Maximilien Robespierre. Conclusions French literature in the 18th century offered a rich collection of works in all genres, and brought together, rather than opposed, the philosophical and analytical views of the Philosophes and Lumieres with the more subjective and personal views of the emerging romantic movement. Many of the works of the 18th century are forgotten, but the century also produced a number of writers who were great both for the originality and importance of their ideas and for their literary talent; writers such as Voltaire, Rousseau, Montesquieu, Diderot and Beaumarchais, whose ideas are still quoted today. They used their novels and plays as weapons which profoundly changed their society, while expressing their own personalities and feelings. Thanks largely to these writers, in the 18th century French became the language of culture, political and social reform all across Europe, and as far away as America and Russia. References Bibliography Robert Mauzi, Sylvaine Menant, Michel Delon, Précis de Littérature Française du XVIIIe Siècle, Presses Universaires de France, 1990 Marc Ferro, Histoire de France, Éditions Odile Jacob, Paris, 2001 Michel Delon, Pierre Malandain, Littérature française du XVIIIe siècle, Paris, Presses universitaires de France, 1996. Béatrice Didier, Histoire de la littérature française du XVIIIe siècle, Paris, Nathan, 1992. Jean-Marie Goulemot, Didier Masseau, Jean-Jacques Tatin-Gourier, Vocabulaire de la littérature du XVIIIe siècle, Paris, Minerve, 1996. Michel Kerautret, La Littérature française du XVIIIe siècle, Paris, Presses Universitaires de France, 1983. Michel Launay, Georges Mailhos, Introduction à la vie littéraire du XVIIIe siècle, avec la collaboration de Claude Cristin et Jean Sgard, Paris, Bordas, 1984. Nicole Masson, Histoire de la littérature française du XVIIIe siècle, Paris, H. Champion, 2003. François Moureau, Georges Grente, Dictionnaire des lettres françaises. Le XVIIIe siècle, Paris, Fayard, 1995. Complete Works of Voltaire (Œuvres complètes de Voltaire), Oxford, Voltaire Foundation, 1968- . 5