author
Paul Stapfer
1840–1917
A graceful French essayist and literary critic, he wrote with unusual clarity about Shakespeare, Molière, and other major writers. His books blend close reading with an easy, polished style that still feels inviting.
1 Audiobook
Molière et Shakespeare
by Paul Stapfer
About the author
Born in Paris on May 14, 1840, Paul Stapfer was a French man of letters known for essays, literary criticism, and teaching. He studied at the Lycée Bonaparte, worked for a time as a tutor in the family of the statesman François Guizot, and later became a professor at Grenoble before taking a similar post at Bordeaux.
Stapfer wrote on a wide range of literary subjects, with notable attention to Shakespeare, Molière, and modern French literature. Contemporary reference works and library records present him as an essayist whose work was admired for its clarity, careful detail, and finished style.
He died in Bordeaux on January 7, 1917. For readers coming to him now, the appeal is simple: he had the gift of making serious literature feel lucid, lively, and approachable.