French literature () generally speaking, is literature written in the French language, particularly by French citizens; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional

languages of France French is the sole official language in France according to the second article of the French Constitution. French, a Gallo-Romance language, is spoken by nearly the entire population of France. In addition to French, several regional langua ...

other than French. Literature written in the French language by citizens of other nations such as

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

, etc. is referred to as

Francophone literature Francophone literature is literature written in the French language. The existence of a plurality of literatures in the French language has been recognised, although the autonomy of these literatures is less defined than the plurality of liter ...

. For centuries, French literature has been an object of national pride for French people, and it has been one of the most influential aspects of the literature of Europe. France ranks first on the list of Nobel Prizes in literature by country. One of the first known examples of French literature is the Song of Roland, the first major work in a series of poems known as, " chansons de geste". The French language is a

Romance language The Romance languages, also known as the Latin or Neo-Latin languages, are the languages that are Language family, directly descended from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-E ...

derived from

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

and heavily influenced principally by

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

and Frankish. Beginning in the 11th century, literature written in medieval French was one of the oldest vernacular (non-Latin) literatures in western Europe and it became a key source of literary themes in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

across the continent. Although the European prominence of French literature was eclipsed in part by vernacular literature in Italy in the 14th century, literature in France in the 16th century underwent a major creative evolution, and through the political and artistic programs of the

Ancien Régime ''Ancien'' may refer to * the French word for " ancient, old" ** Société des anciens textes français * the French for "former, senior" ** Virelai ancien ** Ancien Régime ** Ancien Régime in France {{disambig ...

, French literature came to dominate European letters in the 17th century. In the 18th century, French became the literary

lingua franca A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, link language or language of wider communication (LWC), is a Natural language, language systematically used to make co ...

and diplomatic language of western Europe (and, to a certain degree, in America), and French letters have had a profound impact on all European and American literary traditions while at the same time being heavily influenced by these other national traditions. Africa and the far East have brought the French language to non-European cultures that are transforming and adding to the French literary experience today. Under the aristocratic ideals of the Ancien Régime (the "honnête homme"), the nationalist spirit of post-revolutionary France, and the mass educational ideals of the Third Republic and modern France, the French have come to have a profound cultural attachment to their literary heritage. Today, French schools emphasize the study of novels, theater and poetry (often learnt by heart). The literary arts are heavily sponsored by the state and literary prizes are major news. The and the are important linguistic and artistic institutions in France, and French television features shows on writers and poets (one of the most watched shows on French television was '' Apostrophes'',Roger Cohen
"The Media Business; Books Star on TV, but Only in France"
, ''The New York Times'', September 10, 1990. a weekly talk show on literature and the arts). Literature matters deeply to the people of France and plays an important role in their sense of identity. As of 2022, fifteen French authors have been awarded the

Nobel Prize in Literature The Nobel Prize in Literature, here meaning ''for'' Literature (), is a Swedish literature prize that is awarded annually, since 1901, to an author from any country who has, in the words of the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, "in ...

which is more than novelists, poets and essayists of any other country. In 1964

Jean-Paul Sartre Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was a French philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary criticism, literary critic, considered a leading figure in 20th ...

was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, but he declined it, stating that "It is not the same thing if I sign Jean-Paul Sartre or if I sign Jean-Paul Sartre, Nobel Prize winner. A writer must refuse to allow himself to be transformed into an institution, even if it takes place in the most honorable form."

French Nobel Prize in Literature winners

Henri Fantin-Latour - By the Table - Google Art Project

For most of the 20th century, French authors had more Literature

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...

s than those of any other nation.National Literature Nobel Prize shares 1901–200
by citizenship at the time of the award
an

. From J. Schmidhuber (2010)
Evolution of National Nobel Prize Shares in the 20th Century
a
arXiv:1009.2634v1
The following French or French language authors have won a

: *1901 – Sully Prudhomme (The first Nobel Prize in Literature) *1904 – Frédéric Mistral (wrote in

Occitan Occitan may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania territory in parts of France, Italy, Monaco and Spain. * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania administrative region of France. * Occitan language, spoken in parts o ...

) *1915 –

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

*1921 –

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.Henri Bergson Henri-Louis Bergson (; ; 18 October 1859 – 4 January 1941) was a French philosopher who was influential in the traditions of analytic philosophy and continental philosophy, especially during the first half of the 20th century until the S ...

*1937 – Roger Martin du Gard *1947 –

André Gide André Paul Guillaume Gide (; 22 November 1869 – 19 February 1951) was a French writer and author whose writings spanned a wide variety of styles and topics. He was awarded the 1947 Nobel Prize in Literature. Gide's career ranged from his begi ...

*1952 –

François Mauriac François Charles 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 1952 Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Pr ...

*1957 –

Albert Camus Albert Camus ( ; ; 7 November 1913 – 4 January 1960) was a French philosopher, author, dramatist, journalist, world federalist, and political activist. He was the recipient of the 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature at the age of 44, the s ...

*1960 – Saint-John Perse *1964 –

(declined the prize) *1969 –

Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish writer of novels, plays, short stories, and poems. Writing in both English and French, his literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal, and Tragicomedy, tra ...

(Irish, wrote in English and French) *1985 –

Claude Simon Claude Eugène Henri Simon (; 10 October 1913 – 6 July 2005) was a French novelist and recipient of the 1985 Nobel Prize in Literature. Biography Claude Simon was born in Tananarive on the isle of Madagascar. His parents were French, an ...

*2008 – J. M. G. Le Clézio *2014 – Patrick Modiano *2022 – Annie Ernaux

French literary awards

* – created in 1948, for crime and detective fiction. * – created 1918. * – created in 1989. *

Prix Femina The Prix Femina is a French List of literary awards, literary prize awarded each year by an exclusively female jury. The prize, which was established in 1904, is awarded to French-language works written in prose or Verse (poetry), verse by male ...

– created 1904, decided each year by an exclusively female jury, although the authors of the winning works do not have to be women. *

Prix Goncourt The Prix Goncourt ( , "The Goncourt Prize") is a prize in French literature, given by the académie Goncourt to the author of "the best and most imaginative prose work of the year". The prize carries a symbolic reward of only 10 euros, but resul ...

– created 1903, given to the author of "the best and most imaginative prose work of the year". * Prix Goncourt des Lycéens – created in 1987. * Prix Littéraire Valery Larbaud – created in 1957. *

Prix Médicis The Prix Médicis () is a French literary award given each year in November. It was founded in 1958 by and .

– created 1958, awarded to an author whose "fame does not yet match their talent." * – created in 1926. * Prix Tour-Apollo Award – 1972–1990, given to the best science fiction novel published in French during the preceding year. * Prix des Deux Magots – created in 1933.

Key texts

Fiction

** anonymous – ''La Chanson de Roland'' (''

The Song of Roland The ''Song of Roland'' () is an 11th-century based on the deeds of the Frankish military leader Roland at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in AD 778, during the reign of the Emperor Charlemagne. It is the oldest surviving major work of French li ...

'') **

Chrétien de Troyes Chrétien de Troyes (; ; 1160–1191) was a French poet and trouvère known for his writing on King Arthur, Arthurian subjects such as Gawain, Lancelot, Perceval and the Holy Grail. Chrétien's chivalric romances, including ''Erec and Enide'' ...

– ''Yvain ou le Chevalier au Lion'' ('' Yvain, the Knight of the Lion''), ''Lancelot, ou le Chevalier à la charrette'' ('' Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart'') **

Marie de France Marie de France (floruit, fl. 1160–1215) was a poet, likely born in 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 of Kin ...

– ''Lais'' ** various – ''Tristan et Iseult'' (''

Tristan and Iseult Tristan and Iseult, also known as Tristan and Isolde and other names, is a medieval chivalric romance told in numerous variations since the 12th century. Of disputed source, usually assumed to be primarily Celtic nations, Celtic, the tale is a ...

'') ** anonymous – ''Lancelot-Graal'' ''(

Lancelot-Grail The ''Lancelot-Grail Cycle'', also known as the Vulgate Cycle or the Pseudo-Map Cycle, is an early 13th-century French Arthurian legend, Arthurian literary cycle consisting of interconnected prose episodes of chivalric romance originally writte ...

)'', also known as the ''prose Lancelot'' or the ''Vulgate Cycle'' ** anonymous – ''Roman de Renart'' **

Guillaume de Lorris Guillaume de Lorris () was a French scholar and poet from Lorris. He was the author of the first section of the . Little is known about him, other than that he wrote the earlier section of the poem around 1230, and that the work was completed f ...

and Jean de Meung – ''

Roman de la Rose ''Le Roman de la Rose'' (''The Romance of the Rose'') is a medieval poem written in Old French and presented as an allegory">allegorical romantic love is disclosed. Its two authors conceived it as a psychological allegory; throughout the Lover' ...

'' ("Romance of the Rose") **

Christine de Pizan Christine de Pizan or Pisan (, ; born Cristina da Pizzano; September 1364 – ), was an Italian-born French court writer for King Charles VI of France and several French royal dukes, in both prose and poetry. Christine de Pizan served as a cour ...

– "

The Book of the City of Ladies ''The Book of the City of Ladies'', or ''Le Livre de la Cité des Dames'', is a book written by Christine de Pizan believed to have been finished by 1405. Perhaps Pizan's most famous literary work, it is her second work of lengthy prose. Pizan u ...

" *

16th century The 16th century began with the Julian calendar, Julian year 1501 (represented by the Roman numerals MDI) and ended with either the Julian or the Gregorian calendar, Gregorian year 1600 (MDC), depending on the reckoning used (the Gregorian calend ...

François Rabelais François Rabelais ( , ; ; born between 1483 and 1494; died 1553) was a French writer who has been called the first great French prose author. A Renaissance humanism, humanist of the French Renaissance and Greek scholars in the Renaissance, Gr ...

– ''La vie de Gargantua et de Pantagruel'' ("

Gargantua and Pantagruel ''The Five Books of the Lives and Deeds of Gargantua and Pantagruel'' (), often shortened to ''Gargantua and Pantagruel'' or the (''Five Books''), is a pentalogy of novels written in the 16th century by François Rabelais. It tells the advent ...

") ** Hélisenne de Crenne – '' The Torments of Love'' ** Marguerite de Navarre – '' Heptaméron'' *

17th century The 17th century lasted from January 1, 1601 (represented by the Roman numerals MDCI), to December 31, 1700 (MDCC). It falls into the early modern period of Europe and in that continent (whose impact on the world was increasing) was characterized ...

** Honoré d'Urfé – '' L'Astrée'' ** Madame de Lafayette – ''

La Princesse de Clèves ''La Princesse de Clèves'' (; "The Princess of Cleves") is a French novel which was published anonymously in March 1678. It was regarded by many as the beginning of the modern tradition of the psychological novel and a classic work. Its autho ...

'' **

François Fénelon François de Salignac de la Mothe-Fénelon, PSS (), more commonly known as François Fénelon (6 August 1651 – 7 January 1715), was a French Catholic archbishop, theologian, poet and writer. Today, he is remembered mostly as the author of ' ...

– '' The Adventures of Telemachus'' **

Madame d'Aulnoy Marie-Catherine Le Jumel de Barneville, Baroness d'Aulnoy (September 1652 – 14 January 1705), also known as Countess d'Aulnoy, was a French author known for her literary fairy tales. Her 1697 collection ''Les Contes des Fées'' (Fairy Tales) ...

– ''Les Contes des Fées'' ("Fairy Tales", a fairy tale collection including ''The Blue Bird'' and '' The Story of Pretty Goldilocks''), ''Contes Nouveaux ou Les Fées à la Mode'' ("New Tales, or Fairies in Fashion", a fairy tale collection including ''The White Cat'') **

Charles Perrault Charles Perrault ( , , ; 12 January 162816 May 1703) was a French author and member of the Académie Française. He laid the foundations for a new literary genre, the fairy tale, with his works derived from earlier folk tales, published in his ...

– '' Histoires ou contes du temps passé'' ("Stories or Tales from Past Times, with Morals", a fairy tale collection which includes ''

Sleeping Beauty "Sleeping Beauty" (, or ''The Beauty Sleeping in the Wood''; , or ''Little Briar Rose''), also titled in English as ''The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods'', is a fairy tale about a princess curse, cursed by an evil fairy to suspended animation in fi ...

'' and ''

Little Red Riding Hood "Little Red Riding Hood" () is a fairy tale by Charles Perrault about a young girl and a Big Bad Wolf. Its origins can be traced back to several pre-17th-century European Fable, folk tales. It was later retold in the 19th-century by the Broth ...

'') *

18th century The 18th century lasted from 1 January 1701 (represented by the Roman numerals MDCCI) to 31 December 1800 (MDCCC). During the 18th century, elements of Enlightenment thinking culminated in the Atlantic Revolutions. Revolutions began to ch ...

Antoine Galland Antoine Galland (; 4 April 1646 – 17 February 1715) was a French orientalist and archaeologist, most famous as the first European translator of ''One Thousand and One Nights'', which he called '' Les mille et une nuits''. His version of the ta ...

– ''Les Mille et une nuits'' ("The Thousand and One Nights", a fairy tale collection, which includes ''

Aladdin Aladdin ( ; , , ATU 561, 'Aladdin') is a Middle-Eastern folk tale. It is one of the best-known tales associated with '' One Thousand and One Nights'' (often known in English as ''The Arabian Nights''), despite not being part of the original ...

'' and '' Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves'') ** Abbé Prévost – '' Manon Lescaut'' **

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778), known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' Voltaire (, ; ), was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, philosopher (''philosophe''), satirist, and historian. Famous for his wit ...

– ''

Candide ( , ) is a French satire written by Voltaire, a philosopher of the Age of Enlightenment, first published in 1759. The novella has been widely translated, with English versions titled ''Candide: or, All for the Best'' (1759); ''Candide: or, The ...

'', '' Zadig ou la Destinée'' **

Jean-Jacques Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Republic of Geneva, Genevan philosopher (''philosophes, philosophe''), writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment through ...

– '' Julie, ou la nouvelle Héloïse (Julie or the New Heloise)'' **

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 along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. He was a prominent figure during th ...

– ''Jacques le fataliste'' ('' Jacques the Fatalist'') **

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 principal so ...

– '' Persian Letters'' **

Pierre Choderlos de Laclos Pierre Ambroise François Choderlos de Laclos (; 18 October 1741 – 5 September 1803) was a French novelist, official, Freemason and army general, best known for writing the epistolary novel '' Les Liaisons dangereuses'' (''Dangerous Liaisons ...

– ''

Les Liaisons dangereuses ''Les Liaisons dangereuses'' (; English: ''Dangerous Liaisons'') is a French epistolary novel by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, first published in four volumes by Durand Neveu on March 23, 1782. It is the story of the Marquise Isabelle de Merteu ...

(Dangerous Liaisons)'' ** Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre – '' Paul et Virginie'' (''Paul and Virginia'') *

19th century The 19th century began on 1 January 1801 (represented by the Roman numerals MDCCCI), and ended on 31 December 1900 (MCM). It was the 9th century of the 2nd millennium. It was characterized by vast social upheaval. Slavery was Abolitionism, ...

** Germaine de Staël – '' Corinne, or Italy'' **

François-René de Chateaubriand François-René, vicomte de Chateaubriand (4 September 1768 – 4 July 1848) was a French writer, politician, diplomat and historian who influenced French literature of the nineteenth century. Descended from an old aristocratic family from Bri ...

– ''Atala'', '' René'' **

Benjamin Constant Henri-Benjamin Constant de Rebecque (25 October 1767 – 8 December 1830), or simply Benjamin Constant, was a Swiss and French political thinker, activist and writer on political theory and religion. A committed republican from 1795, Constant ...

– ''

Adolphe ''Adolphe'' is a classic French novel by Benjamin Constant, first published in 1816. It tells the story of an alienated young man, Adolphe, who falls in love with an older woman, Ellénore, the Polish mistress of the Comte de P***. Their illici ...

'' ** Stendhal – ''Le Rouge et le Noir'' ('' The Red and the Black''), ''La Chartreuse de Parme'' ('' The Charterhouse of Parma'') **

Honoré de Balzac Honoré de Balzac ( , more commonly ; ; born Honoré Balzac; 20 May 1799 – 18 August 1850) was a French novelist and playwright. The novel sequence ''La Comédie humaine'', which presents a panorama of post-Napoleonic French life, is ...

– ''

La Comédie humaine (; English: ''The Human Comedy'') is Honoré de Balzac's 1829–48 multi-volume collection of interlinked novels and stories depicting French society in the period of the Restoration (1815–30) and the July Monarchy (1830–48). ''La Com� ...

'' ("The Human Comedy", a novel cycle which includes '' Père Goriot'', '' Lost Illusions'', and '' Eugénie Grandet'') **

Alexandre Dumas Alexandre Dumas (born Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas , was a French novelist and playwright. His works have been translated into many languages and he is one of the mos ...

– ''

The Count of Monte Cristo ''The Count of Monte Cristo'' () is an adventure novel by the French writer Alexandre Dumas. It was serialised from 1844 to 1846, and published in book form in 1846. It is one of his most popular works, along with ''The Three Musketeers'' (184 ...

'', ''

The Three Musketeers ''The Three Musketeers'' () is a French historical adventure novel written and published in 1844 by French author Alexandre Dumas. It is the first of the author's three d'Artagnan Romances. As with some of his other works, he wrote it in col ...

'' **

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo, vicomte Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romanticism, Romantic author, poet, essayist, playwright, journalist, human rights activist and politician. His most famous works are the novels ''The Hunchbac ...

– ''Notre-Dame de Paris'' (''

The Hunchback of Notre-Dame ''The Hunchback of Notre-Dame'' (, originally titled ''Notre-Dame de Paris. 1482'') is a French Gothic novel by Victor Hugo, published in 1831. The title refers to the Notre-Dame Cathedral, which features prominently throughout the novel. I ...

''), ''

Les Misérables ''Les Misérables'' (, ) is a 19th-century French literature, French Epic (genre), epic historical fiction, historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published on 31 March 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. '' ...

'' **

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 ...

– '' Mademoiselle de Maupin'' **

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). ...

– ''Le Bossu'' (''The Hunchback'') **

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

– ''

Madame Bovary ''Madame Bovary: Provincial Manners'' (; ), commonly known as simply ''Madame Bovary'', is the début novel by France, French writer Gustave Flaubert, originally published in 1856 and 1857. The eponymous character, Emma Bovary, lives beyond he ...

'', '' Salammbô'', ''L'Éducation sentimentale'' (''

Sentimental Education ''Sentimental Education'' (French: ''L'éducation sentimentale'') is an 1869 novel by Gustave Flaubert. The story focuses on the romantic life of a young man named Frédéric Moreau at the time of the French Revolution of 1848 and the founding o ...

'') **

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

– ''Vingt mille lieues sous les mers'' (''

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas ''Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas'' () is a science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may inclu ...

''), ''Voyage au centre de la Terre'' ('' A Journey to the Center of the Earth''), ''Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours'' (''

Around the World in Eighty Days ''Around the World in Eighty Days'' () is an adventure novel by the French writer Jules Verne, first published in French in 1872. In the story, Phileas Fogg of London and his newly employed French valet Passepartout attempt to circumnavigate ...

'') ** Edmond and Jules de Goncourt – ''Germinie Lacerteux'' **

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. Being more renowned than either Victor Hugo or Honoré de Balz ...

– '' La Petite Fadette'' **

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 (1884, pub ...

– " À rebours" ** Guy de Maupassant – ''

Bel Ami ''Bel-Ami'' (, "Dear Friend") is the second novel by French author Guy de Maupassant, published in 1885; an English translation titled ''Bel Ami, or, The History of a Scoundrel: A Novel'' first appeared in 1903. The story chronicles journalist ...

'', ''La Parure'' ('' The Necklace''), other short stories **

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

– '' Thérèse Raquin'', '' Les Rougon-Macquart'' (a novel cycle which includes '' L'Assommoir'', '' Nana'' and '' Germinal'') *

20th century The 20th century began on 1 January 1901 (MCMI), and ended on 31 December 2000 (MM). It was the 10th and last century in the 2nd millennium and was marked by new models of scientific understanding, unprecedented scopes of warfare, new modes of ...

– ''Les Faux-monnayeurs'' ('' The Counterfeiters''), ''L'Immoraliste'' ('' The Immoralist'') **

Marcel Proust Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust ( ; ; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, literary critic, and essayist who wrote the novel (in French – translated in English as ''Remembrance of Things Past'' and more r ...

– ''À la recherche du temps perdu'' (''

In Search of Lost Time ''In Search of Lost Time'' (), first translated into English as ''Remembrance of Things Past'', and sometimes referred to in French as ''La Recherche'' (''The Search''), is a novel in seven volumes by French author Marcel Proust. This early twen ...

'') ** Albert Cohen **

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

** Blaise Cendrars **

– '' Molloy'', '' Malone Dies'', '' The Unnamable'', '' How It Is'' **

André Breton André Robert Breton (; ; 19 February 1896 – 28 September 1966) was a French writer and poet, the co-founder, leader, and principal theorist of surrealism. His writings include the first ''Surrealist Manifesto'' (''Manifeste du surréalisme'') ...

– '' Nadja'' ** Gaston Leroux – ''Le Fantôme de l'Opéra'' ('' The Phantom of the Opera'') ** Roger Martin du Gard – ''Les Thibault'' ('' The Thibaults'') ** Louis-Ferdinand Céline – ''Voyage au bout de la nuit'' ('' Journey to the End of the Night'') **

Colette Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (; 28 January 1873 – 3 August 1954), known as Colette or Colette Willy, was a French author and woman of letters. She was also a Mime artist, mime, actress, and journalist. Colette is best known in the English-speaki ...

– '' Gigi'' **

Jean Genet Jean Genet (; ; – ) was a French novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and political activist. In his early life he was a vagabond and petty criminal, but he later became a writer and playwright. His major works include the novels '' The Th ...

– '' Notre-Dame-des-Fleurs'' **

Julien Gracq Julien Gracq (; born Louis Poirier; 27 July 1910 – 22 December 2007) was a French writer. He wrote novels, critiques, a play, and poetry. His literary works were noted for their dreamlike abstraction, elegant style and refined vocabulary. He ...

– ''Le Rivage des Syrtes'' ('' The Opposing Shore'') **

André Malraux Georges André Malraux ( ; ; 3 November 1901 – 23 November 1976) was a French novelist, art theorist, and minister of cultural affairs. Malraux's novel ''La Condition Humaine'' (''Man's Fate'') (1933) won the Prix Goncourt. He was appointed ...

– ''La Condition Humaine'' (''

Man's Fate ''Man's Fate'' (French: ''La Condition humaine'', "The Human Condition") is a 1933 novel written by André Malraux about the failed communist insurrection in Shanghai in 1927, and the existential quandaries facing a diverse group of people asso ...

''), ''L'Espoir'' ('' Man's Hope'') **

– ''L'Étranger'' ('' The Stranger'' or ''The Outsider'') **

Michel Butor Michel Butor (; 14 September 1926 – 24 August 2016) was a French poet, novelist, teacher, essayist, art critic and translator. Life and work Michel Marie François Butor was born in Mons-en-Barœul, a suburb of Lille, the third of seven chil ...

– '' La Modification'' **

Marguerite Yourcenar Marguerite Yourcenar (, ; ; born Marguerite Antoinette Jeanne Marie Ghislaine Cleenewerck de Crayencour; 8 June 190317 December 1987) was a Belgian-born French novelist and essayist who became a US citizen in 1947. Winner of the Prix Femina and ...

– '' Mémoires d'Hadrien'' **

Alain Robbe-Grillet Alain Robbe-Grillet (; 18 August 1922 – 18 February 2008) was a French writer and filmmaker. He was one of the figures most associated with the ''Nouveau Roman'' () trend of the 1960s, along with Nathalie Sarraute, Michel Butor and Claude Simo ...

– ''Dans le labyrinthe'' **

Georges Perec Georges Perec (; 7 March 1936 – 3 March 1982) was a French novelist, filmmaker, documentalist, and essayist. He was a member of the Oulipo group. His father died as a soldier early in the Second World War and his mother was killed in the Ho ...

– '' La vie mode d'emploi'' **

– ''Les Géorgiques'' (''The Georgics'') ** Robert Pinget – '' Passacaille'' **

– ''La Nausée'' (''

Nausea Nausea is a diffuse sensation of unease and discomfort, sometimes perceived as an urge to vomit. It can be a debilitating symptom if prolonged and has been described as placing discomfort on the chest, abdomen, or back of the throat. Over 30 d ...

''), ''L´Âge de Raison'' ''( The Age of Reason)'' **

Françoise Sagan Françoise Sagan (; born Françoise Delphine Quoirez; 21 June 1935 – 24 September 2004) was a French playwright, novelist, and screenwriter. Sagan was known for works with strong romantic themes involving wealthy and disillusioned bourgeois ch ...

– '' Bonjour Tristesse'' (''Hello Sadness'') **

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger, vicomte de Saint-Exupéry (29 June 1900 – 31 July 1944), known simply as Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (, , ), was a French writer, poet, journalist and aviator. Born in Lyon to an French nobility, aristocratic ...

– ''

Le Petit Prince ''The Little Prince'' (, ) is a novella written and illustrated by French writer and aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. It was first published in English language, English and French language, French in the United States by Reynal & Hitchcock i ...

'' (''The Little Prince'') *

21st century The 21st century is the current century in the ''Anno Domini'' or Common Era, in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. It began on 1 January 2001, and will end on 31 December 2100. It is the first century of the 3rd millennium. The rise of a ...

Michel Houellebecq Michel Houellebecq (; born Michel Thomas on 26 February 1956) is a French author of novels, poems, and essays, as well as an occasional actor, filmmaker, and singer. His first book was a biographical essay on the horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. H ...

– ''La carte et le territoire'' ('' The Map and the Territory'') ** Pierre Lemaitre – ''The Great Swindle'' ** Léonora Miano – ''La Saison de l'ombre'' **

Kamel Daoud Kamel Daoud (; born June 17, 1970) is an Algerian writer and journalist. He currently edits the French-language daily '' Le quotidien d’Oran,'' for which he writes a popular column, "Raïna Raïkoum" (Our Opinion, Your Opinion). The column oft ...

– ''Meursault, contre-enquête'' ('' The Meursault Investigation'')

Poetry

* Middle Ages ** William IX (1071–1127) **

Jaufre Rudel Jaufre Rudel (Jaufré in modern Occitan) was the prince of Blaye (''Princes de Blaia'') and a troubadour of the early- to mid-12th century, who probably died during the Second Crusade, in or after 1147. He is noted for developing the theme of ...

(1113–70) ** Bernart de Ventadorn (1130–90) **

Bertran de Born Bertran de Born (; 1140s – by 1215) was a baron from the Limousin in France, and one of the major Occitan troubadours of the 12th-13th century. He composed love songs (cansos) but was better known for his political songs (sirventes). He ...

(1140–1215) **

(fl. 1160–1210) ** Rutebeuf (1245–85) **

Jean Froissart Jean Froissart ( Old and Middle French: ''Jehan''; sometimes known as John Froissart in English; – ) was a French-speaking medieval author and court historian from the Low Countries who wrote several works, including ''Chronicles'' and ''Meli ...

(1337–1405) **

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 e ...

(1431–63) – '' Le Testament'' * La Pléiade **

Clément Marot Clément Marot (23 November 1496 – 12 September 1544) was a French Renaissance poet. He was influenced by the writers of the late 15th century and paved the way for the Pléiade, and is undoubtedly the most important poet at the court of Fr ...

(1496–1544) ** Maurice Scève (1505–1569) ** Joachim du Bellay (1522–60) ** Pontus de Tyard (1521–1605) ** Louise Labé (1524–1566) **

Pierre de Ronsard Pierre de Ronsard (; 11 September 1524 – 27 December 1585) was a French poet known in his generation as a "Prince des poètes, prince of poets". His works include ''Les Amours de Cassandre'' (1552)'','' ''Les Hymnes'' (1555-1556)'', Les Disco ...

(1524–85) *

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

Agrippa d'Aubigné Théodore-Agrippa d'Aubigné (, 8 February 155229 April 1630) was a French poet, soldier, propagandist and chronicler. His Epic poetry, epic poem ''Les Tragiques'' (1616) is widely regarded as his masterpiece. In a book about his Catholic contemp ...

(1552–1630) – ''Les Tragiques'' ** Théophile de Viau (1590–1626) *

Classicism Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for a classical period, classical antiquity in the Western tradition, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. In its purest form, classicism is an aesthe ...

** François de Malherbe (1555–1628) **

Jean de La Fontaine Jean de La Fontaine (, ; ; 8 July 162113 April 1695) was a French Fable, fabulist and one of the most widely read French poets of the 17th century. He is known above all for his ''La Fontaine's Fables, Fables'', which provided a model for subs ...

(1621–95) – ''The

Fables Fable is a literary genre defined as a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse (poetry), verse, that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphized, and that ...

'' ** Nicolas Boileau (1636–1711) *

Romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. The purpose of the movement was to advocate for the importance of subjec ...

** André Chénier (1762–1794) ** Alphonse de Lamartine (1790–1869) – ''Méditations poétiques'' **

Alfred de Vigny Alfred Victor, Comte de Vigny (; 27 March 1797 – 17 September 1863) was a French poet and early French Romanticism, Romanticist. He also produced novels, plays, and translations of Shakespeare. Biography Vigny was born in Loches (a town to wh ...

(1797–1863) **

(1802–85) – '' Les Contemplations'' **

Gérard de Nerval Gérard de Nerval (; 22 May 1808 – 26 January 1855), the pen name of the French writer, poet, and translator Gérard Labrunie, was a French essayist, poet, translator, and travel writer. He was a major figure during the era of French romantici ...

(1808–55) – '' The Chimeras'' **

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

(1810–57) **

Charles Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poet, essayist, translator and art critic. His poems are described as exhibiting mastery of rhythm and rhyme, containing an exoticism inherited from the Romantics ...

(1821–67) – ''

Les Fleurs du mal ''Les Fleurs du mal'' (; ) 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 published in 1857, it was important in the ...

'' * Parnassianism **

(1811–72) ** Leconte de Lisle (1818–94) **

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 ...

(1823–91) * Symbolism and Decadence ** Villiers de L'Isle-Adam (1838–89) **

Stéphane Mallarmé Stéphane Mallarmé ( , ; ; 18 March 1842 – 9 September 1898), pen name of Étienne Mallarmé, was a French poet and critic. He was a major French Symbolist poet, and his work anticipated and inspired several revolutionary artistic schools o ...

(1842–98) **

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

(1844–96) **

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 a ...

(1846–70) ** Arthur Rimbaud (1854–91) – '' Une Saison en Enfer'' **

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, m ...

(1871–1945) ** Paul Fort (1872–1960) *

Modernism Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

** Charles Péguy (1873–1914) **

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

(1880–1918) – ''Alcools'' ** Blaise Cendrars (1887–1961) ** Saint-John Perse (1887–1975) – ''Vents'' *

Dada Dada () or Dadaism was an anti-establishment art movement that developed in 1915 in the context of the Great War and the earlier anti-art movement. Early centers for dadaism included Zürich and Berlin. Within a few years, the movement had s ...

and

Surrealism Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...

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 ...

(1895–1952) **

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, c ...

(1896–1963) **

(1896–1966) **

(1897–1982) ** Henri Michaux (1899–1984) **

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

(1900–45) ** René Char (1907–88) *

Postmodernism Postmodernism encompasses a variety of artistic, Culture, cultural, and philosophical movements that claim to mark a break from modernism. They have in common the conviction that it is no longer possible to rely upon previous ways of depicting ...

** Jules Supervielle (1884–1960) **

Jean Cocteau Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau ( , ; ; 5 July 1889 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, film director, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost avant-garde artists of the 20th-c ...

(1889–1963) ** Francis Ponge (1899–1988) – ''Le Parti Pris des Choses'' **

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 realism, poetic ...

(1900–77) ** Raymond Queneau (1903–76) *

Négritude ''Négritude'' (from French "nègre" and "-itude" to denote a condition that can be translated as "Blackness") is a framework of critique and literary theory, mainly developed by francophone intellectuals, writers, and politicians in the Africa ...

** Léopold Sédar Senghor (1906–2001) ** Birago Diop (1906–89) **

Aimé Césaire Aimé Fernand David Césaire (; ; 26 June 1913 – 17 April 2008) was a French poet, author, and politician from Martinique. He was "one of the founders of the Négritude movement in Francophone literature" and coined the word in French. He ...

(1913–2008)

Theatre

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 pro ...

– '' Le Jeu de Robin et de Marion'' * Anonymous - ''

La Farce de maître Pathelin ''La Farce de maître Pathelin'' (in English language, English ''The Farce of Master Pathelin''; sometimes ''La Farce de maître Pierre Pathelin'', ''La Farce de Pathelin'', ''Farce Maître Pierre Pathelin'', or ''Farce de Maître Pathelin'') is ...

'' (ca. 1456–1460) *

Pierre Corneille Pierre Corneille (; ; 6 June 1606 – 1 October 1684) was a French tragedian. He is generally considered one of the three great 17th-century French dramatists, along with Molière and Racine. As a young man, he earned the valuable patronage ...

(1606–84)- '' Le Cid'' (1636), ''

Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 BC – 27 November 8 BC), Suetonius, Life of Horace commonly known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). Th ...

'' *

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 great writers in the French language and world liter ...

– '' Tartuffe'', ''

Le Misanthrope ''The Misanthrope, or the Cantankerous Lover'' (; ) is a 17th-century comedy of manners in verse written by Molière. It was first performed on 4 June 1666 at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal, Paris by the King's Players. The play satirizes the ...

'', ''

Dom Juan ''Dom Juan ou le Festin de Pierre'' ("Don Juan or The Feast of Stone") is a five-act 1665 comedy by Molière based upon the Spanish legend of Don Juan, Don Juan Tenorio. The aristocrat Dom Juan is a Rake (stock character), rake who seduces, marri ...

'', ''L'Avare'' (''

The Miser ''The Miser'' (; ) is a five-act comedy in prose by the French playwright Molière. It was first performed on September 9, 1668, in the Théâtre du Palais-Royal (rue Saint-Honoré), theatre of the Palais-Royal in Paris. This is a character com ...

''), '' Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme'', ''L'École des femmes'' ('' The School for Wives''), ''Le Malade imaginaire'' (''

The Imaginary Invalid ''The Imaginary Invalid'', ''The Hypochondriac'', or ''The Would-Be Invalid'' ( French title ''Le Malade imaginaire'', ) is a three- act ''comédie-ballet'' by the French playwright Molière with dance sequences and musical interludes ( H.495, H ...

'') *

Jean Racine Jean-Baptiste Racine ( , ; ; 22 December 1639 – 21 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 tr ...

– '' Phèdre'', '' Andromaque'', '' Bérénice'', '' Athalie'' * Marivaux – ''Jeu de l'amour et du hasard'' *

Beaumarchais Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (; 24 January 1732 – 18 May 1799) was a French playwright and diplomat during the Age of Enlightenment. Best known for his three Figaro plays, at various times in his life he was also a watchmaker, invent ...

– ''Le Barbier de Séville'' (''

The Barber of Seville ''The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution'' ( ) is an ''opera buffa'' (comic opera) in two acts composed by Gioachino Rossini with an Italian libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was based on Pierre Beaumarchais's French comedy ' ...

''), ''La Folle journée, ou Le Mariage de Figaro'' (''

The Marriage of Figaro ''The Marriage of Figaro'' (, ), K. 492, is a ''commedia per musica'' (opera buffa) in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienn ...

'') *

Alfred Jarry Alfred Jarry (; ; 8 September 1873 – 1 November 1907) was a French Artistic symbol, symbolist writer who is best known for his play ''Ubu Roi'' (1896)'','' often cited as a forerunner of the Dada, Surrealism, Surrealist, and Futurism, Futurist ...

– '' King Ubu'' * Edmond Rostand – '' Cyrano de Bergerac'' *

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 ...

– '' The Trojan War Will Not Take Place'' *

Jean Anouilh Jean Marie Lucien Pierre Anouilh (; ; 23 June 1910 – 3 October 1987) was a French dramatist and screenwriter whose career spanned five decades. Though his work ranged from high drama to absurdist farce, Anouilh is best known for his 1944 play ...

– '' Becket'', ''

Antigone ANTIGONE (Algorithms for coNTinuous / Integer Global Optimization of Nonlinear Equations), is a deterministic global optimization solver for general Mixed-Integer Nonlinear Programs (MINLP). History ANTIGONE is an evolution of GloMIQO, a global ...

'' *

– ''

No Exit ''No Exit'' (, ) is a 1944 existentialist French play by Jean-Paul Sartre. The play was first performed at the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier in May 1944. The play centers around a depiction of the afterlife in which three deceased characters a ...

'' *

Eugène Ionesco Eugène Ionesco (; ; born Eugen Ionescu, ; 26 November 1909 – 28 March 1994) was a Romanian-French playwright who wrote mostly in French, and was one of the foremost figures of the French avant-garde theatre#Avant-garde, French avant-garde th ...

– ''La Cantatrice chauve (''

The Bald Soprano ''La Cantatrice chauve '' – translated from French as ''The Bald Soprano'' or ''The Bald Prima Donna'' – is the first play written by Romanian-French playwright Eugène Ionesco. Nicolas Bataille directed the premiere on 11 May 1950 at th ...

''), ''Les Chaises'' ('' The Chairs''), ''La Leçon'' ('' The Lesson''), ''

Rhinoceros A rhinoceros ( ; ; ; : rhinoceros or rhinoceroses), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant taxon, extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates (perissodactyls) in the family (biology), famil ...

'' *

– '' The Maids'', '' The Balcony'' *

– '' En attendant Godot'' (''

Waiting for Godot ''Waiting for Godot'' ( or ) is a 1953 play by Irish writer and playwright Samuel Beckett, in which the two main characters, Vladimir (Waiting for Godot), Vladimir (Didi) and Estragon (Gogo), engage in a variety of discussions and encounters w ...

''), ''Fin de Partie'' ('' Endgame'') and other works in French

Nonfiction

– ''Chronicles'' *

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" (Charles ...

– ''Memoirs'' *

Étienne de La Boétie Étienne or Estienne de La Boétie (; ; 1 November 1530 – 18 August 1563) was a French magistrate, classicist, writer, poet and political theorist, best remembered for his friendship with essayist Michel de Montaigne. His early political trea ...

- '' Discourse on Voluntary Servitude'' *

Michel de Montaigne Michel Eyquem, Seigneur de Montaigne ( ; ; ; 28 February 1533 – 13 September 1592), commonly known as Michel de Montaigne, was one of the most significant philosophers of the French Renaissance. He is known for popularising the the essay ...

– '' The Essays'' *

Blaise Pascal Blaise Pascal (19June 162319August 1662) was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, philosopher, and Catholic Church, Catholic writer. Pascal was a child prodigy who was educated by his father, a tax collector in Rouen. His earliest ...

– '' Les Pensées'' *

René Descartes René Descartes ( , ; ; 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 Modern science, science. Mathematics was paramou ...

– '' Meditations on First Philosophy'', ''

Discourse on Method ''Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting One's Reason and of Seeking Truth in the Sciences'' () is a philosophical and autobiographical treatise published by René Descartes in 1637. It is best known as the source of the famous quotation ...

'' * François de La Rochefoucauld – ''The Maxims'' * Jean de la Bruyère – ''Les Caractères ou les Mœurs de ce siècle'' *

Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon, Grandee of Spain, 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 ...

– ''Memoirs'' *

– '' Discourse on the Arts and Sciences'', ''

The Social Contract ''The Social Contract'', originally published as ''On the Social Contract; or, Principles of Political Right'' (), is a 1762 French-language book by the Republic of Geneva, Genevan philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The book theorizes about how ...

'', ''Les Confessions'' ( Confessions) *

– '' Genius of Christianity'', '' Memoirs from Beyond Grave'' *

Alexis de Tocqueville Alexis Charles Henri Clérel, comte de Tocqueville (29 July 180516 April 1859), was a French Aristocracy (class), aristocrat, diplomat, political philosopher, and historian. He is best known for his works ''Democracy in America'' (appearing in t ...

– ''

Democracy in America (; published in two volumes, the first in 1835 via Gallica; via Gallica and the second in 1840) via Gallica; via Gallica is a classic French work by Alexis de Tocqueville. In the book, Tocqueville examines the democratic revolution that he be ...

'' * Frédéric Bastiat – '' The Law'' *

Jules Michelet Jules Michelet (; 21 August 1798 – 9 February 1874) was a French historian and writer. He is best known for his multivolume work ''Histoire de France'' (History of France). Michelet was influenced by Giambattista Vico; he admired Vico's emphas ...

– ''Histoire de France'', ''La Sorcière'' *

Henri Bergson Henri-Louis Bergson (; ; 18 October 1859 – 4 January 1941) was a French philosopher who was influential in the traditions of analytic philosophy and continental philosophy, especially during the first half of the 20th century until the S ...

– '' Creative Evolution'' *

– '' The Myth of Sisyphus'' *

– '' Existentialism is a Humanism'', '' Being and Nothingness'' *

Simone de Beauvoir Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir (, ; ; 9 January 1908 – 14 April 1986) was a French existentialist philosopher, writer, social theorist, and feminist activist. Though she did not consider herself a philosopher, nor was she ...

– '' The Second Sex'' *

Claude Lévi-Strauss Claude Lévi-Strauss ( ; ; 28 November 1908 – 30 October 2009) was a Belgian-born French anthropologist and ethnologist whose work was key in the development of the theories of structuralism and structural anthropology. He held the chair o ...

– '' Tristes Tropiques'' * Emil Cioran – ''A Short History of Decay'', ''The Trouble with Being Born'' and other works in French * Paul Ricœur – ''Freedom and Nature. The Voluntary and the Involuntary'' *

Michel Foucault Paul-Michel Foucault ( , ; ; 15 October 192625 June 1984) was a French History of ideas, historian of ideas and Philosophy, philosopher who was also an author, Literary criticism, literary critic, Activism, political activist, and teacher. Fo ...

– ''

Discipline and Punish ''Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison'' () is a 1975 book by French philosopher Michel Foucault. It is an analysis of the social and theoretical mechanisms behind the changes that occurred in Western penal systems during the modern ...

'', ''

The History of Sexuality ''The History of Sexuality'' () is a four-volume study of sexuality in the Western world by the French historian and philosopher Michel Foucault, in which the author examines the emergence of "sexuality" as a discursive object and separate spher ...

'' *

Pierre Bourdieu Pierre Bourdieu (, ; ; ; 1 August 1930 – 23 January 2002) was a French sociologist and public intellectual. Bourdieu's contributions to the sociology of education, the theory of sociology, and sociology of aesthetics have achieved wide influ ...

– '' La Distinction'' *

Gilles Deleuze Gilles Louis René Deleuze (18 January 1925 – 4 November 1995) was a French philosopher who, from the early 1950s until his death in 1995, wrote on philosophy, literature, film, and fine art. His most popular works were the two volumes o ...

- '' Difference and Repetition''

Literary criticism

* Nicolas Boileau *

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 ...

Hippolyte 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 practitione ...

Jacques Lacan Jacques Marie Émile Lacan (, ; ; 13 April 1901 – 9 September 1981) was a French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist. Described as "the most controversial psycho-analyst since Sigmund Freud, Freud", Lacan gave The Seminars of Jacques Lacan, year ...

Maurice Blanchot Maurice Blanchot ( ; ; 22 September 1907 – 20 February 2003) was a French writer, philosopher and literary theorist. His work, exploring a philosophy of death alongside poetic theories of meaning and sense, bore significant influence on pos ...

* Paul Bénichou *

Roland Barthes Roland Gérard Barthes (; ; 12 November 1915 – 25 March 1980) was a French literary theorist, essayist, philosopher, critic, and semiotician. His work engaged in the analysis of a variety of sign systems, mainly derived from Western popu ...

* Jean Ricardou * Paul Ricœur *

Jean-François Lyotard Jean-François Lyotard (; ; 10 August 1924 – 21 April 1998) was a French philosopher, sociologist, and literary theorist. His interdisciplinary discourse spans such topics as epistemology and communication, the human body, modern art and p ...

Jacques Derrida Jacques Derrida (; ; born Jackie Élie Derrida;Peeters (2013), pp. 12–13. See also 15 July 1930 – 9 October 2004) was a French Algerian philosopher. He developed the philosophy of deconstruction, which he utilized in a number of his texts, ...

Julia Kristeva Julia Kristeva (; ; born Yuliya Stoyanova Krasteva, ; on 24 June 1941) is a Bulgarian-French philosopher, literary critic, semiotician, psychoanalyst, feminist, and novelist who has lived in France since the mid-1960s. She has taught at Colum ...

Poetry

* Parnassianism *

Symbolism (arts) In works of art, literature, and narrative, a symbol is a concrete element like an object, character, image, situation, or action that suggests or hints at abstract, deeper, or non-literal meanings or ideas.Johnson, Greg; Arp, Thomas R. (2018). ...

Notes and references

External links

French Language & Literature Resources at Yale University

online texts

online texts
The Marandet Collection of French Plays

ABU
online texts

site maintained by prominent French poet Jean-Michel Maulpoix {{DEFAULTSORT:French Literature

French Nobel Prize in Literature winners

French literary awards

Key texts

Fiction

Poetry

Theatre

Nonfiction

Literary criticism

Poetry

See also

Notes and references

Further reading

External links