Théophile Gautier
1811–1872
Biography
Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier was born at Tarbes, in south-western France, in 1811 and died at Neuilly-sur-Seine, outside Paris, in 1872. His family moved to Paris in 1814, and he grew up there in the years of the Romantic movement, which he defended as an ardent young writer. He wrote poems, novels, plays and criticism, and for much of his career he earned his living as a journalist, first for La Presse and later for Le Moniteur universel.
His best-known statement is the preface to his novel Mademoiselle de Maupin (1835), which is often read as the case for art that needs no justification beyond its own beauty. He published the poems of Émaux et Camées in 1852, and he wrote the scenario of the ballet Giselle, first danced in 1841, which is still performed. Later poets and novelists, among them Baudelaire, Flaubert and Oscar Wilde, admired him as a writer who shaped what came after him.
Le Capitaine Fracasse, which this site holds, was promised to readers in 1836 but did not appear until 1863. It is a swashbuckling adventure set in seventeenth-century France, and it shows the lighter, more adventurous side of a writer who is more often remembered for his poetry and criticism. Readers who want to check the details of his life can begin with the two encyclopaedia articles listed below, one in English and one in French.
This biography was written by a language model. The sources below are where to check it; treat details with care.
Books
Le capitaine Fracasse
by Théophile Gautier
The young Baron de Sigognac lives in poverty in a crumbling castle in Gascony, until a company of travelling actors stops there for a night. He joins them on the road, takes the stage name Captain Fracasse, and falls in love with one of the actresses. This book uses the racial…
Summary written by Claude Opus 5.5.