by Diderot are almost impossible to classify, but resemble the modernist novels that would come a century or more later. The birth of the autobiography in the 18th century Literary stories of people's lives were popular throughout the 18th century, with such popular books as la Vie de mon père (Eng: The Life of My Father) (1779) and Monsieur Nicolas (1794) by Nicolas-Edme Rétif, but the success of the century was Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who founded the genre of the modern autobiography with les Rêveries du promeneur solitaire (The dreams of a solitary walker) in 1776, and Les Confessions in 1782, which became the models for all novels of self-discovery. French poetry of the 18th century Voltaire used verse with great skill in his Poème sur le désastre de Lisbonne (Poem on the Lisbon Disaster) and in le Mondain (The Man About Town), but his poetry was in the classical school of the 17th century. Only a few French poets of the 18th century have an enduring reputation; they include Jacques Delille (1738–1813), for les Jardins (The Gardens), in 1782; and Évariste de Parny (1753–1814) for Élégies in 1784, who both contributed to the birth of romanticism and to the poetry of nature and nostalgia. The poet of the 18th century best-known today is André Chénier (1762–1794), who created an expressive style in his famous la Jeune Tarentine (The Young Tarentine) and la Jeune Captive (The Young Captive), both published only in 1819, long after his death during the Terror of the French Revolution. Fabre d'Églantine was known both for his songs, such as Il pleut, il pleut, bergère) (It's raining, shepherdess) and for his participation in the writing of the new French Republican Calendar created during the French Revolution. Other genres of 18th century French literature The genre of modern art criticism was launched by Diderot in Salons, in which he analyzed the way emotions could be created by works of art, using the example of the feelings inspired by the poetic ruins painted by Hubert Robert. Georges-Louis Leclerc, Count of Buffon, popularized the scientific discoveries of his century with the massive Histoire naturelle (Natural History), published with great success between 1749 and 1789. During the French Revolution, political speeches became a popular genre of literature with the publication of the speeches of such talented orators as Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau, Louis Antoine de Saint-Just, Georges Danton and