Theophile Gautier

Théophile Gautier.

Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier (Tarbes, August 30, 1811 - Neuilly-sur-Seine, October 23, 1872) was a poet, playwright, novelist, journalist, literary critic and French photographer. In addition to his presence in French romanticism and his projection in costumbrismo, he has been considered by some as the founder of Parnassianism, and a forerunner of symbolism and modernist literature.

Biography

She was born in the town of Tarbes, located in the French department of Hautes-Pyrénées (Hautes-Pyrénées), in southwestern France, and moved to Paris as a child. At first he wanted to be a painter, but his literary inclinations led him to poetry. Later, he became friends with Honore de Balzac and Victor Hugo. At school he met Gérard de Nerval. His poetry began to develop from 1826 and he began to publish it in newspapers such as La Presse , among others. Around 1830 he adopted the current revolutionary ideas and lived in a bohemian way. He came to belong to the extravagant and eccentric group of Le Petit Cénacle artists, at the end of the period along with Gérard de Nerval, Alexandre Dumas, Petrus Borel, Alphonse Brot, Joseph Bouchardy and Philothée O'Neddy. He also received help from Honoré de Balzac, who gave him a job at the Chronique de Paris .

Portrait of Théophile Gautier by Théodore Chassériau (musée du Louvre).

Throughout his life Gautier traveled through Spain, Italy, Turkey, Egypt and Algeria, which he later reflected in books such as Constantinople, Journey to Spain, Treasures of Russian Art or Trip to Russia. His stay in Spain in 1840, at the end of the First Carlist War, was intended to cover the war as a journalist, a job that he considered humiliating. In his luggage he carried a photographic device (daguerreotype) with which he intended to capture images of his trip; Nothing is known of the results obtained, since apparently his attempts were unsuccessful. The city that he liked the most was Granada.

Absorbed in his work after the Revolution of 1848, he wrote more than a hundred articles in nine months. His prestige was confirmed when he was appointed director of the Revue de Paris between 1851 and 1856. During this time he became a journalist for Le Moniteur universel and had great influence on the magazine L’Artiste. In 1865 he was admitted to the prestigious salon of Princess Mathilde Bonaparte, daughter of Jerome Bonaparte and niece of Napoleon.

Although he was rejected three times by the French Academy, in 1867, 1868 and 1869, he was supported by the most influential literary critic of the time, Charles-Augustin Sainte-Beuve, who considered him the best newspaper columnist of the moment.

Gautier belonged, along with the poet Charles Baudelaire and Dr. Jacques Joseph Moreau, as well as many other writers and intellectuals of his time, to the club dedicated to experimentation with drugs, mainly hashish, called the Club des Hashischins. In an article published in the Revue des Deux Mondes in 1846, Gautier detailed his experiments.

Theophile Gautier died on October 23, 1872 and was buried in Montmartre Cemetery, Paris.

Works

Novels

• Mademoiselle de Maupin1835-1836
• Fortunio or L'Eldorado, 1837-38
• Militona, 1847
• Les Roués innocents, 1847
• Belle Jenny or Les deux étoiles, 1848
• Jean et Jeannette, 1850
• Le Roman de la mummie, 1858
• Le Capitaine Fracasse, 1863

Stories and stories

Published in Les Jeunes-France in 1833:

• Sous the table
• Onuphrius ou les Vexations fantastiques d'un admirateur d'Hoffmann
• Daniel Jovard
• Celle-ci et celle-là
• Heias Wildmanstadius
• Le Bol punch

Published in Une Larme du diable in 1839:

• La Chaîne d'or ou L'Amant partagé
• Omphale. Histoire rococo
• Le Petit Chien de la marquise
• Le Nid de rossignols
• The dead in love
• Une nuit de Cléopâtre

Published in the Nouvelles collection in 1845:

• La Toison d'or
• Le Roi Candaule

Published in La Peau de tigre in 1852:

• La Mille et Deuxième Nuit
• Le Pavillon sur l'eau
• Deux acteurs pour un rôle
• L'Oreiller d'une jeune fille
• Le Berger
• Le Pied de mummie
• Angela, autre titre pour La Cafetière (The coffee machine)
• La Maison de mon oncle, autre titre pour L'Âme de la maison
• L'Enfant aux souliers de pain
• La Pipe d'opium
• Arria Marcella

Two isolated stories:

• Avatar (1857)
• Jettatura (1857)

Published in the collection Romans et contes of 1863:

• Le Chevalier double
• Le Club des hachichins

Published in a second edition of La Peau de tigre in 1866:

• Une visite nocturne
• The Fausse conversion
• Feuillets de l'album d'un jeune rapin

An isolated story:

• Spirite (1866)

A final story appeared posthumously in 1881:

• Mademoiselle Dafné

Poetry

• Poetry (1830), subsequently merged Albertus ou L'Ame et le péché (1833).
• The Mort Comédie (1838).
• Spain, first appeared in the compilation Poésies complètes 1845.
• Émaux et camées (1852), reissued in 1853, 1858, 1863 and in 1872, increasing with new poems.
• Poesii (1887), Verónica Micle publishes in the first edition of his poems, translations of Gautier.

Theater and ballet

• Une larme du diable (1839)
• Giselle, ou Les Wilis, ballet (1841)
• A voyage in Espagne (1843)
• La Périballet (1845)
• Le Tricorne enchanté (1845)
• The Juive of Constantine (1846)
• Regardez mais ne touchez pas (1847)
• Le Selam (1850)
• Paqueretteballet (1851)
• Gemmaballet (1854)
• Sacountalaballet (1858)
• La Femme de Diomède (1860)

Travel books

• Behind the mountains or Voyage in Espagne (1843).
• Zigzags (1845), increased with title Caprices et zigzags (1852).
• Italy (1852), unfinished.
• Constantine (1853).
• Quand on voyage (1865), collection of articles.
• Impressions de Voyage en Suisse (1865).
• Voyage in Russie (1867).
• L'Orient (1877), posthumous.
• Les Vacances du lundi (1884), posthumous.

Art criticism

• Les Grotesques (1843).
• Salon of 1847.
• Les Beaux-Arts en Europe (1855).
• L'Art moderne (1856).
• Histoire de l'art dramatique en France depuis vingt-cinq ans (1858).
• Honoré de Balzac (1858).
• Abécédaire du salon de 1861.
• Rapport sur le progrès des Lettres (1868).
• Histoire du Romantismehis last and monumental work, unfinished (1874).
• Portraits contemporains (1874), posthumous.
• Portraits et souvenirs littéraires (1875), posthumous.
• Le Musée du LouvreParis, 2011, posthumous.

Other works

• Of mode, 1858
• Honoré de Balzac (biographie), 1859
• Les Vosges, 1860
• Dessins de Victor Hugo, 1863
• Ménagerie intime, 1869
• The Nature chez elle, 1870
• Tableaux de siège, 1871
• The Musiquearticles on auditions of works by Weber (1866)