1821-67


French poet who had great influence on French and English poetry.

Born in Paris, he led an extravagant life; he joined the revolutionaries in 1848. Known as a literary critic and translator of E.A.Poe.
His first book 'Les Fleurs du Mal' was condemmned as immoral, and he was prosecuted and fined. In 1860 he published 'Paradis Artificiels'.

A controversial figure in his lifetime, Baudelaire's name has become a byword for literary and artistic decadence. At the same time his works, in particular his book of poetry Les Fleurs du mal (The Flowers of Evil), have been acknowledged as classics of French literature.

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de Beauvoir, Simone

1908-1986


Simone de Beauvoir was known as the most preeminent French existentialist writer and novelist.

Born in Paris, she studied philosophy with Sartre at the Sorbonne, and became his companion until his death in 1980. Closely associated with Sartre's literary activities after the war, she founded the literary magazine 'Les Temps modernes' in 1945. Her own works provide existentialism with a feminine sensibility, notably her masterpiece 'Les Mandarins'.

Her most famous philosophical work 'The Second Sex', heralded a feminist revolution and remains to this day a central text in the investigation of women's oppresssion and liberation.

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Camus, Albert

1913-60


French existentialist writer, born in Mondovi, Algeria. He studied philosophy at Algiers, and worked as an actor and journalist there and in Paris.

Active in the French resistance during the war, he became co-editor with Sartre of the newspaper Combat after the liberation. He earned an international reputation with his nihilistic novel, 'L'Etranger' (The Stranger). Later novels include 'The Plague' and 'The Fall'.

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