Jules-Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly
Jules-Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly was a notable French writer born on November 2, 1808, in Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte. He came from a family with a claimed aristocratic background and received his early education under a tutor before studying in Paris. In the 1830s, he became involved in the dandy movement, adopting its distinctive style and writing critically about it in works like *The Anatomy of Dandyism*. His literary oeuvre is characterized by extreme Romanticism and elements that foreshadow the Decadence movement, featuring melodramatic plots and intense character emotions, often set against the backdrop of his native Normandy. Barbey's works frequently explore provocative themes, including sexuality and violence, with titles such as *The She-Devils* exemplifying his focus on the darker aspects of human experience. Although only a few of his writings have been translated into English, his influence can be seen in later literary figures, including Léon Bloy and Joris-Karl Huysmans. Barbey's unique blend of spirituality and shock value in his narratives continues to intrigue scholars and readers interested in 19th-century French literature.
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Subject Terms
Jules-Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly
Author
- Born: November 2, 1808
- Birthplace: Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte, Manche, Normandy, France
- Died: April 23, 1889
- Place of death: Paris, France
Biography
Jules-Amedee Barbey d’Aurevilly, son of Theophile and Ernestine Ango Barbey, was born November 2, 1808, in Saint- Sauveur-le-Vicomte. In 1756, his grandfather, Vincent Barbey, purchased an honorary title that allowed the family to claim aristocratic roots. His maternal grandfather, Louis Ango, was said to be a son of Louis XV.
An uncle provided a tutor for Barbey’s early education, and Barbey continued his studies in Paris at the College Stanislas. A small inheritance allowed him to reside in Paris in the 1830’s and he joined the dandy movement socially and aesthetically. He imitated the exaggerated dress and mannerisms of the dandies and even wrote an analysis of the archetypal dandy: The Anatomy of Dandyism, with Some Observations on Beau Brummell. He was also known for a fanatical and idiosyncratic practice of Catholicism that went against the norm of the day. Barbey’s brand of religiosity influenced Leon Bloy, a younger writer in the Decadence movement.
Barbey’s writing embodied an extreme Romanticism and was a preview of the coming decadence movement. The characters exhibit extremes of emotion and behavior, the plots are extreme melodramatic intrigues, and the locales of many novels give a heightened description of his native Normandy. Barbey’s writing dwells on topics at the limits of good taste that were presented for their shock value: lurid descriptions of sexual pleasures, sadistic acts, necrophilia, and vampirism. For example, in The Story Without a Name, the protagonist, sixteen-year-old Lasthenie de Ferjol, is raped by a visiting monk as she sleepwalks. She gives birth to a stillborn son and slowly wastes away. After her death, her mother discovers that her daughter slowly killed herself by sticking eighteen needles into her breast and through her heart.
Barbey published his first book at age thirty-three and continued as a prolific writer of fiction, essays, and letters. Few of his works have been translated into English. He is best known for The She-Devils. These stories embody the central themes of Barbey’s work: sexuality, spirituality, and passion taken to the infernal or monstrous limits. Barbey’s influence reached beyond the burgeoning Decadence movement, which was embodied in works such as Joris-Karl Huysmans’s A rebours (1884; Against the Grain, 1922), published just five years before Barbey’s death. In 1967, French hematologist Jean Bernard and his colleagues used Lasthenie de Ferjol as the name of a syndrome in which women suffer via self- inflicted, concealed wounds.