Mademoiselle de Maupin (French Edition)
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Product Description
Product Description
Chevalier d'Albert fantasizes about his ideal lover, yet every woman he meets falls short of his exacting standards of female perfection. Embarking on an affair with the lovely Rosette to ease his boredom, he is thrown into tumultuous confusion when she receives a dashing young visitor. Exquisitely handsome, Théodore inspires passions d'Albert never believed he could feel for a man - and Rosette also seems to be in thrall to the charms of her guest. Does this bafflingly alluring person have a secret to hide? Subversive and seductive, Mademoiselle de Maupin (1835) draws readers into the bedrooms and boudoirs of a French château in a compelling exploration of desire and sexual intrigue.
About the Author
Theophile Gautier (1811-72), French painter, poet, novelist, and critic, was a leading exponent of Art for Art's Sake, preparing the way for the Parnassians and Symbolists in their reaction against Romanticism.
Helen Constantine was Head of Languages at Bartholomew School, Eynsham, until she became a full-time translator. She is currently translating Dangerous Liaisons by Laclos, also for Penguin. She has recently published a volume of translated stories, Paris Tales, for OUP, and is co-editor of the magazine Modern Poetry in Translation. She is married to the poet, David Constantine.
Patricia Duncker is the author of short stories, essays and several novels, including Hallucinating Foucault and Seven Tales of Sex and Death (2003). She is also Professor of Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia.
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First Sentence
You complain that I scarcely write to you, my dear friend. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
You complain that I scarcely write to you, my dear friend. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This edition boasts an engrossing translation: graceful, articulate and capturing the sensuality of Gautier's prose. Furthermore Duncker's introduction updates many of the novel's themes using contemporary references to explicate 19th century sexual mores. I felt the story provided an entertaining exploration of the `art' of seduction and the psychosocial basis for hetero- and homosexual attraction. Gautier juxtaposes the Chevalier d'Albert's quest for the ideal female lover with Mademoiselle de Maupin's clandestine desire to understand the true nature of men. In doing so Gautier cleverly exposes the nature of homoerotic desire to such an extent that those of us who feel secure with our own sexuality may be forced to rethink what if?
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I originally bought a copy of this novel because its preface is meant to be a very important piece of writing which inspired English literature in the 1890s (decadence and aestheticism etc) - the main novel body is often overlooked as a result.
The story is absolutely fantastic though. An earlier reviewer has said that it is slow - this is not an unfair remark, but it is a hallmark of what is quite a fascinating and unconventional narrative. You have multiple characters' writing presented to the reader on slightly different timelines, going backwards and forwards, with different perspectives of the same situations. It's quite tricky to write about the book without giving away the plot, but it stands out as a great novel for me for the following reasons:
1) it contains brilliant depictions of the different genders; men's attitudes to women and vice versa. Not only does Guatier paint the characters brilliantly, but the characters as narrators portray other characters in a delightful mix of amusing truths and outrageous stereotypes;
2) it keeps you guessing. The twists and turns in the plot are unpredictable throughout and although perhaps a bit slow at the beginning, the novel leaves you waiting to see how the two characters different narratives tie up towards the end of the novel.
3) although written in the early 1800s, it seems like it could have been yesterday in terms of the freshness with which it highlights gender and sexuality issues. But if you like a good historical novel, this should also tick all of the boxes.
The story is absolutely fantastic though. An earlier reviewer has said that it is slow - this is not an unfair remark, but it is a hallmark of what is quite a fascinating and unconventional narrative. You have multiple characters' writing presented to the reader on slightly different timelines, going backwards and forwards, with different perspectives of the same situations. It's quite tricky to write about the book without giving away the plot, but it stands out as a great novel for me for the following reasons:
1) it contains brilliant depictions of the different genders; men's attitudes to women and vice versa. Not only does Guatier paint the characters brilliantly, but the characters as narrators portray other characters in a delightful mix of amusing truths and outrageous stereotypes;
2) it keeps you guessing. The twists and turns in the plot are unpredictable throughout and although perhaps a bit slow at the beginning, the novel leaves you waiting to see how the two characters different narratives tie up towards the end of the novel.
3) although written in the early 1800s, it seems like it could have been yesterday in terms of the freshness with which it highlights gender and sexuality issues. But if you like a good historical novel, this should also tick all of the boxes.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Poetic and wistful. I loved the writing. It shimmered brilliantly refracting rainbow colours like raindrops on a window pane. Gather all those stolen moments you mused about the perfect lover, your perfect lover, the One who will come to and into your life and rouse eternally the fire in your loins and set your world to rights. Assemble your dream images end to end and stitch them all together. That in a nutshell is the favourite pastime of Chevalier d'Albert. He, while awaiting Aphrodite, rouses his libido and launches himself at and on all available women, quietly loathing each and every one of them as they laid beneath him, conquered.
Then Nemesis arrives and his life spins out of control. For the One is Theodore, the most beautiful boy you ever laid eyes upon. The novel explores sexuality; what it is and isn't; and what it makes us do before climax and how it makes us feel afterward. This book is pretty graphic, I thought, for the 19th century! As pretty as the writing is nevertheless I found it tedious to read after about half-way. It dragged on forever going over and over the same subject matter. Three hundred-plus pages of day dreaming (there is some action but they were like sideshows) are enough to send any sane man to the sick bed. The one other thing I must recommend (that is apart from the language) is the Preface where Gautier goes after literary and art critics and the Morality police. This is one outstanding polemic that's just too good to miss.
Then Nemesis arrives and his life spins out of control. For the One is Theodore, the most beautiful boy you ever laid eyes upon. The novel explores sexuality; what it is and isn't; and what it makes us do before climax and how it makes us feel afterward. This book is pretty graphic, I thought, for the 19th century! As pretty as the writing is nevertheless I found it tedious to read after about half-way. It dragged on forever going over and over the same subject matter. Three hundred-plus pages of day dreaming (there is some action but they were like sideshows) are enough to send any sane man to the sick bed. The one other thing I must recommend (that is apart from the language) is the Preface where Gautier goes after literary and art critics and the Morality police. This is one outstanding polemic that's just too good to miss.
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received new
I received this book as described but would be great to have the one as shown on the website instead of another one as some edition are better than others, regarding the... Read more
Published 13 months ago by AZAM
Not For Everyone
Firstly I sohuld warn you that this book is not for everyone, although under 340 pages in length it is slow moving; it is part novel form, part epistolary form, and some of the... Read more
Published on 26 Mar 2010 by M. Dowden
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