Vallès, Jules

▪ French writer

born June 10, 1832, Le Puy (now LePuy-en-Velay), France

died February 14, 1885, Paris

      French Socialist journalist and novelist, founder of Le Cri du Peuple (1871), which became one of France's leading Socialist newspapers.

      The son of a provincial schoolteacher, Vallès moved to Paris to pursue his studies and was soon involved in left-wing political activities. He became a popular and controversial journalist in the 1850s, attracting attention with his sympathetic descriptions of the poor and outcast and his attacks on the French bourgeoisie. He became a member of the Commune of Paris of 1871, serving on its education commission. After the suppression of the Commune, Vallès fled to England, returning to France following the amnesty of 1880. Perhaps his best-regarded work is the trilogy of autobiographical novels entitled Jacques Vingtras (1879–86).

* * *