Catulle Mendès

Catulle Mendès (22 May 1841 ? 8 February 1909) was a French poet and man of letters.

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Of Portuguese Jewish extraction, he was born in Bordeaux. He early established himself in Paris, attaining speedy notoriety by the publication in the Revue fantaisiste (1861) of his Roman d'une nuit, for which he was condemned to a month's imprisonment and a fine of 500 francs. He was allied with the Parnassians from the beginning of the movement, and displayed extraordinary metrical skill in his first volume of poems, Philoméla (1863). In later volumes, his critics have noted that the elegant verse is distinguished rather by dexterous imitation of different writers than by any marked originality. The versatility and fecundity of Mendès' talent is shown in a series of his critical and dramatic writings, including several libretti, and of novels and short stories. His short stories continue the French tradition of the licentious conte.

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In 1866 he married Judith Gautier, the younger daughter of the poet Théophile Gautier. They later separated. On the 8th of February 1909, early in the morning, his dead body was discovered in the railway tunnel of Saint Germain. He had left Paris by the midnight train on the 7th, and it is supposed that, thinking he had arrived at the station, he had opened the door of his compartment while still in the tunnel.

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French: French can refer to more than one article:...

Poet: Poets are authors of poems, or of other forms of poetry such as dramatic verse. Poets are often regarded as imaginative thinkers or writers. Bad poets are called poetasters....

Man of letters: REDIRECT Intellectual#Men of letters...

Catulle Mendès related Images and Photos (experimental)

Catulle Mendes French Writer in His Hat and Coat