André Léo

Cecilia Beach (Alfred University)

Ed. by Nigel Harkness, University of Newcastle upon Tyne
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.5.2.05: French Writing and Culture: The Nineteenth-Century , 1800-1900.
Vol. editors: David Elwyn Evans (University of St Andrews), Edward Forman (University of Bristol), Elisabeth Gerwin (University of Lethbridge), Nigel Harkness (University of Newcastle upon Tyne), Tim Unwin (University of Bristol), David Williams (University of Sheffield), Jennifer Yee (University of Oxford)

Dates

Born 18 Aug 1824
Died 1900
Activity 1859-1900

Places

Born in France
Active in France

Cultural Identities

Feminist

Activities

Primary

Novelist
Polemicist
Political writer

Resources

Léo's Works

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Best known for her role in the Paris Commune, André Léo was a prolific feminist and socialist writer of the second half of the nineteenth century. Born on August 18, 1824 in Lusignan in the Poitou-Charentes region of France, Victoire Léodile Béra spent most of her formative years in a village near Poitiers where her father practiced law and served as a Justice of the Peace. Though little is known about her childhood or her formal education, it is clear that she had some access to an intellectual milieu thanks to her father’s progressive entourage. Both her father and grandfather were Freemasons. According to Roger Picard, Léodile frequently accompanied her father to political meetings in Poitiers where she was exposed to journalists and politicians speaking on important debates of…

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2579 words

Citation: Beach, Cecilia. "André Léo". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 16 May 2016 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=13718, accessed 21 November 2024.]