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Pasquini

Charmant

Commenté en France le 3 juin 2003

Durant une grande partie du roman, l'auteur nous raconte les états d'ames d'un petit jeune homme de 22 ans qui désespère de trouver un jour sa dulcinée... qui s'avèrera être Mlle de Maupin, jeune fille déguisée en homme et qui se présente sous le nom de Théodore.
C'est un Gautier de 24 ans, jeune et fougueux qui nous raconte l'histoire de ce tourmenté et de cette nuit qu'il passera avec ce qui lui semble être l'incarnation de la perfection, Vénus en personne.

21 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

TRF

Où sont mes apostrophes?

Commenté en France le 5 mars 2012

C'est tout de même dommage que, sous prétexte de gratuité, on s'autorise à distribuer un ouvrage sans mise en page aucune, et sans apostrophes...

5 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

baijo

cata/apostrophe

Commenté en France le 11 février 2013

Malheureusement le problème des apostrophes semble être général pour ce genre de textes à cause du signe U+2019; (’) parceque Kindle ne connaît que U+0027 (')

2 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

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H. Tee

Man, woman, virgin, gay: what do they all desire?

Commenté au Royaume-Uni le 7 juin 2015

Achat vérifié

This is a French novel from 1835 by the Gautier (who is famous in part for the ballet Giselle in 1841) split in 2 volumes a year apart. The story is loosely based on the French Opera singer Madelaine de Maupin (who liked to dress as a man in 1800s). This work is famous for the conclusion of the first volume where the young man aged 22 d’Albert effectively ‘comes out’ in heart felt terms as having fallen in love with a young man called Theodore. The work is also famous for the lengthy preface where Gautier (aged just 24 at the time) explains his motives and expectations that the work’s reception is likely to receive i.e. the reader, critics, public and society. It is quite clear that the story is both romantic, stylish, titillating, early soft porn with obvious gay and lesbian overtones to put it mildly. It is also quite erudite with lots of references to Greek hermaphrodite myths and their interactions. The tale written in letters, which are not so immediately clear as to the sex of the writer, allows Gautier to express male and female desires and passions, almost giving the reader the same shared or contradictory feelings.

The basics of this beautifully written book is that d’Albert is in love with beauty and goes out with Rosette a 23 year old widow but she is not quite what he wants – he explains his feeling in letters, which we read, to his friend Silvio. In parallel young virgin lady Maupin wants to learn what men are really like so she dresses up as a cavalier Theodore and writes to her friend Mne de Themines.; along the way she gets a 14 year old girl to dress up as her male page. D’albert, Rosette and Theodore’s paths cross when they end up enacting the cross dressing play ‘As you like it’ by Shakespeare. Thus Theodore ends up being Rosalind (a woman dressing as a man) – so Maupin thus must act as a man dressed as a woman who then dresses as a man! but ends up with Rosette and d’Albert both falling in love with her. She has some intimate lesbian interactions (i.e. breast fondling) with Rosette whilst knowing of d’Albert’s odd desires. Who will Maupin pick?

I really did enjoy this book in deed, the language is poetic, lovely stuff. There are extended passages which are deeply romantic and thought-provoking. The humour is there in places but this is anything but a comedy – a deliberately challenging and grown up story. I wonder what the original reader of 1830s would have thought under the expectation of an openly homosexual man at the end of volume 1 (admittedly at the end he turns out to really fancy the woman Maupin not the man Theodore).

Here are some quotes:

“What, in heaven’s name, would all you preachers do, if you didn’t have Vice? You would be reduced to begging for your supper by tomorrow if everyone became moral overnight.”

“But my soul is the warring sister of my body, and this unhappy couple, like every couple, legitimate or illegitimate, lives in a state of perpetual war. The arms of a woman, the things which they say attach a man most firmly to the earth, are very feeble attachments for me”

“I have not succeeded in making the idea of another person enter my brain, the feelings of another being enter my soul, the pain and pleasure of another enter my body. I am a prisoner and all escape is impossible.”

“I began by wishing I were another man. Then reflecting that I could, by analogy, more or less anticipate how I might feel, thus not experience the expected surprise and change, I thought I would prefer to be a woman”.

“That is the reason poets often take up with common trollops. You can go to bed with a woman for ten years without ever seeing her.”

“Perhaps it is only truly possible to love a virgin, virgin in both mind an body, a frail bud not yet kissed by any zephyr, her unopened centre as yet untouched by any drop of rain or dew, a chaste flower who unfurls her white dress just for you, a beautiful lily in a sliver urn where no desire has slaked its thirst which has gilded by your sun, swayed by your breath and watered by your hand alone”

“The worm had not found its way into my heart from out of another fruit. It had hatched all on its own, eaten into the fullness of my pulp and ramified. Nothing showed on the surface or gave me any sign that I was corrupted”

“What a shame he’s a man, or what a shame I am not a woman”

I must stop with the quotes or I’ll end up spoiling it for you. For goodness sake just read this excellent, seemingly before its time book. Literary, clever and well written with a remarkably modern and perhaps unexpected ending.

2 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Michael Jacobs

Outstanding

Commenté au Royaume-Uni le 14 mai 2011

Achat vérifié

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.

6 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

BHASKAR THAKURIA

The definitive translation of the classic 19th century subversive masterpiece...

Commenté en Inde le 1 août 2020

Achat vérifié

In fact this has to be one of the pioneering works of subversive and transgressive literature, a literary masterpiece ranking alongside Dangerous Liaisons, both being two timeless classics of the French Romantic literary canon. It is replete with all the references to promiscuous sexuality, and transvestitism and perversions abounds its pages from the time you hit the first chapter. The Mademoiselle de Maupin in question is a transvestite who intervenes the lives of the young Chevalier d'Albert- who is in search of the perfect lover- and the lovely Rosette under the guise of the Theodore de Serannes, a dashing young chevalier. He drives the mind of d'Albert-as well as that of Rosette-into romantic and erotic turmoil by his very presence as a man. And truly it is the very secret of his sex that confuses and bewilders the hapless minds of two romantic and idealistic individuals. Will his secret berevealed? And what would be the eventual repercussions? That is the question!

The basic idea of the novel is set forth well in this confessional vignette by Theodore towards the end of the novel:

'I shall never be able to love anyone, man or woman.......If I had a lover, the female in me would no doubt dominate for a while over the male, but it would not last long, and I feel I should only be half content. But if I have a woman friend, the idea of bodily pleasure prevents me from entirely savouring the pure delights of the soul. So I don't know which way to turn and am consistently drifting from one to the other.
My dream, a chimera, would be to have both sexes in turn, to satisfy this dual nature. Man today, woman tomorrow, I should reserve for my lovers my loving tenderness, my submissive and devoted attentions, my softest caresses, my sad little sighs, everything which belongs to my feline, feminine nature......'

Stylistically the novel is a tour de force of sorts, just like Laclos's great work of moral depravation and debauchery. The novel alternates between confessional vignettes of the two major characters, d'Albert and Theodore, addressed to their intimate friends who have no direct role play in the novel.

Reading this one has been a major stylistic rendezvous for me, as well an intro to a subversive masterpiece from the nineteenth century.

Catherine Kerr

Four Stars

Commenté au Royaume-Uni le 5 juin 2015

Achat vérifié

A perfect fit for my Romantic reading

A&M Leclerc-Chalvet

received new

Commenté au Royaume-Uni le 30 avril 2011

Achat vérifié

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 typography.
Anyway details!
The book arrived before the estimated date.