author
Benjamin Constant
1767–1830
A sharp observer of power and personal feeling, he helped shape modern liberal thought while also writing one of the great early psychological novels. Best known for Adolphe, he brought political debate and intimate inner conflict onto the page with unusual clarity.
3 Audiobooks
Adolphe
by Benjamin Constant
Adolphe : Erään tuntemattoman papereista löydetty tarina
by Benjamin Constant
About the author
Born in Lausanne in 1767, Benjamin Constant was a Swiss-born writer, political thinker, and public figure whose life moved between France, Switzerland, Germany, and England. He became known for his defense of individual liberty and constitutional government during the turbulent years shaped by the French Revolution and Napoleon.
Alongside his political writing, he wrote Adolphe (1816), a short novel that became famous for its subtle, searching picture of love, hesitation, and self-deception. The book is often seen as an early psychological novel, and it remains the work for which many general readers know him best.
Constant was also closely connected to the intellectual world of his time, including a long and important relationship with Germaine de Staël. He died in Paris in 1830, leaving behind both influential political essays and a novel whose emotional honesty still feels surprisingly modern.