Jules Lemaître

Born in Vennecy, France, in 1853, he studied at the École Normale Supérieure and began his career in education, teaching before serving as a professor at the University of Grenoble. He left academic life in the 1880s to write full time and soon became widely known for criticism that was more intimate and impressionistic than strictly academic.

Alongside his essays, he wrote stories and plays, building a reputation as a versatile literary figure. He is often remembered less for a single novel than for the lively, personal voice he brought to criticism, and his standing in French letters was confirmed when he was elected to the Académie française in 1895.

He died in 1914. Today he is chiefly recalled as a sharp, elegant critic and dramatist whose writing captured the tastes, debates, and personalities of his era.