Gobineau

Arthur de Gobineau was a French diplomat, novelist, and essayist, best known for his work "An Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races," published in 1853-1855. This influential, albeit controversial, book posited that human history was a narrative of racial struggle and that the decline of civilizations was due to racial mixing. Gobineau argued that the "Aryan" race was superior and that its purity was essential for maintaining civilization.

Born in 1816, Gobineau's early life was marked by his aristocratic background and a keen interest in history and linguistics. He served in various diplomatic posts, including in Persia, which provided him with material and context for his writings on different cultures. While his racial theories were widely criticized even in his own time, "An Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races" gained traction among certain intellectual circles and later became a foundational text for racist ideologies.

Despite the negative legacy of his most famous work, Gobineau was also a prolific writer of fiction and poetry, often exploring themes of exoticism, decline, and the sensuous. His novels, such as "The Adventures of Telemachus," and his collection of Persian tales, "The Oriental Tales," showcase a different facet of his literary output. Gobineau died in 1882, leaving behind a complex legacy intertwined with both literary merit and deeply problematic racial pseudoscience.