L’Esprit Créateur was founded in 1961 by John Erickson at the University of Minnesota. From its inception, the journal has reflected a strong commitment to intellectual rigor, innovative thought, and the value of a range of critical and methodological perspectives. L’Esprit Créateur currently stands among the premier scholarly journals in its field. It enjoys an international reputation for promoting original thinking and an engagement with the kind of foundational questions, critical issues, and theoretical reflection that define the leading edge of inquiry in the area of French and Francophone Studies, as well as in the humanities more broadly.

L’Esprit Créateur has been edited by Daniel Brewer and Mária Minich Brewer since 2003 and is affiliated with the Department of French and Italian at the University of Minnesota. Appearing quarterly, L’Esprit Créateur is published by the Johns Hopkins University Press.

Publishing research on all periods of French and Francophone literature and culture, from the medieval period to the twenty-first century, L’Esprit Créateur represents the major fields of the discipline of French and Francophone Studies.  Each issue is topic-based, focusing on a specific author, genre, critical issue or methodological approach. Articles from a range of methodological perspectives are welcome for consideration for future issues.