Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

‘“Oh! non, je ne pourrai jamais te le dire… j’aime un homme!”: Hermaphrodite et l’esthétisation de l’homosexualité dans Mademoiselle de Maupin'

Crahay, Géraldine

Authors



Abstract

This article examines Gautier’s novel Mademoiselle de Maupin (1835) as an example of nineteenth-century French society’s interest and reluctance regarding male homosexuality, and the subsequent strategy of allusion that is used to discuss this topic. It analyses the method used by the male protagonist d’Albert to render his feelings for “Théodore” (the cross-dressed woman Madeleine de Maupin) culturally acceptable. D’Albert turns his allegedly monstrous homoerotic desire into an aesthetic quest by comparing “Théodore” to the god Hermaphroditus, who embodies perfect neoclassical beauty and whose harmonious combination of masculine and feminine traits idealizes sexual ambiguity. This article also contrasts d’Albert’s discursive strategy of discretion with Madeleine’s own openness regarding her lesbian feelings, thus highlighting the difference in treatment between male homosexuality and lesbianism in the nineteenth century. (In French)

Citation

Crahay, G. (2016). ‘“Oh! non, je ne pourrai jamais te le dire… j’aime un homme!”: Hermaphrodite et l’esthétisation de l’homosexualité dans Mademoiselle de Maupin'. Nineteenth-century French studies, 45(1-2), 17-32. https://doi.org/10.1353/ncf.2016.0014

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date 2016
Deposit Date Oct 6, 2016
Journal Nineteenth-Century French Studies
Print ISSN 0146-7891
Electronic ISSN 1536-0172
Publisher University of Nebraska Press
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 45
Issue 1-2
Pages 17-32
DOI https://doi.org/10.1353/ncf.2016.0014
Public URL https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1374884