Curated category
20th-century French novelists
- André BretonAndré Robert Breton was born on the 19th of February 1896 in Tinchebray, a small town in Normandy. His father Louis-Justin worked as a policeman while his…
- Jules VerneJules Gabriel Verne was born on the 8th of February 1828 on Île Feydeau in Nantes. This small artificial island sat within the river Loire before it was…
- Jean-Paul SartreJean-Paul Sartre was born on the 21st of June 1905 in Paris as the only child of Jean-Baptiste Sartre and Anne-Marie Schweitzer.
- Albert CamusAlbert Camus was born on the 7th of November 1913 in Mondovi, a working-class town in French Algeria, to a mother who was deaf and illiterate and a father he…
- Jean GenetJean Genet was born in 1910 to a mother who worked as a prostitute. She raised him for only seven months before placing him up for adoption.
- Simone de BeauvoirSimone de Beauvoir did not consider herself a philosopher, and at the time of her death in 1986 the world did not call her one either.
- Louis-Ferdinand CélineLouis-Ferdinand Céline was born Louis Ferdinand Auguste Destouches on the 27th of May 1894 in Courbevoie, a suburb just outside Paris.
- Jean GiraudouxHippolyte Jean Giraudoux entered the world on the 29th of October 1882 in Bellac, a small town in Haute-Vienne. His father Léger worked for the Ministry of…
- Georges BatailleGeorges Bataille was born on the 10th of September 1897 in Billom, a small town in the Auvergne region. His father Joseph-Aristide worked as a tax collector…
- Raymond QueneauRaymond Auguste Queneau entered the world on the 21st of February 1903 at 47, rue Thiers in Le Havre. He was the only child born to Auguste Queneau and…
- Éric RohmerJean Marie Maurice Schérer was born on the 21st of March 1920 in Nancy, France. He adopted the pseudonym Éric Rohmer from two famous artists: Erich von…
- Jeanine DelpechJeanine Louise Nelly Delpech entered the world on the 1st of August 1905 at the Château du Prieuré in Évecquemont. Her father Edmond Jean Frédéric Marie…