author
comte de Arthur Gobineau
1816–1882
A 19th-century French diplomat and writer, he is remembered both for his fiction and travel writing and for a notorious racial theory work that later influenced racist ideologies. His legacy is deeply controversial, making him a figure of literary and historical interest rather than simple admiration.
5 Audiobooks
The inequality of human races
by comte de Arthur Gobineau
Kaukaasialainen tanssijatar
by comte de Arthur Gobineau
La fleur d'or
by comte de Arthur Gobineau
Nouvelles Asiatiques
by comte de Arthur Gobineau
About the author
Born in France in 1816, Arthur de Gobineau was an aristocrat, novelist, essayist, and diplomat who served in several postings abroad. His travels and official work fed into a wide range of writing, including novels, essays, and travel-inspired pieces.
He is most widely known for An Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races (published 1853–1855), a work that argued for racial hierarchy. That book is now understood as an early example of racist pseudo-scientific thinking, and it later influenced harmful ideologies far beyond his own lifetime.
Alongside that deeply troubling legacy, Gobineau also wrote fiction, including Nouvelles asiatiques, and remained active in literary and intellectual circles until his death in Turin in 1882. Today, he is chiefly studied as a significant and controversial figure in the history of ideas.