View source for 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}}
'''Abraham Catulle Mendès''' ({{IPA|fr|katyl mɑ̃dɛs}}; 22 May 1841 – 8 February 1909) was a French [[poet]] and [[man of letters]]. He was associated with the [[Parnassianism|Parnassianist]] school.

==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>

For his contributions and understanding of French literature, Catulle Mendès was nominated by the Minister of Public Instruction and of the Fine Arts to write the history of French poetry from the years 1807-1900. A similar opportunity was previously given to [[Théophile Gautier|Theophile Gautier]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=1909-04-04 |title=The Bookfellow. |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article211589454 |access-date=2025-06-06 |work=Sun}}</ref>

=== Mendès and The Parnassian Movement ===
Catulle Mendès was a prominent figure in the Parnassian movement, known for his precise style and devotion to the aesthetic ideals that this movement established. He was deeply aligned with the Parnassians’ emphasis on “art for art’s sake” as well as taking on the role of the movement’s chief publicizer and historian. He was able to do this by publishing ''[[La Revue fantaisiste]]'' in 1861 which published works by [[Charles Baudelaire]] and [[Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam|Villiers de L'Isle-Adam]], who were prominent Parnassian writers.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Grey |first=Thomas |title=Richard Wagner and His World |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2009 |isbn=9780691143668 |edition=1st |pages=275–276 |language=English}}</ref> Mendès also founded the literary journal ''[[Le Parnasse contemporain]]'' in 1866, which was the flagship anthology of the movement and helped popularize many other Parnassian writers.<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Helsby |first=Lynn Lee |title=Catulle Mendes and The Parnassian Model |date=1979 |access-date=2025-06-05 |degree=PhD |publisher=State University of New York at Albany |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/303013789 |work= |location=|id={{ProQuest|303013789}} }}</ref> His poetry exemplified the movement's proclivity for classical themes and emotional restirant, rejecting the elements of [[Romanticism in France|Romanticism]]. He used his influence in the movement to promote its prinicples and style. Mendès helped define and sustain the Parnassian aesthetic, making him a key figure of the movement and its legacy in French Literature.

==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| date=1888 |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>

=== Relations and interactions with contemporaries ===
As a central figure in 19th-century French literature, Catulle Mendès garnered a wide network of relationships with the major artists and thinkers of his time. His involvement in overlapping literary movements put him in the middle of aesthetic and ideological innovation. Some of these connections were defined by admiration and collaboration, while others were marked with tension.

* [[Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam]] (1838–1889) and Catulle Mendès were colleagues who interacted and influenced one another within the French literary scene. Within his literary journal, ''La revue fantaisiste'' (The Fanciful Review), Mendès would cover the works of his contemporaries, including Villiers. Both were devoted to promoting recognition and the excellence of [[Richard Wagner]], often accompanying each other on visits to Wagner's Swiss retreat at [[Tribschen]]. The two also shared interest within the literary movements such as [[Parnassianism]], [[Decadence]], and other aesthetic movements.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hackett |first=C. A. |date=1983 |title=Villiers de l'Isle-Adam and Tribulat Bonhomet |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3729491 |journal=The Modern Language Review |volume=78 |issue=4 |pages=804–815 |doi=10.2307/3729491 |jstor=3729491 |issn=0026-7937|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
* [[Charles Baudelaire]] (1821-1867), a leading figure in shaping modern French and English art and literature, served as an inspiration to many of the rising writers of the time, including Catulle Mendès. Mendès often published and addressed Baudelaire's content within his literary article. While Baudelaire's magnum opus, ''[[Les Fleurs du mal]]'', explores themes of eroticism, beauty, addiction, and death with moral ambiguity and aesthetic complexity, Mendès recycles these same themes through a different lens. He imposes a moralistic and judgmental stance rather than embracing decadence in the same tone as Baudelaire did.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Constable |first=Liz |date=1997 |title=Being Under the Influence: Catulle Mendès and "Les Morphinées", or Decadence and Drugs |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26288056 |journal=L'Esprit Créateur |volume=37 |issue=4 |pages=67–81 |jstor=26288056 |issn=0014-0767}}</ref>
* [[Jules Huret]] (1863-1915) was a prominent french journalist who was recognized for his interviews with writers. A duel took place between journalist Jules Huret and writer Catulle Mendès. The conflict arose following a paragraph published under Huret's signature in the ''[[Petite Chronique des Lettres]]'', in which the names of Mendès and [[Oscar Wilde]] were mentioned in connection. The duel was fought with swords, and Mendès sustained a slight wound.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1895-05-25 |title=Local & General |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article199067707 |access-date=2025-06-06 |work=Tasmanian}}</ref> In total, Mendès had fought in an estimated 13 duels.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1899-06-28 |title=STRANGE DUEL IN PARIS. |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article202616261 |access-date=2025-06-06 |work=Age}}</ref>
* [[Richard Wagner]] (1813-1883), the revolutionary German composer and artist, left a lasting impact not only on music, but also on 19th-century literature  and aesthetics. His dramatic operas, being his most renowned artistic contributions, inspired a generation of writers across Europe, including Catulle Mendès. Mendès was one of the first and most prominent devoted French literary Wagnerians, who worked alongside Villiers de I'lsle-Adam to expose his work and establish it's exceptionality. In 1869, Mendès traveled to Wagner's Swiss retreat at Tribschen, marking the transition from admirer to a friendship. However, the outbreak of the [[Franco-Prussian War]] (1870) interrupted their bond. Wagner's resentful anti-French rhetoric during this conflict would offend Mendès, leading to a temporary split. As Mendès later stated in his memoirs, it would take time for the conflict to settle between the two.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt7rtsx |title=Richard Wagner and His World |date=2009 |publisher=Princeton University Press |jstor=j.ctt7rtsx |isbn=978-0-691-14366-8}}</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. Other speculations about his death came from newspaper articles claiming it had been a robbery-homicide.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1909-02-13 |title=ANOTHER PARISIAN CRIME. |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15036076 |access-date=2025-06-06 |work=Sydney Morning Herald}}</ref> 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)
In a Master's Theses written by John Hex Martin for the Loyola University Chicago talks about Catulle Mendès, a critical study. When it comes to his poems, his first volume of verse was Philoméla. Published in 1863 by Hetzel. It contained around 40 poems. The doctrines of the Parnassians were yet to be manifested, the forms and ideas were all contained in the book. Also included are 23 sonnets and it affects the mood of tranquility at which Mendès aimed. Together the sonnets have a classical perfection, but individually they have imperfections. In this volume, the most finished poems and the one with inspiration, is an ode, Ariane. Philoméla had a noticeable success among critics. His second volume of verses was published in 1872. Two of his finest poems were Penthésilée and l'Enfant Krichna. Both were imitations if Leconte de Lisle. His third volume, Hesperus was published in 1872 by Jouaust. It was more of the romanticism implicit in the Contes épiques. Similar in style of mystery and isolation of Hesperus, the Soleille de Minuit was completed in April 1875 and a year later it appeared in the third series of Parnasse contemporain.<ref name="ReferenceA">ecommons.luc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1472&context=luc_theses</ref>

===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>

When it comes to his theater work, Femme de Tabarin was Mendès most successful comedy and for the first time it was presented at the Theatre Libre of Antoine in November 1887. But it was published in 1874. Mendès was hesitant to allow it to be performed believing it might offen some of the critics and the theater had a small audience of 37. There was also another performance, but the main success was La Femme de Tabarin. Mendès created a book of five acts for an opera called Ariane in 1906. It had a mix of classical legend and material of his won convention. It was written upon request from Massenet. With the success of Ariane, Mendès and Massenet worked together on another opera called Bacchus.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

===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|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}}

=== Musical collaboration ===

* One of Mendès's most interesting collaborations was with a French composer named [[Augusta Holmès]]. They created a piece a music that was of the same title of one of Mendès's poem called ''Chanson'' in 1874. Holmès treated Mendès’s poem as a conversation because not only the music just echoed the poem, but it also responded to it. She used changes in rhythm and harmony to highlight different emotions and meanings in the text. This kind of back-and-forth between words and music was typical of the time, especially in the French art song tradition where music and literature were closely connected.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ardrey |first=C. A. |date=2017-07-01 |title=Dialogism and Song: Intertextuality, Heteroglossia and Collaboration in Augusta Holmès's setting of Catulle Mendès's 'Chanson' |url=https://doi.org/10.3828/AJFS.2017.17 |journal=The Australian Journal of French Studies |language=en |volume=54 |issue=2–3 |pages=235–252 |doi=10.3828/AJFS.2017.17 |issn=0004-9468|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
* Another collaboration that was worth mentioning was with [[Ignacy Jan Paderewski]]. The two met in 1902 when Mendès worked on a French translation of Paderewski’s opera ''Manru''. The translation led Paderewski to explore more of Mendès’s writing. In 1903, he composed a set of twelve songs called ''Douze Mélodies sur des poésies de Catulle Mendès'' was published as his Opus 22. Paderewski chose Mendès’s poems partly because he admired French literature and wanted to connect with the artistic world of Paris. The poems came from Mendès’s collections ''Sérénades'' and ''Sonnets.'' They gave Paderewski a wide emotional range to work with. Each song represents a unique mood just like the poems themselves. While many composers were drawn to Mendès for his beautiful and lyrical language, Paderewski stood out by mixing French musical styles with his own personal voice. This project helped Paderewski grow as a composer of art songs and showed how Mendès’s poetry could inspire music that reached beyond French borders.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Poetry of Mendčs – Polish Music Center |url=https://polishmusic.usc.edu/research/publications/polish-music-journal/vol4no2/the-poetry-of-mendcs/#:~:text=In%20the%201860s%20Catulle,very%20highly.%5B19%5D&text=these%20meetings),%20i.e.%20the,very%20highly.%5B19%5D&text=%E2%80%93%20mothers%20who%20trustingly,very%20highly.%5B19%5D&text=(1886,%201888-91),%20Messager%20(1888),,very%20highly.%5B19%5D |access-date=2025-06-05 |website=polishmusic.usc.edu}}</ref>

== Critical reception ==
Catulle Mendès's literary reputation has long been marked by ambivalence, praised for his technical skill but often critiqued for lacking originality or enduring influence. Contemporary and modern critics alike have debated the significance of his contributions to 19th-century French literature.

In ''a Critical Study'', John Jex Martin compiled contemporary assessments of Mendès’s oeuvre. He cited Louis Thomas de Miomandre’s description of Mendès as “irréductible,” highlighting the author’s perceived “crass independence”—a refusal to align with dominant literary schools or movements. While this independence afforded Mendès a certain stylistic freedom, it also isolated him from more innovative currents in late-19th-century French literature.

André Gide, a towering literary figure of the early 20th century, famously dismissed Mendès’s influence, stating that he had “no literary influence at all.” This assertion, coming from a key figure in French modernism, signaled a broader shift away from Mendès’s ornate and classical style, which many saw as an echo of earlier Romantic and Parnassian aesthetics.

Despite such criticism, Mendès was respected in his time for his prolific output and craftsmanship. Rosine Mellé, in ''The Contemporary French Writers'',<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mellé |first=Rosine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MTkBAAAAYAAJ&dq=catulle+mendes+luscignole&pg=PA2 |title=The Contemporary French Writers |date=1895 |publisher=Ginn |language=fr}}</ref> wrote that Mendès demonstrated a “great predilection for sad subjects” and had “a special fondness for melancholy and tears.” She also noted the musicality of his language, describing his verse as full of “charm” and lyrical precision. These traits helped secure his place within the French Decadent movement, whose emphasis on emotional depth, aestheticism, and morbid beauty aligned well with Mendès’s thematic concerns.

Later scholarship has tended to focus less on Mendès’s influence and more on his role as a central figure in the fin-de-siècle literary ecosystem—a consummate writer, critic, and promoter of the arts. While rarely included in the modern canon, his work offers insight into the literary tastes and tensions of the late 19th century.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Catulle Mendès}}
{{Wikisource|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]]
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[[Category:Writers from Bordeaux]]
[[Category:19th-century French Sephardi Jews]]
[[Category:19th-century French dramatists and playwrights]]
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[[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]]
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[[Category:19th-century French male writers]]
[[Category:20th-century French male writers]]