Pétrus Borel
Pétrus Borel, born Joseph-Pierre Borel on June 26, 1809, in Lyons, France, was a notable figure in the Romantic literary movement. Although he initially trained as an architect, Borel pursued a literary career, becoming associated with the bohemian culture of Paris in the 1830s. He joined a group called the Petit Cénacle, which rejected classical artistic conventions and embraced a radical, unconventional lifestyle. Borel's early work, including his poetry collection "Rhapsodies," was met with limited success, but he gained recognition as a charismatic personality among the bohemians. He ventured into macabre storytelling with tales characterized by dark themes and lavish prose, despite achieving little commercial success.
Later in life, Borel shifted his focus to farming and journalism, while also completing his most ambitious work, the gothic novel "Madame Putiphar," which explored complex themes of love, intrigue, and moral justice. Borel's life included a stint in Algeria, where he achieved some success before facing dismissal due to allegations of financial misconduct. He ultimately returned to farming until his death from sunstroke on July 14, 1859. Despite his struggles, Borel's work and lifestyle reflected a deep commitment to nonconformity and a critical eye on the society of his time.
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Subject Terms
Pétrus Borel
Writer
- Born: June 29, 1809
- Birthplace: Lyon, France
- Died: July 14, 1859
- Place of death: Mostaganem, Algeria
Biography
Although he would come to be associated with the flamboyant bohemian movement of romantic artists and writers who gathered in the cafés and salons of cosmopolitan Paris, Joseph-Pierre Borel (known as Pétrus Borel and later as Borel D’hauterive) was actually born in the blue-collar neighborhoods of the thriving port city of Lyons, his father an ironworker who dreamed, nevertheless, of giving his son an education. The family moved to Paris, where Borel studied at private academies until, at the age of fourteen, he was removed from school and apprenticed to an architect, a position that young Borel, who had begun to harbor dreams of a literary career, found distasteful.
After five years, during which Borel showed at best an uneven talent for architecture (in his few designs, he adamantly refused to follow conventional expectations of classical lines and construction), Borel joined a loose confederation of young artistes known collectively as the Petit Cénacle, the name derived from the Scriptural designation of Jesus’ disciples, who were united in their doctrinaire rejection of classical conventions in all branches of the arts. Their unorthodox (and impoverished) lifestyle was part of their uncompromising rejection of the bourgeois class and its materialism and part of their audacious call for radical innovation in the arts.
In 1832, Borel published Rhapsodies, a book of poems, themselves amateurish and overly pessimistic, but the preface defined Borel’s sense of himself as apart from his cultural milieu, drawing parallels between himself and the folkloric figure of the wolf-man: primitive, free, and unbound by polite society. Although the slender book of poems found little success, Borel became a charismatic figure among the bohemians. In 1833, he completed a book of Poe-like macabre tales that centered on gruesome murders, sexual excess, and perverse psychologies, recounted in opulent prose, all intended, by Borel’s admission, to shock the complacency of the reading public. The book sold dismally, and Borel spiraled into poverty.
Finding himself gradually estranged from his coterie, who had begun to soften their wilder artistic statements in the face of growing political stability and economic prosperity, Borel turned first to translating (most famously Robinson Crusoe) and then, curiously enough, to farming in a small village in the province of Champagne. It is a measure of Borel’s artistry that in these circumstances he completed his masterpiece, the epic gothic novelMadame Putiphar, an elaborate and tragic story of doomed love involving political intrigue, kidnappings, an illegitimate pregnancy, labyrinthine castles and prisons, duels, and ultimately madness. The ambitious work defines the sheer reach of misfortune and the indifference of the Christian God but ultimately affirms a moral universe that manages to punish evildoers. When the novel failed to sell, Borel returned to Paris and turned to journalism until, in 1845, he accepted a government appointment in Algiers, where he enjoyed considerable success until he was dismissed in 1855 under charges of financial impropriety. He stayed and for four years worked the fields around his massive home until he died on July 14, 1859, of sunstroke.
In his eccentric lifestyle and his passionate writings, Borel endorsed an uncompromising nonconformity and, although he did not possess the highest literary gifts, brought his culture—its politics, its religion, and its arts—under his harsh and unblinking eye.