Mademoiselle de Maupin by Théophile Gautier

First published: 1835-1836 (English translation, 1887)

Type of work: Novel

Type of plot: Sentimental

Time of plot: Early nineteenth century

Locale: France

Principal characters

• Monsieur d’Albert, a young aesthete
• Rosette, his mistress
• Théodore de Sérannes, in reality Mademoiselle Madelaine de Maupin

The Story:

D’Albert is a young Frenchman of twenty-two, handsome, artistic, well educated, and well versed in the affairs of the world. He loves beauty, especially female beauty. All his life he has dreamed of women, but he has never met the woman of his dreams, a woman who combines the beauty of a nude painted by Peter Paul Rubens with that of a nude by Titian. It is little wonder that he has not found her.

Another thing lacking in d’Albert’s life is a mistress. One day, his friend de C—— offers to take him around the town and discourse on the various ladies of his acquaintance so that d’Albert can make a choice. The expedition is a delightful one, as de C—— seems to have precise and full information not only on the outward circumstances of every beauty but also on the very quality of her mind. After some hesitation, d’Albert finally decides to lay siege to Rosette, a beautiful young woman; he chooses her because he thinks she is the most likely to bring his romantic and poetic mind down to earth.

It does not take d’Albert long to win Rosette’s love, and they are soon acknowledged lovers. Rosette is pliable, versatile, and always entertaining. She does not leave d’Albert alone long enough for him to indulge in musing daydreams. Variety is the spice of their love.

For five months they are the happiest of lovers, but then d’Albert begins to tire of Rosette. When she notices that his ardor is cooling, Rosette knows that she must do something different if she wishes to keep his love. If he is growing tired of her in the solitary life they are leading, perhaps he will regain his interest if he sees her among a group of people. For this reason, Rosette takes d’Albert to her country estate for a visit. There she plans parties, dinners, and visits to keep him amused, but he remains bored.

One day, an old friend of Rosette arrives, an extremely handsome young man named Théodore de Sérannes, whose conversation, riding, and swordsmanship all entrance d’Albert. The two men meet every day and go hunting together, and the more d’Albert sees of Théodore, the more fascinated he becomes. Before long, d’Albert realizes that he is in love with Théodore.

He is in love with a man, yet d’Albert always thinks of Théodore as a woman. D’Albert’s mind grows sick with the problem of Théodore’s true identity. Some days he is sure that Théodore is a woman in disguise. Then, seeing him fencing or jumping his horse, d’Albert is forced to conclude that Théodore is a man. He knows that Rosette is also in love with Théodore, but her infatuation keeps her from noticing d’Albert’s interest in the same young man.

One day, d’Albert mentions to a group of friends, including Rosette and Théodore, that his favorite play is William Shakespeare’s As You Like It (pr. c. 1599-1600, pb. 1623). The rest of the company immediately decide to present the play. At first, Rosette is chosen for the part of Rosalind, the heroine who dresses as a man to escape from her uncle, but when she refuses to wear men’s clothes, the part is given to Théodore.

As soon as d’Albert sees Théodore dressed in women’s clothes, he guesses rightly that Théodore really is a woman. What he does not know is that Théodore, whose real name is Madelaine de Maupin, has decided that she will have nothing to do with men until she finds a good and noble lover. She knows that as a woman she has no chance to see men as they really are, and so she has devised the scheme of learning about them by dressing as a man. Nevertheless, she has found perfidy and falseness in every man she has met. She has watched with amusement as d’Albert has fallen in love with her, and she has guessed the tortures of his mind at not being able to decide whether she is male or female.

As the rehearsals of the play go on, the parallels between the play and real life become ever more amusing to both d’Albert and Mademoiselle de Maupin. At last, after the play has been presented, d’Albert writes Mademoiselle de Maupin a letter in which he tells her he is sure she is a woman and that he loves her deeply. She takes so long to reply to his letter that d’Albert again becomes afraid that she really is a man. One night, however, as d’Albert stands at a window, a hand gently touches his shoulder from behind. He turns around and beholds Mademoiselle de Maupin dressed in her costume as Rosalind. He is struck dumb with amazement. Mademoiselle de Maupin tells him that since he is the first man who has seen through her disguise, he should be the first to have her as a woman.

That night, d’Albert learns that she is truly the woman of his dreams. In the morning, however, he finds himself alone. Mademoiselle de Maupin has gone, leaving a letter in which she tells d’Albert and Rosette that they will never see her again. She writes separately to d’Albert, telling him that they have known one perfect night. She has answered his dream, and to fulfill a dream once is enough. She ends her letter by telling d’Albert to try to console Rosette for the love she has wasted on the false Théodore and by expressing her hope that the two of them will be very happy for many years to come.

Bibliography

Barsoum, Marlène. Théophile Gautier’s “Mademoiselle de Maupin”: Toward a Definition of the “Androgynous Discourse.” New York: Peter Lang, 2001. Examines Gautier’s exploration of language in the novel and asserts that he uses a mythic androgynous figure to create a theory of perfect expression.

Brians, Paul. “Sexuality and the Opposite Sex: Variations on a Theme by Théophile Gautier and Anais Nin.” In The Critical Response to Anais Nin, edited by Philip K. Jason. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1996. Compares Mademoiselle de Maupin with Nin’s novel A Spy in the House of Love (1954). Argues that both novels use “similar techniques to allow restless young women to explore the foreign territory of the opposite sex.”

Lloyd, Rosemary. “Rereading Mademoiselle de Maupin.” Orbis Litterarum: International Review of Literary Studies 41, no. 1 (1986): 19-32. Provides a valuable overview of previous discussions of the novel, many of which are available only in French. Traces the many literary allusions in the text and places the novel within the larger tradition of explorations of human sexuality.

Richardson, Joanna. Théophile Gautier, His Life and Times. London: M. Reinhardt, 1958. One of the most comprehensive biographies of Gautier available in English combines biographical detail with textual evaluation. Proposes that Mademoiselle de Maupin is an example of the art-for-art’s-sake principle outlined in Gautier’s preface to the novel.

Scott, David. Pictorialist Poetics: Poetry and the Visual Arts in Nineteenth-Century France. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1988. Argues that the aesthetic theory and literary practice of the nineteenth century combined to produce a new conception of literature’s potential. Examines Gautier’s preoccupation with the visual arts, as both critic and artist, and its impact on his literary efforts.

Smith, Albert B. Ideal and Reality in the Fictional Narratives of Théophile Gautier. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1969. Offers a detailed analysis of Mademoiselle de Maupin as well as a broad discussion of Gautier’s aesthetic philosophy and literary style.

Wing, Nathaniel. “’Vous êtes sans doute très supris, mon cher d’Albert’: Improvisation and Gender in Théophile Gautier’s Mademoiselle de Maupin.” In Between Genders: Narrating Difference in Early French Modernism. Newark: University of Delaware Press, 2004. Chapter focusing on Mademoiselle de Maupin is part of a larger analysis of the forms and themes of five nineteenth century French works in which the authors are preoccupied with gender identity and differentiation.