Why the most famous French fabulist was once considered a bumbling, scatterbrained courtier

Ideas & Philosophy · Published 3 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Jean de La Fontaine is a titan of French literature, yet his contemporaries often viewed him as a naive, absent-minded figure known as le bonhomme. While his fables became immortal, his life was a chaotic mix of royal suspicion, financial ruin, and a lifelong reliance on generous, powerful patrons.

Born in 1621 in Château-Thierry, La Fontaine was the son of a deputy-ranger. Though he initially studied law, his true vocation was poetry. He did not begin his serious literary career until he was past thirty, eventually finding favor with the Superintendent Fouquet. This connection proved both a blessing and a liability; when Fouquet fell from royal grace, La Fontaine remained loyal, writing elegies for his disgraced benefactor while navigating the dangerous political currents of 17th-century France.

His personal life was equally unconventional. His marriage to Marie Héricart in 1647 was marked by mutual incompatibility, leading to a financial separation in 1658. For much of his later life, he lived in Paris, supported by patrons like Madame de la Sablière, while his wife remained in Château-Thierry. Despite his reputation for being a bad man of business, he was a member of the famous Rue du Vieux Colombier quartet alongside Molière, Racine, and Boileau. His peers often remarked on his childlike nature, with anecdotes suggesting he once failed to recognize his own son.

La Fontaine’s legacy rests on his twelve books of fables, published between 1668 and 1694. While early entries adapted Aesop and Horace, later works incorporated Eastern stories and displayed a sophisticated, ironical ambivalence. His deceptively simple verse became a cornerstone of the French language, with lines frequently becoming standard proverbs. Though he was eventually admitted to the Académie française in 1684, his path was fraught with resistance from the king and rival writers. Today, he remains a cultural icon, commemorated on coins, stamps, and statues across France.

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