Hippolyte Adolphe Taine (21 April 1828 in Vouziers – 5 March 1893 in Paris) was a French critic and historian. He was the chief theoretical influence of French naturalism, a major proponent of sociological positivism, and one of the first practitioners of historicist criticism. Literary historicism as a critical movement has been said to originate with him. Taine is particularly remembered for his three-pronged approach to the contextual study of a work of art, based on the aspects of wha… (More on Taine)