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The 222 Greatest Works of French Literature

This selection of literature from France is based on the continuing research carried out for The Greatest Literature of All Time list and is additionally informed by the views of local readers, writers, critics and scholars.

It encompasses the greatest works of French authors in all forms, genres, cultures and periods.

Note, "French literature" here refers to works of authors associated with the country of France and its predecessors. Works of other French-language writers may be found on Greatest lists for their own countries and regions. 

This list focuses on major creative works—such as novels, novellas, plays and collections—although some short or nonfiction writing of literary significance may also be included.

Latest update: July 23, 2024

c. 1100
 
The Song of Roland
Anonymous, France
Poem, originally La chanson de Roland
c.1177–1181
 
Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart
by Chrétien de Troyes, France
Poem, originally Lancelot, le Chevalier de la Charrette
1181–1190
 
Perceval, the Story of the Grail
by Chrétien de Troyes, France
Epic poem
1230–1275
 
The Romance of the Rose
by Guillaume de Lorris, Jean de Meun, France
Epic poem, originally Le Roman de la rose
1461
 
The Great Testament
by François Villon, France
Poetry collection
1532–1564
 
The Life of Gargantua and Pantagruel
by François Rabelais, France
Novel series, originally Grands annales tresueritables des gestes merveilleux du grand Gargantua et Pantagruel, includes Pantagruel, Gargantua, The Third Book of Pantagruel, The Fourth Book of Pantagruel, and The Fifth Book of Pantagruel.
1558
 
The Heptaméron
by Marguerite de Navarre, France
Story collection
1572
 
Franciadee
by Pierre de Ronsard, France
Epic poem
1580
 
Essays
by Michel de Montaigne, France
Essay collection
1616
 
Les Tragiques
by Agrippa D'Aubigné, France
Epic poem
1636
 
Le Cid
by Pierre Corneille, France
Play
 
 
The Comic Illusion
by Pierre Corneille, France
Play
1662
 
The School for Wives
by Molière, France
Play, originally L'école des femmes
1664
missing graphic
Tartuffe
by Molière, France
Play

It is hard to understand exactly why Tartuffe was once attacked by religious authorities. Molière's target is the title character who presents a pious outer appearance to hide his scheming for material gain. Shouldn't.... CritiqueQuotesTranslationsBuy

1665
 
Don Juan
by Molière, France
Play
1666
missing graphic
The Misanthrope
by Molière, France
Play, also known as The Misanthrope, or the Cantankerous Lover, originally Le Misanthrope ou l'Atrabilaire amoureux

The Misanthrope reads at first like one of those overheated old Russian novels in which everyone talks and talks, all very excitedly, while the action happens elsewhere. It's certainly Molière's most reflective play.... CritiqueQuotesTranslationsBuy

1667
 
Andromaque
by Jean Racine, France
Play
1668
 
The Miser
by Molière, France
Play
1668–1694
 
La Fontaine's Fables
by Jean de La Fontaine, France
Poetry collection includes The Fox and the Crow, The Tortoise and the Hare, The Ant and the Grasshopper, and others
1670
missing graphic
The Bourgeois Gentleman
by Molière, France
Play also known as The Would-Be Gentleman, The Middle-Class Gentleman, The Tradesman or The Shopkeeper Turned Gentleman, originally Le Bourgeois gentilhomme

There's so much to enjoy here, it's surprising this is not Molière's most popular play. After its initial run of twenty performances, it was hardly performed for several centuries until revived in the mid-1900s. And even now... CritiqueQuotesTextBuy

 
 
Bérénice
by Jean Racine, France
Play
1672
 
The Learned Ladies
by Molière, France
Play
1673
 
The Imaginary Invalid
by Molière, France
Play
1677
 
Phèdre
by Jean Racine, France
Play
1678
 
La Princesse de Clèves
by Madame de La Fayette, France
Novella
1691
 
Athalie
by Jean Racine, France
Play
1697
 
Tales of Mother Goose
by Charles Perrault, France
Story collection, also known as Stories or Tales from Past Times, originally Histoires ou contes du temps passé: Les Contes de ma Mère l'Oye, includes "Cinderella", "Puss in Boots", "Sleeping Beauty", "Little Red Riding Hood", "Bluebeard", and others.
1699
 
The Adventures of Telemachus
by François Fénelon, France
Novel
1723
 
La Henriade
by Voltaire, France
Epic poem
1730
 
The Game of Love and Chance
by Pierre de Marivaux, France
Play
1731
 
Manon Lescaut
by l'Abbé Prévost, France
Novel
1744
 
La Dispute
by Pierre de Marivaux, France
Play
1747
 
Zadig; or, The Book of Fate
by Voltaire, France
Novel, also known as Zadiq the Babylonian
1752
 
Micromégas
by Voltaire, France
Novella
1759
 
Candide
by Voltaire, France
Novella
1775
 
The Barber of Seville
by Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, France
Play
1782
 
Dangerous Liaisons
by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, France
Novel
1784
 
The Marriage of Figaro
by Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, France
Play
1785
 
The 120 Days of Sodom
by Marquis de Sade, France
Novel, originally Les 120 Journées de Sodome ou l'école du libertinage
1788
 
Paul and Virginia
by Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, France
Novel
1791
 
Justine
by Marquis de Sade, France
Novel
1792
 
Memoirs of a Nun
by Denis Diderot, France
Novel
1796
 
Jacques the Fatalist and His Master
by Denis Diderot, France
Novel
1797–1801
 
Juliette
by Marquis de Sade, France
Novel
1802
 
Rene
by Francois René de Chateaubriand, France
Novel
 
 
Delphine
by Germaine de Staël, France
Novel
1807
 
Corinne
by Germaine de Staël, France
Novel
1821
 
Rameau's Nephew
by Denis Diderot, France
Nonfiction
1829
 
The Chouans
by Honoré de Balzac, France
Novel
1830
 
"A Passion in the Desert"
by Honoré de Balzac, France
Story
1831
 
The Elixir of Life
by Honoré de Balzac, France
Novel
 
 
Queen Margot
by Alexandre Dumas, France
Play
 
missing graphic
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame
by Victor Hugo, France
Novel, also known as Notre-Dame de Paris

Thanks in part to movies based on it, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame calls up images of Gothic horror in the public imagination. The novel is associated with other dark nineteenth-century classics like Frankenstein.... CritiqueQuotesBuy

 
 
The Red and the Black
by Stendhal, France
Novel
1832
 
Indiana
by George Sand, France
Novel
1833
 
Gamiani, or Two Nights of Excess
Anonymous, France
Novel
 
 
Eugénie Grandet
by Honoré de Balzac, France
Novel
 
 
Lélia
by George Sand, France
Novel
1834
 
Old Goriot
by Honoré de Balzac, France
Novel, also known as Father Goriot
1837–1843
 
Lost Illusions
by Honoré de Balzac, France
Novel
1839
 
Charterhouse of Parma
by Stendhal, France
Novel
1843–1847
 
The Splendors and Miseries of Courtesans
by Honoré de Balzac, France
Novel
1844
 
The Three Musketeers
by Alexandre Dumas, France
Novel
1844–1846
 
The Count of Monte-Cristo
by Alexandre Dumas, France
Novel
1845
 
Twenty Years After
by Alexandre Dumas, France
Novel
 
 
Carmen
by Prosper Mérimée, France
Novella
1846
 
Cousin Bette
by Honoré de Balzac, France
Novel
 
 
The Devil's Pool
by George Sand, France
Novel
1847
 
The Vicomte of Bragelonne
by Alexandre Dumas, France
Novel
1852
 
The Lady of the Camellias
by Alexandre Dumas, fils, France
Novel, also known as Camille
 
 
Enamels and Cameos
by Théophile Gautier, France
Poetry collection
1854
 
Girls of the Fire
by Gérard de Nerval, France
Story collection
1856
 
The Contemplations
by Victor Hugo, France
Poetry collection
1857
 
The Flowers of Evil
by Charles Baudelaire, France
Poetry collection
 
missing graphic
Madame Bovary
by Gustave Flaubert, France
Novel, also known as Novel, also known as Madame Bovary: Provincial Manners or Madame Bovary: Provincial Lives

Some critics and writers consider it the greatest novel ever. And most consider it the most influential. Yet, Madame Bovary on first reading may strike the modern reader in English as, well, all right but hardly the best.... CritiqueQuotesBuy

1859–1883
 
The Legend of the Ages
by Victor Hugo, France
Poetry collection
1862
 
Salammbô
by Gustave Flaubert, France
Novel
 
missing graphic
Les Misérables
by Victor Hugo, France
Novel

Les Misérables is one of the few translated books English speakers know by the original title, in part because we are familiar with the name (or its abbreviation Les Miz) from popular film and stage productions. But.... CritiqueQuotesBuy

1864
missing graphic
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth
by Jules Verne, France
Novel

The great thing about Jules Verne's stories of fantastic voyages is that they don't come across as fantastic. At least while we're reading, we believe we could fly across the world in a balloon, ride a rocket to the moon.... CritiqueQuotesAt the moviesBuy

 
 
Les Destinés
by Alfred de Vigny, France
Poetry collection
1865
 
From the Earth to the Moon
by Jules Verne, France
Novel
1868
 
Monsieur Lecog
by Emile Gaboriau, France
Novel
 
 
Therese Raquin
by Émile Zola, France
Novel
1868–1869
 
The Songs of Maldoror
by Comte de Lautréamont, France
Prose poem
1869
 
A Sentimental Education
by Gustave Flaubert, France
Novel
1870
 
The Sleeper in the Valley
by Arthur Rimbaud, France
Poem
 
 
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
by Jules Verne, France
Novel
1873
 
Les Amours Jaunes
by Tristan Corbiére, France
Poetry collection
 
 
A Season in Hell
by Arthur Rimbaud, France
Prose poem
 
 
Around the World in Eighty Days
by Jules Verne, France
Novel
1874
 
The She-Devils
by Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly, France
Story collection
1877
 
"The Legend of St. Julian the Hospitaler"
by Gustave Flaubert, France
Story
 
 
A Simple Heart
by Gustave Flaubert, France
Novella
 
 
The Drunkard
by Émile Zola, France
Novel
1880
 
Nana
by Émile Zola, France
Novel
1881
 
Bouvard and Pécuchet
by Gustave Flaubert, France
Novel
 
 
Sagesse
by Paul Verlaine, France
Poetry collection
1882
 
Mademoiselle Fifi
by Guy de Maupassant, France
Story collection includes Mademoiselle Fifi, Boule de Suif, and others
1883
 
A Woman's Life
by Guy de Maupassant, France
Novel
1884
 
Against Nature
by Joris-Karl Huysmans, France
Novel
1885
 
Bel Ami
by Guy de Maupassant, France
Novel
 
 
Germinal
by Émile Zola, France
Novel
1886
 
Illuminations
by Arthur Rimbaud, France, Prose poem collection
 
 
The Masterpiece
by Émile Zola, France
Novel
1887
 
Poésies
by Stéphane Mallarmé, France
Poetry collection
1888
 
Pierre et Jean
by Guy de Maupassant, France
Novel
1890
 
Thaïs
by Anatole France, France
Novel
 
 
The Beast Within
by Émile Zola, France
Novel, also known as The Beast in Man, originally La Bête humaine
1891
 
Down There
by Joris-Karl Huysmans, France
Novel
1896
 
The Dupe
by Georges Feydeau, France
Play
 
 
Ubu Roi
by Alfred Jarry, France
Play
1897
 
The Fruits of the Earth
by André Gide, France
Prose poem
1898
 
Cyrano de Bergerac
by Edmond Rostand, France
Play
1896
 
The Dupe
by Georges Feydeau, France
Play
1900–1903
 
Claudine
by Colette, France
Novel series includes Claudine at School; Claudine in Paris; Claudine Married; Claudine and Annie
1902
 
The Immoralist
by André Gide, France
Novella
1907
 
Arsène Lupin, Gentleman-Thief
by Maurice Leblanc, France
Novella series
1908
 
The Inferno
by Henri Barbusse, France
Novel
 
 
Tendrils of the Vine
by Colette, France
Novella series
1909
 
Penguin Island
by Anatole France, France
Novel
 
 
Strait Is the Gate
by André Gide, France
Novel
1910
 
Phantom of the Opera
by Gaston Leroux, France
Novel
 
 
Impressions of Africa
by Raymond Roussel, France
Novel
1911
 
Fantômas
by Marcel Allain, Pierre Souvestre, France
Novel
1913
 
Le Grand Meaulnes
by Alain-Fournier, France
Novel, also known as The Wanderer or The Lost Domain
 
 
Alcohols
by Guillaume Apollinaire, France
Poetry collection, originally Alcools, includes "Zones".
1913–1927
 
In Search of Lost Time
by Marcel Proust, France
Novel, originally À la recherche du temps perdu, also known as Remembrance of Things Past. In seven volumes, including Swann's Way, In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower, The Guermantes Way, Time Regained, and others.
1914
 
Locus Solus
by Raymond Roussel, France
Novel
1916
missing graphic
Under Fire
by Henri Barbusse, France
Novel

I really wanted to love this book. It's one of the sharpest indictments of war ever written in fictional form, a groundbreaking work by a sincere, progressive author. But I found I cannot love it as a whole. I can only like it.... CritiqueQuotesBuy

 
 
Edmund Dulac's Fairy-Book
by Edmund Dulac, France
Story collection
1918
 
Calligrammes
by Guillaume Apollinaire, France
Poetry collection
1920
 
Chéri
by Colette, France
Novel
1922
 
Claudine's House
by Colette, France
Novel
1923
 
The Devil in Flesh
by Raymond Radiguet, France
Novel
1925
 
The Counterfeiters
by André Gide, France
Novel, originally Les Faux-monnayeurs
1926
 
Under Satan's Sun
by Georges Bernanos, France
Novel, originally Sous le soleil de Satan
 
 
Moravagine
by Blaise Cendrars, France
Novel
 
 
The Capital of Pain
by Paul Éluard, France
Poetry collection
1927
 
Thérése Desqueyroux
by Francois Mauriac, France
Novel
1928
 
Story of the Eye
by Georges Bataille, France
Novella
 
 
Nadja
by André Breton, France
Novel
1929
 
The Holy Terrors
by Jean Cocteau, France
Novel, also known as Children of the Game, originally Les Enfants terribles
 
 
Retreat Without Song
by Shahan Shahnoor, France
Novel
1931
 
"The Story of Babar"
by Jean de Brunhoff, France
Story
1932
 
Journey to the End of the Night
by Louis-Ferdinand Céline, France
Novel, originally Voyage au Bout de la Nuit
 
 
The Pure and the Impure
by Colette, France
Novel
 
 
Viper's Tangle
by Francois Mauriac, France
Novel
1933
 
Man's Fate
by André Malraux, France
Novel, La Condition humaine
1934
 
The Bells of Basel
by Louis Aragon, France
Novel
1936
 
The Diary of a Country Priest
by Georges Bernanos, France
Novel
 
 
Death on Credit
by Louis-Ferdinand Céline, France
Novel
 
 
Tropisms
by Nathalie Sarraute, France
Novel
1938
 
Nausea
by Jean-Paul Sartre, France
Novel, originally La Nausée
1941
 
The Silence of the Sea
by Vercors, France
Novel
1943
 
The Satin Slipper
by Paul Claudel, France
Play
 
missing graphic
The Little Prince
Novella

The books that became cult—and counterculture—favourites in the iconoclastic 1960s and early 1970s can be divided into two categories: 1. Those that were written during and for that period, such as Stranger in a.... CritiqueQuotesTranslationsBuy

1944
 
Antigone
by Jean Anouilh, France
Play
 
 
Aurélien
by Louis Aragon, France
Novel
 
 
Arcanum 17
by Andre Breton, France
Poem
 
 
Gigi
by Colette, France
Novella
 
 
Our Lady of the Flowers
by Jean Genet, France
Novel
 
 
No Exit
by Jean-Paul Sartre, France
Play
1945–1949
 
The Roads to Freedom
by Jean Paul Sartre, France
Novel series
1946
 
Paroles
by Jacques Prévert, France
Poetry collection
1947
 
The Maids
by Jean Genet, France
Play
 
 
Querelle of Brest
by Jean Genet, France
Novella
 
 
Exercises in Style
by Raymond Queneau, France
Story collection
 
 
Autumn in Peking
by Boris Vian, France
Novel
 
 
Froth on the Daydream
by Boris Vian, France
Novel
1948
 
Death Sentence
by Maurice Blanchot, France
Novel
 
 
Furor and Mystery
by René Char, France
Poetry collection
1949
 
The Thief's Journal
by Jean Genet, France
Novella
1950
 
The Abbot C
by Georges Bataille, France
Novella
 
 
The Bald Soprano
by Eugène Ionesco, France
Play, originally La Cantatrice Chauve
1951
 
The Opposing Shore
by Julien Gracq, France
Novel
1952
 
The Chairs
by Eugène Ionesco, France
Play
1954
 
The Mandarins
by Simone de Beauvoir, France
Novel, originally Les Mandarins
 
 
A Spy in the House of Love
by Anaïs Nin, France
Novel
 
 
The Story of O
by Pauline Reage, France
Novel
 
 
Hello Sadness
by Francoise Sagan, France
Novella, originally Bonjour Tristesse
1955
 
Triste Tropiques
by Claude Lévi-Strauss, France
Memoir
 
 
The Voyeur
by Alain Robbe-Grillet, France
Novel
1956
 
Passing Time
by Michel Butor, France
Novel
 
 
The Roots of Heaven
by Romain Gary, France
Novel
1957
 
The Blue of Noon
by Georges Bataille, France
Novella
 
 
Second Thoughts
by Michel Butor, France
Novel
 
 
Amers
by Saint-John Perse, France
Poetry collection
 
 
In the Labyrinth
by Alain Robbe-Grillet, France
Novel
1959
 
Rhinoceros
by Eugène Ionesco, France
Play
 
 
Zazie in the Metro
by Raymond Queneau, France
Novel, originally Zazie dans le métro
 
 
Jealousy
by Alain Robbe-Grillet, France
Novel, originally La Jalousie
1960
 
Promise at Dawn
by Romain Gary, France
Novel
1962
 
The Afternoon of Mr. Andesmas
by Marguerite Duras, France
Novel
 
 
Exit the King
by Eugène Ionesco, France
Play
1963
 
Monkey Planet
by Pierre Boulle, France
Novel
 
 
The Water of the Hills
by Marcel Pagnol, France
Novel series includes Jean de Florette, Manon des Sources
1964
 
The Ravishing of Lol Stein
by Marguerite Duras, France
Novel, originally Le Ravissement de Lol V. Stein
 
 
The Interrogation
by J. M. G. Le Clézio, France
Novel
1965
 
The Vice-Consul
by Marguerite Duras, France
Novel
 
 
Things: A Story of the Sixties
by Georges Perec, France
Novel, orignally Les Choses: Une histoire des années soixante
1967
 
Friday, or, The Other Island
by Michel Tournier, France
Novel
 
 
The Day of the Dolphind
by Robert Merle, France
Novel
1968
 
The Abyss
by Marguerite Yourcenar, France
Novel
1969
 
A Void
by Georges Perec, France
Novel, originally La disparition
1975
 
W, or the Memory of Childhood
by Georges Perec, France
Novel, originally W ou le souvenir d'enfance
1976
 
Hérémakhonon
by Maryse Conde, France
Novel
1977
 
Delta of Venus
by Anaïs Nin, France
Story collection
1978
 
Life, a User's Manual
by Georges Perec, France
Novel, originallyLa Vie mode d'emploi
1984
 
The Lover
by Marguerite Duras, France
Novella, originally L'Amant
1985
 
Betty Blue
by Philippe Djian, France
Novel
1986
 
I, Tituba: Black Witch of Salem
by Maryse Condé, France
Novel
1994
 
Whatever
by Michel Houellbecq, France
Novel
 
 
Small Lives
by Pierre Michon, France
Novel
1998
 
The Elementary Particles
by Michel Houellbecq, France
Novel, also known as Atomized, originally Les Particules Élémentaires
1999
 
I Wish Someone Were Waiting for Me Somewhere
by Anna Gavalda, France
Story collection
2000
 
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress
by Dai Sijie, France
Novel
2001
 
Platform
by Michel Houellbecq, France
Novel
2004
 
Hunting and Gathering
by Anna Gavalda, France
Novel
 
 
French Suite
by Irène Némirovsky, France
Novel series
2005
 
Broken Glass
by Alain Mabanckou, France
Novel
2006
 
The Elegance of the Hedgehog
by Muriel Barbery, France
Novel
2009
 
Other Lives But Mine
by Emmanuel Carrière, France
Nonfiction

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