Tzvetan Todorov (Sofia, 1939 – Paris, 2017) was a Bulgarian-born French linguist, philosopher, historian of ideas, and literary theorist. Professor at the CNRS in Paris and visiting scholar at Yale, Harvard, and Columbia, he began his work in literary theory with Theory of Literature of the Russian Formalists (1965) and Literature and Signification (1967), pioneering texts in semiotics and narratology. From the 80s, he shifted towards historical and ethical essays, reflecting on the Enlightenment and totalitarianisms.
Among his most influential titles are The Conquest of America: The Question of the Other (1982), Facing the Limit (1991; Facing the Extreme), and The Abuses of Memory (1995). His exploration of evil and memory in the 20th century is summarized in Memory of Evil, Temptation of Good (2000) and The Totalitarian Experience (2010). These works, of an essayistic and historiographic genre, did not receive specific literary awards, but Todorov was honored with the Prince of Asturias Award for Social Sciences in 2008 and received distinctions such as the Medal of the Order of Arts and Letters in France.
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