He is likely most known today as a French cultural figure mentioned by Marcel Proust in the novel In Search of Lost Time.

His father Jacques Bins, comte de Saint-Victor (1772–1858), is chiefly remembered for his poem L'Espérance, and for an excellent verse translation of Anacreon.

He began as a drama critic on the Pays newspaper in 1851, and in 1855 he succeeded Théophile Gautier on the Presse.

Almost all of Saint-Victor's work consists of articles, the best known being the collection entitled Hommes et Dieux (1867).

His death interrupted the publication of Les Deux Masques, in which he intended to survey the whole of ancient and modern dramatic literature.