French literature - Enlightenment, Revolution, Romanticism

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data-icon="toc"></em> <a class="font-serif font-weight-bold text-black link-blue" href="https://www.britannica.com/art/French-literature">French literature</a> </div> <button aria-label="Close" class="js-sections-close-button btn-link btn-sm btn d-lg-none position-absolute top-0 p-10 right-0" > <em class="material-icons font-26" data-icon="close"></em> </button> </div> <div class="section-content pl-10 pr-20 pl-sm-50 pr-sm-60 pl-lg-5 pr-lg-10 pt-10 pt-lg-0 bg-gray-50 clear-catfish-ad"> <div class="toc mb-20"> <div class="font-serif font-14 font-weight-bold mx-15 mb-15 mt-20"> Table of Contents </div> <ul class="list-unstyled my-0" data-level="h1"><li data-target="#ref1"><div class="pl-25"><a class="link-gray-900 w-100" href="/art/French-literature">Introduction</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"></div></li><li data-target="#ref22484"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/The-Middle-Ages">The Middle Ages</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref22486"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/The-Middle-Ages#ref22486">The origins of the French language</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref22487"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/The-Middle-Ages#ref22487">The context and nature of French medieval literature</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref22488"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/The-chansons-de-geste">The chansons de geste</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref22489"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/The-chansons-de-geste#ref22489">The romance</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref22490"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Lyric-poetry-to-the-13th-century">Lyric poetry to the 13th century</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref22491"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Lyric-poetry-to-the-13th-century#ref22491">Satire, the fabliaux, and the <em>Roman de Renart</em></a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref22492"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Lyric-poetry-to-the-13th-century#ref22492">Allegory</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref22493"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Lyric-poetry-in-the-14th-century">Lyric poetry in the 14th century</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref22494"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Lyric-poetry-in-the-14th-century#ref22494">Villon and his contemporaries</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref22495"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Lyric-poetry-in-the-14th-century#ref22495">Prose literature</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref22496"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Religious-drama">Religious drama</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref22497"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Religious-drama#ref22497">Secular drama</a></li></ul></div></li><li data-target="#ref22499"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/The-16th-century">The 16th century</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref22500"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/The-16th-century#ref22500">Language and learning in 16th-century Europe</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref22501"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/The-16th-century#ref22501">The elevation of the French language</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref22504"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Major-authors-and-influences">Major authors and influences</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref22505"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Major-authors-and-influences#ref22505">Poetry</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref22506"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Prose">Prose</a></li></ul></li></ul></div></li><li data-target="#ref22507"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/The-17th-century">The 17th century</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref22508"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/The-17th-century#ref22508">Literature and society</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref22509"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/The-17th-century#ref22509">Refinement of the French language</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref22510"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/The-development-of-drama">The development of drama</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref22511"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/The-heroic-ideal">The heroic ideal</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref22512"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/The-heroic-ideal#ref22512">The <em>honnête homme</em></a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref22513"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Racines-fatalism">Racine’s fatalism</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref22514"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Racines-fatalism#ref22514">Nondramatic verse</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref22515"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/The-Classical-manner">The Classical manner</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref22516"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/The-Classical-manner#ref22516">Religious authors</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref247788"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/The-Classical-manner#ref247788">Satire</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref22517"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/The-Classical-manner#ref22517">The Ancients and the Moderns</a></li></ul></li></ul></div></li><li data-target="#ref22518"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/The-18th-century-to-the-Revolution-of-1789">The 18th century to the Revolution of 1789</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref22519"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/The-18th-century-to-the-Revolution-of-1789#ref22519">The Enlightenment</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref22520"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Drama">Drama</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref22521"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Drama#ref22521">Tragedy and the survival of Classical form</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref22522"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Drama#ref22522">Marivaux and Beaumarchais</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref22523"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Drama#ref22523">Bourgeois drama</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref22524"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Drama#ref22524">Poetry</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref22525"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/The-novel">The novel</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref22526"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/The-novel#ref22526">Rousseau</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref22527"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Laclos-and-others">Laclos and others</a></li></ul></li></ul></div></li><li data-target="#ref22528"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/From-1789-to-the-mid-19th-century">From 1789 to the mid-19th century</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref22529"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/From-1789-to-the-mid-19th-century#ref22529">Revolution and empire</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref22530"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/From-1789-to-the-mid-19th-century#ref22530">The poetry of Chénier</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref22531"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/From-1789-to-the-mid-19th-century#ref22531">Revolutionary oratory and polemic</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref22532"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/From-1789-to-the-mid-19th-century#ref22532">Chateaubriand</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref22533"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/From-1789-to-the-mid-19th-century#ref22533">Mme de Staël and the debate on literature</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref22534"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Romanticism">Romanticism</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref22535"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Romanticism#ref22535">Foreign influences</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref22536" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Romanticism#ref22536">The poetry of the Romantics</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref22537"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Romanticism#ref22537">Lamartine</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref22538"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Romanticism#ref22538">The early poetry of Hugo</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref22539"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Romanticism#ref22539">Vigny</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref22540"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Romanticism#ref22540">Musset</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref22541"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Romanticism#ref22541">Nerval</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref22542" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Romantic-theatre">Romantic theatre</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref22543"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Romantic-theatre#ref22543">Hugo</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref22544"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Romantic-theatre#ref22544">Vigny</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref22545"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Romantic-theatre#ref22545">Musset</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref22546"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/The-novel-from-Constant-to-Balzac">The novel from Constant to Balzac</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref22547"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/The-novel-from-Constant-to-Balzac#ref22547">The historical novel</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref22548"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/The-novel-from-Constant-to-Balzac#ref22548">Stendhal</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref22549"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Sand">Sand</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref22550"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Sand#ref22550">Nodier, Mérimée, and the conte</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref22551"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Sand#ref22551">Balzac</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref22552"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/19th-century-thought">19th-century thought</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref22553"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/19th-century-thought#ref22553">Literary criticism and journalism</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref22554"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/19th-century-thought#ref22554">Historical writing</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref22555"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/19th-century-thought#ref22555">The intellectual climate before 1848</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref22556"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/19th-century-thought#ref22556">Renan, Taine, and positivism</a></li></ul></li></ul></div></li><li data-target="#ref22557"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/From-1850-to-1900">From 1850 to 1900</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref22558"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/From-1850-to-1900#ref22558">New directions in poetry</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref22559"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/From-1850-to-1900#ref22559">Gautier and <em>l’art pour l’art</em></a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref22560"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Leconte-de-Lisle-and-Parnassianism">Leconte de Lisle and Parnassianism</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref22561"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Leconte-de-Lisle-and-Parnassianism#ref22561">Baudelaire</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref22563"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Realism-in-the-novel">Realism in the novel</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref22564"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Realism-in-the-novel#ref22564">Diversity among the Realists</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref22565"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Flaubert">Flaubert</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref22566"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Flaubert#ref22566">Drama</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref22567"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Naturalism">Naturalism</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref22568"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Naturalism#ref22568">Zola</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref22569"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Naturalism#ref22569">Maupassant</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref22570"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/The-reaction-against-reason">The reaction against reason</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref22571"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/The-reaction-against-reason#ref22571">The Decadents</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref22572"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/The-Symbolists">The Symbolists</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref22573"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/The-Symbolists#ref22573">The novel later in the century</a></li></ul></div></li><li data-target="#ref22574"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/From-1900-to-1940">From 1900 to 1940</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref22575"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/From-1900-to-1940#ref22575">The legacy of the 19th century</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref247791"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/From-1900-to-1940#ref247791">Gide</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref247792"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Proust-and-Claudel">Proust and Claudel</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref247793"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Proust-and-Claudel#ref247793">Valéry</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref22577"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Proust-and-Claudel#ref22577">The impact of World War I</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref247794"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Proust-and-Claudel#ref247794">War novels and poetry</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref247795"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Proust-and-Claudel#ref247795">The avant-garde</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref247796"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Proust-and-Claudel#ref247796">Colette</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref22578"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Political-commitment">Political commitment</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref247797"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Political-commitment#ref247797">Politics in the novel</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref247798"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Political-commitment#ref247798">Céline and Drieu</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref247799"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Political-commitment#ref247799">Malraux, Gide, and others</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref247800"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Political-commitment#ref247800">Politics subordinate to other concerns: Mauriac, Bernanos, and others</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref22581"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Poetry">Poetry</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref22582"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Poetry#ref22582">Theatre</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref22583"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Poetry#ref22583">The eve of World War II</a></li></ul></div></li><li data-target="#ref22584"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/The-mid-20th-century">The mid-20th century</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref22585"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/The-mid-20th-century#ref22585">The German Occupation and postwar France</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref247801"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/The-mid-20th-century#ref247801">Sartre</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref247802"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/The-mid-20th-century#ref247802">Camus</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref247803"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/The-mid-20th-century#ref247803">Beauvoir</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref247804"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Toward-the-nouveau-roman">Toward the <em>nouveau roman</em></a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref247805"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Toward-the-nouveau-roman#ref247805">Theatrical experiments</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref22588"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Postwar-poetry">Postwar poetry</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref22589"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Postwar-poetry#ref22589">The 1960s: before the watershed</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref247806"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Structuralism">Structuralism</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref247807"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Structuralism#ref247807">Lacan and Foucault</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref247808"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Structuralism#ref247808">La Nouvelle Critique (French New Criticism)</a></li></ul></li></ul></div></li><li data-target="#ref247809"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Approaching-the-21st-century">Approaching the 21st century</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref22590"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Approaching-the-21st-century#ref22590">The events of 1968 and their aftermath</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref247810"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Approaching-the-21st-century#ref247810">Derrida and other theorists</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref247811"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Approaching-the-21st-century#ref247811">Feminist writers</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref22591"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Other-literature-of-the-1970s">Other literature of the 1970s</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref247812"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Other-literature-of-the-1970s#ref247812">Historical fiction</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref247813"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Other-literature-of-the-1970s#ref247813">Biography and related arts</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref247814"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Other-literature-of-the-1970s#ref247814">Detective fiction</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref247815"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/The-1980s-and-90s">The 1980s and ’90s</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref247816" class="has-children"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/The-1980s-and-90s#ref247816">Fiction and nonfiction</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref247817"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/The-1980s-and-90s#ref247817">Postcolonial literature</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref247818"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/The-1980s-and-90s#ref247818">Regional literature</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref247819"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/The-1980s-and-90s#ref247819">Postmodernism</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h4"><li data-target="#ref247820"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Prose-fiction">Prose fiction</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref247821"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Prose-fiction#ref247821">Poetry</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref247822"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/art/French-literature/Prose-fiction#ref247822">Drama</a></li></ul></li></ul></div></li></ul> <a class="toc-extra-link link-gray-900" href="https://www.britannica.com/art/French-literature/additional-info">References & Edit History</a> <a 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Owen</div> <div class="editor-description font-12 font-serif mt-5 clamp-description text-black">Emeritus Professor of French, University of St. Andrews, Scotland. Author of <i>The Evolution of the Grail Legend </i>and others.</div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor text-decoration-underline"> D.D.R. Owen</span>, <div class="editor-popover popover p-0"> <a class="d-block p-20 gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor" href="/contributor/Haydn-T-Mason/1929" > <div class="editor-title font-16 font-weight-bold">Haydn T. Mason</div> <div class="editor-description font-12 font-serif mt-5 clamp-description text-black">Emeritus Professor of French Language and Literature, University of Bristol, England. Author of <i>French Writers and their Society 1715–1800 </i>and others.</div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor text-decoration-underline"> Haydn T. Mason</span><span class="text-gray-700 mx-5">•</span><a class="see-all border-gray-700 gtm-byline" rel="nofollow" href="https://www.britannica.com/art/French-literature/additional-info#contributors">All</a> </div> <div class="font-serif font-12 text-gray-700"> <span class="qa-fact-checked-by">Fact-checked by</span> <div class="editor-popover popover p-0"> <a class="d-block p-20 font-12" href="/editor/The-Editors-of-Encyclopaedia-Britannica/4419" > <div class="editor-title font-16 font-weight-bold">The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</div> <div class="editor-description font-12 font-serif mt-5 text-black">Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.</div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link font-12 "> The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</span></div> <div class="last-updated font-12 font-serif"> <a class="byline-edit-history" href="https://www.britannica.com/art/French-literature/additional-info#history" rel="nofollow">Article History</a> </div></div> </div> <button class="d-flex d-lg-none btn btn-outline-blue border rounded-sm shadow-sm mobile-toc-button gtm-mobile-toc-inline-button d-none d-sm-block js-sections-inline-button module-spacing btn d-lg-none"> <em class="material-icons mr-5 ml-n10 my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="toc"></em> Table of Contents </button> <div class="d-flex d-sm-none flex-row"> <button class="d-flex d-lg-none btn btn-outline-blue border rounded-sm shadow-sm mobile-toc-button gtm-mobile-toc-inline-button js-sections-inline-button module-spacing"> <em class="material-icons mr-5 ml-n10 my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="toc"></em> Table of Contents </button> <button class="ai-ask-button btn border-2 ai-ask-button btn border-2 module-spacing btn-sm js-inline-ai-ask-button btn-outline-red-400 border-red-400 p-10 ml-5"> Ask the Chatbot a Question </button> </div> <div class="js-qf-module qf-module px-40 px-sm-20 py-15 mx-auto module-spacing font-14 bg-gray-50 rounded"> <div class="facts-list mt-10"> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Key People: </dt> <dd><a href="/biography/Voltaire" topicid="632488">Voltaire</a></dd> <dd><a href="/biography/Moliere-French-dramatist" topicid="388302">Molière</a></dd> <dd><a href="/biography/Jean-Jacques-Rousseau" topicid="510932">Jean-Jacques Rousseau</a></dd> <dd><a href="/biography/Jean-Racine" topicid="488151">Jean Racine</a></dd> <dd><a href="/biography/Gabriel-Honore-Marcel" topicid="364105">Gabriel Marcel</a></dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> </div> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Related Topics: </dt> <dd><a href="/art/Breton-literature" topicid="78979">Breton literature</a></dd> <dd><a href="/art/Anglo-Norman-literature" topicid="25087">Anglo-Norman literature</a></dd> <dd><a href="/art/Walloon-literature" topicid="634967">Walloon literature</a></dd> <dd><a href="/art/chanson-de-geste" topicid="105812">chanson de geste</a></dd> <dd><a href="/art/fabliau" topicid="199767">fabliau</a></dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> <div class="text-center"> <a class="btn btn-sm btn-link p-0" href="/facts/French-literature"> See all related content </a> </div> </div> </div> </div><span class="marker before-article"></span><span class="marker h6"></span><section data-level="1" id="ref22528">  <section data-level="2" id="ref22529"> <h2 class="h2">Revolution and empire</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD1 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The <span id="ref385713"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/French-Revolution" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">French Revolution</a> of 1789 provided no clean break with the complex literary <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="culture" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/culture" data-type="MW">culture</a> of the Enlightenment. Many ways of thinking and feeling—whether based on reason, <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="sentiment" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sentiment" data-type="MW">sentiment</a>, or an <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="exacerbated" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/exacerbated" data-type="MW">exacerbated</a> sensibility—and most literary forms persisted with little change from 1789 to 1815. Certainly, the Napoleonic regime encouraged a return to the Classical mode. The insistence on formal qualities, notions of good taste, rules, and appeals to authority implicitly underlined the regime’s centralizing, <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="authoritarian" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/authoritarian" data-type="MW">authoritarian</a>, and imperial aims. This <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/Classicism" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">classicism</a>, or, strictly speaking, Neoclassicism, represented the etiolated survival of the high style and literary forms that had dominated “serious” literature—and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/dramatic-literature" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">drama</a> in particular—in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/France" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">France</a> for almost two centuries. But Rousseau’s emphasis on subjectivity and sentiment still had its heirs, as did the new forms of writing he had helped to evolve. Likewise, while the Gothic violence that had emerged in early Revolutionary drama and novels was curbed, its <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="dynamic" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dynamic" data-type="MW">dynamic</a> remained. The seeds of French <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/Romanticism" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Romanticism</a> had been sown in national ground, long before writers began to turn to other nations to kindle their inspiration.</p><span class="marker MOD1 mod-inline"></span> <section data-level="3" id="ref22530"> <h2 class="h3">The poetry of Chénier</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD2 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph"><span id="ref385714"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Andre-Marie-de-Chenier" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">André Chénier</a> was executed during the last days of the Terror. His work first appeared in volume in 1819 and is thus associated with the first generation of French <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="Romantic" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Romantic" data-type="MW">Romantic</a> poets, who saw in him a symbol of persecuted genius. Although deeply imbued with the Classical spirit, especially that of Greece, Chénier exploited Classical <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="myths" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/myths" data-type="MW">myths</a> for modern purposes. He began work on what he planned to be a great <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/epic" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">epic</a> poem, “Hermès,” a history of the universe and human progress. The completed fragments reflect the Enlightenment spirit but also anticipate the episodic epic poems of the later <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="Romantics" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Romantics" data-type="MW">Romantics</a>. Chénier, though a moderate in revolutionary terms, was deeply committed in his politics. This is evident in the scathing fierceness of his lyrical satires, the <em>Ïambes</em>, many of which were written from prison shortly before his execution. His best-known poems, however, are elegies that sing of captivity, death, and dreams of youth and lost happiness.</p><span class="marker MOD2 mod-inline"></span> </section> <section data-level="3" id="ref22531"> <h2 class="h3">Revolutionary <span id="ref385715"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/oratory-rhetoric" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">oratory</a> and polemic</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD3 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The intensity of political debate in Paris during the Revolution, whether in clubs, in the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/National-Assembly-historical-French-parliament" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">National Assembly</a>, or before tribunals, threw into prominence the arts of oratory. Speaking in the name of reason, virtue, and liberty and using the Roman Republic or the city-states of Greece as a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/reference-frame" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">frame of reference</a>, Revolutionary leaders such as <span id="ref385716"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Honore-Gabriel-Riqueti-comte-de-Mirabeau" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Honoré-Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jean-Paul-Marat" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Jean-Paul Marat</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Maximilien-Robespierre" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Maximilien Robespierre</a>, and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Louis-de-Saint-Just" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Louis de Saint-Just</a> infused the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="intellectual" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/intellectual" data-type="MW">intellectual</a> preoccupations of the Enlightenment with a sense of drama and passion. This renewal of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/rhetoric" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">rhetoric</a> is echoed in the enormously expanded political press, including Marat’s <em>L’Ami du peuple</em> (“The Friend of the People”), <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jacques-Hebert" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Jacques-René Hébert</a>’s <em>Le Père Duchesne</em> (“Old Duchesne”), and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Francois-Noel-Babeuf" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Gracchus Babeuf</a>’s <em>Le Tribun du peuple</em> (“The Defender of the People”). To some extent the proclamations and communiqués of Napoleon prolonged this Revolutionary eloquence.</p><span class="marker MOD3 mod-inline"></span> </section> <section data-level="3" id="ref22532"> <h2 class="h3"><span id="ref385717"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Francois-Auguste-Rene-vicomte-de-Chateaubriand" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Chateaubriand</a></h2> <span class="marker PREMOD4 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The French Revolution made an émigré of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Francois-Auguste-Rene-vicomte-de-Chateaubriand" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">François-Auguste-René, vicomte de Chateaubriand</a>, and his first major work, the <em>Essai sur les révolutions</em> (1797; “Essay on Revolutions”; Eng. trans. <em><span id="ref385718"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/An-Historical-Political-and-Moral-Essay-on-Revolutions-Ancient-and-Modern" class="md-crosslink ">An Historical, Political and Moral Essay on Revolutions, Ancient and Modern</a></em>), is a complex and sometimes confused attempt to understand revolution in general, the French Revolution in particular, and the individual’s relationship to these phenomena. Chateaubriand took as his model the stance of the 18th-century <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/philosophe" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">philosophe</a>, but his <em>Génie du christianisme</em> (1802; <em><span id="ref385719"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Genius-of-Christianity" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">The Genius of Christianity</a></em>) caught a new mood of return to religious faith based on emotional appeals and proclaimed the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="aesthetic" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/aesthetic" data-type="MW">aesthetic</a> superiority of Christianity. The impact of this work was enormous, not least in its reinstatement of nature, and natural landscape, as the lodging place of spiritual repose and renewal. Within it were two short narratives, <em>Atala</em> (Eng. trans. <em><span id="ref848809"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Atala" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Atala</a></em>, also translated in <em>Atala, René</em>), a tale of fatal passion and savage (Indian) nobility, and <em>René</em> (Eng. trans. <em><span id="ref385720"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Rene" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">René</a></em>). A young hero not dissimilar to Goethe’s Werther, René, who flees pain and suffering in Europe to look vainly for refuge in the wilds of America, came to represent the <em>mal du siècle</em> (world-weariness, literally “sickness of the century”), the essence of Romantic sensibility; he is insecure, <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="solitary" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/solitary" data-type="EB">solitary</a>, disorientated, and in flight, searching for a happiness that will always evade him.</p><span class="marker MOD4 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD5 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Behind all Chateaubriand’s works lies the sense of a break, caused by the French Revolution, in a stable, ordered existence. His <em>Mémoires d’outre-tombe</em> (1848–50; “Memoirs from Beyond the Tomb”; Eng. trans. <em><span id="ref385721"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Memoirs-of-Chateaubriand" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">The Memoirs of Chateaubriand</a></em>), the masterpiece he worked on most of his adult life and intended for posthumous publication, uses the autobiographical format to meditate on the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/history-of-France" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">history of France</a>, the passing of time, and the vanity of human desires. His lyrical and rhythmic prose left a deep impression on many Romantic writers.</p><div class="module-spacing"> </div><span class="marker MOD5 mod-inline"></span> </section> <section data-level="3" id="ref22533"> <h2 class="h3">Mme de Staël and the debate on literature</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD6 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph"><span id="ref385722"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Germaine-de-Stael" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Mme de Staël</a> (Anne-Louise-Germaine Necker, baronne de Staël-Holstein) was truly encyclopaedic in her interests. Her contribution to intellectual debate far exceeded any narrow definition of literature. At first liberal and then, after her offer of support was rebuffed, fiercely anti-Napoleon in politics, <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="eclectic" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/eclectic" data-type="MW">eclectic</a> in philosophy, mixing rationalism and spiritualism, and determinedly internationalist in her feeling for literature, she moved most easily in a world of ideas, surrounding herself with the salon of <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="intellectuals" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/intellectuals" data-type="MW">intellectuals</a> she founded at Coppet, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Switzerland" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Switzerland</a>. Her two novels, <em>Delphine</em> (1802; <em>Delphine</em>) and <em><span id="ref848810"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Corinne" class="md-crosslink ">Corinne</a></em> (1807; <em>Corinne, or Italy</em>), focus on the limits society tries to impose on the independent woman and the woman of genius. The account of Corinne’s personal drama is combined with an examination of national identities in postrevolutionary Europe, offering original insights into how new alliances can be forged across old, hostile boundaries and what part artistic form and women’s influence could play in making new <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="communities" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/communities" data-type="MW">communities</a>. Her two most influential works, <em>De la littérature</em> (1800; <em><span id="ref848812"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Influence-of-Literature-upon-Society" class="md-crosslink ">The Influence of Literature upon Society</a></em>) and <em>De l’Allemagne</em> (1810; <em><span id="ref848814"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Germany-by-Stael" class="md-crosslink ">Germany</a></em>), expanded <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="conceptions" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conceptions" data-type="MW">conceptions</a> of literature with the claim that different social forms needed different literary modes: in particular, postrevolutionary society required a new literature. She explored the contrast, as she saw it, between the literature of the south (rational, Classical) and the literature of the north (emotional, Romantic), and she explored the potential interest for French culture of foreign writers such as <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Shakespeare" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">William Shakespeare</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ossian" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Ossian</a>, and above all the German Romantics.</p><span class="marker MOD6 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD7 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Many of these ideas emerged from discussions with <span id="ref385723"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/August-Wilhelm-von-Schlegel" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">August Wilhelm von Schlegel</a>, whose work on the drama was widely translated, and from meetings with and readings of the Germans <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Johann-Wolfgang-von-Goethe" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Johann Wolfgang von Goethe</a> and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Friedrich-Schiller" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Friedrich Schiller</a>. The Genevan economist and writer <span id="ref385724"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/money/J-C-L-Simonde-de-Sismondi" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Jean-Charles-Léonard Simonde de Sismondi</a> reinforced many of Mme de Staël’s points in his <em>De la littérature du midi de l’Europe</em> (1813; <em>Historical View of the Literature of the South of Europe</em>). This <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="cosmopolitan" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cosmopolitan" data-type="MW">cosmopolitan</a> cultural relativism was infuriating to many of Staël’s French contemporaries in the prevailing Neoclassical literary climate.</p><span class="marker MOD7 mod-inline"></span> </section> </section></section><span class="marker end-of-content"></span><span class="marker after-article"></span></div> <div id="chatbot-root"></div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="ai-dialog-placeholder"></div> </div> </div> <aside class="col-md-da-320"></aside> </div> </div> </div> </div> </article></div> </div></div> </div> </main> <div id="md-footer"></div> <noscript><iframe src="//www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-5W6NC8" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript> <script type="text/javascript" id="_informizely_script_tag"> var IzWidget = IzWidget || {}; (function (d) { var scriptElement = d.createElement('script'); scriptElement.type = 'text/javascript'; scriptElement.async = true; scriptElement.src = "https://insitez.blob.core.windows.net/site/f780f33e-a610-4ac2-af81-3eb184037547.js"; var node = d.getElementById('_informizely_script_tag'); node.parentNode.insertBefore(scriptElement, node); } )(document); </script>  <script> window.ap3c = window.ap3c || {}; var ap3c = window.ap3c; ap3c.cmd = ap3c.cmd || []; ap3c.cmd.push(function() { ap3c.init('ZO4siT4cLwnykPnzZWJtd3Byb2Q', 'https://engage.email.britannica.com/'); ap3c.track({v: 0}); }); ap3c.activity = function(act) { ap3c.act = (ap3c.act || []); ap3c.act.push(act); }; var s, t; s = document.createElement('script'); s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.src = "https://engage.email.britannica.com/app.js"; t = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; t.parentNode.insertBefore(s, t); </script> <script class="marketing-page-info" type="application/json"> {"pageType":"Topic","templateName":"DESKTOP","pageNumber":19,"pagesTotal":43,"pageId":219228,"pageLength":1132,"initialLoad":true,"lastPageOfScroll":false} </script> <script class="marketing-content-info" type="application/json"> [] </script> <script src="https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/js/libs/jquery-3.5.0.min.js?v=3.130.14"></script> <script type="text/javascript" data-type="Init Mendel Code Splitting"> (function() { $.ajax({ dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: 'https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/dist/topic-page.js?v=3.130.14' }); })(); </script> <script class="analytics-metadata" type="application/json"> {"leg":"D","adLeg":"D","userType":"ANONYMOUS","pageType":"Topic","pageSubtype":null,"articleTemplateType":"PAGINATED","gisted":false,"pageNumber":19,"hasSummarizeButton":false,"hasAskButton":false} </script> <script type="text/javascript"> EBStat={accountId:-1,hostnameOverride:'webstats.eb.com',domain:'www.britannica.com', json:''}; </script> <script type="text/javascript"> ( function() { $.ajax( { dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: '//www.britannica.com/webstats/mendelstats.js?v=1' } ) .done( function() { try {writeStat(null,EBStat);} catch(err){} } ); })(); </script> <div id="bc-fixed-dialogue"></div> </body> </html>

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French literature - Enlightenment, Revolution, Romanticism | Britannica