Alfred de Musset

Sandra McRobert (Queen's University Belfast)

Ed. by Nigel Harkness, University of Newcastle upon Tyne
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.5.2.05: French Writing and Culture: The Nineteenth-Century , 1800-1900.
Vol. editors: David Elwyn Evans (University of St Andrews), Edward Forman (University of Bristol), Elisabeth Gerwin (University of Lethbridge), Nigel Harkness (University of Newcastle upon Tyne), Tim Unwin (University of Bristol), David Williams (University of Sheffield), Jennifer Yee (University of Oxford)

Dates

Born 11 Dec 1810
Died 2 May 1857
Activity 1830-1857

Places

Born in France
Active in France

Activities

Primary

Playwright / Dramatist
Poet

Other

Novelist

Resources

Musset's Works

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Alfred de Musset was a French dramatist, poet and novelist. He was born in Paris on 11December 1810 into a family of the nobility and was a bright child, excelling at school. In a letter dated 23 September 1827, Alfred told his classmate Paul Foucher, “je ne voudrais pas écrire ou je voudrais être Shakespeare ou Schiller” (“I don’t want to write, unless I can be Shakespeare or Schiller”) (Lefebvre, 1970, 8). He came close to realizing this ambition: his play

Lorenzaccio

is widely considered to be the French equivalent of one of Shakespeare’s masterpieces.

In his twenties Musset joined a group of young Romantic writers in Paris, known as the “Cénacle”, associated with the review La Muse française. The Cénacle boasted such literary figures as Victor Hugo, Emile

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2962 words

Citation: McRobert, Sandra. "Alfred de Musset". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 08 May 2013 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=3274, accessed 22 November 2024.]