Théophile Gautier, Mademoiselle de Maupin

Géraldine Crahay (University of Durham)
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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 119-20; Waelti-Walters 27; Woodbridge). Gautier’s novel is based on a myth that was…

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Citation: Crahay, Géraldine. "Mademoiselle de Maupin". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 27 September 2017 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=35910, accessed 30 March 2024.]

35910 Mademoiselle de Maupin 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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