Jettatura (dodo Press)

Pierre Jules Thophile Gautier (1811-1872) was a French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, and literary critic. His education commenced at the prestigious Collge Louis-le-Grand in Paris. Although he completed the remainder of his education at Collge Charlemagne, Gautier's most significant instruction came from his father, which prompted him to become a Latin scholar by age 18. While at school, Gautier befriended Grard de Nerval and the two became lifelong friends. It is through Nerval that Gautier was introduced to Victor Hugo who became a major influence and is credited for giving Gautier, an aspiring painter at the time, an appetite for literature. He began writing poetry as early as 1826 but the majority of his life was spent as a contributor to various journals, mainly for La Presse. His most well-known works are: Mademoiselle de Maupin (1835), La Morte Amoureuse (1836), La Comdie de la Mort (1838), Emaux et Cames (1852), and Sacountala (1858). His work is difficult to classify and remains a point of reference for many subsequent literary traditions such as Parnassianism, Symbolism, Decadence and Modernism. He was widely esteemed by writers as diverse as Flaubert and Oscar Wilde.