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 Jean-Marie-Mathias-Philippe-Auguste, comte de Villiers de l'Isle-Adam (7 November 1838 – 19 August 1889) was a French symbolist writer. His family called him Mathias while his friends called him Villiers; he would also use the name Auguste wh ...

Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...

, Leon Bloy, and

Marcel Proust Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust (; ; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, critic, and essayist who wrote the monumental novel '' In Search of Lost Time'' (''À la recherche du temps perdu''; with the previous ...

Biography

Jules-Amédée Barbey — the d'Aurevilly was a later inheritance from a childless uncle — was born at

Saint-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. Its population was 2,099 in 2018. History The Château de Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte, a ...

, Manche in

Lower Normandy Lower Normandy (french: Basse-Normandie, ; nrf, Basse-Normaundie) is a former administrative region of France. On 1 January 2016, Lower and Upper Normandy merged becoming one region called Normandy. Geography The region included three departme ...

. In 1827 he went to the

Collège Stanislas de Paris The Collège Stanislas de Paris (), colloquially known as Stan, is a highly selective private Catholic school in Paris, situated on "Rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs" in the 6th arrondissement. It has more than 3,000 students, from preschool to ''class ...

. After getting his

baccalauréat The ''baccalauréat'' (; ), often known in France colloquially as the ''bac'', is a French national academic qualification that students can obtain at the completion of their secondary education (at the end of the ''lycée'') by meeting certain ...

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 Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

, 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 The Legitimists (french: Légitimistes) are royalists who adhere to the rights of dynastic succession to the French crown of the descendants of the eldest branch of the Bourbon dynasty, which was overthrown in the 1830 July Revolution. They ...

salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments * French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home * Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment Arts and entertainment * Salon ( ...

of Baroness Amaury de Maistre, niece of

Joseph de Maistre Joseph Marie, comte de Maistre (; 1 April 1753 – 26 February 1821) was a Savoyard philosopher, writer, lawyer, and diplomat who advocated social hierarchy and monarchy in the period immediately following the French Revolution. Despite his clo ...

. In 1846 he converted to

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. His greatest successes as a literary writer date from 1852 onwards, when he became an influential literary critic at the

Bonapartist Bonapartism (french: Bonapartisme) is the political ideology supervening from Napoleon Bonaparte and his followers and successors. The term was used to refer to people who hoped to restore the House of Bonaparte and its style of government. In thi ...

paper ''Le Pays'', helping to rehabilitate Balzac and effectually promoting

Stendhal Marie-Henri Beyle (; 23 January 1783 – 23 March 1842), better known by his pen name Stendhal (, ; ), was a 19th-century French writer. Best known for the novels ''Le Rouge et le Noir'' ('' The Red and the Black'', 1830) and ''La Chartreuse de ...

Flaubert Gustave Flaubert ( , , ; 12 December 1821 – 8 May 1880) was a French novelist. Highly influential, he has been considered the leading exponent of literary realism in his country. According to the literary theorist Kornelije Kvas, "in Flauber ...

, and

Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist and art critic. His poems exhibit mastery in the handling of rhyme and rhythm, contain an exoticism inherited fro ...

Paul Bourget Paul Charles Joseph Bourget (; 2 September 185225 December 1935) was a French poet, novelist and critic. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature five times. Life Paul Bourget was born in Amiens in the Somme ''département'' of Picar ...

describes Barbey as an idealist, who sought and found in his work a refuge from the uncongenial ordinary world.

Jules Lemaître François Élie Jules Lemaître (27 April 1853 – 4 August 1914) was a French critic and dramatist. Biography Lemaître was born in Vennecy, Loiret. He became a professor at the University of Grenoble in 1883, but was already well known for his ...

, a less sympathetic critic, thought the extraordinary crimes of his heroes and heroines, his reactionary opinions, his

dandyism A dandy is a man who places particular importance upon physical appearance, refined language, and leisurely hobbies, pursued with the appearance of nonchalance. A dandy could be a self-made man who strove to imitate an aristocratic lifestyle de ...

and snobbery were a caricature of

Byronism George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and Peerage of the United Kingdom, peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and h ...

. Beloved of fin-de-siècle decadents, Barbey d'Aurevilly remains an example of the extremes of late

romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...

. Barbey d'Aurevilly held strong

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

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 for having constructed his own persona as a dandy, 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 () is a commune in the Manche department in Normandy in north-western France. Geography Valognes is situated in the Cotentin Peninsula, southeast of Cherbourg. Valognes station has rail connections to Caen, Paris and Cherbourg. Histo ...

, 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 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 nor Koine Greek. In this context, vernacular literature appeared ...

in his home region. Jules-Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly died in Paris and was buried in the

cimetière du Montparnasse Montparnasse Cemetery (french: link=no, Cimetière du Montparnasse) is a cemetery in the Montparnasse quarter of Paris, in the city's 14th arrondissement. The cemetery is roughly 47 acres and is the second largest cemetery in Paris. The cemetery ...

. During 1926 his remains were transferred to the churchyard in Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte.

Works

Fiction * ''Le Cachet d’Onyx'' (1831). * ''Léa'' (1832). * ''L'Amour Impossible'' (1841). * ''La Bague d’Annibal'' (1842). * '' Une vieille maîtresse'' (''A Former Mistress'', 1851) * '' L'Ensorcelée'' (''The Bewitched'', 1852; an episode of the royalist rising among the Norman peasants against the first republic). * ''Le Chevalier Des Touches'' (1863) * ''Un Prêtre Marié'' (1864) * '' Les Diaboliques'' (''The She-Devils'', 1874; a collection of

short stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest t ...

, each of which relates a tale of a woman who commits an act of violence or revenge, or other crime). * '' Une Histoire sans Nom'' (''The Story Without a Name'', 1882). * '' Ce qui ne Meurt Pas'' (''What Never Dies'', 1884). Essays and criticism * ''Á Rebours'' (1884), in ''Le Constitutionnel'', 28 July 1884. (An English translation can be found in the appendix of ''On Huysmans' Tomb: Critical reviews of J.-K. Huysmans and À Rebours, En Rade, and Là-Bas''. Portland, OR: Sunny Lou Publishing, 2021). * '' 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). * ''Les Ridicules du Temps'' (1883). * ''Pensées Détachées'' (1889). * ''Fragments sur les Femmes'' (1889). * ''Polémiques d'hier'' (1889). * ''Dernières Polémiques'' (1891). * ''Goethe et Diderot'' (1913). * ''L'Europe des Écrivains'' (2000). * ''Le Traité de la Princesse ou la Princesse Maltraitée'' (2012). Poetry * ''Ode aux Héros des Thermopyles'' (1825). * ''Poussières'' (1854). * ''Amaïdée'' (1889). * ''Rythmes Oubliés'' (1897). Translated into English * ''The Story without a Name.'' New York: Belford and Co. (1891, translated by

Edgar Saltus Edgar Evertson Saltus (October 8, 1855 – July 31, 1921) was an American writer known for his highly refined prose style. His works paralleled those by European decadent authors such as Joris-Karl Huysmans, Gabriele D'Annunzio and Oscar Wilde. ...

). ** ''The Story without a Name.'' New York: Brentano's (1919). * ''Of Dandyism and of George Brummell.'' London: J.M. Dent (1897, translated by

Douglas Ainslie Douglas Ainslie (1865 – 27 March 1948), was a Scottish poet, translator, critic and diplomat. He was born in Paris, France, and educated at Eton College and at Balliol and Exeter Colleges, Oxford. A contributor to the Yellow Book, he met and bef ...

). ** ''Dandyism.'' New York: PAJ Publications (1988). * ''Weird Women: Being a Literal Translation of "Les Diaboliques".'' London and Paris: Lutetian Bibliophiles' Society (2 vols., 1900). ** ''The Diaboliques.'' New York: A.A. Knopf (1925, translated by Ernest Boyd). ** "Happiness in Crime." In: ''Shocking Tales.'' New York: A.A. Wyn Publisher (1946). ** ''The She-devils''. London: Oxford University Press (1964, translated by Jean Kimber). * ''What Never Dies: A Romance.'' New York: A.R. Keller (1902). ** ''What Never Dies: A Romance''. London: The Fortune Press (1933). * ''Bewitched.'' New York and London: Harper & brothers (1928, translated by Louise Collier Willcox). His complete works are published in two volumes of the '' Bibliothèque de la Pléiade''.

Quotations

* "Next to the wound, what women make best is the bandage." * "The mortal envelope of the Middle Age has disappeared, but the essential remains. Because the temporal disguise has fallen, the dupes of history and of its dates say that the Middle Age is dead. Does one die for changing his shirt?" * "In France everybody is an aristocrat, for everybody aims to be distinguished from everybody. The red cap of the Jacobins is the red heel of the aristocrats at the other extremity, but it is the same distinctive sign. Only, as they hated each other, Jacobinism placed on its head what aristocracy placed under its foot." * "In the matter of literary form it is the thing poured in the vase which makes the beauty of the vase, otherwise there is nothing more than a vessel." * "Books must be set against books, as poisons against poisons." * "When superior men are mistaken they are superior in that as in all else. They see more falsely than small or mediocre minds." * "The Orient and Greece recall to my mind the saying, so coloured and melancholic, of Richter: 'Blue is the colour of mourning in the Orient. That is why the sky of Greece is so beautiful'." * "Men give their measure by their admiration, and it is by their judgements that one may judge them." * "The most beautiful destiny: to have genius and be obscure."Pène du Bois (1897), p. 62.

Gallery

File:Gill Barbey.jpg, Caricature by

André Gill André Gill (17 October 1840 – 1 May 1885) was a French caricaturist. Born Louis-Alexandre Gosset de Guînes at Paris, the son of the Comte de Guînes and Sylvie-Adeline Gosset, Gill studied at the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture. H ...

, ca. 1880. File:Barbey Carolus.jpg, Portrait by Emile Auguste Carolus-Duran, 1860. File:Barbey d'Aurevilly Rodin Philly.JPG, Portrait bust of Barbey d'Aurevilly, by

Auguste Rodin François Auguste René Rodin (12 November 184017 November 1917) was a French sculptor, generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled traditionally and took a craftsman-like approach to his work. Rodin possessed a uniqu ...

, 1909. File:Félix Nadar 1820-1910 portraits Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly.jpg, Barbey d'Aurevilly, by

Félix Nadar Gaspard-Félix Tournachon (5 April 1820 – 20 March 1910), known by the pseudonym Nadar, was a French photographer, caricaturist, journalist, novelist, balloonist, and proponent of heavier-than-air flight. In 1858, he became the first person ...

. File:Jules Barbey.jpg, Portrait by Georges Noyon.

Notes

References

External links

* * *
Works by Barbey d'Aurevilly
at

Hathi Trust HathiTrust Digital Library is a large-scale collaborative repository of digital content from research libraries including content digitized via Google Books and the Internet Archive digitization initiatives, as well as content digitized locally ...

* Jules-Amédée Barbey d’Aurevilly
Encyclopædia Britannica
* Jules-Amédée Barbey d’Aurevilly
Encyclopédie de L'Agora
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Barbey Daurevilly, Jules Amedee 1808 births 1889 deaths People from Manche French Roman Catholics Converts to Roman Catholicism from atheism or agnosticism Legitimists French fantasy writers French literary critics Writers from Normandy Roman Catholic writers 19th-century French novelists French male novelists 19th-century French male writers French male non-fiction writers Collège Stanislas de Paris alumni