Jules de Goncourt

Born in Paris on December 17, 1830, Jules de Goncourt was a French writer who worked in unusually close partnership with his brother Edmond de Goncourt. The two became known as the Goncourt brothers, publishing novels, criticism, and historical studies together and building a reputation for sharp observation and an exacting literary style.

They are often linked with the rise of naturalism in French literature. Along with fiction, the brothers wrote about 18th-century art and society, and their journal became especially important for its lively, sometimes merciless picture of literary and artistic life in 19th-century France.

Jules de Goncourt died on June 20, 1870, at just 39 years old. Even with that brief career, his collaborative work with Edmond remained influential, and the family name later became permanently associated with one of France’s best-known literary honors, the Prix Goncourt.