Théophile Gautier, Mademoiselle de Maupin

Géraldine Crahay (University of Durham)

Ed. by Jennifer Yee, University of Oxford
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.5.2.05: French Writing and Culture: The Nineteenth-Century , 1800-1900.
Vol. editors: Edward Forman (University of Bristol), Nigel Harkness (University of Newcastle upon Tyne), Tim Unwin (University of Bristol), David Williams (University of Sheffield), Jennifer Yee (University of Oxford)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1835 - 1835

Places

France (Country of Origin; Publication/ performance)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

While French novelist, poet and art critic Théophile Gautier was an enthusiastic Romantic during the early stages of his career (his role and above all his gilet rouge in the Battle of Hernani remain famous), he progressively distanced himself from the Romantic school and its leader Victor Hugo. His novel Mademoiselle de Maupin, published in 1835 by Renduel, and above all its preface, published as an independent text in 1834, advocate the autonomy of art (Crouzet 1974 3; Weil 128, 130) and its fundamental purposelessness. This novel tells a story loosely inspired by the life of the adventuress and actress Julie d’Aubigny-Maupin (1673-1707), famous for her cross-dressing and lesbian liaisons (Monneyron 119-2…

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2121 words

Citation: Crahay, Géraldine. "Mademoiselle de Maupin". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 27 September 2017 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=35910, accessed 22 November 2024.]

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