Chronological list of

French language French ( or ) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European family. Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. French evolved from Northern Old Gallo-R ...

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

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 ...

() *

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'' ...

() *

Richard the Lionheart Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language">Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'st ...

(Richard Coeur de Lion) (1157–1199) *

Benoît de Sainte-Maure Benoît de Sainte-Maure (; died 1173) was a 12th-century French poet, most probably from Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine near Tours, France. The Plantagenets' administrative center was located in Chinon, west of Tours. ''Le Roman de Troie'' His 40,000 ...

(12th-century) *

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

(12th-century) *

Le Châtelain de Couci Le Chastelain de Couci (modern orthography Le Châtelain de Coucy) was a French trouvère of the 12th century. He may have been the Guy de Couci who was castellan of Château de Coucy from 1186 to 1203. Guy de Couci fought in the third and fourth C ...

(d.1203) *

Jean Bodel Jean Bodel (c. 1165 – c. 1210), also spelled Jehan Bodel, was an Old French -4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ... poet who wrote a number of '' chanso ...

(12th century – ) *

Conon de Béthune Conon () (before 443 BC – ) was an Athenian general at the end of the Peloponnesian War, who led the Athenian naval forces when they were defeated by a Peloponnesian fleet in the crucial Battle of Aegospotami; later he contributed significantly ...

(–1220) *

Geoffroi de Villehardouin Geoffrey of Villehardouin (c. 1150 – c. 1213) was a Kingdom of France, 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 ...

() *

Béroul Béroul (or Beroul; Norman ) was a Norman or Breton poet of the mid-to-late 12th century. He is usually credited with the authorship of ''Tristran'' (sometimes called ''Tristan''), a Norman language version of the legend of Tristan and Iseult, o ...

() * Thomas d'Angleterre () *

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 ...

() *

Gace Brulé Gace Brulé ( 1160 – after 1213) was a French nobleman and trouvère from Champagne. His name is simply a description of his blazonry. He owned land in Groslière and had dealings with the Knights Templar, and received a gift from the future ...

() *

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 ...

() *

Gautier de Coincy Gautier de Coincy (1177–1236) was a French abbot, trouvère and musical arranger, chiefly known for his devotion to the Virgin Mary. While he served as prior of Vic-sur-Aisne he compiled ''Les Miracles de Nostre-Dame'' (known in English as '' ...

(1177/8–1236) *

Gautier de Dargies Gautier de Dargies (ca. 1170 – ca. 1240) was a trouvère from Dargies. He was one of the most prolific of the early trouvères; possibly twenty-five of his lyrics survive, twenty-two with accompanying melodies, in sixteen separate ''chanson ...

(–after 1236) *

Gautier d'Espinal Gautier d'Espinal (also d'Epinal, d’Épinal or d'Espinau) (active before 1231). Grove states that while details of his life are lacking, some documents of the time mention a Gautier d'Espinal active between 1232 and 1272, but it is uncertain ...

(† 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 mos ...

( 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 wh ...

( 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 trouvè ...

( fl c.1245–50) *

Jean Renart Jean Renart, also known as Jean Renaut, was a Picard 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 romance As a literary genre, the chivalric romance is ...

(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 (1210/15 – c. 1270) was a French nobleman, Crusader, and trouvère. He was the second son of Raoul le Bon, Count of Soissons, and became the Sire de Coeuvres in 1232. Raoul participated in three Crusades. Life In 1239 ...

(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" may not be, as it might appear, a nickname, since two other individuals with the name Contredit are attested in a manuscript associ ...

(† c.1248) * Jehan le Cuvelier d'Arras ( fl c.1240–70) * Guillaume le Vinier ( fl c.1220–45; †1245) * Audefroi le Bâtard ( fl c.1200–1230) * Jehan Bretel (c.1200–1272) * Jehan Erart († c.1259) *

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

( 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, and left a chronicle of the eve ...

(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 ...

(late twelfth century) *

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

(twelfth–thirteenth century) *

Guiot de Provins Guiot or Guyot is an Old French Old French (, , ; ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the late 8th Guy. It may also be related to the root ''guille'', meaning deception or silliness. People wi ...

(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 -4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, ...

(late twelfth-early thirteenth century) *

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 ...

(c.1200 – c.1238) *

Theobald IV of Champagne Theobald I (, ; 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 as a trouvère, and was ...

(1201–1253) *

Jean de Joinville Jean de Joinville (, 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.' Biog ...

( c.1224 – c.1317) *

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

(c.1230 – c.1285) *

Adam de la Halle 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 ...

(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. ...

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), French language ''trouvère'', best known for having written ''Tournament of Chauvency, le Tournoi de Chauvency''. His only known work, signed and dated ...

(c. 1285 – c. 1310) * Jean Le Bel (c.1290–1370) * Colin Muset (end of thirteenth century) *

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

( c.1300 – c.1377) *

Nicole Oresme Nicole Oresme (; ; 1 January 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, ...

(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 Visco ...

(c.1327–1405) *

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 ...

(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 Universi ...

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

Christine de Pisan 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 ...

(1364–1430) *

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

(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 ''Hi ...

(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 ( 1400 – 20 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, Duke of Orléans Charles of Orléans (24 November 1394 – 5 January 1465) was Duke of Orléans from 1407, following the murder of his father, Louis I, Duke of Orléans. He was also Duke of Valois, Count of Beaumont-sur-Oise and of Blois, Lord of Coucy, ...

(1394–1465)

Fifteenth century

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

(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 e ...

(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 th ...

(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" (Charles ...

(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 ...

(1450–1526) * Lefèvre d'Etaples (1455–1537) *

Guillaume Crétin Guillaume Cretin (c. 1460 – 30 November 1525) was a French coterie poet who is considered to belong to the network of the Grands Rhétoriqueurs ("rhetoricians"). He is sometimes mistakenly referred to as Guillaume Dubois, but this is a wordplay ...

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

Guillaume Budé Guillaume Budé (; Onomastic Latinisation, Latinized as Guilielmus Budaeus; January 26, 1467 – August 20, 1540) was a French scholar and humanist. He was involved in the founding of Collegium Trilingue, which later became the Collège de Fra ...

(1468–1540) * Jean Meschinot (active from 1450 to 1490) * Guillaume Alexis (active from 1450 to 1490) *

Jean Lemaire de Belges Jean Lemaire de Belges (c. 1473c. 1525) was a Walloon poet, 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 a ...

(1473 – c.1525) *

Pierre Gringore Pierre Gringore (; 1475? – 1538) was a popular poet and playwright during the Renaissance in France. Biography Pierre Gringore was born in Normandy, at Thury-Harcourt, but the exact date and place of his death are unknown. His first w ...

or Gringoire (c.1475–1538/1539) *

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 ...

(c.1483–1553) *

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

(fl.1484) *

Mellin de Saint-Gelais 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 (, ''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 of Navarre by her second mar ...

(c.1492–1549) *

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 ...

(c.1496–1544)

Sixteenth century

1500–1549

Bonaventure des Périers Bonaventure des Périers (1544) was a French writer. Biography He was born of a noble family at Arnay-le-duc in Burgundy at the end of the fifteenth century. The circumstances of his education are sketchy, but it is known that he was attache ...

(c.1500–1544) *

Maurice Scève Maurice Scève ( – ) 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 spiritual lov ...

(c.1505 – c.1562) * Michel de l'Hospital (1505–1573) *

Étienne Dolet Étienne Dolet (; 3 August 15093 August 1546) was a French scholar, translation, translator and printer (publisher), printer. He was a controversial figure throughout his lifetime, which was buffeted by the opposing forces of the Renaissance and ...

(1509–1546) *

Jean Calvin John 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 of Christian theology later called Calvinism, ...

(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 m ...

(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 ...

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

(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 Jacques Pelletier du Mans, also spelled Peletier (, 25 July 1517 – 17 July 1582) was a humanist, poet and mathematician of the French Renaissance. Life Born in Le Mans into a bourgeois family, he studied at the Collège de Navarre in Paris, ...

(1517–1582) *

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

(1519–1605) * Pierre de Saint-Julien de Balleure (1519–1593) * Denis Sauvage (1520–1587) *

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

(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 t ...

(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 '' La Pléiade''. He notably wrote the manifesto of the group: '' Défense et illustration de la langue française'', which aimed at promoting French as a ...

(1522–1560) *

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 ...

(1524–1585) *

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 ( – 25 April 1566), also identified as La Belle Cordière ("The Fair Ropemaker") after her father's job, was a French Renaissance poet from Lyon. Biography Louise Labé was born in Lyon, into a family of ropemakers ...

(c.1526 – c.1565) * Rémy Belleau (1528–1577) *

Étienne Pasquier Étienne Pasquier (7 June 152930 August 30 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 be ...

(1529–1615) *

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 ...

(1530–1563) * Claude Fauchet (1530–1601) *

Jean Bodin Jean Bodin (; ; – 1596) was a French jurist and political philosopher, member of the Parlement of Paris and professor of law in Toulouse. Bodin lived during the aftermath of the Protestant Reformation and wrote against the background of reli ...

(1530–1596) *

François de Belleforest François de Belleforest (1530 – 1 January 1583) was a French writer, poet and translator of the Renaissance. He was born in Samatan, into a poor family, and his father (a soldier) was killed when he was seven. He spent some time in the cour ...

(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 ...

(1531–1598) * Jean Antoine de Baïf (1532–1589) *

Étienne Jodelle Étienne Jodelle, seigneur de Limodin (; 1532July 1573), French dramatist and poet, was born and died in Paris of a noble family. Member of La Pléiade, he will strive to revitalize the principles of ancient Greek and Roman theater during the R ...

(1532–1573) *

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 ...

(Michel Eyquem, seigneur de Montaigne) (1533–1592) *

Jean de la Taille Jean de La Taille (; c.1540c.1607) was a French poet and dramatist born in Bondaroy. Life He studied the humanities in Paris under Muretus, and law at Orléans under Anne de Bourg. He began his career as a Huguenot, but afterwards adopted a mil ...

(c.1533/1540 – c.1617) *

Robert Garnier Robert Garnier ( 1545L'année de naissance est sujette à caution. La BnF retient la forme "1545?". Tout comme l'éditeur Les Belles Lettres, et l'. On notera cependant que d'autres ouvrages, plus anciens, donnent 1534 comme année de naissance ...

(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 (; – 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 dramatists who ...

(1538–1570) *

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

(1539–1619) *

Pierre Pithou 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 P ...

(1539–1596) *

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

(1540–1614) * Pierre de Larivey (1540–1619) * Florent Chrestien (1540–1596) *

Pierre Charron Pierre Charron (; 1541 – 16 November 1603) was a 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 a ...

(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 of Navarre for most of his career. Du Bartas was celebrate ...

(1544–1590) * Antoine du Verdier (1544–1600) *

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

(1546–1606) *

Pierre de L'Estoile Pierre de L'Estoile (1546 – 8 October 1611) was a French diarist and collector. Life Born in Paris into a middle-class background, Pierre de l'Estoile was tutored by Mathieu Béroalde. He knew Agrippa d'Aubigné. He became a law student at Bou ...

(1546–1611) * Jean de La Ceppède (1548–1623) *

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

(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 counsellor 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, ord ...

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

(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 o ...

(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 Guillaume du Vair (7 March 1556 – 3 August 1621) was a French bishop, author, lawyer, Magistrate of the Parliament and Keeper of the Seals of France under French king Louis XIII. Life Du Vair was born in Paris. After taking holy orders, he ex ...

(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 Pierre Matthieu (1563–1621) was a French writer, poet, historian and dramatist. Biography Pierre Matthieu was born at Pesmes in the Haute-Saône (then in the Free County of Burgundy in the Holy Roman Empire. He studied under the Jesuits a ...

(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 (after 1570 – c.1628) * François du Souhait (between 1570 & 1580–1617) * Jean Ogier de Gombaud (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, which at that time was part of the Orléanais. His father, Jacques Régnier, was a bourgeois of good means and position; his ...

(1573–1613) * Nicholas Camusat (1575–1655) *

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

(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), in ...

(1579–1638) *

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

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

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

(1589–1670) * Bertrand de Loque (1589) *

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

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

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

(1592–1662) * Antoine Gérard de Saint-Amant (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 . Chapelain acquired considerable prestige as a literary critic, ...

(1595–1674) * Jean Desmarets de Saint-Sorlin (1595–1676) *

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 ...

(1596–1650) * Claude de Malleville (1597–1647) *

Vincent Voiture Vincent Voiture (; 24 February 1597 – 26 May 1648), French Mannerist and Baroque '' Précieuses'' 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 Gast ...

(1597–1648) *

Jean-Louis Guez de Balzac Jean-Louis Guez de Balzac (31 May 1597 – 18 February 1654) was a French author in Baroque Précieuses style, best known for his epistolary essays, which were widely circulated and read in his day. He was one of the founding members of the . ...

(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 Provenc ...

(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 County of La Marche. Life His adventures began early, for he killed his enemy i ...

(1601–1655) *

Guy Patin Guy (or Guido) Patin (1601 in Hodenc-en-Bray, Oise – 30 August 1672 in Paris) was a French medical 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 Fra ...

(1601–1672) * Jean de Bernieres-Louvigny (1602–1659) * Charles Sorel (1602–1674) *

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

(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 produce ...

(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 th ...

(1604–1676) *

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

(1605–1658) *

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

(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 ...

(1605–1654) *

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

(1606–1684) *

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

, 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 demonstrate such comprehensive knowledge of ancient history that it is suspected she had received ins ...

(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 ye ...

(1609–1650) *

Paul Scarron Paul Scarron (; – 6 October 1660) (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 first husband of Françoise d'A ...

(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, priest, philosopher and mathematician. He was one of the leading intellectuals of the Jansenist group of Port-Royal and had a very thorough knowledge of patr ...

(1612–1694) *

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

(1612–1691) * Jean François Paul de Gondi, cardinal de Retz (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 then within Guyenne. After studying at Toulouse, he came to Paris ...

(1614–1663) * Georges de Brébeuf (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. Early life Born at Epiry, near Autun, he repres ...

, 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 ce ...

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

Antoine Furetière Antoine Furetière (28 December 161914 May 1688) was a French scholar, writer, and lexicographer, known best for his satirical novel ''Scarron's City Romance'', and also his famous Dictionnaire universel . He was expelled from the Académie F ...

(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 f ...

(1619–1692) *

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 ...

(1621–1695) *

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

(Jean-Baptiste Poquelin) (1622–1673) *

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 ...

(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 An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδη� ...

(1624–1701) *

Paul Pellisson Paul Pellisson (30 October 1624 – 7 February 1693) was a French author, associated with the Baroque '' Précieuses'' movement. Pellisson was born in Béziers, of a distinguished Calvinist family. He studied law at Toulouse, and practised at ...

(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 ...

(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) Procuring, pimping, or pandering is the facilitation or provision of a prostitute or other sex worker in the arrangement ...

(Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de Sévigné) (1626–1696) * Laurent Drelincourt (1626–1680) *

Jacques Bénigne Bossuet Jacques or Jacq are believed to originate from the Middle Ages in the historic northwest Brittany region in France, and have since spread around the world over the centuries. To date, there are over one hundred identified noble families related t ...

(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 ambassado ...

(1628–1685) *

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 ...

(1628–1703) *

Pierre Daniel Huet P. D. Huetius Pierre Daniel Huet (; ; 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 to 1689 ...

(1630–1721) *

Louis Bourdaloue Louis Bourdaloue (20 August 1632 – 13 May 1704) was a French Jesuit and preacher. Biography Louis Bourdaloue was born in Bourges where his father practiced law. He began his studies at the Jesuit Collège de Sainte-Marie in Bourges. In Novem ...

(1632–1704) *

Esprit Fléchier Esprit Fléchier (10 or 19 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 Vena ...

(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 Madame ...

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

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

(1635–1688) *

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

(1636–1711) *

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

(1638–1701) *

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

(1638–1694) *

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

(1638–1715) *

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

(1638–1710) * Philippe de Courcillon, marquis de Dangeau (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 ...

(1639–1720) *

César Vichard de Saint-Réal César Vichard de Saint-Réal (1639–1692) was a Savoyard polyglot. He was born in Chambéry, Savoy, (then in the Savoyard state) but educated in Lyon by the Jesuits. He used to work in the royal library with Antoine Varillas, a French histor ...

(1639–1692) *

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 ...

(1639–1699) * Claude de Fleury (1640–1723) *

Louis Moréri Louis Moréri (25 March 1643 – 10 July 1680) was a French priest and encyclopedist. Moreri was the author of '' Le Grand Dictionaire historique, ou le mélange curieux de l'histoire sacrée et profane'' (literally, ''The Great Historical Dictio ...

(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 Intrigu ...

(1644–1712) *

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

(1644–1707) *

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

( c.1646–1714) *

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

(1646–1715) *

Pierre Bayle Pierre Bayle (; 18 November 1647 – 28 December 1706) was a French philosopher, author, and lexicographer. He is best known for his '' Historical and Critical Dictionary'', whose publication began in 1697. Many of the more controversial ideas ...

(1647–1706) * Joseph Anthelmi (1648–1697)

1650–1699

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) ...

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

(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 ide ...

(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 v ...

(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 Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle (; ; 11 February 1657 – 9 January 1757), also called Bernard Le Bouyer de Fontenelle, was a French author and an influential member of three of the academies of the Institut de France, noted especially for his ...

(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 ...

(1658–1712) * François Armand Gervaise (1660–1761) *

Charles Rollin Charles Rollin (30 January 1661 in Paris - 14 December 1741 in Paris) was a French historian and educator. Life Rollin was the son of a cutler, and at the age of 22 was made a master in the Collège du Plessis. In 1694 he was rector of the ...

(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 t ...

(1661–1725) * Jean-François Foucquet (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 (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 Art ...

(1670–1742) *

Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon (13 January 1674 – 17 June 1762) was a French poet and tragedian. He is sometimes known as Crébillon or (Crébillon the Tragic) to distinguish him from his son Claude Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon (Crébillon the ...

(Crébillon père) (1674–1762) *

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 ...

(1675–1755) *

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

(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 Jérôme Besoigne (1686 in Paris – 1763) was a prominent Jansenist apologist and oppositionist to the Bull "Unigenitus ''Unigenitus'' (named for its Latin opening words ''Unigenitus Dei Filius'', or "Only-begotten Son of God") is an ap ...

(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. Marivaux is considered one of the most important French playwrights of the 18th century, w ...

(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 Alexis Piron was born in Dijon, where his father, Aimé Piron, was an apothecary. Piron senior wrote verse in the Burgundian language. Alexis began ...

(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 principal so ...

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

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

(1690–1771) *

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 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 ...

(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 ...

(1695–1758) *

Antoine François Prévost Antoine is a French language, French given name (from the Latin ''Antonius'' meaning 'highly praise-worthy') that is a variant of Danton (name), Danton, Titouan, D'Anton and Antonin. The name is most common in France, Switzerland, Belgium, Canada ...

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

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

(1697–1780) *

Denis-François Camusat Denis-François Camusat (1697 – 1732) was a French people, French historian, grand nephew of Nicholas Camusat. Camusat produced works such as ''Hist. Critiques des Journaux qui s'impriment en France'' and ''Bibliotheque des Livres nouveaux''. ...

(1697–1732)

Eighteenth century

1700–1749

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

(1704–1772) *

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

(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 Natural history, naturalist, mathematician, and cosmology, cosmologist. He held the position of ''intendant'' (director) at the ''Jardin du Roi'', now ca ...

(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 materialists of the Enlightenment. He is best known for his 1747 work '' L'homme machine'' ('' ...

(1709–1751) *

Gabriel Bonnot de Mably Gabriel Bonnot de Mably (14 March 1709 in Grenoble – 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-centur ...

(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 Gresset was born at Amiens. During the last twenty-five years of his life, he regretted the frivolity o ...

(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 ...

(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 Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in F ...

(1710–1792) *

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 ...

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

(1713–1784) *

Étienne Bonnot de Condillac Étienne Bonnot de Condillac ( ; ; 30 September 1714 – 2 August or 3 August 1780) was a French philosopher, epistemologist, and Catholic priest, who studied in such areas as psychology and the philosophy of the mind. Biography He was born a ...

(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 s ...

(1715–1771) * Vauvenargues (Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues) (1715–1747) * François-André-Adrien Pluquet (1716–1790) *

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

(1716–1803) *

Louis Carrogis Carmontelle Louis Carrogis Carmontelle (15 August 1717 – 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 Monceau in Paris. He also inve ...

(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 ''Encyclopé ...

(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 the ...

(1719–1797) *

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

(1720–c.1794) *

Jacques Cazotte Jacques Cazotte (; 17 October 1719 – 25 September 1792) was a French author and a monarchist. He predicted the Reign of Terror and was guillotined shortly after. Life Born in Dijon, he was educated by the Jesuits. Cazotte then worked for the ...

(1720–1792) * Denis Dominique Cardonne (1721–1783) * Tiphaigne de la Roche (Charles-François Tiphaigne de la Roche) (1722–1774) *

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

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

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

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

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

(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 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), ...

(c.1730–1791) * Jacqueline-Aimée Brohon (1731–1778) *

Pierre-Augustin Caron de 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 ...

(1732–1799) * Anne-Marie Lacroix (1732–1802) * Jacques Clinchamps de Malfilâtre (1733–1767) * Nicolas Edme Restif de La Bretonne (1734–1806) * Jean-Benjamin François de la Borde (1734–1794) *

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

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

(1738–1813) *

Jean-François de la Harpe Jean-François de La Harpe (20 November 1739 – 11 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 ...

(1739–1803) *

Marquis de Sade Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade ( ; ; 2 June 1740 – 2 December 1814) was a French writer, libertine, political activist and nobleman best known for his libertine novels and imprisonment for sex crimes, blasphemy and pornography ...

(Donatien Alphonse François de Sade) (1740–1814) *

Isabelle de Charrière Isabelle de Charrière (; ; 20 October 174027 December 1805), also known as Madame de Charrière and in the Netherlands as Belle van Zuylen (), was a Dutch and Swiss writer of the Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment who lived the latter h ...

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, political economist, politician, and mathematician. His ideas, including suppo ...

(Marie Jean Antoine Caritat, marquis de Condorcet) (1744–1794) * Gabriel Brizard (c1744–1793) *

André-Samuel-Michel Cantwell André-Samuel-Michel Cantwell (1744–1802) was a French translator. 1744 births 1802 deaths French librarians French male non-fiction writers 18th-century French translators {{France-translator-stub ...

(1744–1802) *

Étienne Pélabon Étienne Pélabon (in Occitan : ''Estève Pelabon'' - Tolon, 25 January 1745 - Marseille ?, 1 November 1808) was a Provençal Occitan-language writer from the 18th century. He is above all remembered for his play '' Maniclo'' ( classical norm : ...

(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 Stéphanie is a French feminine given name. Notable people with the name include: *Stéphanie, Hereditary Grand Duchess of Luxembourg (born 1984), Belgian noble; wife of Guillaume, Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg * Princess Stéphanie (disambi ...

(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. She is best known for her Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen and other writings on women's rights and Abol ...

(1748–1793) * Pierre-Louis Ginguené (1748–1815) *

Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, Count of Mirabeau (; 9 March 17492 April 1791) was a French writer, orator, statesman and a prominent figure of the early stages of the French Revolution. A member of the nobility, Mirabeau had been involved in numerous ...

(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, diplomat, and magistrate. One of the forefathers of conservatism, Maistre advocated social hierarchy and monarchy in the period immedi ...

(1753–1821) * Jean Armand Charlemagne (1753–1838) * Marie Thérèse Péroux d’Abany (1753–1821) *

Joseph Joubert Joseph Joubert (; 6 May 1754 in Montignac, Dordogne, Montignac, Périgord – 4 May 1824 in Paris) was a French moralists, French moralist and List of essayists, essayist, remembered today largely for his ''Pensées'' (''Thoughts''), which w ...

(1754–1824) *

Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian (6 March 1755, near Sauve, Gard, France – 13 September 1794, Sceaux, Hauts-de-Seine, Sceaux, France) was a French poet, novelist and fabulist. Life Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian was born on 6 March 1755 in t ...

(1754–1794) *

Jacques Pierre Brissot Jacques Pierre Brissot (, 15 January 1754 – 31 October 1793), also known as Brissot de Warville, was a French journalist, abolitionist, and revolutionary leading the political faction, faction of Girondins (initially called Brissotins) at the ...

a/k/a Jean-Pierre Brissot (1754–1793) *

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

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

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

(c.1760–1829) * Victoire Babois (1760–1839) * Adelaide Filleul, Marquise de Souza-Botelho (Madame de Souza) (1761–1836) *

André Chénier André Marie Chénier (; 30 October 176225 July 1794) was a French poet associated with the events of the French Revolution, during which he was sentenced to death. His sensual, emotive poetry marks him as one of the precursors of the Romantic ...

(1762–1794) * Claude-François-Xavier Mercier de Compiègne (1763–1800) * Joseph Chénier (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, 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 Swiss and French political thinker, activist and writer on political theory and religion. A committed republican from 1795, Constant ...

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

Joseph Fiévée Joseph Fiévée (9 April 1767 - 9 May 1839) was a French journalist, novelist, essayist, playwright, civil servant (''haut fonctionnaire'') and secret agent. He also lived in an openly gay relationship with the writer Théodore Leclercq (1777-185 ...

(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 influenced French literature of the nineteenth century. Descended from an old aristocratic family from Bri ...

(1768–1848) *

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

(1770–1846) *

Fanny Raoul Marie-Françoise Raoul, known as Fanny Raoul (born in Saint-Pol-de-Léon on December 19, 1771, and died in Paris on December 9, 1833) was a French feminist writer, journalist, philosopher and essayist. Early life and education Little is known abo ...

(1771–1833) *

Sophie de Renneville Sophie is a feminine given name, another version of Sophia (given name), Sophia, from the Greek word for "wisdom". People with the name Born in the Middle Ages * Sophie, Countess of Bar (c. 1004 or 1018–1093), sovereign Countess of Bar and lad ...

(1772–1822) * Charles-Jean Baptiste Bonnin (1772–1846) *

Paul Louis Courier Paul Louis Courier (; 4 January 177210 April 1825, Paris, France) was a French Hellenist and political writer. Life Brought up on his father's estate of Méré in Touraine, he conceived a bitter aversion for the nobility, which seemed to stren ...

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 feminine ...

(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 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".Claire de Duras Claire, Duchess of Duras (pronounced "Dura", née de Kersaint; 23 March 1777 – 16 January 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 19 ...

(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 writi ...

(1780–1844) *

Pierre-Jean de Béranger Pierre-Jean de Béranger (; 19 August 1780 – 16 July 1857) was a prolific France, French poet and Chansonnier (singer), chansonnier (songwriter), who enjoyed great popularity and influence in France during his lifetime, but faded into obscurity ...

(1780–1857) * Victor de Bonald (1780–1871) *

Aimé Martin Aimé Martin (1781-1844) was a French writer. Born in Lyon, he moved to Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048 ...

(1781–1844) *

Fanny Tercy Fanny Tercy , Françoise-Cécile Messageot; November 22, 1782, Lons-le-Saunier – April 1, 1851, Quintigny), a 19th-century French historical novelist. Along with Stéphanie Félicité, comtesse de Genlis, , Sophie Doin, and George Sand, Tercy em ...

(1782–1851) *

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

(1782–1854) * Amable Guillaume Prosper Brugière, baron de Barante (1782–1866) * Victor Henri-Joseph Brahain Ducange (1783–1833) *

Stendhal Marie-Henri Beyle (; 23 January 1783 – 23 March 1842), better known by his pen name Stendhal (, , ), was a French writer. Best known for the novels ''Le Rouge et le Noir'' ('' The Red and the Black'', 1830) and ''La Chartreuse de Parme'' ('' T ...

(Henri Beyle) (1783–1842) (''

The Red and the Black ''Le Rouge et le Noir'' (; meaning ''The Red and the Black'') is a 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 through a c ...

'', 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 Romanticism, French Romantic poet and novelist. Early life and education Desbordes-Valmore was born in Douai. Following the French Revolution, her father's business was ...

(1786–1859) *

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

(1786–1829) *

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

(1786–1866) *

François Guizot François Pierre Guillaume Guizot (; 4 October 1787 – 12 September 1874) was a French historian, orator and Politician, statesman. Guizot was a dominant figure in French politics between the July Revolution, Revolution of 1830 and the Revoluti ...

(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. Initially a moderate royalist, he became one of the leading critics of the July Monarchy of Louis-Philippe, aligning more w ...

(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. ...

(1792–1867) *

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

(1793–1871) * Jean-M.-Vincent Audin (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 Ma ...

(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 Arthur Martin Dinaux (8 September 1795 – 15 May 1864) was a French journalist and antiquarian. Dinaux was born in Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; ; or ; ) is a communes of France, commune in the Nord (French department), Nord D ...

(1795–1864) *

Amédée Pichot Joseph Jean-Baptiste Marie Charles Amédée Pichot (3 November 1795 – 12 February 1877) was a French historian and translator. He was an Anglophile and the first translator of Lord Byron and Sir Walter Scott into French. In 1825 he published ...

(1795–1877) * Modeste Gruau (1795–1883) *

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

(1795–1856) *

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

(1796–1889) *

François Mignet 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 Romanticism, Romanticist. He also produced novels, plays, and translations of Shakespeare. Biography Vigny was born in Loches (a town to wh ...

(1797–1863) * Antoinette Henriette Clémence Robert (1797–1872) *

Adolphe Thiers Marie Joseph Louis Adolphe Thiers ( ; ; 15 April 17973 September 1877) was a French statesman and historian who served as President of France from 1871 to 1873. He was the second elected president and the first of the Third French Republic. Thi ...

(1797–1877) *

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

(1798–1857) *

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

(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 ...

(1798–1871) *

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 ...

(1798–1874) *

Sophie Rostopchine, Comtesse de Ségur Sophie is a feminine given name, another version of Sophia, from the Greek word for "wisdom". People with the name Born in the Middle Ages * Sophie, Countess of Bar (c. 1004 or 1018–1093), sovereign Countess of Bar and lady of Mousson * Sophi ...

(1799–1874) *

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 ...

(1799–1850)

Nineteenth century

1800–1824

* Pierre Alexandre Jean Mollière (1800–1850) *

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 ...

(1802–1885) (''

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. '' ...

'', 1862) *

Alexandre Dumas, père 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 ...

(1802–1870) *

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

(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'', whi ...

(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-Gr ...

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

(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 Jean-Charles Tardieu, also call ...

(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 writer and literary critic. He was born at Châtillon-sur-Seine. Career In 1826 he joined the staff of the ''Journal des Débats'', but subsequently transferre ...

(1806–1888) *

Émile Souvestre Émile Souvestre (15 April 18065 July 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 r ...

(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,Stuar ...

(1807–1841) *

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 ...

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

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

(1809–1875) *

Petrus Borel Joseph-Pierre Borel d'Hauterive, known as Petrus Borel (26 June 1809 – 14 July 1859), was a French writer of the Romantic movement. History Petrus Borel was born in Lyon on 26 June 1809, the twelfth of fourteen children of an ironmonger. He s ...

(1809–1859) *

Pierre-Joseph Proudhon Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (, ; ; 1809 – 19 January 1865) was a French anarchist, socialist, philosopher, and economist who founded mutualist philosophy and is considered by many to be the "father of anarchism". He was the first person to ca ...

(1809–1865) * Xavier Forneret (1809–1884) * Hégésippe Moreau (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 Alfred Louis Charles de Musset-Pathay (; 11 December 1810 – 2 May 1857) was a French dramatist, poet, and novelist.His names are often reversed "Louis Charles Alfred de Musset": see "(Louis Charles) Alfred de Musset" (bio), Biography.com, 2007 ...

(1810–1857) *

Joseph Bouchardy 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 attacki ...

(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 Socialism, socialist politician, journalist and historian. He called for the creation of cooperatives in order to job guarantee, guarantee employment for t ...

(1811–1882) * Victor de Laprade (1812–1883) * Louis du Couret (1812–1867) *

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

(1813–1893) *

Eugène Labiche Eugène Marin Labiche (; 6 May 181522 January 1888) was a French dramatist. He remains famous for his contribution to the vaudeville genre and his passionate and domestic pochades. In the 1860s, he reached his peak with a series of successe ...

(1815–1888) *

Joseph Arthur de Gobineau Joseph Arthur de Gobineau (; 14 July 1816 – 13 October 1882) was a French writer and diplomat who is best known for helping introduce scientific race theory and "racial demography", and for developing the theory of the Aryan master race and N ...

(1816–1882) *

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

(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 (1818–1894) *

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

(1819–1883), travel writer *

Eugène Fromentin Eugène Fromentin (; 24 October 182027 August 1876) was a French painter and writer. Life and career He was born in La Rochelle. After leaving school he studied for some years under Louis Cabat, the landscape painter. Fromentin was one of the e ...

(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 on 31 March 1857. Biography Augier was born at Valence, Drôme, the grandson of Pigault Lebrun, an ...

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

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

(1820–1900) *

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

(1821–1867) (''

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 ...

'', 1857) *

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 ...

(1821–1880) (''

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 ...

'', 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 fe ...

(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 ...

(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 ...

(1823–1891) *

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

(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'', usually titled '' Camille'' in English-language versions), pu ...

(1824–1895)

1825–1849

* Sainte Suzanne Melvil-Bloncourt (1825–1880) * Jean-Félix Nourrisson (1825–1899) *

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

(1827–1879) *

Juliette Figuier Louise Juliette Bouscaren, known as Juliette Figuier (4 February 1827, Montpellier – 6 December 1879, Paris), was a French playwright and novelist. She also published some works under the pseudonym Claire Sénart. She was the wife of Louis Figui ...

(1827–1879) * Clair Tisseur (Nizier du Puitspelu) (1827–1896) *

Edmond About Edmond may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Edmond'' (play), a 1982 play by David Mamet ** ''Edmond'' (film), a 2005 film based on the 1982 play * '' E.d.M.O.N.D'', a 2013 EP by Edmond Leung * ''Edmond'', a 2016 play by Alexis Michalik ** ''E ...

(1828–1885) * Hyppolyte Taine (1828–1893) *

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

(1828–1905) *

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

(1828/34/35 – 1901) *

Zénaïde Fleuriot 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 and . Her writings were initially published under th ...

(1829–1890) *

Numa-Denis Fustel de Coulanges Numa Denis Fustel de Coulanges (; 18 March 1830 – 12 September 1889) was a French people, French historian. Biography Coulanges was born in Paris; he was of Breton people, Breton descent. After studying at the École Normale Supérieure, he a ...

(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 of a stroke brought on by sy ...

(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 the French form of the masculine given name Henry, also in Estonian, Finnish, German and Luxembourgish. Bearers of the given name include: People French nobles * Henri I de Montmorency (1534–1614), Marshal and Constable of France * ...

(1830–1913) *

Henri Meilhac Henri Meilhac (; 23 February 1830 – 6 July 1897) was a prolific French playwright and opera librettist, known for his collaborations with Ludovic Halévy on comic operas with music by Jacques Offenbach. He also wrote occasionally for serious w ...

(1831–1897) *

Victorien Sardou Victorien Sardou ( , ; 5 September 1831 – 8 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-c ...

(1831–1908) * Valérie Simonin (1831–1919) * Émile Gaboriau (1832–1873) * Jules Vallès (1832–1885) * Gaston Lavalley (1834–1922) * Claire Julie de Nanteuil (1834–1897) * Édouard Pailleron (1834–1899) * Ludovic Halévy (1834–1908) * Jean-Marie Déguignet (1834–1905) * Amélie Gex (Dian de la Jeânna) (1835–1883) * Félix Narjoux (1836–1891) * Jules Simon Troubat (1836–1914) * Constant Fouard (1837–1903) * Henry Becque (1837–1899) * Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam (1838–1889) * Lucie Boissonnas (1839–1877) * Sully Prudhomme (1839–1907) * Jules Lermina (1839–1913) * Alphonse Daudet (1840–1897) * Émile Zola (1840–1902) * Arvède Barine (1840–1908) * Jules Claretie (1840–1913) * Catulle Mendès (1841–1909) * Charles Cros (1842–1888) * Stéphane Mallarmé (1842–1898) * José María de Heredia (1842–1905) * François Coppée (1842–1908) * Albert Sorel (1842–1906) * René de Lespinasse (1843–1922) * Paul Arène (1843–1896) * Paul Verlaine (1844–1896) * Anatole France (Anatole François Thibault) (1844–1924) * Tristan Corbière (Edouard-Joachim) (1845–1875) * Comte de Lautréamont (Isidore Lucien Ducasse) (1846–1870) * Léon Bloy (1846–1917) * Auguste Edgard Dietrich (1846) * Henri François Marion (1846–1896) * Geoffroi Jacques Flach (1846–1919) * Brada (writer) (1847–1938) * Émile Faguet (1847–1916) * Joris-Karl Huysmans (1848–1907) * Octave Mirbeau (1848–1917) * Georges de Peyrebrune (1848–1917) * Ferdinand Brunetière (1849–1906) * Jean Richepin (1849–1926) * Georges de Porto-Riche (1849–1930)

1850–1859

* Guy de Maupassant (1850–1893) * Pierre Loti (Julien Viaud) (1850–1923) * Sibylle Gabrielle Marie Antoinette Riqueti de Mirabeau, Gyp (1850–1932) * Germain Nouveau (1851–1920) * Élémir Bourges (1852–1925) * Paul Bourget (1852–1935) * Alfred Masson-Forestier (1852–1912) * Maurice Rollinat (1853–1903) * Arthur Rimbaud (1854–1891), Une Saison en Enfer * Alphonse Allais (1854–1905) * Hermine Lecomte du Noüy (1854–1915) * Laurent Tailhade (1854–1919) * Georges Rodenbach (1855–1898) * Jean Lorrain (1855–1906) * Émile Verhaeren (1855–1916) * Adolphe Chenevière (1855–1917) * Noël Valois (1855–1915) * Marie Lion (1855–1922) * Jean Moréas (Jean Papadiamantopoulos) (1856–1910) * Pierre Decourcelle (1856–1926) * Claude Ferval (1856–1943) * Gustave Lanson (1857–1934) * Albert Samain (1858–1900) * Jules Lemaître (1858–1915) * Remy de Gourmont (1858–1915) * Émile Durkheim (1858–1917) * Alfred Capus (1858–1922) * Georges Courteline (Georges Moineaux) (1858–1929) * Neel Doff (1858–1942) * Jean-Baptiste Chautard (1858–1935) * Henri Danoy (1859–1928) * Gustave Belot (1859–1929) * Paul Naudet (1859–1929) * Anatole Le Braz (1859–1926) * Gustave Kahn (1859–1936) * Henri Bergson (1859–1941)

1860–1869

* Jules Laforgue (1860–1887) * Paul Margueritte (1860–1918) * Michel Zévaco (1860–1918) * Paul Roux a/k/a Saint-Pol-Roux le Magnifique (1861–1940) * Paul Adam (French novelist), Paul Adam (1862–1920) * Georges Darien (1862–1921) * Georges Feydeau (1862–1921) * Maurice Barrès (1862–1923) * Maurice Maeterlinck (1862–1949) * Stuart Merrill (1863–1915) * Marguerite Audoux (1863–1937) * Jules Renard (1864–1910) * Henri de Régnier (1864–1936) * Léon Broutin (fl. 1865–77) * Maurice Leblanc (1864–1941) * Juliette Heuzey (1865–1952) * Romain Rolland (1866–1944) * Tristan Bernard (1866–1947) * Fortunat Strowski (1866–1952) * Charles de Beaupoil, comte de Saint-Aulaire (1866–1954) * Émile Lauvrière (1866–1954) * René Boylesve (René Tardivaux) (1867–1926 * Jehan Rictus (Gabriel Randon) (1867–1933) * Léon Daudet (1867–1942) * Marcel Schwob (1867–1905) * Paul-Jean Toulet (1867–1920) * Romain Coolus (1868–1952) * Edmond Rostand (1868–1918) * Gaston Leroux (1868–1927) (''The Phantom of the Opera (novel), The Phantom of the Opera'', ''Le Mystère de la chambre jaune'') * Achille Essebac (1868–1936) * Francis Jammes (1868–1938) * Émile Auguste Chartier a/k/a "Alain" (1868–1951) * Paul Claudel (1868–1955) * André Spire (1868–1966) * Gaston Arman de Caillavet (1869–1915) * Augustin Chaboseau (1868–1946) * André Gide (1869–1951)

1870–1879

* Marcelle Tinayre (1870–1948) * Henry Bordeaux (1870–1963) * Pierre Louÿs (Pierre Louis) (1870–1925) * Maximilien Winter (1871–1935) * André Chéradame (1871–1948) * Albert Geouffre de Lapradelle (1871–1955) * Gaston Brière (1871–1962) * Marcel Proust (1871–1922), ''In Search of Lost Time'' * Paul Valéry (1871–1945) * Louis Madelin (1871–1956) * Henry Bataille (1872–1922) * Robert de Flers (1872–1927) * Paul Fort (1872–1960) * Alfred Jarry (1873–1907) * Charles Péguy (1873–1914) * Henri Barbusse (1873–1935) * Colette (Sidonie Gabrielle Colette) (1873–1954) * Alice Jouenne (1873–1954) * Pierre Souvestre (1874–1914) * Albert Thibaudet (1874–1936) * Tristan Klingsor (1874–1966) * Binet-Valmer (1875–1940) * Paul Watrin (1876–1950) * Anna de Noailles (Anne de Brancovan, comtesse de Noailles) (1876–1933) * Max Jacob (1876–1944) * Léon-Paul Fargue (1876–1947) * Pierre Albert-Birot (1876–1967) * Marcel Bouteron (1877–1962) * Raymond Roussel (1877–1933) * Oscar Milosz, Oscar Venceslas de Lubicz-Milosz (1877–1939) * Charles Ferdinand Ramuz, dit C. F. Ramuz (1878–1947) * Victor Segalen (1878–1919) * Henry de Monfreid (1879–1974) * Francis Picabia (1879–1953) * Henri Fauconnier (1879–1973)

1880–1889

* Louis Hémon (1880–1913) * Guillaume Apollinaire (Wilhelm Apollinaris de Kostrowitzky) (1880–1918) * Lucie Delarue-Mardrus (1880–1945) * Francis de Miomandre (Francis Durand) (1880–1959) * Alzir Hella (1881–1953) * Valery Larbaud (1881–1957) * Roger Martin du Gard (1881–1958) * Camille Drevet (1881–1969) * André Salmon (1881–1969) * Jérôme Carcopino (1881–1970) * Louis Pergaud (1882–1915) * Jean Giraudoux (1882–1944) * André Billy (writer), André Billy (1882–1971) * Pierre MacOrlan (Pierre Dumarchais) (1883–1970) * Rose Combe (1883–1932) * Marie Noël (1883–1933) * Auguste Detœuf (1883–1947) * Albert Pauphilet (1884–1948) * Jules Supervielle (1884–1960 * Gaston Bachelard (1884–1962) * Georges Duhamel (author), Georges Duhamel (1884–1966) * Jacques Chardonne (Jacques Boutelleau) (1884–1968) * Jean Paulhan (1884–1968) * Alexandre Arnoux (1884–1973) * Georges Ribemont-Dessaignes (1884–1974) * René Hubert (historian), René Hubert (1885–1954) * Sacha Guitry (1885–1957) * André Maurois (Emile Herzog) (1885–1967) * Fernand Crommelynck (1885–1970) * Jules Romains (Jules-Louis de Farigoule) (1885–1972) * Marthe Bibesco (1885–1973) * Alain-Fournier (Henri Fournier) (1886–1914) * Francis Carco (François Carcopino-Tusoli) (1886–1958) * Pierre Benoît (novelist), Pierre Benoit (1886–1962) * Geneviève Fauconnier (1886–1969) * Roland Dorgelès (Roland Lecavelé) (1886–1973) * Jean-Charles Roman d'Amat (1887–1976) * Henri Pourrat (1887–1959) * Jean de La Varende (Jean-Balthazar Mallard, comte de La Varende) (1887–1959) * René Maran (1887–1960) * Blaise Cendrars (1887–1961) * François Mauriac (1887–1970) * Saint-John Perse (Alexis Léger) (1887–1975) * Pierre-Jean Jouve (1887–1976) * Marcel Martinet (1887–1944) * Georges Bernanos (1888–1948) * Henri Bosco (1888–1976) * Paul Morand (1888–1976) * Marcel Jouhandeau (1888–1979) * Jacques de Lacretelle (1888–1985) * Tristan Derème (1889–1941) * Pierre Reverdy (1889–1960) * Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) * Émile Henriot (writer), Émile Henriot (1889–1961)

1890–1899

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

Twentieth century

1900–1909

* Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900–1944) * Robert Desnos (1900–1945) * Jacques Prévert (1900–1977) * André Chamson (1900–1983) * André Dhôtel (1900–1991) * Albert Ayguesparse (1900–1996) * Julien Green (1900–1998) * Nathalie Sarraute (1900–1999) * Amadou Hampâté Bâ (1900 or 1901–1991) * Georges Limbour (1900–1970) * Marcel Sendrail (1900–1976) * Jacques Bordiot (1900–1983) * Maurice Féaudierre (1901-1992) * 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) * Jean-Marie Dallet (linguist), Jean-Marie Dallet (1909–1972) * 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 (1926–2023) * 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) * Renada-Laura Portet (1927–2021) * 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 (1930–2024) * 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 (1932–2024) * Julienne Salvat (1932–2019) * Marcelin Pleynet (1933–...) * Claude Esteban (1935–2006) * Ágota Kristóf (1935–2011) * Françoise Sagan (Françoise Quoirez) (1935–2004) * Daniel Zimmermann (1935–2000) * Assia Djebar (1936–2015) * Frankétienne (1936–2025) * Jean-Edern Hallier (1936–1997) * Georges Perec (1936–1982) * Philippe Sollers (1936–2023) * Alain Grée (1936–2025) * 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 (1944–2016) * 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) * Bernard Gheur (1945–...) * Pierre Michon (1945–...) * Gisèle Bienne (1946–...) * Renaud Camus (1946–...) * Djémil Kessous (1946–...) * Tahar Ben Jelloun (1947–...) * Daniel Maximin (1947-...) * Luc Perino (1947–...) * Michel Étiévent (1947–2021) * Loïc Le Ribault (1947–2007) * Jean-Claude Villain (1947–...) * 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 (writer), Moussa Konaté (1951–2013) * Salim Jay (1951–...) * Bernard Cottret (1951–2020) * Jean-Didier Urbain (1951–...) * Raphaël Confiant (1951–...) * Carole Achache (1952–2016) * Pierre-Henri Bunel (1952–...) * Dan Franck (1952–...) * Dany Laferrière (1953–...) * Françoise Bettencourt Meyers (1953–...) * Nancy Huston (1953–...) * Patrick Chamoiseau (1953–...) * François Bon (1953–...) * Martina Wachendorff (1953–...) * Édouard Brasey (1954–...) * Paul Dirmeikis (1954–...) * Tahar Djaout (1954–1993) * Margaret Maruani (1954–2022) * 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–...) * Yasmina Khadra (1955-...) * Annie Pietri (1956–...) * Charles Mopsik (1956–2003) * Gisèle Pineau (1956–...) * Jean-Pierre Thiollet (1956–...) * Khal Torabully (1956–...) * Fred Vargas (1957-...) * 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–...) * Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt (1960–...) * Simonetta Greggio (1961–...) * Bernard Werber (1961–...) * Charles Dantzig (1961–...) * Philippe Buc (1961–...) * Valérie Grumelin-Halimi (1961–...) * Philippe Claudel (1962–...) * Virginie Caillé-Bastide (1962–...) * Catherine Cusset (1963–...) * Beatrice Hammer (1963–...) * Kevin Bokeili (1963–2014) * Alexis Jenni (1963–...) * Bill Pallot (1964–...) * Nadine Ribault (1964–2021) * Pierre Cormon (1965–...) * Ann Scott (French novelist), Ann Scott (1965–...) * Stéphane Laurent (1966–...) * Odile Benyahia-Kouider (1966–...) * Marie Jaffredo (1966–...) * Alain Mabanckou (1966–...) * Delphine Gardey (1967–...) * Mouna Hachim (1967–...) * Paul-Louis Roubert (1967–...) * Jonathan Littell (1967–...) * Amélie Nothomb (1967–...) * Basile Panurgias (1967–...) * Johanna Schipper (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–...) * Nicolas Bouyssi (1972–...) * Cristina Rodríguez (journalist), Cristina Rodríguez (1972–...) * Kilien Stengel (1972–...) * Roland Michel Tremblay (1972–...) * Romain Sardou (1974–...) * Guillaume Musso (1974–...) * Olivier Adam (1974–...) * Harold Cobert (1974–...) * Juliette Rennes (1976–...) * Lisa Mandel (1977–...) * Benoît Bringer (1979–...) * Agnès Martin-Lugand (1979–...) * Diane Mazloum (1980–...) * Nahema Hanafi (1983–...) * Jérémy Marie (1984–...) * Benjamin Hoffmann (1985–...) * Oriane Lassus (1987–...) * Charles Luylier (1989–...) * Mélissa Da Costa (1990-...) * Blandine Rinkel (1991-...) * Soraya Nini (1993–...) * Chloé Wary (1995–...) * Estelle Beauchamp (novelist since 1995)

Middle Ages

Fifteenth century

Sixteenth century

1500–1549

1550–1599

Seventeenth century

1600–1649

1650–1699

Eighteenth century

1700–1749

1750–1799

Nineteenth century

1800–1824

1825–1849

1850–1859

1860–1869

1870–1879

1880–1889

1890–1899

Twentieth century

1900–1909

1910–1919

1920–1929

1930–1939

1940–1949

1950–present

See also