(d. after 1208) *

Bertrand de Bar-sur-Aube Bertrand de Bar-sur-Aube (i.e. Bertrand from Bar-sur-Aube) (end of the 12th century – early 13th centuryHasenohr, 170.) was an Old French poet from the Champagne region of France who wrote a number of '' chansons de geste''. He is the author of ...

(late twelfth-early thirteenth century) * Guillaume de Lorris (c.1200 – c.1238) * Theobald IV of Champagne (1201–1253) * Jean de Joinville ( c.1224 – c.1317) *

Rutebeuf Rutebeuf (or Rustebuef) (fl. 1245 – 1285) was a French trouvère (poet-composers who worked in France's northern dialects). Early life He was born in the first half of the 13th century, possibly in Champagne (he describes conflicts in Troyes i ...

(c.1230 – c.1285) * Adam de la Halle (c.1250 – c.1285) * Jean de Meung or Jean de Meun (1250 – c.1305) or Jean Clopinel or Chopinel * Jacques Bretel (c. 1285 – c. 1310) *

Jean Le Bel Jean Le Bel (c. 1290 – 15 February 1370) was a chronicler from Liège. Biography Jean Le Bel's father, Gilles le Beal des Changes, was an alderman of Liège. Jean entered the church and became a canon of the cathedral church, but he and his b ...

(c.1290–1370) * Colin Muset (end of thirteenth century) *

Guillaume de Machaut Guillaume de Machaut (, ; also Machau and Machault; – April 1377) was a French composer and poet who was the central figure of the style in late medieval music. His dominance of the genre is such that modern musicologists use his death to ...

( c.1300 – c.1377) * Nicole Oresme (1325–1382) *

Philippe de Mézières Philippe de Mézières (c. 1327 – May 29, 1405), a French soldier and author, was born at the chateau of Mézières in Picardy. Period of soldiering (1344–1358) Philippe belonged to the poorer nobility. At first, he served under Luchino Visc ...

(c.1327–1405) * Jean Froissart (1333 – c.1404) *

Eustache Deschamps Eustache Deschamps (13461406 or 1407) was a French poet, byname Morel, in French "Nightshade". Life and career Deschamps was born in Vertus. He received lessons in versification from Guillaume de Machaut and later studied law at Orleans Univers ...

(c.1346 – c.1407) * Jean Charlier called Gerson (1363–1429 *

Christine de Pisan Christine de Pizan or Pisan (), born Cristina da Pizzano (September 1364 – c. 1430), was an Italian poet and court writer for King Charles VI of France and several French dukes. Christine de Pizan served as a court writer in medieval France ...

(1364–1430) *

Alain Chartier Alain Chartier (1430) was a French poet and political writer. Life Alain Chartier was born in Bayeux to a family marked by considerable ability. His eldest brother Guillaume became bishop of Paris; and Thomas became notary to the king. Jean C ...

(c.1385 – c.1435) *

Jean Juvénal des Ursins Jean (II) Juvénal des Ursins (1388–1473), the son of the royal jurist and provost of the merchants of Paris Jean Juvénal, was a French cleric and historian. He is the author of several legal treatises and clerical publications and the ''Histoi ...

(1388–1473) * Antoine de la Sale (1388 – c.1469) *

Enguerrand de Monstrelet Enguerrand de Monstrelet (c. 140020 July 1453) was a French chronicler. He was born in Picardy, most likely into a family of the minor nobility. Life In 1436 and later he held the office of lieutenant of the ''gavenier'' (i.e. receiver of the ' ...

(c.1390 – c.1453) * Charles, duc d'Orléans (1394–1465)

Fifteenth century

Martin Le Franc Martin le Franc ( – 1461) was a French poet of the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance. Life and career He was born in Normandy, and studied in Paris. He entered clerical orders, becoming an apostolic prothonotary, and later becoming secretar ...

(c.1410–1461) * Eustache Marcadé (1414–1440) *

Georges Chastellain Georges Chastellain (c. 1405 or c. 1415 – 20 March 1475), Burgundian chronicler and poet, was a native of Aalst in Flanders. Chastellain's historical works are valuable for the accurate information they contain. As a poet he was famous am ...

(1415–1475) *

Olivier de la Marche Olivier de la Marche (1425–1502) 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 ...

(1425–1502) * Martial d'Auvergne ( c.1430–1508) * François Villon (c.1431–after 1463) * Jean Michel (c.1435–1501) * Jean Molinet (1435–1507) * Philippe de Commines (1445–1511) *

Jean Marot Jean Marot (Mathieu, near Caen, 1463 – c. 1526) was a French poet of the late 15th and early 16 century and the father of the French Renaissance poet Clément Marot. He is often grouped with the "Grands Rhétoriqueurs". Jean Marot seems to ha ...

(1450–1526) *

Lefèvre d'Etaples Lefèvre is a common family name derived from the original northern French surname Lefebvre. Common variations include Lefevre, LeFevre, Le Fevre, le Fevre, Le Fèvre, le Fèvre, LeFever, Lefevere, Le Fêvre and le Fêvre. Surnames Lefèvre * Lefè ...

(1455–1537) *

Guillaume Crétin Guillaume Dubois or Guillaume Crétin (c. 1460 – 30 November 1525) was a French poet who is considered to belong to the school of the Grands Rhétoriqueurs ("rhetoricians"). Life He was treasurer of the Sainte-Chapelle de Vincennes, then cantor ...

(Guillaume Dubois) (1460–1525) *

Octavien de Saint-Gelais Octavien de Saint-Gelais (1468–1502) was a French churchman, poet, and translator. He translated the ''Aeneid'' into French language, French, as well as Ovid, Ovid's ''Heroides''. Born in Cognac, France, Cognac, Charente, he studied theolog ...

(1468–1505) * Guillaume Budé (1468–1540) *

Jean Meschinot Jean Meschinot (1420, Monnières, near Clisson – September 12, 1491) was a Breton poet who wrote in French at the court of the dukes of Brittany. His birthplace was in the Mortiers domain, around 30 km south of Nantes, capital of the duchy ...

(active from 1450–1490) *

Guillaume Alexis Guillaume Alexis (precise birth and death dates unknown) 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 (La Vieille-Lyre), in the diocese of Évreux, He became ...

(active from 1450–1490) * Jean Lemaire de Belges (1473 – c.1525) * Pierre Gringore or Gringoire (c.1475–1538/1539) *

François Rabelais François Rabelais ( , , ; born between 1483 and 1494; died 1553) was a French Renaissance writer, physician, Renaissance humanist, monk and Greek scholar. He is primarily known as a writer of satire, of the grotesque, and of bawdy jokes and ...

(c.1483–1553) *

Aliénor de Poitiers Aliénor de Poitiers or Eleanor de Poitiers (1444/1446–1509) was a Burgundian courtier and writer, noted for writing ''Les Honneurs de la Cour,'' an account of precedence and ceremony at Burgundian Court, and based on her own experiences of court ...

(fl.1484) * Mellin de Saint-Gelais (c.1491–1558) * Marguerite de Navarre (c.1492–1549) *

Clément Marot Clément Marot (23 November 1496 – 12 September 1544) was a French Renaissance poet. Biography 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 (c.&n ...

(c.1496–1544)

Sixteenth century

1500–1549

* Bonaventure des Périers (c.1500–1544) *

Maurice Scève Maurice Scève (c. 1501–c. 1564), was a French poet active in Lyon during the Renaissance period. He was the centre of the Lyonnese côterie that elaborated the theory of spiritual love, derived partly from Plato and partly from Petrarch. This ...

(c.1505 – c.1562) *

Michel de l'Hospital Michel may refer to: * Michel (name), a given name or surname of French origin (and list of people with the name) * Míchel (nickname), a nickname (a list of people with the nickname, mainly Spanish footballers) * Míchel (footballer, born 1963), S ...

(1505–1573) *

Étienne Dolet Étienne Dolet (; 3 August 15093 August 1546) was a French scholar, translator and printer. Dolet was a controversial figure throughout his lifetime. His early attacks upon the Inquisition, the city council and other authorities in Toulouse, tog ...

(1509–1546) * Jean Calvin (1509–1564) *

Hélisenne de Crenne Hélisenne de Crenne was a French novelist, epistolary writer and translator during the Renaissance. Critics generally agree that "Hélisenne de Crenne" was the pseudonym of Marguerite Briet (c. 1510, Abbeville - after 1552), a French gentlewoman ...

(Marguerite Briet de Crenne) (c.1510–after 1552) * Pierre Viret (1511–1571) * Charles de Sainte-Marthe (1512–1555) *

Thomas Sébillet Thomas Sébillet (1512–1589) was a French jurist, an essayist and a neo-Platonist grammarian.''Encyclopédie de la littérature'' (''Literary Encyclopedia''), Le Livre de Poche, "La Pochothèque" collection, 2004, p. 1828 He is now remembered fo ...

(c.1512–1589) * Jacques Amyot (1513–1593) *

Jacques Peletier du Mans Jacques Pelletier du Mans, also spelled Peletier ( la, Iacobus Peletarius Cenomani, 25 July 1517 – 17 July 1582) was a humanist, poet and mathematician of the French Renaissance. Born in Le Mans into a bourgeois family, he studied at the Col ...

(1517–1582) * Théodore de Bèze (1519–1605) *

Pierre de Saint-Julien de Balleure Pierre de Saint-Julien de Balleure (1519–1593) was a Burgundian historian of the Renaissance period The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Age ...

(1519–1593) *

Denis Sauvage Denis Sauvage (1520–1587) was a French translator, historian, publisher, philologist, and historiographer at the service of Henry II of Henri II. Publications History * ''Sommaire des histoires du royaume de Naples : qui traicte de toutes ...

(1520–1587) *

Noël du Fail Noël du Fail, seigneur de La Hérissaye (c. 1520 – 1591) was a French jurist and writer of the Renaissance. His collections of tales are an important document of rural life in the sixteenth century in Brittany. Biography Noël du Fail was bor ...

(1520–1591) * Pernette Du Guillet (c.1520–1545) *

Jacques Yver Jacques Yver, seigneur de la Bigoterie and de Plaisance (c.1548 – 1571/72) Simonin, Michel, ed. ''Dictionnaire des lettres françaises - Le XVIe siècle.'' Article "Yver (Jacques)", pp. 1214–1215, Paris: Fayard, 2001. was a French writer of th ...

(1520–1570) *

Gilles de Gouberville Gilles Picot, squire of Gouberville, Le Mesnil-au-Val and Russy (1521 – 7 March 1578), was a French diarist. Biography Gilles Picot, a Norman squire, member of the local but ancient gentry, was the eldest son of Guillaume V Picot, squire de ...

(1521–1578) *

Pontus de Tyard Pontus de Tyard (also Thyard, Thiard) (c. 1521 – 23 September 1605) was a French poet and priest, a member of "La Pléiade". Life He was born at Bissy-sur-Fley in Burgundy, of which he was ''seigneur'', but the exact year of his birth is u ...

or de Thiard (1521–1605) * Joachim du Bellay (1522–1560) * Pierre de Ronsard (1524–1585) *

Pierre Boaistuau Pierre Boaistuau, also known as Pierre Launay or Sieur de Launay (c. 1517, Nantes – 1566, Paris), was a French Renaissance humanist writer, author of a number of popularizing compilations and discourses on various subjects. Beside his many popul ...

(?–1566) *

Louise Labé Louise Charlin Perrin Labé, ( 1524 – 25 April 1566), also identified as La Belle Cordière (The Beautiful Ropemaker), was a feminist French poet of the Renaissance born in Lyon, the daughter of wealthy ropemaker Pierre Charly and his second wif ...

(c.1526 – c.1565) * Rémy Belleau (1528–1577) * Étienne Pasquier (1529–1615) *

Étienne de La Boétie Étienne or Estienne de La Boétie (; oc, Esteve de La Boetiá; 1 November 1530 – 18 August 1563) was a French magistrate, classicist, writer, poet and political theorist, best remembered for his intense and intimate friendship with essayist ...

(1530–1563) * Claude Fauchet (1530–1601) * Jean Bodin (1530–1596) * François de Belleforest (1530–1583) * Henri Estienne (1531–1598) *

Jean Antoine de Baïf Jean may refer to: People * Jean (female given name) * Jean (male given name) * Jean (surname) Fictional characters * Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character * Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations * Jean ...

(1532–1589) *

Étienne Jodelle Étienne Jodelle, seigneur de Limodin (1532July 1573), 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 ...

(1532–1573) *

Michel de Montaigne Michel Eyquem, Sieur de Montaigne ( ; ; 28 February 1533 – 13 September 1592), also known as the Lord of Montaigne, was one of the most significant philosophers of the French Renaissance. He is known for popularizing the essay as a liter ...

(Michel Eyquem, seigneur de Montaigne) (1533–1592) * Jean de la Taille (c.1533/1540 – c.1617) *

Robert Garnier Robert Garnier (1544 – 20 September 1590) was a French poet and dramatist. He published his first work while still a law-student at Toulouse, where he won a prize (1565) in the Académie des Jeux Floraux. It was a collection of lyrical pi ...

(1534–1590) *

Nicolas Rapin Nicolas Rapin (1535 – 16 February 1608) was a French Renaissance magistrate, royal officer, translator, poet and satirist, known for being one of the authors of the Satire Ménippée (1593/4) and an outspoken critic of the excesses of the Holy L ...

(1535–1608) *

Jacques Grévin Jacques Grévin (''c''. 1539 – 5 November 1570) was a French playwright. 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 dramati ...

(1538–1570) *

Olivier de Serres Olivier de Serres (; 1539–1619) was a French author and soil scientist whose '' Théâtre d'Agriculture'' (1600) was the accepted textbook of French agriculture in the 17th century. Biography Serres was born in 1539 at Villeneuve-de-Berg, A ...

(1539–1619) * Pierre Pithou (1539–1596) * Pierre de Bourdeille, seigneur de Brantôme (1540–1614) *

Pierre de Larivey Pierre de Larivey (20 July 1549 – 12 February 1619) 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. The suggestion made b ...

(1540–1619) *

Florent Chrestien Florent Chrestien (January 26, 1541 – October 3, 1596) 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 ...

(1540–1596) *

Pierre Charron Pierre Charron (; 1541 – 16 November 1603, Paris), French Catholic theologian and major contributor to the new thought of the 17th century. He is remembered for his controversial form of skepticism and his separation of ethics from religion as ...

(1541–1603) *

Guillaume de Salluste Du Bartas Guillaume de Salluste Du Bartas (1544, in Monfort – July 1590, in Mauvezin) was a Gascon Huguenot courtier and poet. Trained as a doctor of law, he served in the court of Henri de Navarre for most of his career. Du Bartas was celebrated acro ...

(1544–1590) *

Antoine du Verdier Antoine du Verdier (11 November 1544 – 25 September 1600),Du Verdier, Antoine (1544-160 ...

(1544–1600) *

Philippe Desportes Philippe Desportes or Desports (1546 – 5 October 1606) was a French poet.Jean Balsamo. Philippe Desports (1546-1606) Volume 62 of Actes et colloques. Editor, Contributor, Jean Balsamo. Publisher, Klincksieck, 2000 Biography Philippe Desp ...

(1546–1606) * Pierre de L'Estoile (1546–1611) *

Jean de La Ceppède Jean de La Ceppède (c. 1550 – 1623) was a French nobility, French nobleman, judge, and French poetry, poet from Aix-en-Provence. La Ceppède was a Christian poetry, Christian poet and wrote French Alexandrine, Alexandrine sonnets in Middle Fren ...

(1548–1623) *

Philippe Duplessis-Mornay Philippe de Mornay (5 November 1549 – 11 November 1623), seigneur du Plessis Marly, usually known as Du-Plessis-Mornay or Mornay Du Plessis, was a French Protestant writer and member of the anti-monarchist '' Monarchomaques''. Biography H ...

(Philippe de Mornay, called Duplessis-Mornay) (1549–1623)

1550–1599

* Benigne Poissenot (c.1550–?) * François d'Amboise (1550–1619) * Odet de Turnèbe (1552–1581) *

Jean Bertaut Jean Bertaut (1552 – 8 June 1611), French poet, was born at Caen. Life He figures with Philippe Desportes in the disdainful couplet of Boileau on Ronsard: "''Ce poëte orgueilleux, trébuché de si haut,'' ''Rendit plus retenus Desport ...

(1552–1611) *

Théodore Agrippa d'Aubigné Théodore is the French version of the masculine given name Theodore. Given name * Théodore Caruelle d'Aligny (1798–1871), French landscape painter and engraver *Théodore Anne (1892–1917), French playwright, librettist, and novelist * Théod ...

(1552–1630) * François de Malherbe (1552–1630) *

Jacques Davy Du Perron Jacques Davy Duperron (15 November 1556 – 6 December 1618) was a French politician and Roman Catholic cardinal. Family and Education Jacques Davy du Perron was born in Saint-Lô in Normandy, into the Davy family, of the Norman minor nobility, ...

(1556–1618) * François Béroalde de Verville (1556–1626) *

Guillaume du Vair Guillaume du Vair (7 March 1556 – 3 August 1621) was a French author and lawyer. Life 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 ...

(1556–1621) *

Jean de Sponde Jean de Sponde (''Joanes Ezponda''; 1557 in Basque – 18 March 1595) 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 ...

(1557–1595) * Maximilien de Béthune, baron de Rosny, duc de Sully (1560–1641) *

Alexandre Hardy Alexandre Hardy (c. 1570/1572 – 1632) 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. He was born in Paris, and seems to have been connected mo ...

(1560/1570 – c.1632) *

Nicolas de Montreux Nicolas de Montreux (c. 1561–1608) was a French nobleman, novelist, poet, translator and dramatist. Born in Sablé-sur-Sarthe, in the province of Maine, he was the son of a ''maître des requêtes'' and may have become a priest around 1585. In ...

(1561–1608) *

Pierre Matthieu Pierre Matthieu (1563–1621) was a French writer, poet, historian and dramatist. Biography Pierre Matthieu was born at Pesmes in the Haute-Saône. He studied under the Jesuits and mastered Latin, Ancient Greek and Hebrew. At the age of 19 ...

(1563–1621) *

Eustache de Refuge file:(Agen) Eustache de Refuge, seigneur de Priay et de Courcelles - Musée des Beaux-Arts d'Agen.jpg, Eustache de Refuge - Musée des Beaux-arts d'Agen Eustache de Refuge (1564 - September 1617), lord, seigneur de Précy-sur-Marne, Précy et de Co ...

, seigneur de Précy et de Courcelles (1564–1617) * Saint François de Sales (1567–1622) * Honoré d'Urfé (1567–1625) *

Scipion Dupleix Scipion Dupleix, lord of Clarens ( Condom, 1569 – Condom, 1661), was a French historian. Dupleix came to Paris in 1605, in Queen Margaret of Valois' retinue, who appointed him as her hotel's ''maitre de requêtes''. In his position as tutor of ...

(1569–1661) *

Sylvestre de Laval Sylvestre de Laval (15701616) was a French people, French Catholic theologian. Life and Works He lived most of life in Paris, France. He was the author of two controversial books. He was a teacher of theology and philosophy. He did a lot of mis ...

(1570–1616) *

Antoine de Nervèze Antoine de Nervèze (c. 1570 – after 1622) 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 He was most likely born in Gascony; he became ...

(c.1570–after 1622) *

Nicolas des Escuteaux Nicolas des Escuteaux (or the "sieur des Escuteaux", sometimes written "Escuteaus"; after 1570 – c. 1628) was a French novelist from the early 17th century. Life He was born into a noble family in the region around Loudun. The Reformation w ...

(after 1570 – c.1628) *

François du Souhait François du Souhait (between 1570 and 1580 – 1617 in Nancy) was a French language author (translator, novelist, poet, satirist, moral philosopher) of the late 16th and early 17th century from the Duchy of Lorraine (at the time, a sovereign cour ...

(between 1570 & 1580–1617) *

Jean Ogier de Gombaud Jean Ogier de Gombauld (1576 – 1666) was a French playwright and poet. Gombauld was born in Saint-Just-Luzac, Charente-Maritime and was a Huguenot. He was one of the original members of the Académie française. He also wrote novels, but has ...

(1570–1666) * Antoine de Balinghem (1571–1630) * Mathurin Régnier (1573–1613) *

Nicholas Camusat ''Promptuarium sacrarum'' Nicholas Camusat was a French historian born in Troyes Troyes () is a commune and the capital of the department of Aube in the Grand Est region of north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about sout ...

(1575–1655) *

Antoine de Montchrestien Antoine de Montchrestien (, or ''Montchrétien'') (c. 15757 or 8 October 1621) was a French soldier, dramatist, adventurer and economist. Montchrestien was born in Falaise, Normandy. Son of an apothecary named Mauchrestien and orphan at a young a ...

(c.1575–1621) *

Henri, duc de Rohan Henri (II) de Rohan (21 August 157913 April 1638), Duke of Rohan and Prince of Léon, was a Breton-French soldier, writer and leader of the Huguenots. Early life Rohan was born at the Château de Blain (now a part of Blain, Loire-Atlantique), ...

(1579–1638) * Saint Vincent de Paul (1581–1660) *

Jean Duvergier de Hauranne Jean du Vergier de Hauranne, the Abbé (Abbot) of Saint-Cyran, (1581 – 6 October 1643) was a French Catholic priest who introduced Jansenism into France. Life Born in the city of Bayonne to a noble family, Vergier studied theology at the Catho ...

, abbé de Saint-Cyran (1581–1643) *

François Maynard François Maynard, sometimes seen as "de Maynard" (21 November 1582 – 28 December 1646) was a French poet who spent much of his life in Toulouse. Biography Maynard was born in Toulouse to a father who was ''conseiller'' in the ''parlement'' o ...

(1582–1646) * Jean-Pierre Camus (1584–1652) *

Francis Garasse Francis Garasse (French: ''François Garasse''; 1585-1631) was a French Jesuit, preacher, polemicist and writer. He was the Jesuitical writer, notable, for his wit and buffoonery, but more distinguished himself by his writings which were bold, li ...

(1585–1631) * Jean de Schelandre (c.1585–1635) * François de La Mothe-Le-Vayer (1588–1672) *

Honorat de Bueil, seigneur de Racan Honorat de Bueil, seigneur de Racan (sometimes mistakenly listed as "marquis de Racan", although he never held this title) (5 February 1589 – 21 January 1670) was a French aristocrat, soldier, poet, dramatist and (original) member of the Aca ...

(1589–1670) *

Bertrand de Loque Bertrand de Loque, author of ''Deux Traitéz: l'un de la guerre, l'autre du duel'' (Lyon: Iacob Ratoyre, 1589), Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movemen ...

(1589) *

Théophile de Viau Théophile de Viau (159025 September 1626) was a French Baroque poet and dramatist. Life Born at Clairac, near Agen in the Lot-et-Garonne and raised as a Huguenot, Théophile de Viau participated in the Huguenot rebellions in Guyenne from 1615� ...

(1590–1626) * Marc Gilbert de Varennes (1591–1660) *

François le Métel de Boisrobert François le Métel de Boisrobert (1 August 1592 – 30 March 1662) was a French poet, playwright, and courtier. Life He was born in Caen. He trained as a lawyer, later practising for a time in Rouen. He traveled to Paris in 1622 and establishe ...

(1592–1662) *

Antoine Gérard de Saint-Amant Antoine Girard, sieur de Saint-Amant (September 30, 1594December 29, 1661) was a French poet. Saint-Amant 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 ...

(1594–1661) *

Jean Chapelain Jean Chapelain (4 December 1595 – 22 February 1674) was a French poet and critic during the Grand Siècle, best known for his role as an organizer and founding member of the Académie française. Chapelain acquired considerable prestige as a l ...

(1595–1674) *

Jean Desmarets de Saint-Sorlin Jean Desmarets, Sieur de Saint-Sorlin (1595 – 28 October 1676) was a French writer and dramatist. He was a founding member, and the first to occupy seat 4 of the Académie française in 1634. Biography Born in Paris, Desmarets was introduced ...

(1595–1676) * René Descartes (1596–1650) *

Claude de Malleville Claude Malleville, born in Paris probably between 1594 and 1596 and died in the same city in 1647, was a French poet. He became one of the first members of the Académie Française in 1634. His life Knowledge about Claude Malleville's life was ...

(1597–1647) *

Vincent Voiture Vincent Voiture (24 February 1597 – 26 May 1648), French poet and writer of prose, was the son of a rich wine merchant of Amiens. He was introduced by a schoolfellow, the count Claude d'Avaux, to Gaston, Duke of Orléans, and accompanied him ...

(1597–1648) * Jean-Louis Guez de Balzac (1597–1684)

Seventeenth century

1600–1649

Nicolas de Bralion Nicolas de Bralion (1600–1672) was a Oratory of Jesus, French oratorian and ecclesiastical writer who was influential on bringing various Italian ideas into France. De Bralion joined the Oratory of Saint Philip Neri, Paris Oratory in 1619 and ...

(1600–1672) *

Marin le Roy de Gomberville Marin le Roy, sieur du Parc et de Gomberville (1600 – 14 June 1674) 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 pa ...

(1600–1674) *

Georges de Scudéry Georges de Scudéry (22 August 1601 – 14 May 1667), the elder brother of Madeleine de Scudéry, was a French novelist, dramatist and poet. Life Georges de Scudéry was born in Le Havre, in Normandy, whither his father had moved from Provence. H ...

(1601–1667) *

François Tristan l'Hermite François l'Hermite (c. 16017 September 1655) was a French dramatist who wrote under the name Tristan l'Hermite. He was born at the Château de Soliers in the Haute Marche. Life His adventures began early, for he killed his enemy in a due ...

(1601–1655) * Guy Patin (1601–1672) *

Jean de Bernieres-Louvigny Jean de Bernieres-Louvigny (1602 – 3 May 1659) was a French mystic and an important lay spiritual writer. Life Jean de Bernieres-Louvigny was born in the city of Caen, Normandy in 1602 and he worked as a Royal finance officer. After a con ...

(1602–1659) *

Charles Sorel Charles Sorel, sieur de Souvigny (c. 1602 – 7 March 1674) was a French novelist and general writer. Life Very little is known of his life except that in 1635 he was historiographer of France. He wrote on science, history and religion, ...

(1602–1674) *

Charles Cotin Charles Cotin or Abbé Cotin (1604 – December 1681) was a French abbé, philosopher and poet. He was made a member of the Académie française on 7 January 1655. Cotin was born and died in Paris. He was a scholar of Latin, Greek, Hebrew, an ...

(1604–1682) *

Jean Mairet Jean (de) Mairet (10 May 160431 January 1686) 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 ...

(1604–1686) * François Hédelin, abbé d'Aubignac (1604–1676) *

Pierre du Ryer Pierre du Ryer (c.1606 – 6 November 1658) was a French dramatist. Life and works Du Ryer was born in Paris in about 1606. His early comedies are loosely modelled on those of Alexandre Hardy, but after the production of the ''Cid'' (1636) he b ...

(1605–1658) *

Charles Coypeau d'Assoucy Charles Coypeau (16 October 1605 Paris – 29 October 1677, Paris) was a French musician and burlesque poet. In the mid-1630s he began using the ''nom de plume'' D'Assouci or Dassoucy. Life From the time he was eight or nine, Charles Coypeau b ...

(1605–1675) *

Jean François Sarrazin Jean François Sarrazin (c. 1611 – 5 December 1654), or Sarasin, was a French writer. Biography Sarrazin was born at Hermanville, near Caen, the son of Roger Sarasin, treasurer-general at Caen. He was educated at Caen, and later settled in ...

(1605–1654) *

Pierre Corneille Pierre Corneille (; 6 June 1606 – 1 October 1684) was a French tragedian. He is generally considered one of the three great seventeenth-century French dramatists, along with Molière and Racine. As a young man, he earned the valuable patronag ...

(1606–1684) *

Antoine Gombaud Antoine Gombaud, ''alias'' Chevalier de Méré, (1607 – 29 December 1684) was a French writer, born in Poitou.E. Feuillâtre (Editor), ''Les Épistoliers Du XVIIe Siècle. Avec des Notices biographiques, des Notices littéraires, des Notes ex ...

, chevalier de Méré (1607–1685) *

Madeleine de Scudéry Madeleine de Scudéry (15 November 1607 – 2 June 1701), often known simply as Mademoiselle de Scudéry, was a French writer. Her works also demonstrate such comprehensive knowledge of ancient history that it is suspected she had received inst ...

(1607–1701) *

Jean Rotrou Jean Rotrou (21 August 1609 – 28 June 1650) was a French poet and tragedian. Life Rotrou was born at Dreux, city of the current department of Eure-et-Loir, in Centre-Val de Loire region. He studied at Dreux and at Paris, and, though three years ...

(1609–1650) *

Paul Scarron Paul Scarron (c. 1 July 1610 in Paris – 6 October 1660 in Paris) (a.k.a. Monsieur Scarron) was a French poet, dramatist, and novelist, born in Paris. Though his precise birth date is unknown, he was baptized on 4 July 1610. Scarron was the fi ...

(1610–1660) * François-Eudes de Mézeray (1610–1683) *

Charles de Saint-Evremond Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...

(c.1610–1703) * Antoine Arnauld (1612–1694) *

Isaac de Benserade Isaac de Benserade (; baptized 5 November 161310 October 1691) was a French poet. Born in Lyons-la-Forêt, Normandy, his family appears to have been connected with Richelieu, who bestowed on him a pension of 600 ''livres''. He began his liter ...

(1612–1691) * Jean François Paul de Gondi, cardinal de Retz (1613–1679) *

François de La Rochefoucauld François de La Rochefoucauld may refer to: * François III de La Rochefoucauld (1521–1572), French courtier and soldier * François de La Rochefoucauld (writer) (1613–1680), French author * François de La Rochefoucauld (cardinal) (1558–164 ...

(1613–1680) *

Gauthier de Costes, seigneur de la Calprenède Gauthier de Costes, seigneur de la Calprenède (1609 or 1610 – 1663) was a French novelist and dramatist. He was born at the Château of Tolgou in Salignac-Eyvigues (Dordogne). After studying at Toulouse, he came to Paris and entered the reg ...

(1614–1663) *

Georges de Brébeuf Georges de Brébeuf () (1618 – 1661) was a French poet and translator best known for his verse translation of Lucan's ''Pharsalia'' (1654) which was warmly received by Pierre Corneille, but which was ridiculed by Nicolas Boileau in his ''Art p ...

(1618–1661) *

Roger de Rabutin, Comte de Bussy Roger de Rabutin, comte de Bussy (13 April 1618 – 9 April 1693), commonly known as Bussy-Rabutin, was a French memoirist. He was the cousin and frequent correspondent of Madame de Sévigné. Born at Epiry, near Autun, he represented a famil ...

, called Bussy-Rabutin (1618–1693) * Cyrano de Bergerac (Hector-Savinien Cyrano de Bergerac) (1619–1655) *

Antoine Furetière Antoine Furetière (28 December 161914 May 1688) was a French scholar, writer, and lexicographer, known best for his satirical novel ''Scarron's City Romance''. He was expelled from the Académie Française for seeking to publish his own French ...

(1619–1688) * Gédéon Tallemant des Réaux (1619–1692) *

Jean de La Fontaine Jean de La Fontaine (, , ; 8 July 162113 April 1695) was a 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 Euro ...

(1621–1695) * Molière (Jean-Baptiste Poquelin) (1622–1673) *

Blaise Pascal Blaise Pascal ( , , ; ; 19 June 1623 – 19 August 1662) was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, philosopher, and Catholic Church, Catholic writer. He was a child prodigy who was educated by his father, a tax collector in Rouen. Pa ...

(1623–1662) *

Jean Renaud de Segrais Jean Regnault de Segrais (22 August 1624, Caen – 25 March 1701) was a French poet and novelist born in Caen. He was elected a member of the Académie française in 1662. {{DEFAULTSORT:Regnault De Segrais, Jean 1624 births 1701 death ...

(1624–1701) *

Paul Pellisson Paul Pellisson (30 October 1624 – 7 February 1693) was a French author. Pellisson 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 intr ...

(1624–1693) * Thomas Corneille (1625–1709) *

Samuel Chappuzeau Samuel Chappuzeau (16 June 1625, Paris – 31 August 1701) was a French scholar, author, poet and playwright whose best-known work today is ''Le Théâtre François'', a description of French Theatre in the seventeenth century. Chappuzeau's pl ...

(1625–1701) *

Madame de Sévigné Madame may refer to: * Madam, civility title or form of address for women, derived from the French * Madam (prostitution), a term for a woman who is engaged in the business of procuring prostitutes, usually the manager of a brothel * ''Madame'' ( ...

(Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de Sévigné) (1626–1696) *

Laurent Drelincourt Laurent Drelincourt (1626–1681) was son of the French Reformed Church theologian Charles Drelincourt (1595–1669), who was a French Protestant divine. Laurent also was a theologian, who later became a pastor, and was the author of ''Sonnets c ...

(1626–1680) * Jacques Bénigne Bossuet (1627–1704) *

Gabriel-Joseph de La Vergne, comte de Guilleragues Gabriel-Joseph de Lavergne, comte de Guilleragues (1628–1684), was a French politician of the 17th century. For a time, he was secretary of the King's Chamber, and he also director of the ''Gazette de France''. In 1677, he was named ambassador ...

(1628–1685) *

Charles Perrault Charles Perrault ( , also , ; 12 January 1628 – 16 May 1703) was an iconic French author and member of the Académie Française. He laid the foundations for a new literary genre, the fairy tale, with his works derived from earlier folk tales ...

(1628–1703) * Pierre Daniel Huet (1630–1721) *

Louis Bourdaloue Louis Bourdaloue (20 August 1632 – 13 May 1704) was a French Jesuit and preacher. Biography 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 ...

(1632–1704) *

Esprit Fléchier Esprit Fléchier (10 June 163216 February 1710) was a French preacher and author, Bishop of Nîmes from 1687 to 1710. Biography Fléchier was born at Pernes-les-Fontaines, in today's ''département'' of Vaucluse, in the then Comtat Venaissin, ...

(1632–1710) * Jacques Pradon (1632–1698) *

Madame de Villedieu Marie-Catherine de Villedieu, born Marie-Catherine Desjardins and generally referred to as Madame de Villedieu (1640 – 20 October 1683) was a French writer of plays, novels and short fiction. Largely forgotten or eclipsed by other writers of th ...

(Marie-Catherine-Hortence Desjardins, marquise de Villedieu) (1632–1683) * Madame de Lafayette (Marie-Madeleine, comtesse de La Fayette) (1634–1693) * Pierre Thomas, sieur du Fossé (1634–1698) * Philippe Quinault (1635–1688) *

Nicolas Boileau Nicolas or Nicolás may refer to: People Given name * Nicolas (given name) Mononym * Nicolas (footballer, born 1999), Brazilian footballer * Nicolas (footballer, born 2000), Brazilian footballer Surname Nicolas * Dafydd Nicolas (c.1705–1774), ...

(1636–1711) *

Edmé Boursault Edmé Boursault (October 163815 September 1701) was a French dramatist and miscellaneous writer, born at Mussy l'Evéque, now Mussy-sur-Seine (Aube). Biography On Boursault's first arrival in Paris in 1651 his language was limited to Burgundia ...

(1638–1701) *

Antoinette du Ligier de la Garde Deshoulières Antoinette Du Ligier de la Garde Deshoulières (January 1, 1638 – February 17, 1694) was a French poet. Early life and education Antoinette Du Ligier de la Garde was born in Paris, January 1, 1638. She was the daughter of Melchior du Ligier, si ...

(1638–1694) *

Nicolas Malebranche Nicolas Malebranche ( , ; 6 August 1638 – 13 October 1715) was a French Oratorian Catholic priest and rationalist philosopher. In his works, he sought to synthesize the thought of St. Augustine and Descartes, in order to demonstrate the ...

(1638–1715) *

Jean Donneau de Visé Jean Donneau de Visé (1638 – 8 July 1710) was a French journalist, royal historian ("historiographe du roi"), playwright and publicist. He was founder of the literary, arts and society gazette "le Mercure galant" (founded in 1672) an ...

(1638–1710) *

Philippe de Courcillon, marquis de Dangeau Philippe is a masculine sometimes feminin given name, cognate to Philip. It may refer to: * Philippe of Belgium (born 1960), King of the Belgians (2013–present) * Philippe (footballer) (born 2000), Brazilian footballer * Prince Philippe, Count o ...

(1638–1720) *

Claude Estiennot de la Serre Claude Estiennot de la Serre (or de la Serrée) (17 February 1639 – 20 June 1699) was a French Benedictine scholar of the Congregation of Saint-Maur. Life He was born at Toutry. He joined the Benedictines at Vendôme and was professed there i ...

(1639–1699) * Guillaume Amfrye de Chaulieu (1639–1720) *

César Vichard de Saint-Réal César Vichard de Saint-Réal (1639–1692) was a French polyglot. 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 ...

(1639–1692) * Jean Racine (1639–1699) * Claude de Fleury (1640–1723) *

Louis Moréri Louis Moréri (25 March 1643 – 10 July 1680) was a French priest and encyclopedist. Life Moréri was born in 1643 in Bargemon, a village in the ancient province of Provence. His great-grandfather, Joseph Chatranet, a native of Dijon, had sett ...

(1643–1680) * Gatien de Courtilz de Sandras (1644–1712) *

Anne de La Roche-Guilhem Anne de La Roche-Guilhem or La Roche-Guilhen (July 24, 1644, Rouen – 1707 or 1710, England) was a French writer and translator. Biography Anne de La Roche-Guilhem was the daughter of Charles de Guilhen and Marie-Anne d'Azemar. Through her moth ...

(1644–1707) *

Jean de La Bruyère Jean de La Bruyère (, , ; 16 August 1645 – 11 May 1696) was a French philosopher and moralist, who was noted for his satire. Early years Jean de La Bruyère was born in Paris, in today's Essonne ''département'', in 1645. His family was mid ...

(1645–1696) *

Pierre Le Pesant, sieur de Boisguilbert Pierre le Pesant, sieur de Boisguilbert or Boisguillebert (; 17 February 164610 October 1714) was a French lawmaker and a Jansenist, one of the inventors of the notion of an economic market. Early life He was born at Rouen of an ancient noble fam ...

( c.1646–1714) *

Antoine Galland Antoine Galland (; 4 April 1646 – 17 February 1715) was a French orientalist and archaeologist, most famous as the first European translator of '' One Thousand and One Nights'', which he called ''Les mille et une nuits''. His version of the t ...

(1646–1715) * Pierre Bayle (1647–1706) *

Joseph Anthelmi Joseph Anthelmi (Antelmi) (25 July 1648 at Fréjus – 21 June 1697 at Fréjus) was a French ecclesiastical historian. Life Several of his ancestors had occupied canonries in Fréjus, the history and traditions of which they had investigated ...

(1648–1697)

1650–1699

* Madame d'Aulnoy (Marie-Catherine le Jumelle de Barneville, Baronne d'Aulnoy) (1651–1705) *

François de Salignac de la Mothe-Fénelon François () is a French language, French masculine given name and surname, equivalent to the English name Francis (given name), Francis. People with the given name * Francis I of France, King of France (), known as "the Father and Restorer of ...

(1651–1715) *

Louis Du Four de Longuerue Louis Dufour de Longuerue (1652, Charleville-Mézières, Ardennes) – 22 November 1733), abbé of Sept-Fontaines (from 1674) and of Saint-Jean-du-Jard near Melun (from 1684), known simply as the abbé de Longuerue, was an antiquarian, a linguist a ...

(1652–1733) *

Charlotte-Rose de Caumont La Force Charlotte-Rose de Caumont de La Force or Mademoiselle de La Force (1654–1724) was a French novelist and poet. Her best-known work was her 1698 fairy tale ''Persinette'' which was adapted by the Brothers Grimm in 1812 as the story ''Rapunzel''. ...

(Mademoiselle de La Force) (1650–1724) *

Louis Legendre Louis Legendre (22 May 1752 – 13 December 1797) was a French politician of the Revolution period. Early activities Born at Versailles, he was keeping a butcher's shop in Saint Germain, Paris, by 1789. He was an ardent supporter of the ideas ...

(1655–1733) *

Jean-François Regnard Jean-François Regnard (7 February 1655 – 4 September 1709), "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 vo ...

(1655–1709) * Jean Galbert de Campistron (1656–1723) * Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle (1657–1757) * Louis ''(or Jean)'' de Mailly (1657-1724) * Henri de Boulainvilliers (1658–1712) * François Armand Gervaise (1660–1761) *

Charles Rollin Charles Rollin (January 30, 1661 in Paris - December 14, 1741 in Paris) was a French historian and educator, whose popularity in his time combined with becoming forgotten by later generations makes him an epithet, applied to historians such as J ...

(1661–1741) *

Florent Carton Dancourt Florent Carton aka Dancourt (1 November 16617 December 1725), 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 ...

(1661–1725) *

Jean-François Foucquet Jean-François Foucquet S.J., also Jean-François Fouquet (12 March 1665 – 14 March 1741), was a Burgundy French Jesuit, bishop and scientist who was active in the Jesuit China missions for 22 years. He also was Titular Bishop of ''Eleutherop ...

(1665–1741) *

Alain-René Lesage Alain-René Lesage (; 6 May 166817 November 1747; older spelling Le Sage) was a French novelist and playwright. Lesage is best known for his comic novel '' The Devil upon Two Sticks'' (1707, ''Le Diable boiteux''), his comedy ''Turcaret'' (170 ...

(1668–1747) *

Jacques Bouillart Jacques Bouillart (1669 – 11 December 1726) was a Benedictine monk of the Congregation of St.-Maur. Bouillart was born in the Diocese of Chartres. He professed at the Monastery of St. Faron de Meaux in 1687. He was the author of ''Histoire d ...

(1669–1726) *

Jean-Baptiste Rousseau Jean-Baptiste Rousseau (6 April 1671 – 17 March 1741) was a French playwright and poet, particularly noted for his cynical epigrams. Biography Rousseau was born in Paris, the son of a shoemaker, and was well educated. As a young man, he gai ...

(1670–1741) *

Jean-Baptiste Dubos Jean-Baptiste Dubos (; 14 December 1670 – 23 March 1742), also referred to as l'Abbé Du Bos, was a French author. He was also a diplomat and an art critic. Life Dubos was born in Beauvais. He was educated in Paris and received a Master of Arts ...

(1670–1742) *

Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon (13 January 1674 – 17 June 1762) was a French poet and tragedy, tragedian. Biography Crébillon was born in Dijon, where his father, Melchior Jolyot, was Civil law notary, notary-royal. Having been educated at the ...

(Crébillon père) (1674–1762) * Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon (1675–1755) *

Jean-François Boyer Jean-François Boyer (12 March 1675 in Paris – 20 August 1755 in Versailles), was a French bishop, best known for having been a vehement opponent of Jansenism and the Philosophe school. Life Boyer was a preacher, and the bishop of Mirepo ...

(1675–1755) *

Philippe Néricault Destouches Philippe Néricault Destouches (9 April 1680 – 4 July 1754) was a French playwright who wrote 22 plays. Biography Destouches was born at Tours, in today's department of Indre-et-Loire. When he was nineteen years of age, he became secretary to ...

(1680–1754) *

Claudine Alexandrine Guérin de Tencin Claudine may refer to: Name * Claudine (given name) Claudine is a given name of French origin. It is the feminine form of the ancient Roman name Claudius. In the United States, the name was considered on the verge of extinction by 2013. People wi ...

(Madame de Tencin) (1681–1749) *

Jérôme Besoigne Jérôme Besoigne (1686 in Paris – 1763) was a prominent Jansenist apologist and oppositionist to the Bull "Unigenitus." Biography Besoigne was ordained in 1715 and received a doctorate at the Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne ( ...

(1686–1763) * Marivaux (Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux) (1688–1763) *

Alexis Piron Alexis Piron (9 July 1689 – 21 January 1773) was a French epigrammatist and dramatist. Life 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 c ...

(1689–1773) * Montesquieu (Charles Louis de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu) (1689–1755) *

Louis Petit de Bachaumont Louis Petit de Bachaumont () (June 2, 1690 – April 29, 1771) was a French writer, whose historical interest has been connected largely to his alleged role in the gossipy '' Mémoires secrets pour servir à l'histoire de la République des Lett ...

(1690–1771) * Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet) (1694–1778) * René-Louis de Voyer de Paulmy, marquis d' Argenson (1694–1757) *

Françoise de Graffigny Françoise de Graffigny (''née'' Françoise d'Issembourg du Buisson d'Happoncourt; 11 February 1695 – 12 December 1758), better known as Madame de Graffigny, was a French novelist, playwright and salon hostess. Initially famous as the author o ...

(1695–1758) * Antoine François Prévost (Antoine Francois Prevost d'Exiles) a/k/a Abbé Prévost (1697–1763) *

Marie Anne de Vichy-Chamrond, marquise du Deffand Marie Anne de Vichy-Chamrond, marquise du Deffand (25 September 1696 – 23 September 1780) was a French hostess and patron of the arts. Life Madame du Deffand was born at the Château de Chamrond, in Ligny-en-Brionnais, a village near Charolle ...

(1697–1780) * Denis-François Camusat (1697–1732)

Eighteenth century

1700–1749

Charles Pinot Duclos Charles Pinot (or Pineau) Duclos (12 February 1704 – 26 March 1772) was a French author and contributor to the ''Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers''. Biography Duclos was born at Dinan in Brittany ...

(1704–1772) *

Claude Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon Claude Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon (13 February 1707 – 12 April 1777), called "Crébillon fils" (to distinguish him from his father), was a French novelist. Born in Paris, he was the son of a famous tragedian, Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon. H ...

(Crébillon, fils) (1707–1777) * Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de Buffon) (1707–1788) * Julien Offray de La Mettrie (1709–1751) * Gabriel Bonnot de Mably (1709–1785) *

Jean-Baptiste-Louis Gresset Jean-Baptiste-Louis Gresset (August 29, 1709 – June 16, 1777) was a French poet and dramatist, best known for his poem ''Vert-Vert''. Life He was born at Amiens. During the last twenty-five years of his life, he regretted the frivolity of his ...

(1709–1777) *

Jean-Jacques Lefranc, marquis de Pompignan Jean-Jacques Lefranc (also Le Franc), Marquis de Pompignan (10 August 1709 – 1 November 1784) was a French man of letters and erudition, who published a considerable output of theatrical work, poems, literary criticism, and polemics; treatises o ...

(1709–1784) *

Charles-Simon Favart Charles Simon Favart (13 November 1710 – 12 May 1792) was a French playwright and theatre director. The Salle Favart in Paris is named after him. Biography Born in Paris, the son of a pastry-cook, he was educated at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, a ...

(1710–1792) * Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778) * Denis Diderot (1713–1784) * Étienne Bonnot de Condillac (1714–1780) * Marie Jeanne Riccoboni (Madame Riccoboni) (1714–1792) * Claude Adrien Helvétius (1715–1771) * Vauvenargues (Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues) (1715–1747) * François-André-Adrien Pluquet (1716–1790) *

Jean-François de Saint-Lambert Jean-François is a French given name. Notable people bearing the given name include: * Jean-François Carenco (born 1952), French politician * Jean-François Champollion (1790–1832), French Egyptologist * Jean-François Clervoy (born 1958), Fre ...

(1716–1803) *

Louis Carrogis Carmontelle Louis Carrogis Carmontelle (b. Paris, 15 August 1717 – d. Paris, 26 December 1806) was a French dramatist, painter, architect, set designer, author, and designer of one of the earliest examples of the French landscape garden, Parc Moncea ...

(1717–1806 * Jean Le Rond d'Alembert (1717–1783) *

Michel-Jean Sedaine Michel-Jean Sedaine (2 June 1719 – 17 May 1797) was a French dramatist and librettist, especially noted for his librettos for '' opéras comiques'', in which he took an important and influential role in the advancement of the genre from th ...

(1719–1797) *

Antoine Henri de Bérault-Bercastel Antoine Henri de Bérault-Bercastel (1720–1794) was a French priest and Catholic historian. Biographical details Born 22 November 1720, at Briey, Lorraine in France. At an early age he entered the Society of Jesus, but left it after his ordinat ...

(1720–c.1794) * Jacques Cazotte (1720–1792) *

Denis Dominique Cardonne Denis Dominique Cardonne (23 March 1721 – 25 December 1783) was a French orientalist and translator. Biography Denis Dominique Cardonne, born in Paris on March 23, 1721, he was brought at the age of nine to Constantinople, where he lived for t ...

(1721–1783) * Tiphaigne de la Roche (Charles-François Tiphaigne de la Roche) (1722–1774) *

Baron d'Holbach Paul-Henri Thiry, Baron d'Holbach (; 8 December 1723 – 21 January 1789), was a French-German philosopher, encyclopedist, writer, and prominent figure in the French Enlightenment. He was born Paul Heinrich Dietrich in Edesheim, near Land ...

(Paul Henri Dietrich, baron d'Holbach) (1723–1789) *

Jean-François Marmontel Jean-François Marmontel (11 July 1723 – 31 December 1799) was a French historian, writer and a member of the Encyclopédistes movement. Biography He was born of poor parents at Bort, Limousin (today in Corrèze). After studying with th ...

(1723–1799) * Casanova a/k/a Jacques Casanova de Seingalt (1725–1798) *

Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, Baron de Laune Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, Baron de l'Aulne ( ; ; 10 May 172718 March 1781), commonly known as Turgot, was a French economist and statesman. Originally considered a physiocrat, he is today best remembered as an early advocate for economic libe ...

(1727–1781) *

Jean Dussaulx Jean-Joseph Dusaulx, (28 December 1728, in Chartres – 16 March 1799, in Paris) was a French politician during the French Revolution. He was friendly with Jean Sylvain Bailly, the mayor. In February 1792 he was elected as a member of the "Consei ...

(1728–1799) *

Nicolas Bricaire de la Dixmerie Nicolas Bricaire de la Dixmerie (c. 1730 – November 26, 1791), French man of letters, was born at Lamothe (Haute-Marne). While still young he removed to Paris, where the rest of his life was spent in literary activity. His numerous works include ...

(c.1730–1791) *

Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (; 24 January 1732 – 18 May 1799) was a French polymath. At various times in his life, he was a watchmaker, inventor, playwright, musician, diplomat, spy, publisher, horticulturist, arms dealer, satirist ...

(1732–1799) *

Jacques Clinchamps de Malfilâtre Jacques Clinchamps de Malfilâtre (8 October 1732 – 6 March 1767) was a French poet. Works *Le Soleil fixe au milieu des planètes', 1759 *''Narcisse dans l’île de Vénus'', 1769 (poem in 4 chants, published posthumously) *' *Le Génie de ...

(1733–1767) *

Nicolas Edme Restif de La Bretonne Nicolas Restif de la Bretonne, born Nicolas-Edme Rétif or Nicolas-Edme Restif (; 23 October 1734 – 3 February 1806), also known as Rétif, was a French novelist. The term '' retifism'' for shoe fetishism was named after him (an early nov ...

(1734–1806) *

Jean-Benjamin François de la Borde Jean-Benjamin François de la Borde (5 September 1734 – 22 July 1794) was a French composer, writer on music and '' fermier général'' (farm tax collector). Born into an aristocratic family, he studied violin under Antoine Dauvergne and composi ...

(1734–1794) *

Charles Joseph, Prince de Ligne Charles-Joseph Lamoral, 7th Prince de Ligne in French; in German Karl-Joseph Lamoral 7. Fürst von Ligne (also known as Karl Fürst von Ligne or ''Fürst de Ligne''): (23 May 1735 – 13 December 1814) was a field marshal, inhaber of an infantr ...

(1735–1814) * Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre (1737–1814) *

Jacques Delille The French poet Jacques Delille (; 22 June 1738 at Aigueperse in Auvergne – 1 May 1813, in Paris) came to national prominence with his translation of Virgil’s Georgics and made an international reputation with his didactic poem on gardening. ...

(1738–1813) * Jean-François de la Harpe (1739–1803) *

Marquis de Sade Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade (; 2 June 1740 – 2 December 1814), was a French nobleman, revolutionary politician, philosopher and writer famous for his literary depictions of a libertine sexuality as well as numerous accusat ...

(Donatien Alphonse François de Sade) (1740–1814) * Isabelle de Charrière a/k/a Belle de Zuylen (1740–1805) * Pierre-Ambroise Choderlos de Laclos (1741–1803) *

Condorcet Marie Jean Antoine Nicolas de Caritat, Marquis of Condorcet (; 17 September 1743 – 29 March 1794), known as Nicolas de Condorcet, was a French philosopher and mathematician. His ideas, including support for a liberal economy, free and equal pu ...

(Marie Jean Antoine Caritat, marquis de Condorcet) (1744–1794) * Gabriel Brizard (c1744–1793) * André-Samuel-Michel Cantwell (1744–1802) * Étienne Pélabon (1745–1808) * Jean Antoine Roucher (1745–1794) * Jean-Sifrein Maury (Abbé Maury) (1746–1817) *

Joseph-Alexandre-Victor Hupay de Fuveau Joseph Alexandre Victor d'Hupay (1746–1818) was a French writer and philosopher. He is known for being perhaps the first writer to use the term ''communism'' in its modern sense. He wished to transform the ideals of the Enlightenment philosopher ...

(1746–1818) *

Stéphanie Félicité Ducrest de St-Albin, comtesse de Genlis Stéphanie is a feminine French feminine given name. Notable people with the name include: * Stéphanie, Hereditary Grand Duchess of Luxembourg (born 1984), Belgian noble; wife of Guillaume, Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg * Princess Stéphani ...

(Madame de Genlis) (1746–1830) *

Armand Louis de Gontaut Armand Louis de Gontaut (), duc de Lauzun, later duc de Biron, and usually referred to by historians of the French Revolution simply as Biron (13 April 174731 December 1793) was a French soldier and politician, known for the part he played in t ...

, duc de Biron, duc de Lauzun (1747–1793) *

Olympe de Gouges Olympe de Gouges (; born Marie Gouze; 7 May 17483 November 1793) was a French playwright and political activist whose writings on women's rights and abolitionism reached a large audience in various countries. She began her career as a playwright ...

(1748–1793) *

Pierre-Louis Ginguené Pierre-Louis Ginguené (25 April 1748 – 16 November 1816) 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''. ...

(1748–1815) *

Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, Count of Mirabeau (; 9 March 17492 April 1791) was a leader of the early stages of the French Revolution. A noble, he had been involved in numerous scandals before the start of the Revolution in 1789 that had left his re ...

(1749–1791) * Jean-Marie Collot d'Herbois (1749–1796)

1750–1799

Georges Henri Victor Collot Victor Collot, in full Georges Henri Victor Collot (21 March 1750 – 15 May 1805), was a French military officer who served in the New World in various capacities, among them as Governor of Guadeloupe. He is best known for his ex ...

(1750-1805) * Nicolas Joseph Laurent Gilbert (1751–1780) * Évariste de Forges de Parny (1753–1814) * Joseph de Maistre (1753–1821) *

Jean Armand Charlemagne Jean Armand Charlemagne (born Bourget (Seine) 30 November 1753 – died Paris 6 March 1838) was a French dramatic author. Originally intended for the church, he turned first to being a lawyers clerk and then a soldier. He served in the American W ...

(1753-1838) * Marie Thérèse Péroux d’Abany (1753–1821) *

Joseph Joubert Joseph Joubert (; 6 May 1754 in Montignac, Périgord – 4 May 1824 in Paris) was a French moralist and essayist, remembered today largely for his ''Pensées'' (''Thoughts''), which were published posthumously. Biography From the age of fo ...

(1754–1824) * Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian (1754–1794) * Jacques Pierre Brissot a/k/a Jean-Pierre Brissot (1754–1793) *

Charles Maurice de Talleyrand Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...

(1754–1838) * Constantin François de Chasseboeuf, Comte de Volney (1757–1820) *

William Vincent Barré William Vincent Barré (–1829), was a German-born French translator and author mainly notable for his writings on Napoleon. Biography Barré was born in Germany about the year 1760 of French Protestant parents, who had left their native countr ...

(c.1760–1829) *

Victoire Babois Victoire Babois, also known as Victoire-Magueritte Babois (6 October 1760 – 18 March 1839), was a French poet and writer of elegies. Married in 1780, she suffered tragedy when her five-year-old daughter Blanche died in 1792. This experience led ...

(1760–1839) *

Adelaide Filleul, Marquise de Souza-Botelho Adélaïde-Emilie (sometimes Émilie-Adélaïde) Filleul, Marquise de Souza-Botelho (14 May 176119 April 1836) was a French writer. Biography She was born in Paris. Her mother, Marie Irène Cathérine de Buisson, daughter of the Seigneur de Lon ...

(Madame de Souza) (1761–1836) * André Chénier (1762–1794) * Claude-François-Xavier Mercier de Compiègne (1763–1800) *

Joseph Chénier Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...

(1764–1811) *

Barbara Juliana, Baroness von Krüdener Barbara may refer to: People * Barbara (given name) * Barbara (painter) (1915–2002), pseudonym of Olga Biglieri, Italian futurist painter * Barbara (singer) (1930–1997), French singer * Barbara Popović (born 2000), also known mononymously ...

(Madame de Krüdener) (1764–1824) *

Madame de Staël Madame may refer to: * Madam, civility title or form of address for women, derived from the French * Madam (prostitution), a term for a woman who is engaged in the business of procuring prostitutes, usually the manager of a brothel * ''Madame'' ...

(1766–1817) * Las Cases (Emmanuel-Augustin-Dieudonné, comte de Las Cases) (1766–1842) *

Benjamin Constant Henri-Benjamin Constant de Rebecque (; 25 October 1767 – 8 December 1830), or simply Benjamin Constant, was a French people, Franco-Switzerland, Swiss political thinker, activist and writer on political theory and religion. A committed repub ...

(Benjamin Constant de Rebecque) (1767–1830) *

Joseph Fiévée Joseph Fiévée (9 April 1767 - 9 May 1839) was a French journalist, novelist, essayist, playwright, civil servant (''haut fonctionnaire'') and secret agent. He also lived in an openly gay relationship with the writer Théodore Leclercq (1777-18 ...

(1767–1839) * François-René de Chateaubriand (1768–1848) *

Étienne Pivert de Senancour 238px, right Étienne-Jean-Baptiste-Pierre-Ignace Pivert de Senancour (; 16 November 1770, in Paris – 10 January 1846, in Saint-Cloud) was a French essayist and philosopher, remembered primarily for his epistolary novel '' Obermann''. Life Mu ...

(1770–1846) *

Sophie de Renneville Sophie de Renneville or Madame de Renneville, was the pen name of Sophie de Senneterre, who was born in Senneterre, Caen, France in 1772 and died in Paris in 1822 at 50. She was a writer, editor and journalist. Biography Sophie was born the Ma ...

(1772–1822) *

Charles-Jean Baptiste Bonnin Bonnin, Charles-Jean Baptiste (4 October 1772 in France – October 1846) Progressive French thinker, theorist, and framer of the modern discipline of Public Administration. From Bonnin's written work a great political and intellectual activity ...

(1772–1846) * Paul Louis Courier de Méré (1772–1825) *

René Charles Guilbert de Pixérécourt René ('' born again'' or ''reborn'' in French) is a common first name in French-speaking, Spanish-speaking, and German-speaking countries. It derives from the Latin name Renatus. René is the masculine form of the name ( Renée being the femin ...

(1773–1844) *

Sophie Ristaud Cottin Sophie Cottin (22 March 1770 – 25 August 1807) was a French writer whose novels were popular in the 19th century, and were translated into several different languages. Biography Marie Sophie Ristaud (sometimes spelt Risteau) was born in March ...

(Madame Cottin) (1773–1807) * Eugène François Vidocq (1775–1857) * Claire de Duras (Madame de Duras) (1777–1828) * Ambroise Rendu (1778–1860) * Charles Nodier (1780–1844) * Pierre-Jean de Béranger (1780–1857) *

Victor de Bonald Victor de Bonald (1780–1871), son of Louis Gabriel Ambroise de Bonald, followed his father in his exile. He was rector of the Academy of Montpellier after the Bourbon Restoration, but lost his post during the Hundred Days. Regaining it at the Se ...

(1780–1871) * Aimé Martin (1781-1844) *

Félicité Robert de Lamennais Félicité may refer to: Geography * Félicité (island), Seychelles * Sainte-Félicité (disambiguation) **Sainte-Félicité, Chaudière-Appalaches, Quebec **Sainte-Félicité, Bas-Saint-Laurent, Quebec People *Félicité Carrel, Italian mounta ...

(1782–1854) *

Amable Guillaume Prosper Brugière, baron de Barante Amable Guillaume Prosper Brugière, baron de Barante (June 10, 1782November 22, 1866) was a French statesman and historian. Associated with the center-left, he was described in France as the first man to call himself, "without any embarrassment ...

(1782–1866) *

Victor Henri-Joseph Brahain Ducange Victor Henri-Joseph Brahain du Cange (or Ducange) (November 24, 1783October 15, 1833) was a French novelist and dramatist, born at the Hague, where his father was secretary to the French embassy. Dismissed from the civil service at the Restoration, ...

(1783–1833) *

Stendhal Marie-Henri Beyle (; 23 January 1783 – 23 March 1842), better known by his pen name Stendhal (, ; ), was a 19th-century French writer. Best known for the novels ''Le Rouge et le Noir'' (''The Red and the Black'', 1830) and ''La Chartreuse de P ...

(Henri Beyle) (1783–1842) ('' The Red and the Black'', 1830) * Pierre-Antoine Lebrun (1785–1873) * Marceline Desbordes-Valmore (1786–1859) *

Alphonse Rabbe Alphonse Rabbe (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, 1784 (?) – Paris, 31 December 1829) was a French writer, historian, critic, and journalist. Life Rabbe was a journalist, writing mostly about the arts. He also published a number of works of popularised ...

(1786–1829) *

Élise Voïart Élise Voïart, (1786-1866) was a writer and translator from Nancy, France, specializing in historical works, fiction and children's books. She held literary salons at her home when she lived near Paris. Biography Élise was born 10 February 1 ...

(1786–1866) *

François Guizot François Pierre Guillaume Guizot (; 4 October 1787 – 12 September 1874) 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 a ...

(1787–1874) *

Alexandre Guiraud Pierre Marie Jeanne Alexandre Thérèse Guiraud better known as Alexandre Guiraud (24 December 1788 – 24 February 1847) was a French poet, dramatic author and novelist. Biography Guiraud was born in Limoux, Aude, the son of a rich cloth mercha ...

(1788–1847) * Alphonse de Lamartine (1790–1869) * Victor Cousin (1792–1867) *

Charles Paul de Kock Charles Paul de Kock (May 21, 1793 in Passy, Paris – April 27, 1871 in Paris) was a French novelist. Although one of the most popular writers of his day in terms of book sales, he acquired a literary reputation for low-brow output in poor ta ...

(1793–1871) *

Jean-M.-Vincent Audin Jean-Marie-Vincent Audin (1793–1851), was a French Roman Catholic author, journalist, and historian. Biography He was born at Lyons in 1793. He first studied theology in the seminary of Argentiere, and afterward pursued the study of law. He p ...

(1793) * Casimir Delavigne (Jean-François Casimir Delavigne) (1793–1843) *

François Stoepel François Stoepel, also Dr. Franz Stoepel (1794 – 19 December 1836) was a French music critic, writer, journalist, pianist, and pedagogue. He was a classical music critic for '' Gazette Musicale de Paris'' from 1834, and was an expert in Beet ...

(1794–1836) *

Rosine de Chabaud-Latour Suzanne Rosette de Chabaud-Latour, known as Rosine de Chabaud-Latour, (15 September 1794 – 28 May 1860) was a French religious thinker and translator. The daughter of an engineer who had served Napoleon, she was a prominent member of the protes ...

(1794–1860) *

Arthur Dinaux Arthur Martin Dinaux (8 September 1795 – 15 May 1864) was a French journalist and antiquarian. Dinaux was born in Valenciennes. In 1822 he proposed excavation at the village of Famars, resulting in the discovery of over 30,000 Roman silver med ...

(1795–1864) *

Amédée Pichot Joseph Jean-Baptiste Marie Charles Amédée Pichot (3 November 1795 – 12 February 1877) was a French historian and translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent tar ...

(1795–1877) *

Modeste Gruau Modeste Gruau (25 March 1795 - 28 January 1883) was a lawyer and author. He is known for support of Karl Wilhelm Naundorff, a Prussian watchmaker who claimed to be the real Louis XVII. Biography Gruau was born in La Chartre-sur-le-Loir. Grua ...

(1795–1883) *

Augustin Thierry Augustin Thierry (or ''Jacques Nicolas Augustin Thierry''; 10 May 179522 May 1856) was a French historian. Although originally a follower of Henri de Saint-Simon, he later developed his own approach to history. A committed liberal, his approach ...

(1795–1856) *

Zulma Carraud Zulma Carraud (24 March 1796 – 24 April 1889) was a French author. She is best known for her children's books and textbooks particularly ''La Petite Jeanne ou le devoir'' and ''Maurice ou le travail''. Early and family life Carraud was born o ...

(1796–1889) * François Mignet (1796–1884) *

Alfred de Vigny Alfred Victor, Comte de Vigny (27 March 1797 – 17 September 1863) was a French poet and early French Romanticist. He also produced novels, plays, and translations of Shakespeare. Biography Vigny was born in Loches (a town to which he never re ...

(1797–1863) *

Antoinette Henriette Clémence Robert Antoinette Henriette Clémence Robert (6 December 1797 – 1 December 1872) was a French writer of historical fiction, poetry, non-fiction, stage plays, and short stories. From 1855 to 1870, she and Virginie Ancelot were the most popular novelists ...

(1797–1872) *

Adolphe Thiers Marie Joseph Louis Adolphe Thiers ( , ; 15 April 17973 September 1877) was a French statesman and historian. He was the second elected President of France and first President of the French Third Republic. Thiers was a key figure in the July Rev ...

(1797–1877) *

Auguste Comte Isidore Marie Auguste François Xavier Comte (; 19 January 1798 – 5 September 1857) was a French philosopher and writer who formulated the doctrine of positivism. He is often regarded as the first philosopher of science in the modern sense ...

(1798–1857) * Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863) * Charles Dezobry (1798–1871) *

Jules Michelet Jules Michelet (; 21 August 1798 – 9 February 1874) was a French historian and an author on other topics whose major work was a history of France and its culture. His aphoristic style emphasized his anti-clerical republicanism. In Michelet's ...

(1798–1874) *

Sophie Rostopchine, Comtesse de Ségur Sophie is a version of the female given name Sophia, meaning "wise". People with the name Born in the Middle Ages * Sophie, Countess of Bar (c. 1004 or 1018–1093), sovereign Countess of Bar and lady of Mousson * Sophie of Thuringia, Duchess of ...

(1799–1874) * Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850)

Nineteenth century

1800–1824

Pierre Alexandre Jean Mollière Pierre Alexandre Jean Mollière (1800 – 6 July 1850) was a French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and acc ...

(1800–1850) *

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...

(1802–1885) ('' Les Misérables'', 1862) *

Alexandre Dumas, père Alexandre Dumas (, ; ; born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie (), 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas père (where ''Suffix (name)#Generational titles, '' is French language, French for 'father', to distinguish him from ...

(1802–1870) * Prosper Mérimée (1803–1870) *

Edgar Quinet Edgar Quinet (; 17 February 180327 March 1875) was a French historian and intellectual. Biography Early years Quinet was born at Bourg-en-Bresse, in the ''département'' of Ain. His father, Jérôme Quinet, had been a commissary in the army, b ...

(1803–1875) *

Eugène Daumas Melchior Joseph Eugène Daumas (4 October 1803 in Delémont, Switzerland – May 1871 in Camblanes), was a French general and writer. Biography Eugène Daumas entered the army in 1822. He became an officer in 1827 and went on to the cavalry ...

(1803–1871) * Eugène Sue (1804–1857) *

Charles-Augustin Sainte-Beuve Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve (; 23 December 1804 – 13 October 1869) was a French literary critic. Early life He was born in Boulogne, educated there, and studied medicine at the Collège Charlemagne in Paris (1824–27). In 1828, he ...

(1804–1869) *

Jules Janin Jules Gabriel Janin (16 February 1804 – 19 June 1874) was a French writer and critic. Life and career Born in Saint-Étienne (Loire), Janin's father was a lawyer, and he was educated first at St. Étienne, and then at the lycée Louis-le-Gra ...

(1804–1874) * George Sand (Amandine-Lucie-Aurore Dupin, baronne Dudevant) (1804–1876) * Alexis Henri Charles Clérel, comte de Tocqueville (1805–1859) * Jules-Romain Tardieu (1805–1868) * Émile de Girardin (1806–1881) *

Désiré Nisard Jean Marie Napoléon Désiré Nisard (20 March 1806 – 27 March 1888) was a French author and literary critic. He was born at Châtillon-sur-Seine. Career In 1826 he joined the staff of the ''Journal des Débats'', but subsequently transferre ...

(1806–1888) * Émile Souvestre (1806–1854) * Aloysius Bertrand (1807–1841) * Gérard de Nerval (Gérard Labrunie) (1808–1855) * Jules-Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly (1808–1889) * Jacques Claude Demogeot (1808–1894) *

Lucien de la Hodde Lucien de la Hodde (born 1808 in France) became a writer and a member of various secret revolutionary societies in France during the Restoration of Louis XVIII and during the July Monarchy of Louis Phillipe Louis Philippe (6 October 1773 � ...

(1808–1865) *

Frédéric Villot Marie-Joseph Frédéric Villot (31 October 1809 – 27 May 1875) was a French printmaker and friend of the prominent Romantic painter Eugène Delacroix, was also an art historian, who served as paintings curator of the Louvre Museum from 1848 to ...

(1809–1875) * Petrus Borel (1809–1859) * Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1809–1865) * Xavier Forneret (1809–1884) * Hégésippe Moreau (1810–1838) * Maurice de Guérin (1810–1839) *

Alfred de Musset Alfred Louis Charles de Musset-Pathay (; 11 December 1810 – 2 May 1857) was a French dramatist, poet, and novelist.His names are often reversed "Louis Charles Alfred de Musset": see "(Louis Charles) Alfred de Musset" (bio), Biography.com, 2007 ...

(1810–1857) * Joseph Bouchardy (1810–1870) *

Alphonse Jolly Alphonse Jolly (1810 – 10 February 1893) was a French dramatist and librarian A librarian is a person who works professionally in a library providing access to information, and sometimes social or technical programming, or instruction ...

(1810–1893) * Pier Angelo Fiorentino (1811–1864) *

Armand de Pontmartin Armand Augustin Joseph Marie Ferrard, Comte de Pontmartin (1811-1890) was a French journalist, critic and man of letters. Pontmartin was born at Avignon (Vaucluse), France, on 16 July 1811. A Legitimist sympathizer, he began his career by attack ...

(1811–1890) * Adolphe-Philippe d'Ennery (1811–1889) * Théophile Gautier (1811–1872) * Louis Blanc (1811–1882) *

Victor de Laprade Pierre Martin Victor Richard de Laprade (13 January 181213 December 1883), known as Victor de Laprade, was a French poet and critic. Biography He was born at Montbrison, Loire, of a modest provincial family. After completing his studies at Lyon, ...

(1812–1883) *

Louis du Couret Louis du Couret or Abd ul-Hamid In (1812 – 1 April 1867) was a French explorer, military officer, and writer. Louis du Couret was born in France. His father was in the French Army and was a Colonel. du Couret visited Egypt in 1834, before going ...

(1812–1867) *

Eugène Bonnemère Joseph-Eugène Bonnemère (21 February 1813, Saumur – 1 November 1893, Louerre) was a French historian and writer. The grandson of Joseph Toussaint Bonnemère (1746–1794), the mayor of Saumur, Bonnemère began his literary career, in 1841, t ...

(1813–1893) *

Eugène Labiche Eugene is a common male given name that comes from the Greek εὐγενής (''eugenēs''), "noble", literally "well-born", from εὖ (''eu''), "well" and γένος (''genos''), "race, stock, kin".Joseph Arthur de Gobineau Joseph Arthur de Gobineau (; 14 July 1816 – 13 October 1882) was a French aristocrat who is best known for helping to legitimise racism by the use of scientific racist theory and "racial demography", and for developing the theory of the Ary ...

(1816–1882) *

Victor Séjour Juan Victor Séjour Marcou et Ferrand (June 2, 1817 – September 20, 1874) was an American Creole of color and expatriate writer. Born in New Orleans, he spent most of his career in Paris. His fiction and plays were written and published in Fr ...

(1817–1874) * Paul Féval, père (1817–1887) *

Adine Riom Adine Riom, née Alexandrine Louise Claudine Broband (25 October 1818, in Le Pellerin – 28 August 1899, in Nantes) was a French writer, poet, and playwright. Life Alexandrine Broband was born in Le Pellerin on 25 October 1818. She was a daugh ...

(1818–1899) * Charles-Marie Leconte de Lisle (1818–1894) *

Eugène Despois Eugène Despois (25 December 1818 – 23 September 1876) was a French translator. References

1818 births 1876 deaths École Normale Supérieure alumni Writers from Paris 19th-century French translators French male non-fiction writers 1 ...

(1818–1876) *

Jean Baptiste Marius Augustin Challamel Jean Baptiste Marius Augustin Challamel (March 18, 1818 – October 20, 1894) was a French historian. Challamel was born in Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most po ...

(1818–1894) *

Adèle Hommaire de Hell Jeanne Louise Adélaïde Hommaire de Hell née Hériot (1819–1883) was a French explorer and writer. From the mid-1830s, together with her husband, the geographer and engineer Xavier Hommaire de Hell, she undertook exploratory journeys to the ...

(1819–1883), travel writer *

Eugène Fromentin Eugène Fromentin (24 October 182027 August 1876) was a French painter and writer, now better remembered for his writings. Life He was born in La Rochelle. After leaving school he studied for some years under Louis Cabat, the landscape painter. ...

(1820–1876) * Émile Augier (1820–1889) *

Antoine-Élisabeth-Cléophas Dareste de la Chavanne Antoine-Élisabeth-Cléophas Dareste de la Chavanne (28 October 18206 August 1882) was a French historian born in Paris, of an old Lyon family. Biography Educated at the École des Chartes in Paris, he became professor in the faculty of letters ...

(1820–1882) *

Jules Pizzetta Jules Pizzetta (1820–1900) was the pseudonym of a French naturalist and author, J.-P. Houzé.OCLC, http://orlabs.oclc.org/identities/viaf-27199404 Publications Science * ''Quinze jours au bord de la mer: flâneries d'un naturaliste'' (1845), ...

(1820–1900) *

Charles Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poetry, French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist and art critic. His poems exhibit mastery in the handling of rhyme and rhythm, contain an exoticis ...

(1821–1867) ('' Les Fleurs du mal'', 1857) * Gustave Flaubert (1821–1880) ('' Madame Bovary'', 1857) * Octave Feuillet (1821–1890) * Jules-François-Félix Husson a/k/a Champfleury (1821–1889) * Edmond de Goncourt (1822–1896) * Erckmann-Chatrian (Emile Erckmann & Alexandre Chatrian) (1822–1899 & 1826–1890) * Louis-Nicolas Ménard (1822–1901) * Théodore de Banville (1823–1891) *

Ernest Renan Joseph Ernest Renan (; 27 February 18232 October 1892) was a French Orientalist and Semitic scholar, expert of Semitic languages and civilizations, historian of religion, philologist, philosopher, biblical scholar, and critic. He wrote influe ...

(1823–1892) * Alexandre Dumas, fils (1824–1895)

1825–1849

Sainte Suzanne Melvil-Bloncourt Melville, Sainte-Suzanne, Vicomte, Bloncourt, dit Melvil-Bloncourt (born in Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe, 23 October 1825; died 1880) was a prominent Caribbean, Afro-Caribbean abolitionist. Biography His parents were wealthy « mulattoes » - accor ...

(1825–1880) * Jean-Félix Nourrisson (1825–1899) *

Charles De Coster Charles-Theodore-Henri De Coster (20 August 1827 – 7 May 1879) was a Belgian novelist whose efforts laid the basis for a native Belgian literature. Early life and education He was born in Munich; his father, Augustin De Coster, was a nati ...

(1827–1879) *

Clair Tisseur Clair Tisseur (27 January 1827, in Sainte-Foy-lès-Lyon, Rhône – 30 September 1896, in Nyons, Drôme), was a French architect whose best known work is Église du Bon-Pasteur, a prominent Romanesque Revival church in the 1st arrondissement of Ly ...

(Nizier du Puitspelu) (1827–1896) * Edmond About (1828–1885) *

Hyppolyte Taine Hippolyte Adolphe Taine (, 21 April 1828 – 5 March 1893) was a French historian, critic and philosopher. He was the chief theoretical influence on French naturalism, a major proponent of sociological positivism and one of the first practition ...

(1828–1893) *

Jules Verne Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...

(1828–1905) *

Pauline Cassin Caro Pauline Cassin Caro (, Cassin; pen name, P. Albane; 1828/34/35 – 28 January 1901, Paris) was a French Catholic novelist. She wrote under her own name and using the pseudonym, "P. Albane". Caro died in 1901. Biography Pauline Cassin was born in ...

(1828/34/35 - 1901) * Zénaïde Fleuriot (1829–1890) * Numa-Denis Fustel de Coulanges (1830–1889) *

Jules de Goncourt Jules Alfred Huot de Goncourt (; 17 December 183020 June 1870) was a French writer, who published books together with his brother Edmond. Jules was born and died in Paris. His death at the age of 39 was at Auteuil-Neuilly-Passy of a stroke br ...

(1830–1870) * Hector Malot (1830–1907) * Henri Rochefort (1830–1913) *

Henri Meilhac Henri Meilhac (23 February 1830 – 6 July 1897) was a French dramatist and opera librettist, best known for his collaborations with Ludovic Halévy on Georges Bizet's ''Carmen'' and on the works of Jacques Offenbach, as well as Jules Massenet's ...

(1831–1897) * Victorien Sardou (1831–1908) *

Émile Gaboriau Émile Gaboriau (9 November 183228 September 1873) was a French writer, novelist, journalist, and a pioneer of detective fiction. Early life Gaboriau was born in the small town of Saujon, Charente-Maritime. He was the son of Charles Gabriel Ga ...

(1832–1873) *

Jules Vallès Jules Vallès (11 June 1832 – 14 February 1885) was a French journalist, author, and left-wing political activist. Early life Vallès was born in Le Puy-en-Velay, Haute-Loire. His father was a supervisor of studies (''pion''), later a teac ...

(1832–1885) *

Gaston Lavalley Gaston Lavalley (29 November 1834 in Vouilly – 1922) was a French writer, historian and art historian. He was a son of the engineer Louis-Auguste Lavalley-Dupéroux (1800–1885) and brother to Georges-Aimar Lavalley (1830–1882), later director ...

(1834–1922) *

Claire Julie de Nanteuil Claire Julie de Nanteuil (née, Pascalis; pen names, Mrs. P. de Nanteuil and Mrs. de Nanteuil; 27 October 1834 – 17 June 1897) was a 19th-century French writer. She was a two time recipient of the Montyon Prize. Nanteuil died in 1897 Biography ...

(1834-1897) *

Édouard Pailleron Édouard Jules Henri Pailleron (7 September 183419 April 1899) was a French poet and dramatist best known for his play . Early life Édouard was born in Paris on 7 September 1834. From a Parisian cultured "bourgeoise" family (upper-middle class ...

(1834–1899) *

Ludovic Halévy Ludovic Halévy (1 January 1834 – 7 May 1908) was a French author and playwright, best known for his collaborations with Henri Meilhac on Georges Bizet's ''Carmen'' and on the works of Jacques Offenbach. Biography Ludovic Halévy was born in P ...

(1834–1908) *

Jean-Marie Déguignet Jean-Marie Déguignet (19 July 1834 – 29 August 1905) was a Brittany, Breton soldier, farmer, salesman, shopkeeper, and writer who is best known for his memoirs illuminating the life of the rural poor of 19th-century France. Life Déguignet ...

(1834–1905) * Amélie Gex (Dian de la Jeânna) (1835–1883) * Félix Narjoux (1836–1891) *

Jules Simon Troubat Jules Simon Troubat (1836–1914) was a French littérateur, born at Montpellier. He was the last secretary of Sainte-Beuve, one of his testamentary executors, and his legatee. He published a number of posthumous works of Sainte-Beuve, such as his ...

(1836–1914) * Constant Fouard (1837–1903) *

Henry Becque Henry François Becque (9 April 1837 – 12 May 1899), was a French dramatist. He was born in Paris. Life In 1867, he wrote, in imitation of Lord Byron, the libretto for Victorin de Joncières's opera ''Sardanapale'', but his first important work ...

(1837–1899) *

Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam Jean-Marie-Mathias-Philippe-Auguste, comte de Villiers de l'Isle-Adam (7 November 1838 – 19 August 1889) was a French symbolism (arts), symbolist writer. His family called him Mathias while his friends called him Villiers; he would also use t ...

(1838–1889) * Lucie Boissonnas (1839 -1877) * Sully Prudhomme (1839–1907) *

Jules Lermina Jules Lermina (1839–1915) 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. He published a number of Edgar Allan Poe-inspired collectio ...

(1839–1913) * Alphonse Daudet (1840–1897) * Émile Zola (1840–1902) * Arvède Barine (1840–1908) * Jules Claretie (1840–1913) *

Catulle Mendès Catulle Mendès (22 May 1841 – 8 February 1909) was a French poet and man of letters. Early life and career Of Portuguese Jewish extraction, Mendès was born in Bordeaux. After childhood and adolescence in Toulouse, he arrived in Paris in 185 ...

(1841–1909) * Charles Cros (1842–1888) *

Stéphane Mallarmé Stéphane Mallarmé ( , ; 18 March 1842 – 9 September 1898), pen name of 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 ...

(1842–1898) * José María de Heredia (1842–1905) * François Coppée (1842–1908) *

Albert Sorel Albert Sorel (13 August 184229 June 1906) was a French historian. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature nine times. Life He was born at Honfleur and remained throughout his life a lover of his native Normandy. His father, a rich man ...

(1842–1906) *

René de Lespinasse René de Lespinasse (13 October 1843, in Bourges – 16 February 1922, in Nevers) was a French historian and politician. He was a member of the Société de l'histoire de Paris et de l'Île-de-France (from 1874) and served as president of the Soci ...

(1843–1922) * Paul Arène (1843–1896) * Paul Verlaine (1844–1896) * Anatole France (Anatole François Thibault) (1844–1924) * Tristan Corbière (Edouard-Joachim) (1845–1875) *

Comte de Lautréamont Comte de Lautréamont () was the ''nom de plume'' of Isidore Lucien Ducasse (4 April 1846 – 24 November 1870), a French poet born in Uruguay. His only works, ''Les Chants de Maldoror'' and ''Poésies'', had a major influence on modern arts ...

(Isidore Lucien Ducasse) (1846–1870) *

Léon Bloy Léon Bloy (; 11 July 1846 – 3 November 1917) was a French Catholic novelist, essayist, pamphleteer (or lampoonist), and satirist, known additionally for his eventual (and passionate) defense of Catholicism and for his influence within French C ...

(1846–1917) *

Auguste Edgard Dietrich Auguste Edgard Dietrich or Auguste Edgar Dietrich (born 1846 in Nancy) was a French author and translator. Biography From an early age he took a special interest in the German language and literature, and was the first to translate two of Max ...

(1846) * Henri François Marion (1846–1896) *

Geoffroi Jacques Flach Geoffroi Jacques Flach (February 16, 1846 – December 4, 1919) was a French jurist and historian born at Strasbourg, Alsace, of a family known at least as early as the 16th century, when Sigismond Flach was the first professor of law at Universit ...

(1846–1919) *

Brada (writer) Henrietta Consuelo Sansom, Countess of Quigini Puliga (24 April 1847 – 5 August 1938) was a French writer and novelist known better by the pseudonym, Brada, a shortened version of her earlier pen name, Bradamente. She also wrote on occasion as Mo ...

(1847-1938) * Émile Faguet (1847–1916) * Joris-Karl Huysmans (1848–1907) * Octave Mirbeau (1848–1917) *

Georges de Peyrebrune Mathilde-Marie Georgina Élisabeth de Peyrebrune (also known as George de Peyrebrune or Georges de Peyrebrune, and Judicis de la Mirandole; pseudonyms Hunedelle, Marco, and Petit Bob; 18 April 1841 – 1917) was a key French proto-feminist Belle ...

(1848–1917) *

Ferdinand Brunetière Ferdinand Brunetière (19 July 1849 – 9 December 1906) was a French writer and critic. Personal and public life Early years Brunetière was born in Toulon, Var, Provence. After school at Marseille, he studied in Paris at the Lycée Louis-le-Gr ...

(1849–1906) * Jean Richepin (1849–1926) * Georges de Porto-Riche (1849–1930)

1850–1859

* Guy de Maupassant (1850–1893) * Pierre Loti (Julien Viaud) (1850–1923) * Gyp (1850–1932) *

Germain Nouveau Germain Marie Bernard Nouveau (1851–1920) was a French poet associated with the symbolist movement. Biography Early life Germain Nouveau was born on 31 July 1851 in Pourrières, Var, in France. He was one of four children of Felicien Nou ...

(1851–1920) * Élémir Bourges (1852–1925) * Paul Bourget (1852–1935) * Alfred Masson-Forestier (1852–1912) *

Maurice Rollinat Maurice Rollinat (December 29, 1846 in Châteauroux, Indre – October 26, 1903 in Ivry-sur-Seine) was a French poet and musician. Early works His father represented Indre in the National Assembly of 1848, and was a friend of George Sand, whose i ...

(1853–1903) * Arthur Rimbaud (1854–1891), Une Saison en Enfer * Alphonse Allais (1854–1905) *

Laurent Tailhade Laurent Tailhade (; 1854–1919) was a French satirical poet, anarchist polemicist, essayist, and translator, active in Paris in the 1890s and early 1900s. Works *''Au pays du mufle'' 1891. *''Poèmes élégiaques'' Vitraux. Vanier, 1891. *''A ...

(1854–1919) *

Georges Rodenbach Georges Raymond Constantin Rodenbach (16 July 1855 – 25 December 1898) 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 (Andernach). He was ...

(1855–1898) *

Jean Lorrain Jean Lorrain (9 August 1855 in Fécamp, Seine-Maritime – 30 June 1906), born Paul Alexandre Martin Duval, was a French poet and novelist of the Symbolist school. Lorrain was a dedicated disciple of dandyism and spent much of his time amongs ...

(1855–1906) *

Émile Verhaeren Émile Adolphe Gustave Verhaeren (; 21 May 1855 – 27 November 1916) was a Belgian poet and art critic who wrote in the French language. He was one of the founders of the school of Symbolism and was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Litera ...

(1855–1916) *

Adolphe Chenevière Adolphe Chenevière, D.ès.L. (1855–1917) was a fin de siècle Swiss novelist, short story writer, and literary scholar. Life Adolphe Chenevière was born to Arthur Chenevière (a state counsellor for the canton of Geneva) and Susanne Firmine ...

(1855–1917) *

Noël Valois Noël Valois (4 May 1855, Paris – 11 November 1915, Paris), was a French historian. The grandson of sculptor Achille Valois, Valois studied at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand. He then entered the École Nationale des Chartes in 1875, where he pre ...

(1855–1915) *

Marie Lion Marie Lion (2 May 1855 – 3 May 1922) was a French–Australian novelist, artist, and teacher. For forty years she lived in Australia with her sister , an accomplished artist and art teacher. Lion was Australia's first French novelist, and the f ...

(1855-1922) *

Jean Moréas Jean Moréas (; born Ioannis A. Papadiamantopoulos, Ιωάννης Α. Παπαδιαμαντόπουλος; 15 April 1856 – 31 March 1910), was a Greek poet, essayist, and art critic, who wrote mostly in the French language but also in Greek ...

(Jean Papadiamantopoulos) (1856–1910) *

Pierre Decourcelle Pierre Adrien Decourcelle (25 January 1856 - 10 October 1926) was a French writer and playwright. Life Pierre Adrien Decourcelle was born in Paris on 25 January 1856. His father, Adrien Decourcelle, and his uncle, Adolphe d'Ennery, were both au ...

(1856–1926) *

Gustave Lanson Gustave Lanson (5 August 1857 – 15 December 1934) was a French historian and literary critic. He taught at the Sorbonne and the École Normale Supérieure in Paris. A dominant figure in French literary criticism, he influenced several gener ...

(1857–1934) * Albert Samain (1858–1900) *

Jules Lemaître François Élie Jules Lemaître (27 April 1853 – 4 August 1914) was a French critic and dramatist. Biography Lemaître was born in Vennecy, Loiret. He became a professor at the University of Grenoble in 1883, but was already well known for hi ...

(1858–1915) * Remy de Gourmont (1858–1915) * Émile Durkheim (1858–1917) *

Alfred Capus Alfred Capus (25 November 18581 November 1922) was a French journalist and playwright, who was born in Aix-en-Provence and died in Neuilly-sur-Seine. Biography Son of a lawyer from Marseille, Alfred Capus went to university in Toulon. After fail ...

(1858–1922) *

Georges Courteline Georges Courteline born Georges Victor Marcel Moinaux (25 June 1858 – 25 June 1929) was a French dramatist and novelist, a satirist notable for his sharp wit and cynical humor. Biography His family moved from Tours in Indre-et-Loire to Pari ...

(Georges Moineaux) (1858–1929) * Neel Doff (1858–1942) *

Jean-Baptiste Chautard Jean-Baptiste Chautard OCSO (12 March 1858, in Briançon, France – 29 September 1935, at Sept-Fons Abbey) was a French Trappist abbot and religious writer. Biography Gustave Chautard became a novice in the Trappist abbey of Aiguebelle on May 6 ...

(1858–1935) * Henri Danoy (1859–1928) * Gustave Belot (1859–1929) *

Paul Naudet Paul Naudet (1859–1929) was a French journalist and Catholic priest The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the Holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a p ...

(1859–1929) *

Anatole Le Braz Anatole le Braz, the "Bard of Brittany" (2 April 1859 – 20 March 1926), was a Breton poet, folklore collector and translator. He was highly regarded amongst both European and American scholars, and known for his warmth and charm. Biography Le Br ...

(1859–1926) * Gustave Kahn (1859–1936) *

Henri Bergson Henri-Louis Bergson (; 18 October 1859 – 4 January 1941) was a French philosopherHenri Bergson. 2014. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 13 August 2014, from https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/61856/Henri-Bergson

(1859–1941)

1860–1869

Jules Laforgue Jules Laforgue (; 16 August 1860 – 20 August 1887) was a 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-symbo ...

(1860–1887) *

Paul Margueritte Paul Margueritte (20 February 1860 – 29 December 1918) was a French amateur mime who wrote several pantomimes, most notably ''Pierrot assassin de sa femme'' (Théâtre de Valvins, 1881) and, in collaboration with Fernand Beissier, ''Colombine ...

(1860–1918) *

Michel Zévaco Michel Zevaco (also written as Zévaco) (1 February 1860, Ajaccio - 8 August 1918, Eaubonne) was a French journalist, novelist, publisher, film director, and anti-clerical as well as anarchist activist. Michel Zevaco founded the anarchist weekl ...

(1860–1918) * Paul Roux a/k/a Saint-Pol-Roux le Magnifique (1861–1940) * Paul Adam (1862–1920) * Georges Darien (1862–1921) * Georges Feydeau (1862–1921) *

Maurice Barrès Auguste-Maurice Barrès (; 19 August 1862 – 4 December 1923) was a French novelist, journalist and politician. Spending some time in Italy, he became a figure in French literature with the release of his work ''The Cult of the Self'' in 1888. ...

(1862–1923) * Maurice Maeterlinck (1862–1949) *

Stuart Merrill Stuart Fitzrandolph Merrill (August 1, 1863 in Hempstead, New York – December 1, 1915 in Versailles, France) was an American poet, who wrote mostly in the French language. He belonged to the Symbolist school. His principal books of poetr ...

(1863–1915) *

Marguerite Audoux Marguerite Audoux (July 7, 1863 at Sancoins, Cher – January 31, 1937 at Saint-Raphaël, Var) was a French novelist. Biography Marguerite Donquichote, who took her mother's name, Audoux, in 1895, was orphaned by age three, following the d ...

(1863–1937) * Jules Renard (1864–1910) * Henri de Régnier (1864–1936) *

Léon Broutin Léon Broutin (fl. 1865–77) was a French writer of vaudevilles and cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaura ...

(fl. 1865–77) *

Maurice Leblanc Maurice Marie Émile Leblanc (; ; 11 December 1864 – 6 November 1941) 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 c ...

(1864–1941) * Juliette Heuzey (1865-1952) * Romain Rolland (1866–1944) * Tristan Bernard (1866–1947) *

Fortunat Strowski Fortunat Joseph Strowski de Robkowa (16 May 1866 – 11 July 1952) was a French literary historian, essayist and critic. A specialist on Pascal and Montaigne, he superintended the first critical edition of Montaigne's ''Essays''. Life Fortunat Str ...

(1866–1952) *

Charles de Beaupoil, comte de Saint-Aulaire Auguste-Félix-Charles de Beaupoil, comte de Saint-Aulaire (born 13 August 1866 at Angoulême; died 26 September 1954 in Périgord) was a French aristocrat, diplomat, author and historian. Education The only son of Auguste de Beaupoil, Count, c ...

(1866–1954) *

Émile Lauvrière Émile-Joseph Lauvrière (3 December 1866, in Avranches – 1954, in Paris) was a French historian of Acadia. Emile Lauvrière started his studies in Paris and completed them in London. A doctor in Literature specializing in the English domain, h ...

(1866–1954) *

René Boylesve René Boylesve (14 April 1867 in La Haye-Descartes – 14 January 1926 in Paris), born René Marie Auguste Tardiveau, was a French writer and a literary critic. Biography Boylesve was orphaned early and went to school in Poitiers and Tours. ...

(René Tardivaux) (1867–1926 * Jehan Rictus (Gabriel Randon) (1867–1933) * Léon Daudet (1867–1942) *

Marcel Schwob Mayer André Marcel Schwob, known as Marcel Schwob (23 August 1867 – 26 February 1905), was a French symbolist writer best known for his short stories and his literary influence on authors such as Jorge Luis Borges, Alfonso Reyes, Roberto Bola� ...

(1867–1905) *

Paul-Jean Toulet Paul-Jean Toulet (5 June 1867, Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques - 6 September 1920) was a French poet, novelist and feuilleton writer. Life and works Paul-Jean Toulet was the son of a wealthy sugar planter, originally from Pau but living in Mauri ...

(1867–1920) *

Romain Coolus René Max Weill (25 May 1868 – 9 September 1952), who used the pseudonym Romain Coolus, was a French novelist, dramatist and film scriptwriter. Biography Works Theater * 1893 : ''Le Ménage Brésile'' (first play), one-act comedy, at ...

(1868–1952) *

Edmond Rostand Edmond Eugène Alexis Rostand (, , ; 1 April 1868 – 2 December 1918) was a French poet and dramatist. He is associated with neo-romanticism and is known best for his 1897 play ''Cyrano de Bergerac''. Rostand's romantic plays contrasted with t ...

(1868–1918) * Gaston Leroux (1868–1927) ('' The Phantom of the Opera'', ''

Le Mystère de la chambre jaune ''The Mystery of the Yellow Room'' (in French ''Le mystère de la chambre jaune'') is a mystery novel written by French author Gaston Leroux. One of the first locked-room mystery novels, it was first published serially in France in the periodical ...

'') *

Achille Essebac Achille Essebac (29 January 1868 – 1 August 1936) was a French writer primarily known for his novel ''Dédé'' about an ill-fated homoerotic friendship between two schoolboys. Essebac was a pseudonym, since his original surname Bécasse is a ...

(1868–1936) *

Francis Jammes Francis Jammes (; 2 December 1868, in Tournay, Hautes-Pyrénées – 1 November 1938, in Hasparren, Pyrénées-Atlantiques) was a French and European poet. He spent most of his life in his native region of Béarn and the Basque Country and his po ...

(1868–1938) * Émile Auguste Chartier a/k/a "Alain" (1868–1951) * Paul Claudel (1868–1955) *

André Spire André Spire (28 July 1868 – 29 July 1966) 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 Lorraine, Spire studied literature, then law. He a ...

(1868–1966) *

Gaston Arman de Caillavet Gaston Arman de Caillavet (13 March 1869 – 13 January 1915) was a French playwright. Early life Gaston Arman de Caillavet was born on 13 March 1869. He was the son of Albert Arman de Caillavet and Léontine Lippmann. His maternal grandfa ...

(1869–1915) * Augustin Chaboseau (1868–1946) * André Gide (1869–1951)

1870–1879

Marcelle Tinayre Marcelle Marguerite Suzanne Tinayre (8 October 1870 in Tulle, Corrèze – 23 August 1948 in Grossouvre, Cher) was a French woman of letters and prolific author. She was educated at Bordeaux and Paris, and in 1889 married the painter Julien ...

(1870–1948) *

Henri Bordeaux Henry Bordeaux (25 January 1870 – 29 March 1963) was a French writer and lawyer. Bordeaux came from a family of lawyers of Savoy. He was born in Thonon-les-Bains, Haute-Savoie. His grandfather was a magistrate and his father served on the Cha ...

(1870–1963) * Pierre Louÿs (Pierre Louis) (1870–1925) *

Maximilien Winter Maximilien Winter (1871–1935) was a French philosopher of mathematics. In 1893 Winter helped Xavier Léon to found the ''Revue de métaphysique et de morale''. After the First World War Winter ran the ''Supplément'' of the ''Revue'' until his d ...

(1871–1935) *

André Chéradame André Chéradame (1871–1948) was a French journalist and scholarly method, scholar from the École Libre des Sciences Politiques. He also worked for the French newspaper ''Le Petit Journal (newspaper), Le Petit Journal''. He became known for ...

(1871–1948) * Albert Geouffre de Lapradelle (1871–1955) * Gaston Brière (1871–1962) *

Marcel Proust Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust (; ; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, critic, and essayist who wrote the monumental novel ''In Search of Lost Time'' (''À la recherche du temps perdu''; with the previous Eng ...

(1871–1922), ''

In Search of Lost Time ''In Search of Lost Time'' (french: À la recherche du temps perdu), first translated into English as ''Remembrance of Things Past'', and sometimes referred to in French as ''La Recherche'' (''The Search''), is a novel in seven volumes by French ...

'' * Paul Valéry (1871–1945) * Louis Madelin (1871–1956) *

Henry Bataille Félix-Henri "Henry" Bataille (4 April 1872, in Nîmes – 2 March 1922, in Rueil-Malmaison) was a French dramatist and poet. His works were popular between 1900 and the start of World War I. Bataille's parents died when he was young. He attend ...

(1872–1922) *

Robert de Flers Robert Pellevé de La Motte-Ango, marquis de Flers (25 November 1872, Pont-l'Évêque, Calvados – 30 July 1927, Vittel) was a French playwright, opera librettist, and journalist.Pierre Barillet, ''Les Seigneurs du rire: Flers – Caillavet – ...

(1872–1927) * Paul Fort (1872–1960) *

Alfred Jarry Alfred Jarry (; 8 September 1873 – 1 November 1907) was a French symbolist writer who is best known for his play ''Ubu Roi'' (1896). He also coined the term and philosophical concept of 'pataphysics. Jarry was born in Laval, Mayenne, France, ...

(1873–1907) * Charles Péguy (1873–1914) *

Henri Barbusse Henri Barbusse (; 17 May 1873 – 30 August 1935) was a French novelist and a member of the French Communist Party. He was a lifelong friend of Albert Einstein. Life The son of a French father and an English mother, Barbusse was born in Asnièr ...

(1873–1935) * Colette (Sidonie Gabrielle Colette) (1873–1954) *

Pierre Souvestre Pierre Souvestre (1 June 1874 – 26 February 1914) 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 Fa ...

(1874–1914) *

Albert Thibaudet Albert Thibaudet (1 April 1874 in Tournus, Saône-et-Loire – 16 April 1936 in Geneva) was a French essayist and literary critic. A former student of Henri Bergson, he was a professor of Jean Rousset. He taught at the University of Gene ...

(1874–1936) * Tristan Klingsor (1874–1966) *

Binet-Valmer Jean-Auguste-Gustave Binet (3 June 1875 – 20 April 1940), 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 ...

(1875–1940) * Paul Watrin (1876–1950) *

Anna de Noailles Anna, Comtesse Mathieu de Noailles (Anna Elisabeth Bibesco-Bassaraba de Brancovan) (15 November 1876 – 30 April 1933) was a French writer of Romanian and Greek descent, a poet and a socialist feminist. Biography Personal life Born Princess ...

(Anne de Brancovan, comtesse de Noailles) (1876–1933) *

Max Jacob Max Jacob (; 12 July 1876 – 5 March 1944) was a French poet, painter, writer, and critic. Life and career After spending his childhood in Quimper, Brittany, he enrolled in the Paris Colonial School, which he left in 1897 for an artistic ca ...

(1876–1944) *

Léon-Paul Fargue Léon-Paul Fargue (, 4 March 187624 November 1947) 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-Birot Pierre Albert-Birot (22 April 1876 – 25 July 1967) was a French avant-garde poet, dramatist, and theater manager. He was a steadfast avant-garde during World War I, through the magazine ''Sic'' he created and published from 1916 to 1919. He wa ...

(1876–1967) * Marcel Bouteron (1877–1962) * Raymond Roussel (1877–1933) *

Oscar Venceslas de Lubicz-Milosz Oscar Vladislas de Lubicz Milosz ( lt, Oskaras Milašius; ) (28 May 1877 – 2 March 1939) was a French language poet, playwright, novelist, essayist and representative of Lithuania at the League of Nations.Czesław Miłosz, Cynthia L. Haven. ...

(1877–1939) * Charles Ferdinand Ramuz, dit C. F. Ramuz (1878–1947) * Victor Segalen (1878–1919) *

Henry de Monfreid Henry de Monfreid (14 November 1879 in Leucate – 13 December 1974) 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. Monfreid was ...

(1879–1974) *

Francis Picabia Francis Picabia (: born Francis-Marie Martinez de Picabia; 22January 1879 – 30November 1953) was a French avant-garde painter, poet and typographist. After experimenting with Impressionism and Pointillism, Picabia became associated with Cubism ...

(1879–1953) *

Henri Fauconnier Henri Fauconnier (26 February 1879 – 14 April 1973) was a French writer, known mainly for his novel ''Malaisie'', which won the Prix Goncourt in 1930. He was part of the Groupe de Barbezieux. Family Fauconnier was born at the Villa Muss ...

(1879–1973)

1880–1889

* Louis Hémon (1880–1913) * Guillaume Apollinaire (Wilhelm Apollinaris de Kostrowitzky) (1880–1918) *

Lucie Delarue-Mardrus Lucie Delarue-Mardrus (3 November 1874 in Honfleur – 26 April 1945 ) was a French journalist, poet, novelist, sculptor, historian and designer. She was a prolific writer, who produced more than 70 books in her lifetime. In France, she is ...

(1880–1945) *

Francis de Miomandre Francis de Miomandre (22 May 1880, in Tours – 1 August 1959, in Saint-Brieuc) was a French novelist and well-known translator from Spanish into French. Biography He was born in Tours, Indre-et-Loire, the son of a salesman Gilbert Durand and ...

(Francis Durand) (1880–1959) *

Alzir Hella Alzir Hella (30 December 1881 – 14 July 1953) was a French translator. In collaboration with Olivier Bournac, he contributed to the knowledge of German literature in France during the first half of the 20th century. Biography Alzir Hella was ...

(1881–1953) * Valery Larbaud (1881–1957) * Roger Martin du Gard (1881–1958) *

André Salmon André Salmon (4 October 1881, Paris – 12 March 1969, Sanary-sur-Mer) was a French poet, art critic and writer. He was one of the early defenders of Cubism, with Guillaume Apollinaire and Maurice Raynal. Biography André Salmon was born in P ...

(1881–1969) *

Jérôme Carcopino Jérôme Carcopino (27 June 1881 – 17 March 1970) was a French historian and author. He was the fifteenth member elected to occupy seat 3 of the Académie française, in 1955. Biography Carcopino was born at Verneuil-sur-Avre, Eure, son of a d ...

(1881–1970) * Louis Pergaud (1882–1915) * Jean Giraudoux (1882–1944) *

André Billy André Billy (13 December 1882 – 11 April 1971) was a French writer. He was born in Saint-Quentin, Aisne. After completing secondary studies at the Collège de la Providence in Amiens, he studied under the Jesuits at Saint-Dizier. He began wr ...

(1882–1971) *

Pierre MacOrlan Pierre Mac Orlan, sometimes written MacOrlan (born Pierre Dumarchey, February 26, 1882 – June 27, 1970), was a French novelist and songwriter. His novel '' Quai des Brumes'' was the source for Marcel Carné's 1938 film of the same name, starring ...

(Pierre Dumarchais) (1883–1970) * Rose Combe (1883–1932) *

Marie Noël Marie Noël, born ''Marie-Melanie Rouget'' ( Auxerre, 16 February 1883 – 23 December 1967) was a French poet, a devout Catholic laywoman and officer of the Légion d'honneur. She was affectionately called "the Warbler of Auxerre". Biography Ea ...

(1883–1933) *

Auguste Detœuf Auguste Alburt Prudent Detœuf (6 August 1883 – 11 April 1947) was a French economist, essayist, and industrialist. Biography Early life and education Auguste Detœuf studied at Polytechnique University (class of 1902), then became a ge ...

(1883–1947) *

Albert Pauphilet Albert Pauphilet (13 April 1884 – 28 June 1948) was a French university professor and medievalist. Biography Albert Pauphilet completed his secondary studies at the Lycée Condorcet, during which he obtained the honorary prize for French co ...

(1884–1948) *

Jules Supervielle Jules Supervielle (16 January 1884 – 17 May 1960) was a Franco-Uruguayan poet and writer born in Montevideo. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature three times. He opposed the surrealism movement in poetry and rejected automatic wri ...

(1884–1960 * Gaston Bachelard (1884–1962) * Georges Duhamel (1884–1966) *

Jacques Chardonne Jacques Chardonne (born ''Jacques Boutelleau''; 2 January 1884, in Barbezieux-Saint-Hilaire, Charente – 29 May 1968, in La Frette-sur-Seine) is the pseudonym of French writer Jacques Boutelleau. He was a member of the so-called Groupe de Barbe ...

(Jacques Boutelleau) (1884–1968) *

Jean Paulhan Jean Paulhan (2 December 1884 – 9 October 1968) was a French writer, literary critic and publisher, director of the literary magazine ''Nouvelle Revue Française'' (NRF) from 1925 to 1940 and from 1946 to 1968. He was a member (Seat 6, 1963–68 ...

(1884–1968) *

Alexandre Arnoux Alexandre Arnoux (27 February 1884, Digne-les-Bains - 4 January 1973, Boulogne-Billancourt) was a French screenwriter and novelist.Powrie & Rebillard p.135 Selected filmography * '' Tillers of the Soil'' (1923) * '' Misdeal'' (1928) * ''The Fac ...

(1884–1973) *

Georges Ribemont-Dessaignes Georges Ribemont-Dessaignes (June 19, 1884 – July 9, 1974) was a French writer and artist associated with the Dada movement. He was born in Montpellier and died in Saint-Jeannet. In addition to numerous early paintings, Ribemont-Dessaignes wro ...

(1884–1974) * René Hubert (1885–1954) *

Sacha Guitry Alexandre-Pierre Georges "Sacha" Guitry (; 21 February 188524 July 1957) was a French stage actor, film actor, director, screenwriter, and playwright of the boulevard theatre. He was the son of a leading French actor, Lucien Guitry, and follow ...

(1885–1957) *

André Maurois André Maurois (; born Émile Salomon Wilhelm Herzog; 26 July 1885 – 9 October 1967) was a French author. Biography Maurois was born on 26 July 1885 in Elbeuf and educated at the Lycée Pierre Corneille in Rouen, both in Normandy. A member of ...

(Emile Herzog) (1885–1967) * Fernand Crommelynck (1885–1970) * Jules Romains (Jules-Louis de Farigoule) (1885–1972) *

Marthe Bibesco Princess Martha Bibescu (Martha Lucia; ''née'' Lahovary; 28 January 1886 – 28 November 1973) also known outside of Romania as Marthe Bibesco, was a celebrated Romanian-French writer, socialite, style icon and political hostess. She spent her c ...

(1885–1973) *

Alain-Fournier Alain-Fournier () was the pseudonym of Henri-Alban Fournier (3 October 1886 – 22 September 1914Mémoi ...

(Henri Fournier) (1886–1914) * Francis Carco (François Carcopino-Tusoli) (1886–1958) * Pierre Benoit (1886–1962) * Geneviève Fauconnier (1886–1969) * Roland Dorgelès (Roland Lecavelé) (1886–1973) *

Jean-Charles Roman d'Amat Jean-Charles Roman d'Amat ( Crots, 12 May 1887 – Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palac ...

(1887–1976) * Henri Pourrat (1887–1959) * Jean de La Varende (Jean-Balthazar Mallard, comte de La Varende) (1887–1959) *

René Maran René Maran (5 November 1887 – 9 May 1960) was a French poet and novelist, and the first black writer to win the French Prix Goncourt (in 1921). Biography Maran was born on the boat carrying his parents to Fort-de-France, Martinique where he l ...

(1887-1960) * Blaise Cendrars (1887–1961) * François Mauriac (1887–1970) *

Saint-John Perse Alexis Leger (; 31 May 1887 – 20 September 1975), better known by his pseudonym Saint-John Perse (; also Saint-Leger Leger), was a French poet-diplomat, awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1960 "for the soaring flight and evocative ...

(Alexis Léger) (1887–1975) *

Pierre-Jean Jouve Pierre Jean Jouve (11 October 1887 – 8 January 1976) was a French writer, novelist and poet.Michael Sheringham, 'Jouve, Pierre-Jean', ''Oxford Companion to French Literature''Onlineat answers.com He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literat ...

(1887–1976) * Marcel Martinet (1887–1944) *

Georges Bernanos Louis Émile Clément Georges Bernanos (; 20 February 1888 – 5 July 1948) was a French author, and a soldier in World War I. A Catholic with monarchist leanings, he was critical of elitist thought and was opposed to what he identified as defea ...

(1888–1948) * Henri Bosco (1888–1976) * Paul Morand (1888–1976) * Marcel Jouhandeau (1888–1979) *

Jacques de Lacretelle Jacques de Lacretelle (14 July 1888 in Cormatin, Saône-et-Loire – 2 January 1985) was a French novelist. He was elected to the Académie Française on 12 November 1936. Bibliography * 1920 ''La vie inquiète de Jean Hermelin'' (Grasset) * ...

(1888–1985) *

Tristan Derème Tristan Derème (February 13, 1889 – October 24, 1941), 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. There, he would recuperate through writing p ...

(1889–1941) *

Pierre Reverdy Pierre Reverdy (; 13 September 1889 – 17 June 1960) was a French poet whose works were inspired by and subsequently proceeded to influence the provocative art movements of the day, Surrealism, Dadaism and Cubism. The loneliness and spiritual a ...

(1889–1960) * Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) * Émile Henriot (1889–1961)

1890–1899

* Maurice Genevoix (1890–1980) * Victor Serge (1890–1947) * Leilah Mahi (1890–1932) * Édouard Dunglas (1891–1952) * La Mazille (1891–1984) * Max Ernst (1891–1976) * Pierre Drieu La Rochelle (1893–1945) * Edmond Brazès (1893 - 1980) * Luc Benoist (1893–1980) * Paul Foulquié (1893–1983) * Claude Cahun (Lucy Schwob) (1894–1954) * Louis-Ferdinand Céline (Louis Destouches) (1894–1961) (''Voyage au bout de la nuit'', 1932) * Paul Éluard (Eugène Grindel) (1895–1952) * Jean Giono (1895–1970) * Marcel Pagnol (1895–1974) * Albert Cohen (novelist), Albert Cohen (1895–1981) * Antonin Artaud (1896–1948) * André Breton (1896–1966) * Henry de Montherlant (Henry Millon de Montherlant) (1896–1972) * Paulette Nardal (1896–1995) * Tristan Tzara (1896–1963) * Elsa Triolet (1896–1970) * Louis Aragon (1897–1982) * Georges Bataille (1897–1962) * Joë Bousquet (1897–1950) * Philippe Soupault (1897–1990) * Marcel Thiry (1897–1977) * Eugène Dabit (1898–1936) * Michel de Ghelderode (1898–1962) * Joseph Kessel (1898–1979) * Paul Vialar (1898–1996) * Louise Noëlle Malclès (1899–1977) * Roger Vitrac (1899–1952) * Pierre Virion (1899–1988) * Jacques Audiberti (1899–1965) * Marcel Achard (1899–1974) * Louis Guilloux (1899–1980) * Henri Michaux (1899–1984) * Marcel Arland (1899–1986) * Marcelle Auclair (1899–1983) * Armand Salacrou (1899–1989) * Francis Ponge (1899–1988)

Twentieth century

1900–1909

* Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900–1944) * Robert Desnos (1900–1945) * Jacques Prévert (1900–1977) * André Chamson (1900–1983) * André Dhôtel (1900–1991) * Albert Ayguesparse (1900–1996) * Julien Green (1900–1998) * Nathalie Sarraute (1900–1999) * Amadou Hampâté Bâ (1900 or 1901–1991) * Georges Limbour (1900–1970) * Marcel Sendrail (1900–1976) * Jacques Bordiot (1900–1983) * Maurice Féaudierre (1901) * Jean Meuvret (1901–1971) * Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo (1901–1937) * Jean Prévost (1901–1944) * Henri Daniel-Rops (Henri Petiot) (1901–1965) * Lanza del Vasto (1901–1981) * Charles Lecocq (1901–1922) * Michel Leiris (1901–1990) * Suzanne Lilar (1901–1992) * André Malraux (1901–1976) * Marcel Aymé (1902–1967) * Fernand Braudel (1902–1985) * Marie-Magdeleine Carbet (1902-1996) * Julien Torma (1902–1933) * Louise de Vilmorin (1902–1969) * Vercors (pseudonym for Jean Bruller) (1902–1991) * Jean Tardieu (1903–1995) * Raymond Radiguet (1903–1923) * Irène Némirovsky (1903–1942) * Jean Follain (1903–1971) * Georges Simenon (1903–1989) * Raymond Queneau (1903–1976) * Marguerite Yourcenar (Marguerite de Crayencour) (1903–1987) * René Bansard (1904–1971) * Marie-Anne Desmarest (1904–1973) * Gilbert Lely (1904–1985) * Yves Congar (1904–1995) * Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980) * Maurice Fombeure (1906–1981) * Charles Exbrayat (1906–1989) * Samuel Beckett (1906–1989) * René Sédillot (1906–1999) * Léopold Sédar Senghor (1906–2001) * Roger Vailland (1907–1965) * Pauline Réage (Anne Desclos) (1907–1998) * Violette Leduc (1907–1972) * Raymond Abellio (Georges Soulès) (1907–1986) * René Char (1907–1988) * Maurice Blanchot (1907–2003) * René Ménil (1907–2004) * Roger Peyrefitte (1907–2000) * Roger Gilbert-Lecomte (1907–1943) * Jacques Roumain (1907–1944) * René Daumal (1908–1944) * Simone de Beauvoir (1908–1986) * Paul Bénichou (1908–2001) * Robert Merle (1908–2004) * Simone Weil (1909–1943) * Stéphane Pizella (1909–1970) * Anaïs Nin (1909–1977) * Jean-Fernand Brierre (1909–1993) * Robert Brasillach (1909–1945) * André Pieyre de Mandiargues (1909–1991) * Léo Malet (1909–1996)

1910–1919

* Jean Anouilh (1910–1987) * Jean-Louis Baghio'o (1910–1994) * Jean Genet (1910–1986) * Paul Guth (1910–1997) * Julien Gracq (Louis Poirier) (1910–2007) * Emil Cioran (1911–1995) * Raphaël Tardon (1911–1967) * André Hardellet (1911–1974) * René Barjavel (1911–1985) * Guy des Cars (Guy de Pérusse des Cars) (1911–1993) * Hervé Bazin (Jean Hervé-Bazin) (1911–1996) * Jean Cayrol (1911–2005) * Henri Troyat (Lev Tarassov) (1911–2007) * André Jardin (1912–1996) * Pierre Boulle (1912–1994) * Edmond Jabès (1912–1991) * Eugène Ionesco (1912–1994) * Jacques de Bourbon Busset (1912–2001) * Armand Robin (1912–1961) * Claude Simon (1913–2005) * Luc Dietrich (1913–1944) * Albert Camus (1913–1960) * Mouloud Feraoun (1913–1962) * Gilbert Cesbron (1913–1979) * Armand Lanoux (1913–1983) * Pierre Daninos (1913–2005) * Aimé Césaire (1913–2008) * Félicien Marceau (Louis Carette)(1913–2012) * Romain Gary (Romain Kacew a/k/a Romain Gary a/k/a Emile Ajar) (1914–1980) * Béatrix Beck (1914–2008) * Marguerite Duras (Marguerite Donnadieu) (1914–1996) *Ahmed Sefrioui (1915–2004) * Roland Barthes (1915–1980) * Suzanne Césaire (1915–1966) * Louis Dollot (1915–1997) * Joseph Zobel (1915–2006) * Constantin Virgil Gheorghiu, Virgil Gheorghiu (1916–1992) * Jean-Louis Curtis (Louis Laffitte) (1917–1995) * Ambroise Yxemerry (1917–2013) * Pierre Bettencourt (1917–2006) * Alain Guy (1918–1998) * Maurice Druon (1918–2009) * Michel Quoist (1918–1997) * Jean Venturini (1919–1940) * Alain Bosquet (Anatole Bisk) (1919–1998) * Jacques Laurent a/k/a Jacques Laurent-Cely or Cécil Saint-Laurent (1919–2000) * Michel Déon (1919–2016) * Robert Pinget (1919–1997)

1920–1929

* Jean Dutourd (1920–2011) * Jean Lartéguy (1920–2011) * Jean Madiran (1920–2013) * Mohammed Dib (1920–2003) * Boris Vian (1920–1959) * Françoise d'Eaubonne (1920–2005) * Albert Memmi (1920–2020) * Georges Brassens (1921–1981) * Gérald Neveu (1921–1960) * André Rogerie (1921–2014) * Michel Guiomar (1921–2013) * Jean-Pierre Renouard (1922–2014) * Antoine Blondin (1922–1990) * Jean-Charles (1922–2003) * Jean-Claude Renard (1922–2002) * Stefan Wul (1922–2003) * Alain Robbe-Grillet (1922–2008) * Yves Bonnefoy (1923–2016) * Roger Foulon (1923–2008) * Georges Perros (1923–1978) * Ousmane Sembène (1923–2007) * Jean Dumont (historian), Jean Dumont (1923–2001) * Claude Paillat (1924–2001) * André du Bouchet (1924–2003) * Salvat Etchart (1924–1985) * Michel Tournier (1924–2016) * Philippe Jaccottet (1925–2021) * Roger Nimier (1925–1962) * Jean d'Ormesson (1925–2017) * François Augiéras (1925–1971) * Alphonse Boudard (1925–2000) * Roger Giroux (1925–1973) * Frantz Fanon (1925–1961) * Jean Robieux (1925–2012) * Robert Misrahi (1926–...) * Yvon Taillandier (1926–2018) * Michel Foucault (1926–1984) * Michel Butor (1926–2016) * Jacques Dupin (1927–2012) * Gisèle Halimi (1927–2020) * François Nourissier (1927–2011) * Robert Fossier (1927–2012) * Jacques Rivette (1928–2016) * André Schwarz-Bart (1928–2006) * Édouard Glissant (1928–2011) * Kateb Yacine (1929–1989) * Nicolas Bouvier (1929–1998)

1930–1939

* Jacques Lafaye (1930–...) * Maggi Lidchi-Grassi (1930–...) * Françoise Mallet-Joris (1930–2016) * Jacques Ehrmann (1931–1972) * Fernando Arrabal (1932–...) * Mongo Beti (1932–2001) * Hédi Bouraoui (1932–...) * Claude Pujade-Renaud (1932–...) * Jacques Roubaud (1932–...) * Julienne Salvat (1932–2019) * Marcelin Pleynet (1933–...) * Claude Esteban (1935–2006) * Agota Kristof (1935–2011) * Françoise Sagan (Françoise Quoirez) (1935–2004) * Daniel Zimmermann (1935–2000) * Assia Djebar (1936–2015) * Frankétienne (1936–...) * Jean-Edern Hallier (1936–1997) * Georges Perec (1936–1982) * Philippe Sollers (1936–...) * Alain Grée (1936–...) * Anne-Marie Albiach (1937–2012) * Marc Alyn (1937–...) * Pierre Billon (writer), Pierre Billon (1937–...) * Andrée Brunin (1937–1993) * Hélène Cixous (1937–...) * Maryse Condé (1937–...) * Abdelkebir Khatibi (1938–2009) * Daniel Oster (1938–1999) * Sandra Jayat (c.1939–...) * Michèle Lesbre (1939–...) * Kenizé Mourad (1939–...) * Gérard Roubichou (1939–...)

1940–1949

* Annie Ernaux (1940–...) * Marie-Reine de Jaham (1940-...) * J.M.G. Le Clézio (1940–...) * Emmanuel Hocquard (1940–2019) * Charles Duchaussois (1940–1991) * Bernard Brizay (1941–...) * Louis Mélennec (1941–...) * Jean Daive (1941–...) * Julia Kristeva (1941–...) * Jean Marcel (1941–...) * François Weyergans (1941–2019) * Josaphat-Robert Large (1942–2017) * François-Xavier Guerra (1942–2002) * Wladimir Troubetzkoy (1942–2009) * Jean Bernabé (1942–2017) * Jean-Patrick Manchette (1942-1995) * Guy Olivier Faure (1943–...) * Yves Manglou (1943–...) * Eva Joly (1943–...) * René-Louis Baron (1944–...) * Noëlle Châtelet (1944–...) * Doumbi Fakoly (1944–...) * Jean-Jacques Greif (1944–...) * Sergio Kokis (1944–...) * Daniel Pennac (1944–...) * Lucien Polastron (1944–...) * Marc Filloux (1944–1974) * Alain Guillerm (1944–2005) * Françoise Chandernagor (1945–...) * Tony Duvert (1945–2008) * Pierre Michon (1945–...) * Gisèle Bienne (1946–...) * Renaud Camus (1946–...) * Djémil Kessous (1946–...) * Tahar Ben Jelloun (1947–...) * Daniel Maximin (1947-...) * Luc Perino (1947–...) * Michel Étiévent (1947–...) * Loïc Le Ribault (1947–2007) * Élisabeth Vonarburg (1947–...) * Jean-Pierre Poccioni (1948–...) * André Rouillé (1948–...) * Bertrand Le Gendre (1948–...) * Jean-Paul Goux (1948–...) * Serge Duigou (1948–...) * François Leperlier (1949–...) * Amin Maalouf (1949–...) * Didier Daeninckx (1949–...) * Pierre Bergounioux (1949–...) * Boualem Sansal (1949–...)

1950–present

* Bernard Bonnejean (1950–...) * Yolande Cohen (1950–...) * Jean-Paul Dubois (1950–...) * Moussa Konaté (1951–2013) * Salim Jay (1951–...) * Bernard Cottret (1951–2020) * Jean-Didier Urbain (1951–...) * Raphaël Confiant (1951–...) * Pierre-Henri Bunel (1952–...) * Dan Franck (1952–...) * Dany Laferrière (1953–...) * Françoise Bettencourt Meyers (1953–...) * Nancy Huston (1953–...) * Patrick Chamoiseau (1953–...) * François Bon (1953–...) * Édouard Brasey (1954–...) * Paul Dirmeikis (1954–...) * Tahar Djaout (1954–1993) * Margaret Maruani (1954–...) * Dai Sijie (1954–...) * Pascale Roze (1954–...) * Adelina Yzac (1954–...) * Jean-Pierre Vallotton (1955–...) * Alexandra Lapierre (1955–...) * Caroline Lamarche (1955–...) * Bertrand Renard (1955–...) * Joël Henry (journalist), Joël Henry (journalist) (1955–...) * Renaud Girard (1955–...) * Annie Pietri (1956–...) * Charles Mopsik (1956–2003) * Gisèle Pineau (1956–...) * Jean-Pierre Thiollet (1956–...) * Khal Torabully (1956–...) * Hervé Le Tellier (1957–...) * Youssef Rzouga (1957–...) * Jean-Philippe Toussaint (1957–...) * Azouz Begag (1957–...) * Didier Ottinger (1957–...) * Olivier Da Lage (1957–...) * Simon Basinger (1957–...) * Michel Houellebecq (1958–...) * Pierre Leroux (author), Pierre Leroux (1958-...) * Marc-Édouard Nabe (1958–...) * Olivier Weber (1958–...) * Denis Robert (1958–...) * Benjamin Sehene (1959–...) * Christine Angot (1959–...) * Frédéric-Yves Jeannet (1959–...) * Jean-Luc Bitton (1959–...) * Malek Belarbi (1959–...) * Nicolas Fiévé (1959–...) * Bruno Laurioux (1959–...) * Jacques Bonjawo (1960–...) * Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt (1960–...) * Simonetta Greggio (1961–...) * Bernard Werber (1961–...) * Charles Dantzig (1961–...) * Philippe Buc (1961–...) * Valérie Grumelin-Halimi (1961–...) * Philippe Claudel (1962–...) *Catherine Cusset (1963–...) * Beatrice Hammer (1963–...) * Kevin Bokeili (1963–2014) * Alexis Jenni (1963–...) * Bill GB Pallot (1964–...) * Ann Scott (French novelist), Ann Scott (1965–...) * Stéphane Laurent (1966–...) * Odile Benyahia-Kouider (1966–...) * Alain Mabanckou (1966–...) * Delphine Gardey (1967–...) * Paul-Louis Roubert (1967–...) * Jonathan Littell (1967–...) * Amélie Nothomb (1967–...) * Fréderic Neyrat (1968–...) * Norbert-Bertrand Barbe (1968–...) * Kim Thúy (1968–...) * Virginie Despentes (1969–...) * Louis Emond (1969–...) * Antoine Bello (1970–...) * Christophe Honoré (1970–...) * Fabienne Kanor (1970–...) * Édouard Tétreau (1970–...) * Philippe Boisnard (1971–...) * Yannick Mireur (1971–...) * Angela Behelle (1971–...) * Nicolas Ancion (1971–...) * Luis de Miranda (1971–...) * Cristina Rodríguez (journalist), Cristina Rodríguez (1972–...) * Kilien Stengel (1972–...) * Roland Michel Tremblay (1972–...) * Romain Sardou (1974–...) * Guillaume Musso (1974–...) * Olivier Adam (1974–...) * Benoît Bringer (1979–...) * Agnès Martin-Lugand (1979–...) * Jérémy Marie (1984–...) *Benjamin Hoffmann (1985–...) * Charles Luylier (1989–...) * Blandine Rinkel (1991-…) * Soraya Nini (1993–...) * Estelle Beauchamp (novelist since 1995)