WRITER

Henri Charrière

1906 - 1973

Photo of Henri Charrière

Icon of person Henri Charrière

Henri Charrière (French pronunciation: [ɑ̃ʁi ʃaʁjɛʁ]; 16 November 1906 – 29 July 1973) was a French writer, convicted of murder in 1931 by the French courts and pardoned in 1970. He wrote the 1969 novel Papillon, a memoir of his incarceration in and escape from a penal colony in French Guiana. While Charrière claimed that Papillon was largely true, modern researchers believe that much of the book’s material came from other inmates, rather than Charrière himself. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Henri Charrière has received more than 3,558,062 page views. His biography is available in 39 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 38 in 2019). Henri Charrière is the 316th most popular writer (up from 362nd in 2019), the 365th most popular biography from France (up from 417th in 2019) and the 59th most popular French Writer.

Henri Charrière is most famous for writing the book Papillon, which is about his life in a penal colony in French Guiana.

Memorability Metrics

  • 3.6M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 74.29

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 39

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 9.39

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 2.45

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among WRITERS

Among writers, Henri Charrière ranks 316 out of 7,302Before him are Ernst Jünger, C. S. Lewis, Gao Xingjian, Roger Martin du Gard, Gertrude Stein, and Guillaume de Machaut. After him are Ludovico Ariosto, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Michael Ende, Czesław Miłosz, Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, and Archilochus.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1906, Henri Charrière ranks 21Before him are Josephine Baker, Hassan al-Banna, Sayyid Qutb, Sergei Korolev, Faisal of Saudi Arabia, and Billy Wilder. After him are Hans Bethe, Roberto Rossellini, Ernst Ruska, Emmanuel Levinas, Ilse Koch, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Among people deceased in 1973, Henri Charrière ranks 21Before him are J. Hans D. Jensen, Ivan Konev, Ludwig von Mises, John Ford, Paavo Nurmi, and Pearl S. Buck. After him are Max Horkheimer, Pablo Casals, Víctor Jara, Ferdinand Schörner, Charles Greeley Abbot, and Gabriel Marcel.

Others Born in 1906

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Others Deceased in 1973

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In France

Among people born in France, Henri Charrière ranks 365 out of 6,770Before him are Adolphe Thiers (1797), Jean Renoir (1894), Roger Martin du Gard (1881), Joseph Marie Jacquard (1752), Jean Buridan (1295), and Guillaume de Machaut (1300). After him are Pope Nicholas II (990), Philip the Bold (1342), Jean Baudrillard (1929), Nicolas Appert (1749), Alain Prost (1955), and Charles, Count of Valois (1270).

Among WRITERS In France

Among writers born in France, Henri Charrière ranks 59Before him are Pierre Beaumarchais (1732), Chrétien de Troyes (1135), Antonin Artaud (1896), Françoise Sagan (1935), Roger Martin du Gard (1881), and Guillaume de Machaut (1300). After him are Ève Curie (1904), André Malraux (1901), Théophile Gautier (1811), Paul Éluard (1895), Alphonse de Lamartine (1790), and Arthur de Gobineau (1816).