Théophile Gautier, préface to Mademoiselle de Maupin

Théophile Gautier, Preface to Mademoiselle de Maupin (1835)

Author :

Théophile Gautier was born in Tarbes (near to the Spanish border) on August 30th, 1811. He died in Neuilly-sur-Seine on October, 23rd 1872. He spent his working life in Paris. He was a poet, novelist and critic of French art. He was a prolific journalist, writing reviews of books, music, plays, ballet and opera, like the annual Salon and other art exhibitions. He traveled in lots of countries, as well as Spain, Greece, Turkey, Algeria, Egypt and Russia. He belonged to two movements : Romanticism and Parnassus. He was an early adherent of Romanticism. So, he became a leading supporter of Victor Hugo in the scandal surrounding the latter’s play Hernani in 1830. Gautier symbolized a committed Romanticism with his red waistcoat. 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.

I)To explain the text

Its contexts of production and reception

In January 1834, Théophile Gautier published a study on François Villon. In May 1834, he was attacked for « depravity » in taste and morals  about the establishment journal Le Constitutionnel. The attacks of the newspaper had led to a lawsuit. He responded by a preface to his novel Mademoiselle de Maupin. In this preface, Gautier meets the attacks of Le Constitutionnel against him. He erects against the moralizing journalism. The text of Gautier is seen as a manifesto of « art for art’s sake ». Théodore de Banville praised Gautier as the defender of « art for art's sake ». He dated the Preface « May 1834 » to commemorate the incident which gave rise to it. But, the book was in fact published in 1835. Mademoiselle de Maupin is an epistolary novel. This is the first great work of Gautier. The novel tells the life of Madeleine de Maupin and his amorous adventures. Madeleine de Maupin, before succumbing to the advances of men, dresses up in order to surprise their secrets. Some erotic scenes with a man, then with a woman, gave to Mademoiselle de Maupin an immoral nature for the time. His novel is not a simple story, it is an illustration of what he thinks of Art, it is a book written for its style, for the beauty of its writing.

When the book was published, the preface caused scandal. Mademoiselle de Maupin is generally badly received by critics. However, some contemporaries of the author are very appreciative of the novel and its preface. Baudelaire praised the novel in a long article on Gautier (L’Artiste, 1859). Balzac asked to meet Gautier after reading Mademoiselle de Maupin. He mentions the work in the preface to his novel Un Grand Homme de province à Paris. Victor Hugo would also be published a laudatory article in the journal Vert-Vert of December 15th, 1835, however, it is not signed.

Its main stakes : what it is saying, what points or statement it is making, what is significant

This preface aims to respond to critics of journalists and position on morality and art.

Gauthier criticizes the position of moral journalists and utilitarian critics.

Théophile Gautier denounces the absurdity of morality and virtue. He denounces the virtuous and moral criticism. This text is a critic of moral journalists. For Gautier, « It’s absurd to claim virtue for a man because he has written a work of morality, our daily experience teaches us the contrary. This is not because a hero is atheist that its author is atheist. It is a character who speaks, not the author ». For him, the journalists are « little narrow-brained scribblers ». Their mistake is « to substitute the author for the work and descend to personalities ». Gautier blames moral journalists who attack the author and not his work. For Gautier, the moral journalists are « the Don Quixotes of morality ». Théophile Gautier denounces the sentence of authors « in the name of virtue » to every idea a bit strange. For him, the epoch is immoral. It produces some immoral books that have great success. « Books take their tone from the time, not vice-versa ». He says that « the books are not the fruits of morality ». We have to understand that the literature and the arts do not affect morals. The books are immoral because the time is immoral. This preface is a condemnation of the hypocrisy of the virtuous critics who consider immoral contemporary literature.

Furthermore, he denounces the position of utilitarian critics. For him, they do not see more than the tip of their nose. Utilitarian critics think that « novels and poems lead nowhere and don’t encourage  the present generation to set out upon the road to the future ». They think that « be interested in form, style and rythme » is ridiculous, when the society is afflicted with grave matters. For the utilitarian critics, « it is for the poet to seek the cause of this malaise and cure it ». Utilitarian critics value poets who cure the society. And they blame those who care for the form and style. for Gautier, it’s a shame, it is a serious mistake to think that. He finds the utilitarian style « soporific ». For him, the utilitarian critics are « imbeciles, cretins ». He thinks that the literature isn’t a thing which « encourage humanity upon the way to progress ». Like he said it, « an antithesis cannot do duty for an umbrella ». He does not perceive literature as something useful to society. The literature is the beautiful, the pleasures. According to Gautier, a novel has two uses : one material, the other spiritual. « The material use is first and foremost the few thousand francs that enter the author’s pocket ». « The spiritual use is that while one is reading novel, one sleeps, and reads neither useful, progressive, virtuous journals ». Journals are « indigestible and stultifying drug ». In order to criticize the journals, and to show the superiority of novel on newspapers, Gautier says : « this branch of literature, since the paper used is, for the most part, better than that of newspapers ».  We can underline a very big critic of republican or Saint Simonian utilitarians.

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