author
Antoine Furetière
1619–1688
A sharp-eyed satirist and pioneering lexicographer, this 17th-century French writer is best remembered for Le Roman bourgeois and for the ambitious dictionary that stirred a major literary quarrel. His work captures everyday language and city life with unusual energy for its time.
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About the author
Born in Paris on December 28, 1619, Antoine Furetière first trained for a legal career before entering the Church, a change that gave him the freedom to pursue writing. He became known as a versatile man of letters—poet, fabulist, novelist, and scholar—and was elected to the Académie française in 1662.
Furetière is especially associated with Le Roman bourgeois, a witty, satirical novel that turns its attention to ordinary urban society rather than heroic ideals. He also devoted years to compiling a French dictionary that aimed to include the language of practical life, the arts, and the sciences, not just polished literary usage.
That dictionary project led to a famous conflict with the Académie française, which accused him of overstepping its own lexicographical work; he was eventually expelled from the Académie in 1685. Furetière died in Paris on May 14, 1688, and his Dictionnaire universel was published after his death in 1690, securing his place in the history of French language and literature.