Biography in Contemporary France

This article provides a survey of biography in France today, limiting its scope to biography considered as a distinct genre relative to other forms of life writing such as autobiography, memoir, or diary. It seeks to explain biography's contrasted reception in France, where it is in fact very popular, though still apparently held in relatively mediocre esteem in academia, if not in the Académie. The study examines the historical and ideological reasons for the resistance that biography has long been met with in some academic walks. By contrast, it also demonstrates the vivacity of biography in France, with a presentation of the best-known French biographers and the main publishers, book series, and prizes devoted to the genre.