Editing Catulle Mendès

{{Short description|French poet and man of letters (1841–1909)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2022}}
{{Infobox writer
| name          = Catulle Mendès
| image         = Portrait of Catulle Mendès.jpg
| caption       = 
| birth_name    = 
| birth_date    = {{birth date|1841|5|22|df=y}}
| birth_place   = [[Bordeaux]], France
| death_date    = {{death date and age|1909|2|8|1841|5|22|df=y}}
| death_place   = [[Saint-Germain-en-Laye|Saint Germain]], France
| occupation    = Poet
| genre         = Poetry
| movement      = [[Parnassianism]]
| spouse        = [[Judith Gautier]]<br>[[Jeanne Nette]]
| partner       = [[Augusta Holmès]]
| influences    =
| influenced    = 
}}
{{French literature sidebar}}
'''Catulle Mendès''' ({{IPA|fr|katyl mɑ̃dɛs}}; 22 May 1841 – 8 February 1909) was a French [[poet]] and [[man of letters]].

==Early life and career==
Of Portuguese Jewish extraction, Mendès was born in [[Bordeaux]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/10668-mendes-catulle |title=Mendès, Catulle |publisher=JewishEncyclopedia.com |date= |accessdate=13 December 2013}}</ref> After childhood and adolescence in Toulouse, he arrived in Paris in 1859 and quickly became one of the protégés of the poet [[Théophile Gautier]]. He promptly attained notoriety with the publication in the ''[[La 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 [[Parnassianism]] from the beginning of the movement and displayed extraordinary metrical skill in his first volume of poems, ''Philoméla'' (1863). His critics have noted that the elegant verse of his later volumes is distinguished rather by dexterous imitation of different writers than by any marked originality. The versatility and fecundity of Mendès' talent is shown in his critical and dramatic writings, including several libretti, and in his novels and short stories. His short stories continue the French tradition of the licentious ''conte''.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Mendès, Catulle|volume=18|pages=124–125}} The bibliography is partly derived from this article.</ref>

In his early period, Mendès sometimes published under the pseudonym Jacques Rollin.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/avantlagloirele02almgoog/page/n99/mode/1up Henri d'Alméras, Avant la gloire: leurs débuts, 1e série (1902), p. 91]</ref><ref>[https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6142370v.image.r=Rollin.f54.hl Annuaire de la presse française,  1885, p. XIV]</ref>

==Personal life==
[[File:The Daughters of Catulle Mendès, Huguette (1871–1964), Claudine (1876–1937), and Helyonne (1879–1955).jpg|thumb|A portrait of Mendès' daughters, Huguette, Claudine, and Helyonne, by [[Auguste Renoir]], 1888, at [[The Metropolitan Museum of Art]]]]
In 1866, Mendès married [[Judith Gautier]], the younger daughter of his mentor Théophile. They soon separated, and in 1869 he began cohabiting with the composer [[Augusta Holmès]] with whom he had five children, including:<ref>{{cite web|title=Auguste Renoir {{!}} The Daughters of Catulle Mendès, Huguette (1871–1964), Claudine (1876–1937), and Helyonne (1879–1955) {{!}} The Met|url=http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/438014?sortBy=Relevance&amp;ao=on&amp;ft=rothschild&amp;offset=0&amp;rpp=100&amp;pos=32|website=metmuseum.org|publisher=[[The Metropolitan Museum of Art]]|accessdate=13 February 2017}}</ref>
* Huguette Mendès (1871–1964)
* Claudine Mendès (1876–1937)
* Helyonne Mendès (1879–1955)
The couple parted in 1886, and he later married the poet [[Jeanne Mette]], who was to be his last companion.<ref name="iesxunqueira2">{{cite web|url=http://www.iesxunqueira1.com/mendes/biografia.htm |title=Biografía de Catulle Mendès |publisher=Iesxunqueira1.com |date= |accessdate=13 December 2013}}</ref>

===Death===
Early on the morning of 8 February 1909, the body of Mendès was discovered in the railway tunnel of [[Saint-Germain-en-Laye|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,<ref name="EB1911"/> although some biographers have suggested suicide. His body was interred at the [[Montparnasse Cemetery]].<ref name="iesxunqueira2"/>

==Works==

===Collections of short-stories===
* ''Number 56 and Other Stories'' (1895), which contains the novellas ''Number 56'', ''A Wayside Village'', ''The Cough'', and his infamous ''Luscignole'', a grotesque thriller concerning a sadistic dwarf and his young hostage. ''Number 56'' is a thought-provoking detective tale based on a real life murder case, while the remaining stories are dark fantasies, nightmarish and hallucinatory, told in the fashion of [[Edgar Allan Poe]] of whom Mendès was greatly enamored. To this day, ''Luscignole'' is considered Mendès' finest, most original work of fiction. ''First English translation 1928''.
*''The Fairy Spinning Wheel and the Tales it Spun'' (1899), a collection of fairy-tales rewritten in Mendès' own style.

===Collections of poetry===
* ''Philoméla'' (1863)
* ''Poésies, première série'' (1876), which includes much of his earlier verse
* ''Soirs moroses, Contes épiques, Philoméla, etc.; Poésies'' (7 vols., 1885), a new edition largely augmented
* ''Les Poésies de Catulle Mendès'' (3 vols., 1892)
* ''Nouveaux Contes de Jadis'' (1893), Editeur Paul Ollendorff, Paris
* ''La Grive des vignes'' (1895)

===For theatre===
[[File:Bernhardt-La-Vierge-d'Avila-1906.jpg|thumb|[[Sarah Bernhardt]] as [[Teresa of Ávila|St. Theresa]] in ''La Vierge d'Avila'' (1906)]]
* ''La Part du roi'' (1872), a one-act verse comedy
* ''Les Frères d'armes'' (1873), drama
* ''Justice'' (1877), in three acts, characterized by a hostile critic as a hymn in praise of suicide
* ''Le Capitaine Fracasse'' (1878), libretto of a light opera, based on [[Théophile Gautier]]'s novel
* ''[[Gwendoline (opera)|Gwendoline]]'' (1886) and ''[[Briséïs]]'' (first performed 1897), for the music of [[Emmanuel Chabrier|Chabrier]]
* ''La Femme de Tabarin'' (1887)
* ''[[Isoline (opera)|Isoline]]'' (1888), for the music of [[André Messager|Messager]]
* ''Le Collier de Saphirs'' (1891), Pantomime in two tableaux, music by [[Gabriel Pierné]]
* ''Le Docteur Blanc'' (1893), Mimodrame Fantastique in one act, music by Gabriel Pierné
* ''Médée'' (1898), in three acts and in verse
* ''La Reine Fiammette'' (1898), a ''conte dramatique'' in six acts and in verse, set in Renaissance Italy, later set to music by [[Xavier Leroux]], for which see: ''[[La reine Fiammette]]''
* ''[[Le Cygne (ballet)|Le Cygne]]'' (1899), for the music of [[Charles Lecocq|Lecocq]]
* ''La Carmélite'' (1902), for the music of [[Reynaldo Hahn]]
* ''Le Fils de l'étoile'' (1904), the hero of which is [[Simon bar Kokhba|Bar Kokhba]], the Syrian pseudo-Messiah, for the music of [[Camille Erlanger]]
* ''Scarron'' (1905)
* [[Ariane (Massenet)|''Ariane'']] (1906) and [[Bacchus (opera)|''Bacchus'']] (1909), for the music of [[Massenet]]
* ''Glatigny'' (1906)
* ''La Vierge d'Avila'' (1906), for [[Sarah Bernhardt]]

In the same year, Catulle Mendès wrote in ''[[Le Figaro]]'' that it was after reading [[Arthur de Gobineau|Gobineau]]'s ''Les Religions et les Philosophies dans d´Asie centrale'' (''The religions and philosophies of central Asia'') that he had the idea to write a drama about the first woman disciple of the Báb: the Persian erudite and illustrious poet [[Táhirih|Tahéreh]].<ref>"À La Hauteur" Isma Forghani {{ISBN|978-2-343-17990-2}} l´Harmattan</ref>

===Critical works===
[[File:Le.nu.au.salon.1900.jpg|thumb|'' '''Le NU''' au '''SALON''' '', 1900 (published in 1901). The cover image is of a painting by [[Jules Scalbert]], gravure de {{Interlanguage link multi|Louis Geisler|fr}}.]]
* ''Richard Wagner'' (1886)
* ''L'Art au théâtre'' (3 vols; 1896–1900), a series of dramatic criticisms reprinted from newspapers 
* A report addressed to the minister of public instruction and of the fine arts on ''Le Mouvement poétique francais de 1867 à 1900'' (new ed., 1903), which includes a bibliographical and critical dictionary of the French poets of the 19th century.

===Novels===
* ''Zo'har'' (1886), a story of incest in which the woman is virile and the man is feeble
* ''Le Roi vierge'' (1880) in which he introduces [[Louis II of Bavaria]] and [[Richard Wagner]]
* ''L'Homme tout nu'' (1887)
* ''Méphistophéla'' (1890) 
* ''La Maison de la vielle'' (1894)
* ''Gog'' (1897) 
* ''Le Chercheur de tares'' (1898) 

===Documents===
* ''L'Évangile de la jeunesse de Notre-Seigneur Jésus-Christ d'apres S. Pierre mis en français par Catulle Mendès après le manuscrit de l'Abbaye de Saint Wolfgang'' (1894).  Presented as a lost Latin document from the abbey of [[St. Wolfgang im Salzkammergut]], with a translation by Mendès into French, although considered by most to have been a [[literary forgery]] entirely written by Mendès.<ref>{{cite wikisource |title=The Apocryphal New Testament |wslink=The Apocryphal New Testament (1924)/Infancy Gospels/A modern Infancy Gospel |last=James |first=Montague Rhodes |authorlink=M. R. James |date=1924 |publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford |pages=479 |scan=Page:The_Apocryphal_New_Testament_(1924).djvu/127}}</ref>

=== Books in English ===
* {{Cite book|title=Bluebirds|last=Mendès|first=Catulle|publisher=Snuggly Books|year=2007|isbn=9781943813254|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ISBN9781943813254|translator-last=Stableford|translator-first=Brian}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Catulle Mendès}}
{{Wikisourcelang|fr|Catulle Mendès|Catulle Mendès}}
* {{Gutenberg author |id=6188| name=Catulle Mendès}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Catulle Mendès |sopt=t}} 
* {{Librivox author |id=8593}}
* [https://www.exclassics.com/catulle/catulleintro.htm Stories by Catulle Mendès (in English translation) at the Ex-Classics Project]
* [https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1894/06/10/106098907.pdf Wagnerian Discord Echoed, The New York Times, June 10, 1894]
* [http://www.iesxunqueira1.com/mendes Web site in Spanish of Catulle Mendès]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mendes, Catulle}}
[[Category:1841 births]]
[[Category:1909 deaths]]
[[Category:Writers from Bordeaux]]
[[Category:19th-century French Sephardi Jews]]
[[Category:19th-century French dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:20th-century French dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:19th-century French novelists]]
[[Category:19th-century French poets]]
[[Category:French opera librettists]]
[[Category:Jewish poets]]
[[Category:Railway accident deaths in France]]
[[Category:Burials at Montparnasse Cemetery]]
[[Category:French people of Portuguese-Jewish descent]]
[[Category:French male poets]]
[[Category:French male novelists]]
[[Category:19th-century French male writers]]
[[Category:20th-century French male writers]]