Jules Vallès

Born in Le Puy-en-Velay in 1832, Jules Vallès became one of France’s most outspoken writers and journalists. He studied in Nantes and Paris, taught for a time, and then moved fully into journalism and political writing, earning a reputation for his lively style and fierce sympathy for ordinary people.

Vallès was closely involved in the radical politics of his day. During the Paris Commune in 1871, he founded and edited Le Cri du Peuple, and after the Commune was crushed he was forced into exile in London before returning to France under amnesty.

He is now especially remembered for his autobiographical trilogy—L’Enfant, Le Bachelier, and L’Insurgé—which draws on his own difficult youth, education, and political awakening. His work mixes anger at injustice with humor and tenderness, helping keep his voice vivid long after his death in 1885.