Alfred de Musset’s Followers (221)

Alfred de Musset

Born

in Paris, France

December 11, 1810

Died

May 02, 1857

Genre

Poetry, Literature & Fiction, Drama

edit data

Alfred Louis Charles de Musset-Pathay (11 December 1810 – 2 May 1857) was a French dramatist, poet, and novelist. Along with his poetry, he is known for writing La Confession d'un enfant du siècle (The Confession of a Child of the Century, autobiographical) from 1836.
Musset was born on 11 December 1810 in Paris. His family was upper-class but poor and his father worked in various key government positions, but never gave his son any money. His mother was similarly accomplished, and her role as a society hostess, - for example her drawing-room parties, luncheons, and dinners, held in the Musset residence - left a lasting impression on young Alfred.
Early indications of Musset's boyhood talents were seen by his fondness for acting impromptu min Alfred Louis Charles de Musset-Pathay (11 December 1810 – 2 May 1857) was a French dramatist, poet, and novelist. Along with his poetry, he is known for writing La Confession d'un enfant du siècle (The Confession of a Child of the Century, autobiographical) from 1836.
Musset was born on 11 December 1810 in Paris. His family was upper-class but poor and his father worked in various key government positions, but never gave his son any money. His mother was similarly accomplished, and her role as a society hostess, - for example her drawing-room parties, luncheons, and dinners, held in the Musset residence - left a lasting impression on young Alfred.
Early indications of Musset's boyhood talents were seen by his fondness for acting impromptu mini-plays based upon episodes from old romance stories he had read. Years later, elder brother Paul de Musset would preserve these, and many other details, for posterity, in a biography on his famous younger brother.
Alfred de Musset entered the collège Henri IV at the age of nine, where in 1827 he won the Latin essay prize in the Concours général. With the help of Paul Foucher, Victor Hugo's brother-in-law, he began to attend, at the age of 17, the Cénacle, the literary salon of Charles Nodier at the Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal. After attempts at careers in medicine (which he gave up owing to a distaste for dissections), law, drawing, English and piano, he became one of the first Romantic writers, with his first collection of poems, Contes d'Espagne et d'Italie (1829, Tales of Spain and Italy). By the time he reached the age of 20, his rising literary fame was already accompanied by a sulphurous reputation fed by his dandy side.
He was the librarian of the French Ministry of the Interior under the July Monarchy. During this time he also involved himself in polemics during the Rhine crisis of 1840, caused by the French prime minister Adolphe Thiers, who as Minister of the Interior had been Musset's superior. Thiers had demanded that France should own the left bank of the Rhine (described as France's "natural boundary"), as it had under Napoleon, despite the territory's German population. These demands were rejected by German songs and poems, including Nikolaus Becker's Rheinlied, which contained the verse: "Sie sollen ihn nicht haben, den freien, deutschen Rhein ..." (They shall not have it, the free, German Rhine). Musset answered to this with a poem of his own: "Nous l'avons eu, votre Rhin allemand" (We've had it, your German Rhine).
The tale of his celebrated love affair with George Sand, which lasted from 1833 to 1835, is told from his point of view in his autobiographical novel, La Confession d'un Enfant du Siècle (The Confession of a Child of the Century, made into a film, Children of the Century), and from her point of view in her Elle et lui. Musset's Nuits (1835–1837, Nights) trace his emotional upheaval of his love for George Sand, from early despair to final resignation. He is also believed to be the author of Gamiani, or Two Nights of Excess (1833), a lesbian erotic novel, also believed to be modeled on George Sand.

Tomb of Alfred de Musset in Père Lachaise Cemetery
Musset was dismissed from his post as librarian by the new minister Ledru-Rollin after the revolution of 1848. He was however appointed librarian of the Ministry of Public Instruction in 1853.
Musset received the Légion d'honneur on 24 April 1845, at the same time as Balzac, and was elected to the Académie française in 1852 (after two failures to do so in 1848 and 1850).
Alfred de Musset died in his sleep on 2 May 1857. The cause was heart failure, the combination of alcoholism and a longstanding aortic insufficiency. One symptom that had been noticed by his brother was a bobbing of the head as a result of the amplification of the pulse; this was later called de Musset's sign. He was buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. ...more

Combine Editions
Alfred de Musset’s books

Average rating: 3.61 · 18,756 ratings · 1,133 reviews · 1,456 distinct works • Similar authors

	On ne badine pas avec l'amour 3.65 avg rating — 6,386 ratings — published 1834 — 25 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Lorenzaccio 3.63 avg rating — 4,795 ratings — published 1834 — 164 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	La confession d'un enfant du siècle 3.69 avg rating — 2,156 ratings — published 1836 — 304 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Les Caprices de Marianne 3.40 avg rating — 1,467 ratings — published 1833 — 86 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Gamiani, or Two Nights of Excess: A 19th-Century French Erotic Fiction Classic of Sensual Adventure (Naughty French Novels, 1) by Alfred de Musset, John Baxter (Introduction) 3.11 avg rating — 483 ratings — published 1833 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Ô Mon George, Ma Belle Maîtresse... by Alfred de Musset, George Sand 3.77 avg rating — 224 ratings — published 2010 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Il ne faut jurer de rien 3.33 avg rating — 242 ratings — published 1836 — 47 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Fantasio 3.34 avg rating — 161 ratings — published 1834 — 21 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	On ne badine pas avec l'amour: suivi dun parcours sur le drame romantique (Classiques & Cie Lycée (98)) (French Edition) by Alfred de Musset, Gwendoline Von Schramm, Johan Faerber (Editor) 3.40 avg rating — 149 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	On ne badine pas avec l'amour (oeuvre au programme du Bac de français 2026, 1re générale & techno): suivi du parcours « Les jeux du coeur et de la parole » by Alfred de Musset, Florian Pennanech, Johan Faerber (series_editor) 3.09 avg rating — 151 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Alfred de Musset…

Quotes by Alfred de Musset (?)

“How glorious it is – and also how painful – to be an exception. ”
― Alfred de Musset

1159 likes

“You’re like a lighthouse shining beside the sea of humanity, motionless: all you can see is your own reflection in the water. You’re alone, so you think it’s a vast, magnificent panorama. You haven’t sounded the depths. You simply believe in the beauty of God’s creation. But I have spent all this time in the water, diving deep into the howling ocean of life, deeper than anyone. While you were admiring the surface, I saw the shipwrecks, the drowned bodies, the monsters of the deep”
― Alfred De Musset, Lorenzaccio

tags: decadence, decadent, god, life

108 likes

“Romanticism is the abuse of adjectives”
― Alfred De Musset

tags: language, romanticism, writing

77 likes

See all Alfred de Musset's quotes »

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
All About Books: Anastasia's reads in 2014	92	111	Nov 08, 2014 05:37AM
Catching up on Cl...: A-Z Author Challenge - 2015	79	197	Dec 29, 2015 09:04AM
The Next Best Boo...: Someoneyouknow's 2016 R.E.M. challenge	6	83	Jan 24, 2016 02:05PM
21st Century Lite...: Holidays	604	383	Jan 10, 2017 10:30PM
Let's Talk About ...: Anything Goes	1510	281	Apr 27, 2017 04:26PM
Suomalainen lukup...: * Kirjalistat	31	132	Feb 26, 2019 05:43AM
Around the Year i...: Hélène' s 2020 reading plan	2	38	Oct 24, 2019 01:46AM
Catching up on Cl...: Hélène's 2020 Bingo Challenge	16	59	Jan 24, 2020 09:24AM

More…

Alfred de Musset’s Followers (221)

Alfred de Musset

Combine EditionsAlfred de Musset’s books

Topics Mentioning This Author

Combine Editions
Alfred de Musset’s books