Jules Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly
Encyclopedia
Jules-Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly (2 November 1808 – 23 April 1889) was a French
novelist and short story
writer. He specialised in mystery tales that explored hidden motivation and hinted at evil without being explicitly concerned with anything supernatural. He had a decisive influence on writers such as Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam
, Henry James
and Marcel Proust
.
(Manche
) in Lower Normandy. In 1827 he went to the Collège Stanislas de Paris
. After getting his baccalauréat
in 1829, he went to Caen University
to study law, taking his degree three years later. As a young man, he was a liberal
and an atheist, and his early writings present religion as something that meddles in human affairs only to complicate and pervert matters. In the early 1840s, however, he began to frequent the Catholic and legitimist salon
of Baroness Amaury de Maistre, niece of Joseph de Maistre
. In 1846 he converted to Roman Catholicism.
His greatest successes as a literary writer date from 1852 onwards, when he became an influential literary critic at the Bonapartist
paper Le Pays, helping to rehabilitate Balzac and effectually promoting Stendhal
, Flaubert, and Baudelaire. Paul Bourget describes Barbey as an idealist, who sought and found in his work a refuge from the uncongenial ordinary world. Jules Lemaître
, a less sympathetic critic, thought the extraordinary crimes of his heroes and heroines, his reactionary opinions, his dandyism and snobbery were a caricature of Byronism.
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Beloved of fin-de-siècle decadents, Barbey d'Aurevilly remains an example of the extremes of late romanticism
. Barbey d'Aurevilly held extreme Catholic
opinions, yet wrote about risqué subjects, a contradiction apparently more disturbing to the English than to the French themselves. Barbey d'Aurevilly was also known as a dandy
artisan of his own persona, adopting an aristocratic style and hinting at a mysterious past, though his parentage was provincial bourgeois nobility, and his youth comparatively uneventful.
Inspired by the character and ambience of Valognes
, he set his works in the society of Normand
aristocracy. Although he himself did not use the Norman
patois, his example encouraged the revival of vernacular literature
in his home region.
Jules-Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly died in Paris
and was buried in the cimetière de Montparnasse. During 1926 his remains were transferred to the churchyard in Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte.
His complete works are published in two volumes of the Bibliothèque de la Pléiade
.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
novelist and short story
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
writer. He specialised in mystery tales that explored hidden motivation and hinted at evil without being explicitly concerned with anything supernatural. He had a decisive influence on writers such as Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam
Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam
Jean-Marie-Mathias-Philippe-Auguste, comte de Villiers de l'Isle-Adam was a French symbolist writer.-Life:Villiers de l'Isle-Adam was born in Saint-Brieuc, Brittany, to a distinguished aristocratic family...
, Henry James
Henry James
Henry James, OM was an American-born writer, regarded as one of the key figures of 19th-century literary realism. He was the son of Henry James, Sr., a clergyman, and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James....
and Marcel Proust
Marcel Proust
Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust was a French novelist, critic, and essayist best known for his monumental À la recherche du temps perdu...
.
Biography
Jules-Amédée Barbey — the d'Aurevilly was a later inheritance from a childless uncle — was born at Saint-Sauveur-le-VicomteSaint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte
Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte is a commune in the Manche department in Normandy in north-western France.It is situated in the Cotentin Peninsula near Valognes in the Manche département.Population : 2,242 .-History:...
(Manche
Manche
Manche is a French department in Normandy named after La Manche , which is the French name for the English Channel.- History :Manche is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...
) in Lower Normandy. In 1827 he went to the Collège Stanislas de Paris
Collège Stanislas de Paris
Le Collège Stanislas de Paris is a private Catholic school in Paris, situated on "Rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs" in the Montparnasse arrondissement. It has approximately 3,000 students, and is the largest private school in France....
. After getting his baccalauréat
Baccalauréat
The baccalauréat , often known in France colloquially as le bac, is an academic qualification which French and international students take at the end of the lycée . It was introduced by Napoleon I in 1808. It is the main diploma required to pursue university studies...
in 1829, he went to Caen University
Caen University
The Université de Caen Basse-Normandie is a university in Caen, in France.-History:The institution was founded in 1432 by John of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Bedford, the first rector being a Cornishman, Michael Tregury, afterwards Archbishop of Dublin. It originally consisted of a faculty of Canon Law...
to study law, taking his degree three years later. As a young man, he was a liberal
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
and an atheist, and his early writings present religion as something that meddles in human affairs only to complicate and pervert matters. In the early 1840s, however, he began to frequent the Catholic and legitimist salon
Salon (gathering)
A salon is a gathering of people under the roof of an inspiring host, held partly to amuse one another and partly to refine taste and increase their knowledge of the participants through conversation. These gatherings often consciously followed Horace's definition of the aims of poetry, "either to...
of Baroness Amaury de Maistre, niece of Joseph de Maistre
Joseph de Maistre
Joseph-Marie, comte de Maistre was a French-speaking Savoyard philosopher, writer, lawyer, and diplomat. He defended hierarchical societies and a monarchical State in the period immediately following the French Revolution...
. In 1846 he converted to Roman Catholicism.
His greatest successes as a literary writer date from 1852 onwards, when he became an influential literary critic at the Bonapartist
Bonapartist
In French political history, Bonapartism has two meanings. In a strict sense, this term refers to people who aimed to restore the French Empire under the House of Bonaparte, the Corsican family of Napoleon Bonaparte and his nephew Louis...
paper Le Pays, helping to rehabilitate Balzac and effectually promoting Stendhal
Stendhal
Marie-Henri Beyle , better known by his pen name Stendhal, was a 19th-century French writer. Known for his acute analysis of his characters' psychology, he is considered one of the earliest and foremost practitioners of realism in his two novels Le Rouge et le Noir and La Chartreuse de Parme...
, Flaubert, and Baudelaire. Paul Bourget describes Barbey as an idealist, who sought and found in his work a refuge from the uncongenial ordinary world. Jules Lemaître
Jules Lemaître
François Élie Jules Lemaître , was a French critic and dramatist.He was born at Vennecy . He became a professor at the university of Grenoble, but was already well known for his literary criticism, and in 1884 he resigned his position to devote his time to literature...
, a less sympathetic critic, thought the extraordinary crimes of his heroes and heroines, his reactionary opinions, his dandyism and snobbery were a caricature of Byronism.
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
. Barbey d'Aurevilly held extreme Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
opinions, yet wrote about risqué subjects, a contradiction apparently more disturbing to the English than to the French themselves. Barbey d'Aurevilly was also known as a dandy
Dandy
A dandy is a man who places particular importance upon physical appearance, refined language, and leisurely hobbies, pursued with the appearance of nonchalance in a cult of Self...
artisan of his own persona, adopting an aristocratic style and hinting at a mysterious past, though his parentage was provincial bourgeois nobility, and his youth comparatively uneventful.
Inspired by the character and ambience of Valognes
Valognes
Valognes is a commune in the Manche department in Normandy in north-western France.It lies on the Merderet river, southeast of Cherbourg.-History:...
, he set his works in the society of Normand
Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...
aristocracy. Although he himself did not use the Norman
Norman language
Norman is a Romance language and one of the Oïl languages. Norman can be classified as one of the northern Oïl languages along with Picard and Walloon...
patois, his example encouraged the revival of vernacular literature
Vernacular literature
Vernacular literature is literature written in the vernacular—the speech of the "common people".In the European tradition, this effectively means literature not written in Latin...
in his home region.
Jules-Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly died in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and was buried in the cimetière de Montparnasse. During 1926 his remains were transferred to the churchyard in Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte.
Fiction
- Le Cachet d’Onyx (1831)
- Léa (1832)
- Le type tres gros (1841)
- La Bague d’Annibal (1842)
- Une vieille maîtresse (A Former Mistress, 1851)
- L'Ensorcelée (The Bewitched, 1854. An episode of the royalist rising among the Norman peasants against the first republic).
- Le Chevalier Des Touches (1863)
- Un Prêtre marié (1864)
- Les DiaboliquesLes Diaboliques (book)Les Diaboliques, is a collection of short stories written by Barbey d'Aurevilly and published in France in 1874. Each story features a woman who commits an act of violence, or revenge, or some other crime. It is considered d'Aurevilly's masterpiece.D'Aurevilly, due to the boredom induced by...
(The She-Devils, 1874, a collection of short storiesShort storyA short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
, each of which relates a tale of a woman who commits an act of violence or revenge, or other crime). - Une Histoire sans nom (1882) (Translated into English as The Story Without a Name)
- Ce qui ne meurt pas (What never dies, 1883)
Essays and criticism
- Du Dandysme et de Georges Brummel (The Anatomy of Dandyism, 1845)
- Les Prophètes du passé (1851)
- Les Oeuvres et les hommes (1860–1909)
- Les quarante médaillons de l'Académie (1864)
- Goethe et Diderot (1880)
- Les ridicules du temps (1883)
- Pensées détachées, Fragments sur les femmes (1889)
- Polémiques d'hier (1889)
- Dernières Polémiques (1891)
His complete works are published in two volumes of the Bibliothèque de la Pléiade
Bibliothèque de la Pléiade
The Bibliothèque de la Pléiade is a French series of books which was created in the 1930s by Jacques Schiffrin, an independent young editor. . Schiffrin wanted to provide the public with reference editions of the complete works of classic authors in a pocket format...
.
External links
(plain text and HTML)- Works by or about J. Barbey d'Aurevilly at Internet ArchiveInternet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
(scanned books original editions)