Alfred de Musset
born Dec. 11,
1810, Paris, France
died May 2, 1857, Paris
French Romantic dramatist and poet, best known for
his plays.
Musset’s autobiographical La Confession d’un enfant
du siècle (1836; The Confession of a Child of the
Century), if not entirely trustworthy, presents a
striking picture of Musset’s youth as a member of a
noble family, well-educated but ruled by his
emotions in a period when all traditional values
were under attack. While still an adolescent he came
under the influence of the leaders of the Romantic
movement—Charles Nodier, Alfred de Vigny, and Victor
Hugo—and produced his first work, Contes d’Espagne
et d’Italie (“Stories of Spain and of Italy”) in
1830. At the same time he became a dandy, one of the
elegant Parisian imitators of Beau Brummell, and
embarked on a life of hectic sexual and alcoholic
dissipation.
After
the failure of his play La Nuit
vénitienne (1830; “The Venetian Night”),
Musset refused to allow his other plays
to be performed but continued to publish
historical tragedies—e.g., Lorenzaccio
(1834)—and comedies—e.g., Il ne faut
jurer de rien (1836; “It Isn’t Necessary
to Promise Anything”). He was also an
extraordinarily versatile poet, writing
light satirical pieces and poems of
dazzling technical virtuosity as well as
lyrics, such as “La Nuit d’octobre”
(1837; “The October Night”), which
express with passion and eloquence his
complex emotions.
Though
associated with the Romantic movement,
Musset often poked fun at its excesses.
His Lettres de Dupuis et Cotonet
(1836–37), for example, contain a
brilliant and illuminating satire of the
literary fashions of the day. A love
affair with the novelist George Sand
that went on intermittently from 1833 to
1839 inspired some of his finest lyrics,
as recounted in his Confession. He was
elected to the Académie Française in
1852.
