Jules Claretie

Born in Limoges on December 3, 1840, Jules Claretie became a prominent French man of letters whose work spanned journalism, literary criticism, history, drama, and fiction. After studying in Paris, he built his reputation in newspapers and became known as a sharp theatrical critic as well as a chronicler of contemporary society.

Claretie wrote many novels and plays, often drawing on political, bourgeois, and Parisian settings. His best-known books include Monsieur le Ministre, Le Million, and Le Prince Zilah, and his writing helped make him a familiar figure in French literary life during the Third Republic.

He also played an important public role in the theater world, serving as director of the Théâtre Français, better known as the Comédie-Française, from 1885 until 1913. Elected to the Académie française in the 1880s, he remained an influential cultural figure until his death in Paris on December 23, 1913.