Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve

Born in Boulogne-sur-Mer in 1804, Sainte-Beuve became one of the most influential literary critics in 19th-century France. He first studied medicine, but literature drew him in, and he went on to build a reputation through essays, criticism, poetry, and journalism.

He is especially associated with a biographical approach to criticism, arguing in practice that a writer's life, habits, and character could illuminate the work. His long-running critical portraits and essays shaped French literary culture, and his collected Causeries du lundi remain among his best-known works.

Sainte-Beuve also moved in the major literary circles of his day and is often remembered for his complicated connection with Victor Hugo and the Romantic generation. He died in 1869, leaving behind a body of criticism that influenced later readers, writers, and scholars far beyond France.