author
Henri Vallienne
1854–1908
A French doctor who became one of Esperanto’s earliest novelists, he helped show that the new language could carry suspense, romance, and full-length fiction. His work is often remembered as part of the very beginning of the Esperanto novel.
1 Audiobook
Por kaj kontraŭ Esperanto : Dialogo
by Henri Vallienne
About the author
Born Marie-Léonce Vallienne on November 19, 1854, in Saumur, France, he was a physician as well as an enthusiastic supporter of Esperanto. Writing under the name Henri Vallienne in Esperanto, he joined the movement in the early 20th century and quickly turned to literary work.
He is best known for writing two original novels in Esperanto, including Kastelo de Prelongo and Ĉu li?. Because these appeared so early in the language’s history, they are often noted as pioneering works that helped establish Esperanto as a language for serious imaginative literature, not just correspondence or teaching.
Vallienne also worked as a translator, including on Virgil’s Aeneid. He died on December 1, 1908, in Malakoff, near Paris, shortly after the publication of his second novel, leaving behind a small but important place in early Esperanto literary history.