theophile gautier mademoiselle de maupin

Some erotic scenes with a man, then with a woman, gave to Mademoiselle de Maupin an immoral nature for the time. Madeleine de Maupin, before succumbing to the advances of men, dresses up in order to surprise their secrets. The novel tells the life of Madeleine de Maupin and his amorous adventures. Mademoiselle de Maupin is an epistolary novel. But, the book was in fact published in 1835.

He dated the Preface « May 1834 » to commemorate the incident which gave rise to it. Théodore de Banville praised Gautier as the defender of « art for art's sake ». The text of Gautier is seen as a manifesto of « art for art’s sake ». He erects against the moralizing journalism. In this preface, Gautier meets the attacks of Le Constitutionnel against him. He responded by a preface to his novel Mademoiselle de Maupin. The attacks of the newspaper had led to a lawsuit. In May 1834, he was attacked for « depravity » in taste and morals about the establishment journal Le Constitutionnel. In January 1834, Théophile Gautier published a study on François Villon. Nevertheless, he responded to the political upheaval of 1830 with a new emphasis on art as an end in itself, to be set against the turmoil of actual social life. Gautier symbolized a committed Romanticism with his red waistcoat. So, he became a leading supporter of Victor Hugo in the scandal surrounding the latter’s play Hernani in 1830. He belonged to two movements : Romanticism and Parnassus. He traveled in lots of countries, as well as Spain, Greece, Turkey, Algeria, Egypt and Russia.

He was a prolific journalist, writing reviews of books, music, plays, ballet and opera, like the annual Salon and other art exhibitions. He was a poet, novelist and critic of French art. He died in Neuilly-sur-Seine on October, 23rd 1872. Théophile Gautier was born in Tarbes (near to the Spanish border) on August 30th, 1811. Théophile Gautier, Preface to Mademoiselle de Maupin (1835)

Theophile gautier mademoiselle de maupin