Bernard Le Bovier, sieur de Fontenelle

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Fontenelle, Bernard Le Bovier, sieur de

Lemoyne, Jean-Baptiste: Bust of Fontenelle

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Bernard Le Bovier, sieur de Fontenelle: Facts & Related Content

Written and fact-checked by The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Facts

Born	February 11, 1657 • Rouen • France
Died	January 9, 1757 (aged 99) • Paris • France
Notable Works	“A Plurality of Worlds” • “Nouveaux Dialogues des morts” • “Relation de l’île de Bornéo” • “The History of Oracles”
Role In	Enlightenment

Photos

Fontenelle, Bernard Le Bovier, sieur de

Lemoyne, Jean-Baptiste: Bust of Fontenelle

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Voltaire

Voltaire

French philosopher and author

Ludovic Halévy

French author

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Swiss-born French philosopher

Montesquieu

Montesquieu

French political philosopher

Jean de La Fontaine, oil painting by François De Troy; in the Bibliothèque Publique et Universitaire, Geneva

Jean de La Fontaine

French poet

Nicolas Boileau.

Nicolas Boileau

French author

Jean de La Bruyère, detail of an engraving by Pierre Drevet from Saint-Jean's frontispiece of a 1697 edition of Les Caractères de Théophraste traduits du grec avec Les Caractères ou les moeurs de ce siècle.

Jean de La Bruyère

French author

Perrault, Charles

Charles Perrault

French author

Jean Desmarets de Saint-Sorlin

French author

Dimitry Levitzky: portrait of Denis Diderot

Denis Diderot

French philosopher

portrait of Germaine de Staël

Germaine de Staël

French-Swiss author

Anne Dacier

French scholar and translator

Favart, engraving by Claude-Antoine Littret de Montigny after a portrait by Jean-Étienne Liotard

Charles-Simon Favart

French dramatist

Antoinette du Ligier de la Garde Deshoulières

French poet

Émile Deschamps

French poet

Jean Tharaud

French writer

Jérôme Tharaud

French writer

Jean Racine

Jean Racine

French dramatist

Victor Hugo

Victor Hugo

French writer

Pierre Corneille

French poet and dramatist