Alexis de Tocqueville
French aristocrat, diplomat, political scientist, political philosopher and historian
19th-century philosophers
Madame de Stael
French woman of letters and political theorist, the daughter of banker and French finance minister Jacques Necker
Marcel Proust
French novelist, critic, and essayist who wrote the monumental novel In Search of Lost Time , originally published in French in seven volumes between 1913 and 1927. He is considered by critics and writers to be one of the most influential authors of the 20th century.
Friedrich Nietzsche
German philosopher, cultural critic and philologist whose work has exerted a profound influence on modern intellectual history
Alexander Herzen
Russian writer and thinker known as the “father of Russian socialism” and one of the main fathers of agrarian populism . With his writings, many composed while exiled in London, he attempted to influence the situation in Russia, contributing to a political climate that led to the emancipation of the serfs in 1861. He published the important social novel Who is to Blame? . His autobiography, My Past and Thoughts , is often considered one of the best examples of that genre in Russian literature.