List of French novelists
This is a list of novelists from France. Novelists in this list should be notable in some way, and ideally have Wikipedia articles on them.
See also French novelists Category Index.
- François Rabelais, (c. 1493 – 1553), author of Gargantua and Pantagruel
- Honoré d'Urfé, (1568–1625)
- Charles Sorel, (c. 1602 – 1674)
- Madeleine de Scudéry, (1607–1701)
- Madame de Lafayette (1634–1693), author of La Princesse de Clèves
- Alain-René Le Sage, (1668–1747)
- Pierre de Marivaux, (1688–1763)
- Voltaire, (1694–1778), philosophe, satirist, playwright, author of Candide
- Françoise de Graffigny, (1695–1758), author of Lettres d'une Péruvienne
- Abbé Prévost, (1697–1763), author of Manon Lescaut
- Claude Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon, (1707–1777)
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau, (1712–1778), philosophe, author of Julie, or the New Heloise
- Denis Diderot, (1713–1784), philosophe, author of Rameau's Nephew
- Marie Jeanne Riccoboni, (1714–1792)
- Restif de la Bretonne, (1734–1806)
- Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, (1737–1814), author of Paul et Virginie
- Marquis de Sade, (1740–1814), author of Justine and The 120 Days of Sodom
- Choderlos de Laclos, (1741–1803), author of Les liaisons dangereuses
- Anne Louise Germaine de Staël, (1766–1817)
- Benjamin Constant, (1767–1830), author of Adolphe
- François-René de Chateaubriand, (1768–1848), author of Atala and René
- Étienne Pivert de Senancour, (1770–1846)
- Charles Nodier, (1780–1844)
- Stendhal, (1783–1842), author of The Red and the Black, considered by some to be the first modern novel, and The Charterhouse of Parma
- Charles Paul de Kock, (1793–1871)
- Antoinette Henriette Clémence Robert (1797–1872)
- Charles Dezobry, (1798–1871), historian and historical novelist
- Honoré de Balzac, (1799–1850), author of La Comédie Humaine, a series of novels presenting a full picture of France in the early 19th century
- Alexandre Dumas, père, (1802–1870), author of The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers
- Victor Hugo, (1802–1885), author of The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Les Misérables
- Prosper Mérimée, (1803–1870), author of Carmen
- Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve, (1804–1869)
- George Sand, (1804–1876), pseudonym of Amantine Aurore Lucile Dupin, Baroness Dudevant
- Eugène Sue, (1804–1857)
- Jules Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly, (1808–1889)
- Alfred de Musset, (1810–1857)
- Théophile Gautier, (1811–1872)
- Gustave Flaubert, (1821–1880), author of Madame Bovary and Sentimental Education
- Edmond de Goncourt, (1822–1896)
- Henri Murger, (1822–1861), author of Scènes de la vie de bohème
- Alexandre Dumas, fils, (1824–1895), author of La Dame aux camélias
- Edmond About, (1828–1885)
- Jules Verne, (1828–1905), writer of techno-thrillers like Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, and founding father of science fiction
- Jules de Goncourt, (1830–1870)
- Hector Malot, (1830–1907)
- Émile Gaboriau, (1832–1873), pioneer of modern detective fiction
- Alphonse Daudet, (1840–1897)
- Émile Zola, (1840–1902), naturalist, author of Germinal and Nana
- Anatole France (1844–1924)
- Léon Bloy, (1846–1917)
- Joris-Karl Huysmans, (1848–1907), author of À rebours and La-Bas
- Guy de Maupassant, (1850–1893)
- Pierre Loti, (1850–1923)
- Élémir Bourges, (1852–1925)
- Paul Bourget, (1852–1935)
- René Bazin, (1853–1932)
- Adolphe Chenevière (1855–19??)
- Maurice Barrès, (1862–1923)
- Henri de Régnier, (1864–1936)
- Jules Renard, (1864–1910)
- Romain Rolland, (1866–1944), Nobel Prize in Literature, 1915
- Gaston Leroux, (1868–1927) author of The Phantom of the Opera and The Mystery of the Yellow Room which is recognized as the first Locked-Room puzzle mystery novel
- André Gide, (1869–1951)
- Henri Bordeaux, (1870–1963)
- Marcel Proust, (1871–1922), author of In Search of Lost Time, sometimes seen as the greatest modernist novel
- Colette, (1873–1954), best known for Gigi and Chéri
- Alfred Jarry, (1873–1907), satirist, inventor of Pataphysics
- Roger Martin du Gard, (1881–1958), Nobel Prize in Literature, 1937
- Louis Pergaud, (1882–1915)
- Georges Duhamel, (1884–1966)
- François Mauriac, (1885–1970), Nobel Prize in Literature, 1952
- Jules Romains, (1885–1972)
- Alain-Fournier, (1886–1914)
- Georges Bernanos, (1888–1948)
- Adrien Bertrand, (1888–1917)
- Henri Bosco, (1888–1976)
- Louis Ferdinand Céline, (1894–1961), author of Journey to the End of the Night and Death on the Installment Plan or Mort à Crédit.
- Henri de Montherlant, (1895–1972)
- Jean Giono, (1895–1970)
- Julien Green, (1900–1998)
- Antoine de Saint Exupéry, (1900–1944)
- Nathalie Sarraute (1900–1999)
- André Malraux, (1901–1976)
- Irène Némirovsky, (1903–1942), author of Suite française
- Raymond Queneau, (1903–1976)
- Raymond Radiguet, (1903–1942)
- Marguerite Yourcenar, (1903–1987)
- Jean-Paul Sartre, (1905–1980), Nobel Prize in Literature, 1964
- Pauline Réage, (1907–1998)
- Simone de Beauvoir, (1908–1986)
- Paul Berna, (1908–1994)
- Jean Genet, (1910–1986)
- Henri Troyat, (1911–2007)
- Pierre Boulle, (1912–1994), author of The Bridge on the River Kwai and Planet of the Apes.
- Albert Camus, (1913–1960), Nobel Prize in Literature, 1957
- Gilbert Cesbron, (1913–1979)
- Claude Simon, (1913–2005), Nobel Prize in Literature, 1985
- Marguerite Duras, (1914–1996)
- Maurice Druon, (1918–2009)
- Boris Vian, (1920–1959)
- Alain Robbe-Grillet, (1922–2008)
- Michel Tournier, (born 1924)
- Philippe Daudy, (1925–1994)
- Michel Butor, (born 1926)
- Sébastien Japrisot, (1931–2003)
- Emmanuelle Arsan, (born 1932)
- Régine Deforges, (born 1935)
- Françoise Sagan, (1935–2004)
- Georges Perec, (1936–1982)
- J.M.G. Le Clézio, (born 1940), Nobel Prize in Literature, 2008
- Nancy Huston, (born 1953)
- Michel Houellebecq, (born 1958), Impact award winner
- Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt, (born 1960)
- Charles Dantzig, (born 1961)
- Beatrice Hammer, (born 1963)
- Romain Sardou (born 1974)
See also