Théophile Gautier’s Mademoiselle de Maupin, published in 1835, caused a sensation with its preface alone — a manifesto for art-for-art’s-sake that rejected the utilitarian moralism of the day. The novel itself is a sensuous, witty story loosely inspired by the historical seventeenth-century actress Madeleine de Maupin, exploring themes of beauty, gender ambiguity, and romantic idealism.
Influential on the Symbolists and the Aesthetic movement, it remains one of the most daring works of French Romanticism. Download Volume 1 as a free EPUB and discover why Gautier scandalized and enchanted his contemporaries.