J. (Jules) Barbey d'Aurevilly

Born in Normandy in 1808, Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly became known as a French novelist and influential critic with a strong royalist outlook and an ardent, if unorthodox, Roman Catholic faith. After studying in Paris and Caen, he settled in Paris and supported himself through journalism and criticism, building a reputation that was tied as much to his literary judgment as to his striking public persona.

He was famous in his own day for an extravagant dandy style, and Britannica notes that he became influential in matters of literary taste and social fashion. As a critic, he was forceful and deeply personal, sharply opposing Émile Zola and the Naturalists while championing writers such as Balzac, Stendhal, and Baudelaire before they were fully recognized.

His fiction is closely linked to Normandy and is marked by violent feeling, moral conflict, and an atmosphere that brushes against terror without fully entering the supernatural. Among his best-known works are Le Chevalier des Touches, Un Prêtre marié, and Les Diaboliques (published in 1874), a collection often regarded as his masterpiece.