Chronological list of French language

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

s (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 car ...

(1110 – c.1180) * Chrétien de Troyes (c.1135 – c.1183) *

Richard the Lionheart Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199) was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine and Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, and Count of Poitiers, Anjou, Maine, and Nantes, and was overl ...

(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 (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 Conon de Béthune (before 1160 in the former region of Artois, today Pas-de-Calais - 17 December 1219, possibly at Adrianople) was a French crusader and trouvère poet who became a senior official and finally regent of the Latin Empire of Cons ...

(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 Béroul was a Norman or Breton poet of the 12th century. He wrote ''Tristan'', a Norman language version of the legend of Tristan and Iseult of which a certain number of fragments (approximately 3000 verses) have been preserved; it is the earlies ...

(c.1170) *

Thomas d'Angleterre Thomas of Britain (also known as Thomas of England) was a poet of the 12th century. He is known for his Old French poem ''Tristan'', a version of the Tristan and Iseult legend that exists only in eight fragments, amounting to around 3,300 lines of v ...

(c.1170) *

Aimeric de Peguilhan Aimeric or Aimery de Peguilhan, Peguillan, or Pégulhan (c. 1170 – c. 1230) was a troubadour (fl. 1190–1221)Gaunt and Kay, 279. born in Peguilhan (near Saint-Gaudens), the son of a cloth merchant. Aimeric's first patron was Raimon ...

(c.1170 -c. 1230) * Gace Brulé (c.1170) *

Marie de France Marie de France (fl. 1160 to 1215) was a poet, possibly born in what is now France, who lived in England during the late 12th century. She lived and wrote at an unknown court, but she and her work were almost certainly known at the royal court o ...

(c.1175) * Gautier de Coincy (1177/8–1236) * Gautier de Dargies (c.1170–after 1236) * Gautier d'Espinal († before July 1272) *

Gillebert de Berneville Gillebert (Guillebert) de Berneville (''fl. '' 1250–70) was a French trouvère. According to Theodore Karp, in its time, "his poetry was much appreciated", but it is " ither original nor profound," rather he was and is admired more for "facility, ...

( 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 Perrin d'Angicourt (''floruit'' 1245–70) was a trouvère associated with the group of poets active in and around Arras. His birthplace was most likely Achicourt, just south of Arras. His surviving oeuvre is large by the standards of the trouvère ...

( fl c.1245–50) *

Jean Renart Jean Renart, also known as Jean Renaut, was a Norman trouvère from the end of the 12th century and the first half of the 13th to whom three works are firmly ascribed: two metrical chivalric romances, ''L'Escoufle'' ("The Kite") and ''Guillaume de ...

(fl. late 12th-first half of 13th century) * Philippe de Rémi (c.1205–c1265) * Philippe de Beaumanoir (c.1247–c1296) *

Raoul de Soissons Raoul de Soissons (1210x15 – 1270, or shortly thereafter) was a French nobleman, Crusader, and trouvère. He was the second son of Raoul le Bon, Count of Soissons, and became the Sire de Coeuvres in 1232. Raoul participated in three Crusad ...

(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 Jehan le Cuvelier d'Arras (''fl''. ''c''. 1240–70) was a trouvère associated with the so-called "school of Arras". He may be the same person as Johannes Cuvellarius from Bapaume, a suburb of Arras, who is mentioned in documents of 1258. He was th ...

( fl c.1240–70) *

Guillaume le Vinier Guillaume le Vinier (''c''. 1190–1245) was a cleric and trouvère, one of the most prolific composers in the genre.Theodore Karp, "Le Vinier, Guillaume", ''Grove Music Online'', ''Oxford Music Online'' (accessed 20 September 2008). He has left c ...

( fl c.1220–45; †1245) * Audefroi le Bâtard ( fl c.1200–1230) * Jehan Bretel (c.1200–1272) * Jehan Erart († c.1259) * Moniot d'Arras ( fl c.1250–75) *

Robert de Clari Robert de Clari (or Cléry, the modern name of the place, on the commune of Pernois) was a knight from Picardy. He participated in the Fourth Crusade with his lord, Count Peter of Amiens, and his brother, Aleaumes de Clari, and left a chronicle of ...

(late twelfth century) *

Blondel de Nesle Blondel de Nesle – either Jean I of Nesle (c. 1155 – 1202) or his son Jean II of Nesle (died 1241) – was a French trouvère. The name 'Blondel de Nesle' is attached to twenty-four or twenty-five courtly songs. He was identified in 1942, b ...

(late twelfth century) * Robert de Boron (twelfth–thirteenth century) * Guiot de Provins (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 Guillaume de Lorris (c. 1200c. 1240) was a French scholar and poet from Lorris. He was the author of the first section of the ''Roman de la Rose''. Little is known about him, other than that he wrote the earlier section of the poem around 1230, ...

(c.1200 – c.1238) *

Theobald IV of Champagne Theobald I (french: Thibaut, es, Teobaldo; 30 May 1201 – 8 July 1253), also called the Troubadour and the Posthumous, was Count of Champagne (as Theobald IV) from birth and King of Navarre from 1234. He initiated the Barons' Crusade, was famous ...

(1201–1253) *

Jean de Joinville Jean de Joinville (, c. 1 May 1224 – 24 December 1317) was one of the great chroniclers of medieval France. He is most famous for writing the ''Life of Saint Louis'', a biography of Louis IX of France that chronicled the Seventh Crusade.''V ...

( c.1224 – c.1317) * Rutebeuf (c.1230 – c.1285) *

Adam de la Halle Adam de la Halle (1245–50 – 1285–8/after 1306) was a French poet-composer '' trouvère''. Among the few medieval composers to write both monophonic and polyphonic music, in this respect he has been considered both a conservative and progr ...

(c.1250 – c.1285) *

Jean de Meun Jean de Meun (or de Meung, ) () was a French author best known for his continuation of the '' Roman de la Rose''. Life He was born Jean Clopinel or Jean Chopinel at Meung-sur-Loire. Tradition asserts that he studied at the University of Paris. He ...

g or

(1250 – c.1305) or Jean Clopinel or Chopinel *

Jacques Bretel Jacques Bretel or Jacques Bretex (dates of birth and death unknown) was a French language ''trouvère'', best known for having written '' le Tournoi de Chauvency''. His only known work, signed and dated in 1285, ''le Tournoi de Chauvency'' is a l ...

(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 Colin Muset (''fl''. ''c''. 1210–50 or 1230–70) was an Old French trouvère and a native of Lorraine. He made his living in the Champagne by travelling from castle to castle singing songs of his own composition and playing the vielle. ...

(end of thirteenth century) * Guillaume de Machaut ( c.1300 – c.1377) *

Nicole Oresme Nicole Oresme (; c. 1320–1325 – 11 July 1382), also known as Nicolas Oresme, Nicholas Oresme, or Nicolas d'Oresme, was a French philosopher of the later Middle Ages. He wrote influential works on economics, mathematics, physics, astrology an ...

(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 Jean Froissart (Old and Middle French: ''Jehan'', – ) (also John Froissart) was a French-speaking medieval author and court historian from the Low Countries who wrote several works, including ''Chronicles'' and ''Meliador'', a long Arthurian ...

(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 (1364–1430) * Alain Chartier (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 Antoine de la Sale (also ''la Salle'', ''de Lasalle''; 1385/861460/61) was a French courtier, educator and writer. He participated in a number of military campaigns in his youth and he only began writing when he had reached middle age, in the late ...

(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 (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 Martial d'Auvergne (Martial of Auvergne, Martial of Paris, 1420 – 13 May 1508) was a French poet. Originally from Auvergne, he served as notary at Châtelet, and later as attorney (''procureur'') for the Paris parlement. His most importa ...

( c.1430–1508) *

François Villon François Villon ( Modern French: , ; – after 1463) is the best known French poet of the Late Middle Ages. He was involved in criminal behavior and had multiple encounters with law enforcement authorities. Villon wrote about some of these ...

(c.1431–after 1463) * Jean Michel (c.1435–1501) *

Jean Molinet Jean Molinet (1435 – 23 August 1507) was a French poet, chronicler, and composer. He is best remembered for his prose translation of ''Roman de la rose''. Born in Desvres, which is now part of France, he studied in Paris. He entered the s ...

(1435–1507) *

Philippe de Commines Philippe de Commines (or de Commynes or "Philippe de Comines"; Latin: ''Philippus Cominaeus''; 1447 – 18 October 1511) was a writer and diplomat in the courts of Burgundy and France. He has been called "the first truly modern writer" ( Charle ...

(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 (1455–1537) * Guillaume Crétin (Guillaume Dubois) (1460–1525) * Octavien de Saint-Gelais (1468–1505) *

Guillaume Budé Guillaume Budé (; Latinized as Guilielmus Budaeus; 1468 – 1540) was a French scholar and humanist. He was involved in the founding of Collegium Trilingue, which later became the Collège de France. Budé was also the first keeper of the ...

(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 duch ...

(active from 1450–1490) * Guillaume Alexis (active from 1450–1490) *

Jean Lemaire de Belges Jean Lemaire de Belges (c. 1473c. 1525) was a Walloon poet and historian, and pamphleteer who, writing in French, was the last and one of the best of the school of poetic 'rhétoriqueurs' (“rhetoricians”) and the chief forerunner, both in style ...

(1473 – c.1525) *

Pierre Gringore Pierre Gringore (; 1475? – 1538) was a popular French poet and playwright. Biography Pierre Gringore was born in Normandy, at Thury-Harcourt, but the exact date and place of his death are unknown. His first work was ''Le Chasteau de Labour ...

or Gringoire (c.1475–1538/1539) * François Rabelais (c.1483–1553) * Aliénor de Poitiers (fl.1484) *

Mellin de Saint-Gelais Mellin de Saint-Gelais (or ''Melin de Saint-Gelays'' or ''Sainct-Gelais''; c. 1491 – October, 1558) was a French poet of the Renaissance and Poet Laureate of Francis I of France. Life He was born at Angoulême, most likely the natural ...

(c.1491–1558) *

Marguerite de Navarre Marguerite de Navarre (french: Marguerite d'Angoulême, ''Marguerite d'Alençon''; 11 April 149221 December 1549), also known as Marguerite of Angoulême and Margaret of Navarre, was a princess of France, Duchess of Alençon and Berry, and Queen ...

(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.& ...

(c.1496–1544)

Sixteenth century

1500–1549

Bonaventure des Périers Bonaventure ( ; it, Bonaventura ; la, Bonaventura de Balneoregio; 1221 – 15 July 1274), born Giovanni di Fidanza, was an Italian Catholic Franciscan, bishop, Cardinal (Catholic Church), cardinal, Scholasticism, scholastic theologian ...

(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 (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 John Calvin (; frm, Jehan Cauvin; french: link=no, Jean Calvin ; 10 July 150927 May 1564) was a French theologian, pastor and reformer in Geneva during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system ...

(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 Pierre Viret (1509/1510 – 4 April 1571) was a Swiss Reformed theologian, evangelist and Protestant reformer. Early life Pierre Viret was born in 1509 or 1510 in Orbe, then in the Barony of Vaud, now in the canton of Vaud, Switzerland. He wa ...

(1511–1571) *

Charles de Sainte-Marthe Charles de Sainte-Marthe (1512–1555) was a French Protestant and theologian. External links * 1512 births 1555 deaths French Renaissance humanists French Protestant theologians 16th-century Protestant theologians 16th-century French ...

(1512–1555) * Thomas Sébillet (c.1512–1589) *

Jacques Amyot Jacques Amyot (; 30 October 15136 February 1593), French Renaissance bishop, scholar, writer and translator, was born of poor parents, at Melun. Biography Amyot found his way to the University of Paris, where he supported himself by serving som ...

(1513–1593) * Jacques Peletier du Mans (1517–1582) *

Théodore de Bèze Theodore Beza ( la, Theodorus Beza; french: Théodore de Bèze or ''de Besze''; June 24, 1519 – October 13, 1605) was a French Calvinist Protestant theologian, reformer and scholar who played an important role in the Protestant Reformation ...

(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 (1520–1587) * Noël du Fail (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 (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 ...

or de Thiard (1521–1605) *

Joachim du Bellay Joachim du Bellay (; – 1 January 1560) was a French poet, critic, and a founder of the Pléiade. He notably wrote the manifesto of the group: '' Défense et illustration de la langue française'', which aimed at promoting French as an a ...

(1522–1560) *

Pierre de Ronsard Pierre de Ronsard (; 11 September 1524 – 27 December 1585) was a French poet or, as his own generation in France called him, a " prince of poets". Early life Pierre de Ronsard was born at the Manoir de la Possonnière, in the village of ...

(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 popu ...

(?–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 Remy (or Rémi) Belleau (1528 – 6 March 1577) was a poet of the French Renaissance. He is most known for his paradoxical poems of praise for simple things and his poems about precious stones. Life Remy was born in Nogent-le-Rotrou. A noblema ...

(1528–1577) *

Étienne Pasquier Étienne Pasquier (7 June 15291 September 1615) was a French lawyer and man of letters. By his own account he was born in Paris on 7 June 1529, but according to others he was born in 1528. He was called to the Paris bar in 1549. In 1558 he bec ...

(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 Jean Bodin (; c. 1530 – 1596) was a French jurist and political philosopher, member of the Parlement of Paris and professor of law in Toulouse. He is known for his theory of sovereignty. He was also an influential writer on demonology. Bodi ...

(1530–1596) *

François de Belleforest François de Belleforest (1530 – 1 January 1583) was a prolific French author, poet and translator of the Renaissance. He was born in Samatan (actual department of Gers), into a poor family, and his father (a soldier) was killed when he was s ...

(1530–1583) *

Henri Estienne Henri Estienne (; ; 1528 or 15311598), also known as Henricus Stephanus (), was a French printer and classical scholar. He was the eldest son of Robert Estienne. He was instructed in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew by his father and would eventually tak ...

(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, 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, ...

(1539–1619) *

Pierre Pithou Pierre Pithou (1 November 1539 – 1 November 1596) was a French lawyer and scholar. He is also known as Petrus Pithoeus. Life He was born at Troyes. From childhood he loved literature, and his father Pierre encouraged this interest. Young ...

(1539–1596) *

Pierre de Bourdeille, seigneur de Brantôme Pierre de Bourdeille (, – 15 July 1614), called the seigneur et abbé de Brantôme, was a French historian, soldier and biographer. Life Born at Bourdeilles in the Périgord, Brantôme was the third son of the baron François de Bourde ...

(1540–1614) * Pierre de Larivey (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 ac ...

(1544–1590) * Antoine du Verdier (1544–1600) * Philippe Desportes (1546–1606) * Pierre de L'Estoile (1546–1611) * Jean de La Ceppède (1548–1623) * Philippe Duplessis-Mornay (Philippe de Mornay, called Duplessis-Mornay) (1549–1623)

1550–1599

* Benigne Poissenot (c.1550–?) *

François d'Amboise François d'Amboise (1550 – 1619) was a French jurist and writer. He was counseller to the Parlement of Brittany and advocate general to the Grand Conseil. Biography François d'Amboise was born in Paris, the son of Jean d'Amboise, ordi ...

(1550–1619) *

Odet de Turnèbe Odet de Turnèbe (23 October 1552 – 20 July 1581) was a French dramatist. Biography Odet de Turnèbe was born in Paris to Greek scholar Adrien Turnèbe. He received a solid education and was known, from an early age, for his intelligence and ...

(1552–1581) * Jean Bertaut (1552–1611) * Théodore Agrippa d'Aubigné (1552–1630) *

François de Malherbe François de Malherbe (, 1555 – 16 October 1628) was a French poet, critic, and translator. Life He was born in Le Locheur (near Caen, Normandie), to a family of standing, although the family's pedigree did not satisfy the heralds in terms of ...

(1552–1630) * Jacques Davy Du Perron (1556–1618) *

François Béroalde de Verville François Béroalde de Verville (27 April 1556 – 19–26 October 1626) was a French Renaissance novelist, poet and intellectual. He was born in Paris, the son of Matthieu Brouard (or Brouart), called "Béroalde", a professor of Agrippa ...

(1556–1626) * Guillaume du Vair (1556–1621) * Jean de Sponde (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 (1561–1608) * Pierre Matthieu (1563–1621) * Eustache de Refuge, seigneur de Précy et de Courcelles (1564–1617) * Saint François de Sales (1567–1622) *

Honoré d'Urfé Honoré d'Urfé, marquis de Valromey, comte de Châteauneuf (11 February 15681 June 1625) was a French novelist and miscellaneous writer. Life He was born at Marseille, the grandson of Claude d'Urfé, and was educated at the Collège de T ...

(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 (1570–1616) * Antoine de Nervèze (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 (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 Mathurin Régnier (December 21, 1573 – October 22, 1613) was a French satirist. Life Régnier was born in Chartres, capital city of the current department of Eure-et-Loir, in Centre-Val de Loire region . His father, Jacques Régnier, was a ...

(1573–1613) * Nicholas Camusat (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 Vincent de Paul, CM (24 April 1581 – 27 September 1660), commonly known as Saint Vincent de Paul, was a Occitan French Catholic priest who dedicated himself to serving the poor. In 1622 Vincent was appointed a chaplain to the galleys. After ...

(1581–1660) * Jean Duvergier de Hauranne, abbé de Saint-Cyran (1581–1643) * François Maynard (1582–1646) *

Jean-Pierre Camus Jean-Pierre Camus (November 3, 1584 – April 26, 1652) was a French bishop, preacher, and author of works of fiction and spirituality. Biography Jean-Pierre Camus was born in Paris in 1584, the son of Jean Camus, seigneur de Saint Bonnet, who w ...

(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 Jean de Schelandre (c.1585 – 18 October 1635), Seigneur de Saumazènes, was a French poet. Biography He was born about 1585 near Verdun of a Calvinist family, and studied at the university of Paris. He then joined Turenne's army in the Nethe ...

(c.1585–1635) *

François de La Mothe-Le-Vayer François () is a French masculine given name and surname, equivalent to the English name Francis. People with the given name * Francis I of France, King of France (), known as "the Father and Restorer of Letters" * Francis II of France, King o ...

(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 (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 establis ...

(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 René Descartes ( or ; ; Latinized: Renatus Cartesius; 31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650) was a French philosopher, scientist, and mathematician, widely considered a seminal figure in the emergence of modern philosophy and science. Ma ...

(1596–1650) * Claude de Malleville (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 (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. ...

(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 Guy (or Guido) Patin (1601 in Hodenc-en-Bray, Oise – 30 August 1672 in Paris) was a French doctor and man of letters. Patin was doyen (or dean) of the Faculty of Medicine in Paris (1650–1652) and professor in the Collège de France starti ...

(1601–1672) * Jean de Bernieres-Louvigny (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 (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 François Hédelin, abbé d'Aubignac (4 August 1604 in Paris – 27 July 1676) was a French author and cleric. The father of François Hédelin was Claude Hédelin, a lawyer at the Parliament, and his mother Catherine Paré, the daughter of the ...

(1604–1676) * Pierre du Ryer (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 (1606–1684) * Antoine Gombaud, 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 (c.1610–1703) *

Antoine Arnauld Antoine Arnauld (6 February 16128 August 1694) was a French Catholic theologian, philosopher and mathematician. He was one of the leading intellectuals of the Jansenist group of Port-Royal and had a very thorough knowledge of patristics. Cont ...

(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 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 * Jea ...

(1613–1679) * François de La Rochefoucauld (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 fami ...

, called Bussy-Rabutin (1618–1693) *

Cyrano de Bergerac Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac ( , ; 6 March 1619 – 28 July 1655) was a French novelist, playwright, epistolarian, and duelist. A bold and innovative author, his work was part of the libertine literature of the first half of the 17th cen ...

(Hector-Savinien Cyrano de Bergerac) (1619–1655) * Antoine Furetière (1619–1688) *

Gédéon Tallemant des Réaux Gédéon Tallemant, Sieur des Réaux (7 November 1619 – 6 November 1692) was a French writer known for his ''Historiettes'', a collection of short biographies. Biography Born at La Rochelle, he belonged to a wealthy middle-class Huguenot fa ...

(1619–1692) * Jean de La Fontaine (1621–1695) *

Molière Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (, ; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, , ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the greatest writers in the French language and worl ...

(Jean-Baptiste Poquelin) (1622–1673) * Blaise Pascal (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 Thomas Corneille (20 August 1625 – 8 December 1709) was a French lexicographer and dramatist. Biography Born in Rouen some nineteen years after his brother Pierre, the "great Corneille", Thomas's skill as a poet seems to have shown itself e ...

(1625–1709) * Samuel Chappuzeau (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 (1628–1703) *

Pierre Daniel Huet P. D. Huetius Pierre Daniel Huet (; la, Huetius; 8 February 1630 – 26 January 1721) was a French churchman and scholar, editor of the Delphin Classics, founder of the Académie de Physique in Caen (1662-1672) and Bishop of Soissons from 1685 t ...

(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 ...

(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 Jacques Pradon, often called Nicolas Pradon (1632 – 14 January 1698), was a French playwright. Early in his career, he was helped by Pierre Corneille and was introduced to the salons at the Hôtel de Nevers and the Hôtel de Bouillon by Mada ...

(1632–1698) * Madame de Villedieu (Marie-Catherine-Hortence Desjardins, marquise de Villedieu) (1632–1683) *

Madame de Lafayette Marie-Madeleine Pioche de La Vergne, Comtesse de La Fayette (baptized 18 March 1634 – 25 May 1693), better known as Madame de La Fayette, was a French writer; she authored ''La Princesse de Clèves'', France's first historical novel and one ...

(Marie-Madeleine, comtesse de La Fayette) (1634–1693) * Pierre Thomas, sieur du Fossé (1634–1698) *

Philippe Quinault Philippe Quinault (; 3 June 1635 – 26 November 1688), French dramatist and librettist, was born in Paris. Biography Quinault was educated by the liberality of François Tristan l'Hermite, the author of ''Marianne''. Quinault's first play w ...

(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 (1638–1701) * Antoinette du Ligier de la Garde Deshoulières (1638–1694) * Nicolas Malebranche (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 (1639–1699) *

Guillaume Amfrye de Chaulieu Guillaume Amfrye de Chaulieu (1639 – 27 June 1720), French poet and wit, was born at Fontenay, Normandy. His father, ''maître des Comptes'' of Rouen, sent him to study at the Collège de Navarre. Guillaume early showed the wit that was to d ...

(1639–1720) * César Vichard de Saint-Réal (1639–1692) *

Jean Racine Jean-Baptiste Racine ( , ) (; 22 December 163921 April 1699) was a French dramatist, one of the three great playwrights of 17th-century France, along with Molière and Corneille as well as an important literary figure in the Western traditi ...

(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 set ...

(1643–1680) *

Gatien de Courtilz de Sandras Gatien de Courtilz de Sandras (1644, Montargis – 8 May 1712, Paris) was a French novelist, journalist, pamphleteer and memorialist. His abundant output includes short stories, gallant letters, tales of historical love affairs (''Les Intrigue ...

(1644–1712) * Anne de La Roche-Guilhem (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 mi ...

(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 (1646–1715) *

Pierre Bayle Pierre Bayle (; 18 November 1647 – 28 December 1706) was a French philosopher, author, and lexicographer. A Huguenot, Bayle fled to the Dutch Republic in 1681 because of religious persecution in France. He is best known for his '' Histori ...

(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 Jumel de Barneville, Baroness d'Aulnoy (1650/1651 – 14 January 1705), also known as Countess d'Aulnoy, was a French author known for her literary fairy tales. When she termed her works ''contes de fées'' (fairy tales), sh ...

(Marie-Catherine le Jumelle de Barneville, Baronne d'Aulnoy) (1651–1705) * François de Salignac de la Mothe-Fénelon (1651–1715) * Louis Du Four de Longuerue (1652–1733) * Charlotte-Rose de Caumont La Force (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 Jean Galbert de Campistron (3 August 1656 – 11 May 1723) was a French dramatist. Biography Campistron was born in Toulouse, France to a noble family. At the age of seventeen he was wounded in a duel and sent to Paris. Here he became an ardent d ...

(1656–1723) * Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle (1657–1757) * Louis ''(or Jean)'' de Mailly (1657-1724) *

Henri de Boulainvilliers Henri de Boulainvilliers (; 21 October 1658, Saint-Saire, Normandy – 23 January 1722, Paris) was a French nobleman, writer and historian. He was educated at the College of Juilly; he served in the army until 1697. Primarily remembered as an ea ...

(1658–1712) *

François Armand Gervaise François Armand Gervaise (1660–1761) was a French Discalced Carmelite and historian. Life Gervaise was born at Paris. Having been nominated prior of a convent, he chanced to meet Bossuet, who recognized in him a learned writer, and an eloq ...

(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 ...

(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 (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 ga ...

(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 Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon, GE (16 January 16752 March 1755), was a French soldier, diplomat, and memoirist. He was born in Paris at the Hôtel Selvois, 6 rue Taranne (demolished in 1876 to make way for the Boulevard Saint-Germain). Th ...

(1675–1755) * Jean-François Boyer (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 (Madame de Tencin) (1681–1749) * Jérôme Besoigne (1686–1763) *

Marivaux Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux (4 February 1688 – 12 February 1763), commonly referred to as Marivaux, was a French playwright and novelist. He is considered one of the most important French playwrights of the 18th century, writing num ...

(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 ...

(1689–1773) *

Montesquieu Charles Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu (; ; 18 January 168910 February 1755), generally referred to as simply Montesquieu, was a French judge, man of letters, historian, and political philosopher. He is the princi ...

(Charles Louis de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu) (1689–1755) * Louis Petit de Bachaumont (1690–1771) *

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his ''nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his criticism of Christianity—es ...

(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 is a French given name (from the Latin ''Antonius'' meaning 'highly praise-worthy') that is a variant of Danton, Titouan, D'Anton and Antonin. The name is used in France, Switzerland, Belgium, Canada, West Greenland, Haiti, French Guiana ...

(Antoine Francois Prevost d'Exiles) a/k/a Abbé Prévost (1697–1763) * Marie Anne de Vichy-Chamrond, marquise du Deffand (1697–1780) * Denis-François Camusat (1697–1732)

Eighteenth century

1700–1749

* Charles Pinot Duclos (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 (; 7 September 1707 – 16 April 1788) was a French naturalist, mathematician, cosmologist, and encyclopédiste. His works influenced the next two generations of naturalists, including two prominent ...

(Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de Buffon) (1707–1788) *

Julien Offray de La Mettrie Julien Offray de La Mettrie (; November 23, 1709 – November 11, 1751) was a French physician and philosopher, and one of the earliest of the French materialism, French materialists of the Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment. He is best known fo ...

(1709–1751) *

Gabriel Bonnot de Mably Gabriel Bonnot de Mably (Grenoble, 14 March 1709 – 2 April 1785 in Paris), sometimes known as Abbé de Mably, was a French philosopher, historian, and writer, who for a short time served in the diplomatic corps. He was a popular 18th-century ...

(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 Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolu ...

(1712–1778) *

Denis Diderot Denis Diderot (; ; 5 October 171331 July 1784) was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer, best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, and contributor to the '' Encyclopédie'' along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. He was a promi ...

(1713–1784) *

Étienne Bonnot de Condillac Étienne Bonnot de Condillac (; ; 30 September 17142 August or 3 August 1780) was a French philosopher and epistemologist, who studied in such areas as psychology and the philosophy of the mind. Biography He was born at Grenoble into a legal ...

(1714–1780) *

Marie Jeanne Riccoboni Marie-Jeanne Riccoboni (25 October 1713 in Paris - 7 December 1792 in Paris), whose maiden name was Laboras de Mézières, was a French actress and novelist. Early years She was born in Paris in 1713. Career In 1735, she married Antoine Fra ...

(Madame Riccoboni) (1714–1792) *

Claude Adrien Helvétius Claude Adrien Helvétius (; ; 26 January 1715 – 26 December 1771) was a French philosopher, freemason and ''littérateur''. Life Claude Adrien Helvétius was born in Paris, France, and was descended from a family of physicians, originally su ...

(1715–1771) * Vauvenargues (Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues) (1715–1747) * François-André-Adrien Pluquet (1716–1790) * Jean-François de Saint-Lambert (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 Jean-Baptiste le Rond d'Alembert (; ; 16 November 1717 – 29 October 1783) was a French mathematician, mechanician, physicist, philosopher, and music theorist. Until 1759 he was, together with Denis Diderot, a co-editor of the '' Encyclopéd ...

(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 (1720–c.1794) *

Jacques Cazotte Jacques Cazotte (; 17 October 1719 – 25 September 1792) was a French author. Life Born in Dijon, he was educated by the Jesuits. Cazotte then worked for the French Ministry of the Marine and at the age of 27 he obtained a public office at Mar ...

(1720–1792) * Denis Dominique Cardonne (1721–1783) * Tiphaigne de la Roche (Charles-François Tiphaigne de la Roche) (1722–1774) * Baron d'Holbach (Paul Henri Dietrich, baron d'Holbach) (1723–1789) * Jean-François Marmontel (1723–1799) *

Casanova Giacomo Girolamo Casanova (, ; 2 April 1725 – 4 June 1798) was an Italian adventurer and author from the Republic of Venice. His autobiography, (''Story of My Life''), is regarded as one of the most authentic sources of information about the c ...

a/k/a Jacques Casanova de Seingalt (1725–1798) * Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, Baron de Laune (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 "Conse ...

(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 (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 (1734–1794) * Charles Joseph, Prince de Ligne (1735–1814) *

Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre (also called Bernardin de St. Pierre) (19 January 1737, in Le Havre – 21 January 1814, in Éragny, Val-d'Oise) was a French writer and botanist. He is best known for his 1788 novel '' Paul et Virginie'', ...

(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 Jean-François de La Harpe (20 November 173911 February 1803) was a French playwright, writer and literary critic. Life La Harpe was born in Paris of poor parents. His father, who signed himself Delharpe, was a descendant of a noble family orig ...

(1739–1803) * Marquis de Sade (Donatien Alphonse François de Sade) (1740–1814) *

Isabelle de Charrière Isabelle de Charrière (20 October 174027 December 1805), known as Belle van Zuylen in the Netherlands, née Isabella Agneta Elisabeth van Tuyll van Serooskerken, and adameIsabelle de Charrière (married name) elsewhere, was a Dutch and ...

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 Jean-Sifrein Maury (; 26 June 1746 – 10 May 1817) was a French cardinal, archbishop of Paris, and former bishop of Montefiascone. Biography The son of a cobbler, he was born at Valréas in the Comtat-Venaissin, the enclave within France th ...

(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 (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 (1748–1815) * Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau (1749–1791) *

Jean-Marie Collot d'Herbois Jean-Marie Collot d'Herbois (; 19 June 1749 – 8 June 1796) was a French actor, dramatist, essayist, and revolutionary. He was a member of the Committee of Public Safety during the Reign of Terror and, while he saved Madame Tussaud from the ...

(1749–1796)

1750–1799

* Georges Henri Victor Collot (1750-1805) *

Nicolas Joseph Laurent Gilbert Nicolas-Joseph-Laurent Gilbert (December 15, 1750 – November 16, 1780) was a French poet born at Fontenoy-le-Château, Vosges, Lorraine. Having completed his education at the college of Dole, he devoted himself for a time to a half-scholastic ...

(1751–1780) * Évariste de Forges de Parny (1753–1814) *

Joseph de Maistre Joseph Marie, comte de Maistre (; 1 April 1753 – 26 February 1821) was a Savoyard philosopher, writer, lawyer, and diplomat who advocated social hierarchy and monarchy in the period immediately following the French Revolution. Despite his clo ...

(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 ...

(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 f ...

(1754–1824) *

Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian (March 6, 1755 in the château of Florian, near Sauve, Gard – September 13, 1794 in Sceaux) was a French poet, novelist and fabulist. Life Florian's mother, a Spanish lady named Gilette de Salgues, died whe ...

(1754–1794) *

Jacques Pierre Brissot Jacques Pierre Brissot (, 15 January 1754 – 31 October 1793), who assumed the name of de Warville (an English version of "d'Ouarville", a hamlet in the village of Lèves where his father owned property), was a leading member of the Girondins du ...

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 (c.1760–1829) * Victoire Babois (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 André Marie Chénier (; 30 October 176225 July 1794) was a French poet of Greek and Franco-Levantine origin, associated with the events of the French Revolution of which he was a victim. His sensual, emotive poetry marks him as one of the precur ...

(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 (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-Joseph, comte de Las Cases (21 June 176615 May 1842) was a French atlas-maker and author, famed for an admiring book about Napoleon, ''Le Mémorial de Sainte-Hélène'' ("The Memorial of Saint Helena"). Life and caree ...

(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 Franco-Swiss political thinker, activist and writer on political theory and religion. A committed republican from 1795, he backed t ...

(Benjamin Constant de Rebecque) (1767–1830) * Joseph Fiévée (1767–1839) *

François-René de Chateaubriand François-René, vicomte de Chateaubriand (4 September 1768 – 4 July 1848) was a French writer, politician, diplomat and historian who had a notable influence on French literature of the nineteenth century. Descended from an old aristocrati ...

(1768–1848) * Étienne Pivert de Senancour (1770–1846) * Sophie de Renneville (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 Paul Louis Courier (; 4 January 177210 April 1825), French Hellenist and political writer, was born in Paris. Life Brought up on his father's estate of Méré in Touraine, he conceived a bitter aversion for the nobility, which seemed to strengt ...

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 Eugène-François Vidocq (; 24 July 1775 – 11 May 1857) was a French criminal turned criminalist, whose life story inspired several writers, including Victor Hugo, Edgar Allan Poe and Honoré de Balzac. The former criminal became the founder an ...

(1775–1857) *

Claire de Duras Claire, Duchess of Duras (née de Kersaint; 1777–1828) was a French writer best known for her 1823 novel called '' Ourika'', which examines issues of racial and sexual equality, and which inspired the 1969 John Fowles novel '' The French Lieuten ...

(Madame de Duras) (1777–1828) * Ambroise Rendu (1778–1860) *

Charles Nodier Jean Charles Emmanuel Nodier (29 April 1780 – 27 January 1844) was a French author and librarian who introduced a younger generation of Romanticists to the ''conte fantastique'', gothic literature, and vampire tales. His dream related writings ...

(1780–1844) *

Pierre-Jean de Béranger Pierre-Jean de Béranger (19 August 178016 July 1857) was a prolific French poet and chansonnier ( songwriter), who enjoyed great popularity and influence in France during his lifetime, but faded into obscurity in the decades following his deat ...

(1780–1857) * Victor de Bonald (1780–1871) * Aimé Martin (1781-1844) * Félicité Robert de Lamennais (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 (Henri Beyle) (1783–1842) (''

The Red and the Black ''Le Rouge et le Noir'' (; meaning ''The Red and the Black'') is a historical psychological novel in two volumes by Stendhal, published in 1830. It chronicles the attempts of a provincial young man to rise socially beyond his modest upbringing ...

'', 1830) *

Pierre-Antoine Lebrun Pierre-Antoine Lebrun (; 29 November 1785 – 27 May 1873) was a French poet. Biography Lebrun was born in Paris. An ''Ode à la grande armée'', mistaken at the time for the work of Écouchard Lebrun, attracted Napoleon's attention, and secur ...

(1785–1873) *

Marceline Desbordes-Valmore Marceline Desbordes-Valmore (20 June 1786 – 23 July 1859) was a French poet and novelist. She was born in Douai. Following the French Revolution, her father's business was ruined, and she traveled with her mother to Guadeloupe in search of fi ...

(1786–1859) * Alphonse Rabbe (1786–1829) * Élise Voïart (1786–1866) * François Guizot (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 Alphonse Marie Louis de Prat de Lamartine (; 21 October 179028 February 1869), was a French author, poet, and statesman who was instrumental in the foundation of the Second Republic and the continuation of the Tricolore as the flag of France. ...

(1790–1869) *

Victor Cousin Victor Cousin (; 28 November 179214 January 1867) was a French philosopher. He was the founder of "eclecticism", a briefly influential school of French philosophy that combined elements of German idealism and Scottish Common Sense Realism. As ...

(1792–1867) * Charles Paul de Kock (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 (4 April 179311 December 1843) was a French poet and dramatist. Life and career Delavigne was born at Le Havre, but was sent to Paris to be educated at the Lycée Napoleon. He read extensively. When, on 20 Marc ...

(Jean-François Casimir Delavigne) (1793–1843) * François Stoepel (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 (1795–1864) * Amédée Pichot (1795–1877) * Modeste Gruau (1795–1883) * Augustin Thierry (1795–1856) * Zulma Carraud (1796–1889) *

François Mignet François Auguste Marie Mignet (, 8 May 1796 – 24 March 1884) was a French journalist and historian of the French Revolution. Biography He was born in Aix-en-Provence (Bouches-du-Rhône), France. His father was a locksmith from the Vendé ...

(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 r ...

(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 noveli ...

(1797–1872) * Adolphe Thiers (1797–1877) * Auguste Comte (1798–1857) *

Eugène Delacroix Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix ( , ; 26 April 1798 – 13 August 1863) was a French Romantic artist regarded from the outset of his career as the leader of the French Romantic school.Noon, Patrick, et al., ''Crossing the Channel: Britis ...

(1798–1863) *

Charles Dezobry Louis Charles Dezobry (4 March 1798 – 16 August 1871) was a 19th-century French historian and historical novelist, born at St-Denis. Works * ''Rome au siècle d'Auguste, ou Voyage d'un Gaulois à Rome à l'époque du règne d'Auguste et p ...

(1798–1871) * Jules Michelet (1798–1874) * Sophie Rostopchine, Comtesse de Ségur (1799–1874) *

Honoré de Balzac Honoré de Balzac ( , more commonly , ; born Honoré Balzac;Jean-Louis Dega, La vie prodigieuse de Bernard-François Balssa, père d'Honoré de Balzac : Aux sources historiques de La Comédie humaine, Rodez, Subervie, 1998, 665 p. 20 May 179 ...

(1799–1850)

Nineteenth century

1800–1824

* Pierre Alexandre Jean Mollière (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 ''Les Misérables'' ( , ) is a French historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published in 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. In the English-speaking world, the novel is usually referred to by its origin ...

'', 1862) * Alexandre Dumas, père (1802–1870) *

Prosper Mérimée Prosper Mérimée (; 28 September 1803 – 23 September 1870) was a French writer in the movement of Romanticism, and one of the pioneers of the novella, a short novel or long short story. He was also a noted archaeologist and historian, and a ...

(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, ...

(1803–1875) * Eugène Daumas (1803–1871) *

Eugène Sue Marie-Joseph "Eugène" Sue (; 26 January 18043 August 1857) was a French novelist. He was one of several authors who popularized the genre of the serial novel in France with his very popular and widely imitated ''The Mysteries of Paris'', whic ...

(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 Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin de Francueil (; 1 July 1804 – 8 June 1876), best known by her pen name George Sand (), was a French novelist, memoirist and journalist. One of the most popular writers in Europe in her lifetime, bein ...

(Amandine-Lucie-Aurore Dupin, baronne Dudevant) (1804–1876) * Alexis Henri Charles Clérel, comte de Tocqueville (1805–1859) *

Jules-Romain Tardieu Jules-Romain Tardieu (28 January 1805 – 19 July 1868) was a French writer, publisher and bookseller. Biography Jules-Romain Tardieu was born on 28 January 1805 in Rouen, son of the painter Jean-Charles Tardieu. At the age of sixteen he joined ...

(1805–1868) *

Émile de Girardin Émile de Girardin (22 June 180227 April 1881) was a French journalist, publisher and politician. He was the most successful and flamboyant French journalist of the era, presenting himself as a promoter of mass education through mass journalism. ...

(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 transferr ...

(1806–1888) *

Émile Souvestre Émile Souvestre (April 15, 1806July 5, 1854) was a Breton novelist who was a native of Morlaix, Brittany. Initially unsuccessful as a writer of drama, he fared better as a novelist (he wrote a sci-fi novel, ''Le Monde Tel Qu'il Sera'') and as a ...

(1806–1854) *

Aloysius Bertrand Louis Jacques Napoléon Bertrand, better known by his pen name Aloysius Bertrand (20 April 1807 — 29 April 1841), was a French Romantic poet, playwright and journalist. He is famous for having introduced prose poetry in French literature,Stua ...

(1807–1841) *

Gérard de Nerval Gérard de Nerval (; 22 May 1808 – 26 January 1855) was the pen name of the French writer, poet, and translator Gérard Labrunie, a major figure of French romanticism, best known for his novellas and poems, especially the collection '' Les ...

(Gérard Labrunie) (1808–1855) * Jules-Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly (1808–1889) * Jacques Claude Demogeot (1808–1894) * Lucien de la Hodde (1808–1865) * Frédéric Villot (1809–1875) *

Petrus Borel Joseph-Pierre Borel d'Hauterive, known as Petrus Borel (26 June 1809 – 14 July 1859), was a French writer of the Romantic movement. Born at Lyon, the twelfth of fourteen children of an ironmonger, he studied architecture in Paris but abandoned ...

(1809–1859) *

Pierre-Joseph Proudhon Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (, , ; 15 January 1809, Besançon – 19 January 1865, Paris) was a French socialist,Landauer, Carl; Landauer, Hilde Stein; Valkenier, Elizabeth Kridl (1979) 959 "The Three Anticapitalistic Movements". ''European Socia ...

(1809–1865) *

Xavier Forneret Xavier Forneret (16 September 1809 in Beaune, Côte-d'Or – 7 August 1884) was a French writer; poet, playwright and journalist. Life Born in 1809 bourgeois family by the name Antoine Charles Ferdinand, he was one of the few members of the Ro ...

(1809–1884) *

Hégésippe Moreau Hégésippe Moreau (born Pierre-Jacques Roulliot; April 8, 1810December 20, 1838) was a French lyric poet. From birth, he was called by the last name of his biological father (Moreau) and took on the pseudonym Hégésippe when he first began pub ...

(1810–1838) *

Maurice de Guérin Georges-Maurice de Guérin (4 August 181019 July 1839) was a French poet. His works were imbued with a passion for nature whose intensity reached almost to worship and was enriched by pagan elements. According to Sainte-Beuve, no French poet or ...

(1810–1839) * Alfred de Musset (1810–1857) *

Joseph Bouchardy Joseph Bouchardy (1810–1870) was an author, playwright, engraver, and member of the Jeune France/ Bouzingo and Cénacle movements. The enormous popularity of his plays earned him the nickname "The King of the Boulevard." In 1868 he was given the ...

(1810–1870) * Alphonse Jolly (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 Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier ( , ; 30 August 1811 – 23 October 1872) was a French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, and art and literary critic. While an ardent defender of Romanticism, Gautier's work is difficult to classify and rema ...

(1811–1872) *

Louis Blanc Louis Jean Joseph Charles Blanc (; ; 29 October 1811 – 6 December 1882) was a French politician and historian. A socialist who favored reforms, he called for the creation of cooperatives in order to guarantee employment for the urban poor. Alt ...

(1811–1882) * Victor de Laprade (1812–1883) * Louis du Couret (1812–1867) * Eugène Bonnemère (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 Paul Henri Corentin Féval, ''père'' (29 September 1816 - 8 March 1887) was a French novelist and dramatist. He was the author of popular swashbuckler novels such as '' Le Loup blanc'' (1843) and the perennial best-seller '' Le Bossu'' (1857). ...

(1817–1887) * Adine Riom (1818–1899) * Charles-Marie Leconte de Lisle (1818–1894) * Eugène Despois (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 (1819–1883), travel writer * Eugène Fromentin (1820–1876) *

Émile Augier Guillaume Victor Émile Augier (; 17 September 182025 October 1889) was a French dramatist. He was the thirteenth member to occupy seat 1 of the Académie française on 31 March 1857. Biography Augier was born at Valence, Drôme, the grandson o ...

(1820–1889) * Antoine-Élisabeth-Cléophas Dareste de la Chavanne (1820–1882) * Jules Pizzetta (1820–1900) *

Charles Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a 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 exoticism inherited ...

(1821–1867) (''

Les Fleurs du mal ''Les Fleurs du mal'' (; en, The Flowers of Evil, italic=yes) is a volume of French poetry by Charles Baudelaire. ''Les Fleurs du mal'' includes nearly all Baudelaire's poetry, written from 1840 until his death in August 1867. First publish ...

'', 1857) *

Gustave Flaubert Gustave Flaubert ( , , ; 12 December 1821 – 8 May 1880) was a French novelist. Highly influential, he has been considered the leading exponent of literary realism in his country. According to the literary theorist Kornelije Kvas, "in Flauber ...

(1821–1880) (''

Madame Bovary ''Madame Bovary'' (; ), originally published as ''Madame Bovary: Provincial Manners'' ( ), is a novel by French writer Gustave Flaubert, published in 1856. The eponymous character lives beyond her means in order to escape the banalities and emp ...

'', 1857) *

Octave Feuillet Octave Feuillet (11 July 1821 – 29 December 1890) was a French novelist and dramatist. His work stands midway between the romanticists and the realists. He is renowned for his "distinguished and lucid portraiture of life", depictions of fem ...

(1821–1890) * Jules-François-Félix Husson a/k/a Champfleury (1821–1889) *

Edmond de Goncourt Edmond Louis Antoine Huot de Goncourt (; 26 May 182216 July 1896) was a French writer, literary critic, art critic, book publisher and the founder of the Académie Goncourt. Biography Goncourt was born in Nancy. His parents, Marc-Pierre Huot d ...

(1822–1896) *

Erckmann-Chatrian Erckmann-Chatrian was the name used by French authors Émile Erckmann (1822–1899) and Alexandre Chatrian (1826–1890), nearly all of whose works were jointly written.Mary Ellen Snodgrass, ''Encyclopedia of Gothic Literature''. New York, Facts ...

(Emile Erckmann & Alexandre Chatrian) (1822–1899 & 1826–1890) * Louis-Nicolas Ménard (1822–1901) *

Théodore de Banville Théodore Faullain de Banville (14 March 1823 – 13 March 1891) was a French poet and writer. His work was influential on the Symbolist movement in French literature in the late 19th century. Biography Banville was born in Moulins in Allier, A ...

(1823–1891) * Ernest Renan (1823–1892) *

Alexandre Dumas, fils Alexandre Dumas (; 27 July 1824 – 27 November 1895) was a French author and playwright, best known for the romantic novel ''La Dame aux Camélias'' (''The Lady of the Camellias''), published in 1848, which was adapted into Giuseppe Verdi's 1 ...

(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 (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 ...

(Nizier du Puitspelu) (1827–1896) *

Edmond About Edmond is a given name related to Edmund. Persons named Edmond include: * Edmond Canaple (1797–1876), French politician * Edmond Chehade (born 1993), Lebanese footballer * Edmond Conn (1914–1998), American farmer, businessman, and politician ...

(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 (1828–1905) * Pauline Cassin Caro (1828/34/35 - 1901) *

Zénaïde Fleuriot Zénaïde-Marie-Anne Fleuriot (28 October 1829 – 19 December 1890), was a French novelist. She wrote eighty three novels, all aimed at young women, most of which were published in the series Bibliothèque rose and Bibliothèque bleue. Her writin ...

(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 b ...

(1830–1870) *

Hector Malot Hector-Henri Malot (Hector Malot) (20 May 1830 – 18 July 1907) was a French writer born in La Bouille, Seine-Maritime. He studied law in Rouen and Paris, but eventually literature became his passion. He worked as a dramatic critic for ''Lloyd ...

(1830–1907) *

Henri Rochefort Henri is an Estonian, Finnish, French, German and Luxembourgish form of the masculine given name Henry. People with this given name ; French noblemen :'' See the ' List of rulers named Henry' for Kings of France named Henri.'' * Henri I de Mon ...

(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' ...

(1831–1897) *

Victorien Sardou Victorien Sardou ( , ; 5 September 18318 November 1908) was a French dramatist. He is best remembered today for his development, along with Eugène Scribe, of the well-made play. He also wrote several plays that were made into popular 19th-centur ...

(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 Gab ...

(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 (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 ...

(1834–1908) * Jean-Marie Déguignet (1834–1905) *

Amélie Gex Amélie Rose Françoise Gex (October 24, 1835 in La Chapelle-Blanche, Savoie – June 16, 1883 in Chambéry) was a Savoyard writer and poet who created works in French language, French and Franco-Provençal language, Franco-Provençal (Arpitan). Un ...

(Dian de la Jeânna) (1835–1883) * Félix Narjoux (1836–1891) * Jules Simon Troubat (1836–1914) *

Constant Fouard Constant Fouard (6 August 1837 at Elbeuf, near Rouen – 1903) was a French ecclesiastical writer. Life His early life was a preparation for the work on which his fame rests. He studied the classics at Bois-Guillaume, philosophy at Issy (1855- ...

(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 wor ...

(1837–1899) * Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam (1838–1889) *

Lucie Boissonnas Lucie Boissonnas (née, Bessirard de La Touche; pen name, Mme. B. Boissonnas; 20 April 1839 - 3 May 1877) was a 19th-century French writer. She was the recipient of the Montyon Prize in 1874 for ''Une famille pendant la guerre'' (1873). Boissonna ...

(1839 -1877) *

Sully Prudhomme René François Armand "Sully" Prudhomme (; 16 March 1839 – 6 September 1907) was a French poet and essayist. He was the first winner of the 1901 Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Prize in Literature in 1901. Born in Paris, Prudhomme originall ...

(1839–1907) * Jules Lermina (1839–1913) *

Alphonse Daudet Alphonse Daudet (; 13 May 184016 December 1897) was a French novelist. He was the husband of Julia Daudet and father of Edmée, Léon and Lucien Daudet. Early life Daudet was born in Nîmes, France. His family, on both sides, belonged to the ...

(1840–1897) *

Émile Zola Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola (, also , ; 2 April 184029 September 1902) was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of naturalism, and an important contributor to the development of ...

(1840–1902) *

Arvède Barine Arvède Barine (17 November 1840 – 14 November 1908), was a French writer and historian. Arvède Barine was the pseudonym of Mme. Charles Vincens, born Louise-Cécile Bouffé on 17 November 1840. She mostly wrote on the subject of women, but sh ...

(1840–1908) *

Jules Claretie Jules is the French form of the Latin "Julius" (e.g. Jules César, the French name for Julius Caesar). It is the given name of: People with the name *Jules Aarons (1921–2008), American space physicist and photographer * Jules Abadie (1876–19 ...

(1840–1913) * Catulle Mendès (1841–1909) *

Charles Cros Charles Cros or Émile-Hortensius-Charles Cros (October 1, 1842 – August 9, 1888) was a French poet and inventor. He was born in Fabrezan, Aude. Cros was a well-regarded poet and humorous writer. As an inventor, he was interested in the field ...

(1842–1888) * Stéphane Mallarmé (1842–1898) *

José María de Heredia José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , is an old vernacu ...

(1842–1905) *

François Coppée François Edouard Joachim Coppée (26 January 1842 – 23 May 1908) was a French poet and novelist. Biography Coppée was born in Paris to a civil servant. After attending the Lycée Saint-Louis he became a clerk in the ministry of war and won ...

(1842–1908) * Albert Sorel (1842–1906) * René de Lespinasse (1843–1922) *

Paul Arène Paul-Auguste Arène (26 June 1843 – 17 December 1896) was a Provençal poet and French writer. Biography Arène was born in Sisteron, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, the son of Adolphe, a clockmaker, and Reine, a cap presser. He studied in Marseill ...

(1843–1896) *

Paul Verlaine Paul-Marie Verlaine (; ; 30 March 1844 – 8 January 1896) was a French poet associated with the Symbolist movement and the Decadent movement. He is considered one of the greatest representatives of the '' fin de siècle'' in international and ...

(1844–1896) *

Anatole France (; born , ; 16 April 1844 – 12 October 1924) was a French poet, journalist, and novelist with several best-sellers. Ironic and skeptical, he was considered in his day the ideal French man of letters. He was a member of the Académie França ...

(Anatole François Thibault) (1844–1924) *

Tristan Corbière Tristan Corbière (18 July 1845 – 1 March 1875), born Édouard-Joachim Corbière, was a French poet born in Coat-Congar, Ploujean (now part of Morlaix) in Brittany, where he lived most of his life before dying of tuberculosis at the age of 29 ...

(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 (1846) * Henri François Marion (1846–1896) * Geoffroi Jacques Flach (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 M ...

(1847-1938) *

Émile Faguet Auguste Émile Faguet (; 17 December 18477 June 1916) was a French author and literary critic. Biography Faguet was born at La Roche-sur-Yon, Vendée, and educated at the École normale supérieure in Paris. After teaching for some time in La R ...

(1847–1916) *

Joris-Karl Huysmans Charles-Marie-Georges Huysmans (, ; 5 February 1848 – 12 May 1907) was a French novelist and art critic who published his works as Joris-Karl Huysmans (, variably abbreviated as J. K. or J.-K.). He is most famous for the novel '' À rebour ...

(1848–1907) *

Octave Mirbeau Octave Mirbeau (16 February 1848 – 16 February 1917) was a French novelist, art critic, travel writer, pamphleteer, journalist and playwright, who achieved celebrity in Europe and great success among the public, whilst still appealing to the ...

(1848–1917) * Georges de Peyrebrune (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-G ...

(1849–1906) *

Jean Richepin Jean Richepin (; 4 February 1849 – 12 December 1926) was a French poet, novelist and dramatist. Biography Son of an army doctor, Jean Richepin was born 4 February 1849 at Médéa, French Algeria. At school and at the École Normale Supé ...

(1849–1926) *

Georges de Porto-Riche Georges de Porto-Riche (20 May 1849, Bordeaux, Gironde – 5 September 1930, Paris) was a French dramatist and novelist. Biography Georges was born into a Jewish-Italian assimilated family. At the age of twenty, his pieces in verse began to b ...

(1849–1930)

1850–1859

Guy de Maupassant Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant (, ; ; 5 August 1850 – 6 July 1893) was a 19th-century French author, remembered as a master of the short story form, as well as a representative of the Naturalist school, who depicted human lives, destin ...

(1850–1893) *

Pierre Loti Pierre Loti (; pseudonym of Louis Marie-Julien Viaud ; 14 January 1850 – 10 June 1923) was a French naval officer and novelist, known for his exotic novels and short stories.This article is derived largely from the ''Encyclopædia Britannica El ...

(Julien Viaud) (1850–1923) * Gyp (1850–1932) * Germain Nouveau (1851–1920) *

Élémir Bourges Élémir Bourges (26 March 1852, Manosque, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence – 13 November 1925) was a French novelist. A winner of the Goncourt Prize, he was also a member of the Académie Goncourt. Bourges, who accused the Naturalists of having "belit ...

(1852–1925) *

Paul Bourget Paul Charles Joseph Bourget (; 2 September 185225 December 1935) was a French poet, novelist and critic. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature five times. Life Paul Bourget was born in Amiens in the Somme ''département'' of Picar ...

(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 Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud (, ; 20 October 1854 – 10 November 1891) was a French poet known for his transgressive and surreal themes and for his influence on modern literature and arts, prefiguring surrealism. Born in Charleville, he start ...

(1854–1891),

Une Saison en Enfer Une is a municipality and town of Colombia in the Eastern Province, part of the department of Cundinamarca. The urban centre is located at an altitude of at a distance of from the capital Bogotá. The municipality borders Chipaque in the nort ...

Alphonse Allais Alphonse Allais (20 October 1854 – 28 October 1905) was a French writer, journalist and humorist. Life Allais was born in Honfleur, Calvados (department), Calvados. He died in Paris. Work He is the author of many collections of whimsical writ ...

(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 (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 Lit ...

(1855–1916) * Adolphe Chenevière (1855–1917) * Noël Valois (1855–1915) * Marie Lion (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 a ...

(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 gene ...

(1857–1934) *

Albert Samain Albert Victor Samain (3 April 185818 August 1900) was a French poet and writer of the Symbolist school. Life and works Born in Lille, his family were Flemish and had long lived in the town or its suburbs. At the time of the poet's birth, his fat ...

(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 his ...

(1858–1915) *

Remy de Gourmont Remy de Gourmont (4 April 1858 – 27 September 1915) was a French symbolist poet, novelist, and influential critic. He was widely read in his era, and an important influence on Blaise Cendrars and Georges Bataille. The spelling ''Rémy'' de Gour ...

(1858–1915) *

Émile Durkheim David Émile Durkheim ( or ; 15 April 1858 – 15 November 1917) was a French sociologist. Durkheim formally established the academic discipline of sociology and is commonly cited as one of the principal architects of modern social science, al ...

(1858–1917) * Alfred Capus (1858–1922) * Georges Courteline (Georges Moineaux) (1858–1929) *

Neel Doff Cornelia Hubertina "Neel" Doff ( Buggenum, Netherlands, 27 January 1858 – Ixelles, Belgium, 14 July 1942) was an author of Dutch origin living and working in Belgium and mainly writing in French. She is one of the most important contributors ...

(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 Gustave Belot (7 August 1859 – 21 December 1929) was a French philosopher and educational administrator. Gustave Belot was born 7 August 1859 at Strasbourg,''Archives de psychologie'', Vol. 23, 1932, p.77 the son of a professor in the faculty of ...

(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 B ...

(1859–1926) *

Gustave Kahn Gustave Kahn (21 December 1859, in Metz – 5 September 1936, in Paris) was a French Symbolist poet and art critic. He was also active, via publishing and essay-writing, in defining Symbolism and distinguishing it from the Decadent Movement. P ...

(1859–1936) * 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-symbol ...

(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 (1860–1918) *

Paul Roux Paul Roux is a small town in the Free State province of South Africa that produces poplar wood for the safety match industry. It is situated on the N5 highway near Bethlehem, Free State. It was named after a well-known Dutch Reformed Church lea ...

a/k/a Saint-Pol-Roux le Magnifique (1861–1940) * Paul Adam (1862–1920) *

Georges Darien Georges Darien (pseudonym for Georges Hippolyte Adrien; 1862–1921) was a French writer associated with anarchism and an outspoken advocate of Georgism Georgism, also called in modern times Geoism, and known historically as the single tax mo ...

(1862–1921) *

Georges Feydeau Georges-Léon-Jules-Marie Feydeau (; 8 December 1862 – 5 June 1921) was a French playwright of the era known as the Belle Époque. He is remembered for his farces, written between 1886 and 1914. Feydeau was born in Paris to middle-class parent ...

(1862–1921) * Maurice Barrès (1862–1923) *

Maurice Maeterlinck Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck (29 August 1862 – 6 May 1949), also known as Count (or Comte) Maeterlinck from 1932, was a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist who was Flemish but wrote in French. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in ...

(1862–1949) * Stuart Merrill (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 Pierre-Jules Renard (; 22 February 1864 – 22 May 1910) was a French author and member of the Académie Goncourt, most famous for the works '' Poil de carotte'' (Carrot Top, 1894) and ''Les Histoires Naturelles'' (Nature Stories, 1896). Among ...

(1864–1910) *

Henri de Régnier Henri-François-Joseph de Régnier (28 December 1864 – 23 May 1936) was a French symbolist poet, considered one of the most important of France during the early 20th century. Life and works He was born in Honfleur ( Calvados) on 28 December 1 ...

(1864–1936) * Léon Broutin (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 Juliette Heuzey (after marriage, Goyau; pen names, Jules-Philippe Heuzey, J.Ph. Heuzey, Mme. Georges Goyau; 1 January 1865 – 7 July 1952) was a French writer. She was a recipient of the Montyon Prize. Biography Juliette Heuzey was born 1 Janua ...

(1865-1952) *

Romain Rolland Romain Rolland (; 29 January 1866 – 30 December 1944) was a French dramatist, novelist, essayist, art historian and mystic who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1915 "as a tribute to the lofty idealism of his literary production a ...

(1866–1944) *

Tristan Bernard Tristan Bernard (7 September 1866 – 7 December 1947) was a French playwright, novelist, journalist and lawyer. Life He studied law, and after his military service, he started his career as the manager of an aluminium smelter. In the 1890s, ...

(1866–1947) * Fortunat Strowski (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 (1866–1954) * René Boylesve (René Tardivaux) (1867–1926 *

Jehan Rictus Jehan Rictus (21 September 1867 – 6 November 1933) was a French poet. He was born Gabriel Randon in Boulogne-sur-Mer. In the 1900s, he legally changed his name to his mother's name Randon de Saint-Amand. After an unhappy childhood and poor begi ...

(Gabriel Randon) (1867–1933) *

Léon Daudet Léon Daudet (; 16 November 1867 – 2 July 1942) was a French journalist, writer, an active monarchist, and a member of the Académie Goncourt. Move to the right Daudet was born in Paris. His father was the novelist Alphonse Daudet, his moth ...

(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 Bol ...

(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 (1868–1918) *

Gaston Leroux Gaston Louis Alfred Leroux (6 May 186815 April 1927) was a French journalist and author of detective fiction. In the English-speaking world, he is best known for writing the novel '' The Phantom of the Opera'' (french: Le Fantôme de l'Opéra, ...

(1868–1927) (''

The Phantom of the Opera ''The Phantom of the Opera'' (french: Le Fantôme de l'Opéra) is a novel by French author Gaston Leroux. It was first published as a serial in from 23 September 1909 to 8 January 1910, and was released in volume form in late March 1910 by Pier ...

'', ''

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 (1868–1936) * Francis Jammes (1868–1938) * Émile Auguste Chartier a/k/a "Alain" (1868–1951) *

Paul Claudel Paul Claudel (; 6 August 1868 – 23 February 1955) was a French poet, dramatist and diplomat, and the younger brother of the sculptor Camille Claudel. He was most famous for his verse dramas, which often convey his devout Catholicism. Early lif ...

(1868–1955) * André Spire (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 Augustin Chaboseau (17 June 1868 – 2 January 1946) is the original organizer and promulgation officer of the Traditional Martinist Order (TMO), Occultist and Historian. Notably, his founding was in partnership with Papus in 1888. In his earl ...

(1868–1946) *

André Gide André Paul Guillaume Gide (; 22 November 1869 – 19 February 1951) was a French author and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature (in 1947). Gide's career ranged from its beginnings in the symbolist movement, to the advent of anticolonialism ...

(1869–1951)

1870–1879

* Marcelle Tinayre (1870–1948) * Henri Bordeaux (1870–1963) *

Pierre Louÿs Pierre Louÿs (; 10 December 1870 – 4 June 1925) was a French poet and writer, most renowned for lesbian and classical themes in some of his writings. He is known as a writer who sought to "express pagan sensuality with stylistic perfection". ...

(Pierre Louis) (1870–1925) * Maximilien Winter (1871–1935) * André Chéradame (1871–1948) *

Albert Geouffre de Lapradelle Albert Geouffre de Lapradelle, LL.D. (1871-1955) was a French jurisconsult, born in Tulle. He taught in Grenoble and in Paris. He published numerous works on international questions, such as disarmament, rights over territorial waters, and the in ...

(1871–1955) * Gaston Brière (1871–1962) * Marcel Proust (1871–1922), '' In Search of Lost Time'' *

Paul Valéry Ambroise Paul Toussaint Jules Valéry (; 30 October 1871 – 20 July 1945) was a French poet, essayist, and philosopher. In addition to his poetry and fiction (drama and dialogues), his interests included aphorisms on art, history, letters, mus ...

(1871–1945) *

Louis Madelin Louis Emile Marie Madelin (8 May 1871 – 18 August 1956) was a French historian (specialising in the French Revolution and First French Empire) and a Republican Federation deputy for Vosges from 1924 to 1928. He is buried at the Cimetière de G ...

(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 atten ...

(1872–1922) * Robert de Flers (1872–1927) *

Paul Fort Jules-Jean-Paul Fort (1 February 1872 – 20 April 1960) was a French poet associated with the Symbolist movement. At the age of 18, reacting against the Naturalistic theatre, Fort founded the Théâtre d'Art (1890–93). He also founded and edit ...

(1872–1960) * Alfred Jarry (1873–1907) *

Charles Péguy Charles Pierre Péguy (; 7 January 1873 – 5 September 1914) was a French poet, essayist, and editor. His two main philosophies were socialism and nationalism. By 1908 at the latest, after years of uneasy agnosticism, he had become a believing b ...

(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 (; 28 January 1873 – 3 August 1954), known mononymously as Colette, was a French author and woman of letters. She was also a mime, actress, and journalist. Colette is best known in the English-speaking world for her ...

(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 (1874–1936) *

Tristan Klingsor Tristan Klingsor, birth name (Arthur Justin) Léon Leclère (born Lachapelle-aux-Pots, Oise department, 8 August 1874; died Nogent-sur-Marne, 3 August 1966), was a French poet, musician, painter and art critic, best known for his artistic associat ...

(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 Raymond Roussel (; 20 January 1877 – 14 July 1933) was a French poet, novelist, playwright, musician, and chess enthusiast. Through his novels, poems, and plays he exerted a profound influence on certain groups within 20th century French litera ...

(1877–1933) * Oscar Venceslas de Lubicz-Milosz (1877–1939) *

Charles Ferdinand Ramuz Charles Ferdinand Ramuz (24 September 1878 – 23 May 1947) was a French-speaking Swiss writer. Biography He was born in Lausanne in the canton of Vaud and was educated at the University of Lausanne. He taught briefly in nearby Aubonne, and ...

, dit C. F. Ramuz (1878–1947) *

Victor Segalen Victor Segalen (14 January 1878 – 21 May 1919) was a French naval doctor, ethnographer, archeologist, writer, poet, explorer, art-theorist, linguist and literary critic. He was born in Brest. He studied medicine and graduated at the Navy ...

(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 (1879–1973)

1880–1889

Louis Hémon Louis Hémon (12 October 1880 – 8 July 1913), was a French writer best known for his novel ''Maria Chapdelaine''. Biography He was born in Brest, France. In Paris, where he resided with his family, he was enrolled in the Montaigne and Loui ...

(1880–1913) *

Guillaume Apollinaire Guillaume Apollinaire) of the Wąż coat of arms. (; 26 August 1880 – 9 November 1918) was a French poet, playwright, short story writer, novelist, and art critic of Polish descent. Apollinaire is considered one of the foremost poets of t ...

(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 Durand) (1880–1959) * Alzir Hella (1881–1953) *

Valery Larbaud Valery Larbaud (29 August 1881 – 2 February 1957) was a French writer and poet. Life He was born in Vichy, the only child of a pharmacist. His father died when he was 8, and he was brought up by his mother and aunt. His father had been owner ...

(1881–1957) * Roger Martin du Gard (1881–1958) * André Salmon (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 ...

(1881–1970) *

Louis Pergaud Louis Pergaud (22 January 1882 – 8 April 1915) was a French novelist, war poet, and soldier, whose principal works were known as "Animal Stories" due to his featuring animals of the Franche-Comté in lead roles. His most notable work was the no ...

(1882–1915) *

Jean Giraudoux Hippolyte Jean Giraudoux (; 29 October 1882 – 31 January 1944) was a French novelist, essayist, diplomat and playwright. He is considered among the most important French dramatists of the period between World War I and World War II. His wo ...

(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 ...

(1882–1971) * Pierre MacOrlan (Pierre Dumarchais) (1883–1970) *

Rose Combe Rose Combe, born Marie-Rosalie Bugne (14 September 1883 – 24 September 1932), was a French railway worker and writer, viewed as an archetype of Proletarian literature. Born into a poor family, despite receiving little education, she was a vorac ...

(1883–1932) * Marie Noël (1883–1933) * Auguste Detœuf (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 Gaston Bachelard (; ; 27 June 1884 – 16 October 1962) was a French philosopher. He made contributions in the fields of poetics and the philosophy of science. To the latter, he introduced the concepts of ''epistemological obstacle'' and '' epis ...

(1884–1962) *

Georges Duhamel Georges Duhamel (; ; 30 June 1884 – 13 April 1966) was a French author, born in Paris. Duhamel trained as a doctor, and during World War I was attached to the French Army. In 1920, he published '' Confession de minuit'', the first of a serie ...

(1884–1966) * Jacques Chardonne (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 (1884–1973) * Georges Ribemont-Dessaignes (1884–1974) * René Hubert (1885–1954) * Sacha Guitry (1885–1957) * André Maurois (Emile Herzog) (1885–1967) *

Fernand Crommelynck Fernand Crommelynck (19 November 1886 – 17 March 1970) was a Belgian dramatist. His work is known for farces in which commonplace weaknesses are developed into monumental obsessions. Biography He was born into a family of actors, the child ...

(1885–1970) *

Jules Romains Jules Romains (born Louis Henri Jean Farigoule; 26 August 1885 – 14 August 1972) was a French poet and writer and the founder of the Unanimism literary movement. His works include the play '' Knock ou le Triomphe de la médecine'', and a cycle ...

(Jules-Louis de Farigoule) (1885–1972) * Marthe Bibesco (1885–1973) * Alain-Fournier (Henri Fournier) (1886–1914) *

Francis Carco Francis Carco (born François Carcopino-Tusoli) (1886–1958) was a French author, born at Nouméa, New Caledonia. He was a poet, belonging to the ''Fantaisiste'' school, a novelist, a dramatist, and art critic for ''L'Homme libre'' and ''Gil Blas ...

(François Carcopino-Tusoli) (1886–1958) * Pierre Benoit (1886–1962) * Geneviève Fauconnier (1886–1969) *

Roland Dorgelès Roland Dorgelès (; 15 June 1885 – 18 March 1973) was a French novelist and a member of the Académie Goncourt. Born in Amiens, Somme, under the name Roland Lecavelé (he adopted the pen name Dorgelès to commemorate visits to the spa town of ...

(Roland Lecavelé) (1886–1973) * Jean-Charles Roman d'Amat (1887–1976) *

Henri Pourrat The French writer and folklore collector Henri Pourrat was born in 1887 in Ambert, a town in the mountainous Auvergne region of central France. He died near Ambert in 1959. Biography Born to an Ambert shop-owner, Pourrat finished secondary school ...

(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 ...

(1887-1960) *

Blaise Cendrars Frédéric-Louis Sauser (1 September 1887 – 21 January 1961), better known as Blaise Cendrars, was a Swiss-born novelist and poet who became a naturalized French citizen in 1916. He was a writer of considerable influence in the European mo ...

(1887–1961) *

François Mauriac François Charles Mauriac (, oc, Francés Carles Mauriac; 11 October 1885 – 1 September 1970) was a French novelist, dramatist, critic, poet, and journalist, a member of the'' Académie française'' (from 1933), and laureate of the Nobel Prize ...

(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 (1887–1976) *

Marcel Martinet Marcel Martinet (Dijon, 22 August 1887 – Saumur, 18 February 1944) was a French pacifist socialist revolutionary militant and a Proletarian literature, prolétarian writer. Life Martinet, a Communist and pacifist, opposed the First World War from ...

(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 defe ...

(1888–1948) *

Henri Bosco Henri Bosco (16 November 1888 – 4 May 1976) was a French writer. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature four times. Life Bosco was born in Avignon, Vaucluse into a family of Provençal, Ligurian and Piedmontese origin. Through ...

(1888–1976) *

Paul Morand Paul Morand (13 March 1888 – 24 July 1976) was a French author whose short stories and novellas were lauded for their style, wit and descriptive power. His most productive literary period was the interwar period of the 1920s and 1930s. He was mu ...

(1888–1976) *

Marcel Jouhandeau Marcel Jouhandeau (July 26, 1888 Guéret – April 7, 1979) was a French writer. Biography Born in Guéret, Creuse, France, Marcel Jouhandeau grew up in a world of women presided over by his grandmother. Under the influence of a young woman from ...

(1888–1979) * Jacques de Lacretelle (1888–1985) * Tristan Derème (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 Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (, , ; 5 July 1889 – 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, filmmaker, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost creatives of the s ...

(1889–1963) * Émile Henriot (1889–1961)

1890–1899

Maurice Genevoix Maurice Genevoix (; 29 November 1890 – 8 September 1980) was a French author. Life Born on 29 November 1890 at Decize, Nièvre as Maurice-Charles-Louis-Genevoix, Genevoix spent his childhood in Châteauneuf-sur-Loire. After attending the loca ...

(1890–1980) *

Victor Serge Victor Serge (; 1890–1947), born Victor Lvovich Kibalchich (russian: Ви́ктор Льво́вич Киба́льчич), was a Russian revolutionary Marxist, novelist, poet and historian. Originally an anarchist, he joined the Bolsheviks fi ...

(1890–1947) * Leilah Mahi (1890–1932) * Édouard Dunglas (1891–1952) * La Mazille (1891–1984) *

Max Ernst Max Ernst (2 April 1891 – 1 April 1976) was a German (naturalised American in 1948 and French in 1958) painter, sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and Surrealis ...

(1891–1976) *

Pierre Drieu La Rochelle Pierre Eugène Drieu La Rochelle (; 3 January 1893 – 15 March 1945) was a French writer of novels, short stories and political essays. He was born, lived and died in Paris. Drieu La Rochelle became a proponent of French fascism in the 1930s, ...

(1893–1945) * Edmond Brazès (1893 - 1980) * Luc Benoist (1893–1980) * Paul Foulquié (1893–1983) * Claude Cahun (Lucy Schwob) (1894–1954) *

Louis-Ferdinand Céline Louis Ferdinand Auguste Destouches (27 May 1894 – 1 July 1961), better known by the pen name Louis-Ferdinand Céline ( , ) was a French novelist, polemicist and physician. His first novel ''Journey to the End of the Night'' (1932) won the '' Pr ...

(Louis Destouches) (1894–1961) (''

Voyage au bout de la nuit ''Journey to the End of the Night'' (french: Voyage au bout de la nuit, 1932) is the first novel by Louis-Ferdinand Céline. This semi-autobiographical work follows the adventures of Ferdinand Bardamu in the World War I, colonial Africa, the Un ...

'', 1932) *

Paul Éluard Paul Éluard (), born Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (; 14 December 1895 – 18 November 1952), was a French poet and one of the founders of the Surrealist movement. In 1916, he chose the name Paul Éluard, a matronymic borrowed from his maternal ...

(Eugène Grindel) (1895–1952) *

Jean Giono Jean Giono (30 March 1895 – 8 October 1970) was a French writer who wrote works of fiction mostly set in the Provence region of France. First period Jean Giono was born to a family of modest means, his father a cobbler of Piedmontese descent a ...

(1895–1970) *

Marcel Pagnol Marcel Paul Pagnol (; 28 February 1895 – 18 April 1974) was a French novelist, playwright, and filmmaker. Regarded as an auteur, in 1946, he became the first filmmaker elected to the Académie française. Although his work is less fashionabl ...

(1895–1974) * Albert Cohen (1895–1981) * Antonin Artaud (1896–1948) * André Breton (1896–1966) *

Henry de Montherlant Henry Marie Joseph Frédéric Expedite Millon de Montherlant (; 20 April 1895 – 21 September 1972) was a French essayist, novelist, and dramatist. He was elected to the Académie française in 1960. Biography Born in Paris, a descendant ...

(Henry Millon de Montherlant) (1896–1972) *

Paulette Nardal Paulette Nardal (12 October 1896 – 16 February 1985) was a French writer from Martinique, a journalist, and one of the drivers of the development of black literary consciousness. She was one of the authors involved in the creation of the Négrit ...

(1896–1995) *

Tristan Tzara Tristan Tzara (; ; born Samuel or Samy Rosenstock, also known as S. Samyro; – 25 December 1963) was a Romanian and French avant-garde poet, essayist and performance artist. Also active as a journalist, playwright, literary and art critic, comp ...

(1896–1963) * Elsa Triolet (1896–1970) *

Louis Aragon Louis Aragon (, , 3 October 1897 – 24 December 1982) was a French poet who was one of the leading voices of the surrealist movement in France. He co-founded with André Breton and Philippe Soupault the surrealist review ''Littérature''. He ...

(1897–1982) * Georges Bataille (1897–1962) *

Joë Bousquet Joë Bousquet (; 19 March 1897 – 28 September 1950) was a French poet. Bousquet was born in Narbonne. Wounded on 27 May 1918 at Vailly near the Aisne battlelines at the end of the First World War, he was paralysed for the rest of his life, an ...

(1897–1950) *

Philippe Soupault Philippe Soupault (2 August 1897 – 12 March 1990) was a French writer and poet, novelist, critic, and political activist. He was active in Dadaism and later was instrumental in founding the Surrealist movement with André Breton. Soupault in ...

(1897–1990) *

Marcel Thiry Marcel Thiry (13 March 1897 – 5 September 1977) was a French-speaking Belgian poet. During World War I, he and his brother Oscar served in the Belgian Expeditionary Corps in Russia. He was awarded the Prix Valery Larbaud in 1976 for '' Toi qui ...

(1897–1977) *

Eugène Dabit Eugene Dabit (21 September 1898 in Mers-les-Bains – 21 August 1936 in Sevastopol) was a French socialist writer. He was part of the group "proletarian literature" and had a great success for his novel ''L'Hôtel du Nord'' which won the du ...

(1898–1936) *

Michel de Ghelderode Michel de Ghelderode (born Adémar Adolphe Louis Martens, 3 April 1898 – 1 April 1962) was an avant-garde Belgian dramatist, from Flanders, who spoke and wrote in French. His works often deal with the extremes of human experience, from death an ...

(1898–1962) *

Joseph Kessel Joseph Kessel (10 February 1898 – 23 July 1979), also known as "Jef", was a French journalist and novelist. He was a member of the Académie française and Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour. Biography Kessel was born to a Jewish family in ...

(1898–1979) * Paul Vialar (1898–1996) * Louise Noëlle Malclès (1899–1977) *

Roger Vitrac Roger Vitrac (; 17 November 1899 – 22 January 1952) was a French surrealist playwright and poet. Early life Roger Vitrac was born in Pinsac on 17 November 1899, before his family moved to Paris in 1910.:527 As a young man, he was influenced b ...

(1899–1952) * Pierre Virion (1899–1988) * Jacques Audiberti (1899–1965) *

Marcel Achard Marcel Achard (5 July 1899 – 4 September 1974) was a French playwright and screenwriter whose popular sentimental comedies Garzanti p. 3 maintained his position as a highly recognizable name in his country's theatrical and literary circles ...

(1899–1974) * Louis Guilloux (1899–1980) *

Henri Michaux Henri Michaux (; 24 May 1899 – 19 October 1984) was a Belgian-born French poet, writer and painter. Michaux is renowned for his strange, highly original poetry and prose, and also for his art: the Paris Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim ...

(1899–1984) * Marcel Arland (1899–1986) * Marcelle Auclair (1899–1983) *

Armand Salacrou Armand Camille Salacrou (9 August 1899 – 23 November 1989) was a French dramatist. Biography He was born in Rouen, but spent most of his childhood at Le Havre, and moved to Paris in 1917. His first works show the influence of the Surrealis ...

(1899–1989) *

Francis Ponge Francis Jean Gaston Alfred Ponge (; 27 March 1899 – 6 August 1988) was a French essayist and poet. Influenced by surrealism, he developed a form of prose poem, minutely examining everyday objects. He was the third recipient of the Neustadt Inter ...

(1899–1988)

Twentieth century

1900–1909

* Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900–1944) *

Robert Desnos Robert Desnos (; 4 July 1900 – 8 June 1945) was a French poet who played a key role in the Surrealist movement of his day. Biography Robert Desnos was born in Paris on 4 July 1900, the son of a licensed dealer in game and poultry at the '' H ...

(1900–1945) *

Jacques Prévert Jacques Prévert (; 4 February 1900 – 11 April 1977) was a French poet and screenwriter. His poems became and remain popular in the French-speaking world, particularly in schools. His best-regarded films formed part of the poetic realist moveme ...

(1900–1977) *

André Chamson André Chamson (6 June 1900 – 9 November 1983) was a French archivist, novelist and essayist. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature. He was the father of the novelist . Biography Chamson was born at Nîmes, Gard. Having studi ...

(1900–1983) * André Dhôtel (1900–1991) * Albert Ayguesparse (1900–1996) *

Julien Green Julien Green (September 6, 1900 – August 13, 1998) was an American writer who authored several novels (''The Dark Journey'', ''The Closed Garden'', ''Moira'', ''Each Man in His Darkness'', the ''Dixie'' trilogy, etc.), a four-volume autobiog ...

(1900–1998) *

Nathalie Sarraute Nathalie Sarraute (; born Natalia Ilinichna Tcherniak ( rus, Ната́лья Ильи́нична Черня́к); – 19 October 1999) was a French writer and lawyer. Personal life Sarraute was born in Ivanovo-Voznesensk (now Ivanovo), 300&n ...

(1900–1999) *

Amadou Hampâté Bâ Amadou Hampâté Bâ ( ff, 𞤀𞤸𞤥𞤢𞤣𞤵 𞤖𞤢𞤥𞤨𞤢𞥄𞤼𞤫 𞤄𞤢𞥄, Ahmadu Hampaate Baa, 1900/1901 – 15 May 1991) was a Malian writer, historian and ethnologist. He was an influential figure in twentieth-cent ...

(1900 or 1901–1991) *

Georges Limbour Georges Limbour (Courbevoie, 11 August 1900 — Chiclana de la Frontera, near Cadiz, 17 May 1970)Colin-Pichon, M., Georges Limbour: le songe autobiographique, Lachenal & Ritter, Paris, 1994, pp. 209–219 was a French writer, poet and art critic, ...

(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)