·life
HippolyteAdolphe Taine was a French critic and historian. He was the chief theoreticalinfluence of French naturalism, a major proponent of sociological positivismand one of the first practitioners of historicist criticism. Literaryhistoricism as a critical movement has been said to originate with him. Taineis particularly remembered for his three-pronged approach to the contextualstudy of a work of art, based on the aspects of what he called "race,milieu, and moment".

Taine had aprofound effect on French literature; the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica assertedthat "the tone which pervades the works of Zola, Bourget and Maupassantcan be immediately attributed to the influence we call Taine's."

